Case study
The Bigga Izbetta retail group has 4 department stores, alllocated in New Zealand, at Invercargill, Dunedin and on theKaikoura and Akaroa Coasts. It is a family-owned company run alongtraditional lines. Employees work under a hierarchical system,transfers and promotions are regulated by a seniority system,everyone works to a detailed job description and employees are paidaccording to a fixed salary schedule. George’s recent appointmentas the head of the menswear department at the Kaikoura storefollows his application and transfer from Dunedin. He issupervising five staff, all of whom have worked in the mensweardepartment for at least 2 years. His second-in-charge, Monique, hasworked there for 3 years and is very popular with the rest of thestaff. In fact, Monique applied for the job to which George wasappointed and everyone in the menswear department was disappointedwhen she missed out. George is putting a lot of effort into hisrole as head of the menswear department. He wants his department tobe regarded as the most efficient and best-performing in the storeand, hopefully, throughout the whole group. He hasn’t really hadtime to get to know his staff yet. Rather, he spends a lot of timeplanning and scheduling what needs to be done, assigning tasks tothe staff in the department, giving directions and emphasizingsales targets and deadlines.
- How would youcharacterise George’s leadership style? Use at least two leadershiptheories/models in your answer.
2. Use Fiedler’s contingency theory of leadership toanalyse the appropriateness of George’s behaviour in the givensituation.
