Leadership Case

Introduction

Stephanie and Alex are college students, who work part time at a local supermarket. They have two different managers with two very different management and leadership styles, which has resulted in two very different work experiences for Stephanie and Alex. Stephanie enjoys her job and comes to work with a smile. Alex is extremely dissatisfied and unmotivated. He dislikes his boss and is bored with his job.

Stephanie’s supervisor is Jonathan, who is the ideal boss and is liked by everyone. Stephanie has a good relationship with her manager due to his effective leadership style. He motivates his employees through various ways such as monetary incentives, job enrichment, job rotation, and encouragement. He communicates with his employees and empowers them to make decisions. Jonathan sets attainable but challenging goals to motivate his employees and rewards them if they achieve them. His leadership style and motivational approaches are extremely effective, as proven by Stephanie who loves her job and is motivated to perform well.

On the other end of the spectrum is Alex, who hates his job due to the negative relationship with his supervisor Dan. Dan lacks good leadership skills and does not motivate his employees. He disrespects and talks down to his employees. Dan does not rotate Alex’s tasks, so he is bored with his job and has learned no other skills rather than restocking apples. Dan does not empower his employees to make decisions or learn new things. He provides no incentives or growth opportunities to motivate his employees. Worst of all, he shows favoritism and does not treat or pay his employees fairly and equally.

Effective managers that apply leadership theories and motivation theories can create productive employees to reach organizational goals. The following leadership and motivational theories can be applied to this scenario to will explain the difference in job satisfaction