
Case study – Transformational Leadership?he following case study is comprised of exerts from the following article:?ttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/262575233_Transformational_leadership_-_an_academic_case_studyRon was a young leadership consultant and researcher who received a call from the Chairman of the Board of Directors of a private business college. Ron had done some consultancy work for him earlier, so the Chairman had a lot of trust and confidence in him. During the meeting, the Chairman narrated the problems faced by the college.?he Chairman had received many complaints about the Principal, Professor James, and a senior faculty member, Professor Susan. The Principal was perceived as weak and took a long-time making decisions or actions, even on important issues. Professor Susan realized this and started influencing and controlling the decisions and actions of the Principal. Due to this, there were a lot of interpersonal problems between the faculty members. The final result was that teaching and academic work suffered. Slowly, the research grants from the industry started to reduce and also the number of companies coming to the college for campus recruitment. The number of students applying for admission also started to fall. The Chairman feared that if no remedial action was taken immediately, the college may have to be closed.?on listened patiently to the problems and decided to take up the assignment. He promised to come up with a solution within a week.?fter a week, Ron came back with his recommendations. He said that he had found the situation at the college to be terrible. The teaching work had come to a standstill. If no action was taken, the college would have to be closed right away. He proposed that both Professor James and Professor Susan should be removed from their positions immediately. Since there was no time available to look for a new Principal, he offered his services on a three-year contract. But his remuneration would be high – almost twice the amount currently being paid.?he Board of Directors deliberated over the proposal for a long time. The scenario built by Ron was scary. They had allowed the situation to deteriorate by not taking action earlier. Now they had no option but to accept Ron’s proposal. The fact that he was known to the Chairman was also taken into consideration. So the services of Professor James and Professor Susan were terminated and Ron was appointed as the new Principal.SolutionAs expected, Ron was received with hostility as he was installed by the board directly, without taking the opinion of the faculty members or any other stakeholders. Some senior professors felt that they could have been given the opportunity, especially in view of their long association with the college. However, Ron was unperturbed and moved ahead. He met every faculty member and non-teaching staff individually and noted their concerns. He prepared a list of all the concerns and apprehensions and prioritized them according to their severity and importance. He made a time-bound action plan to resolve each one of them.When he announced this plan, everyone was amazed. They had not seen things moving at such a fast pace earlier. The academic activities were already delayed by three weeks. There were no teachers for three subjects and the timetable had to be prepared. Ron called a meeting of the entire faculty and asked for volunteers to teach the three subjects. Fortunately, Jack, who was a dedicated and committed professor, came forward and offered to shoulder the responsibility of handling one of the subjects. The other teachers were reluctant to take any extra load.Finally, by offering some monetary incentives, Ron could get a teacher to agree to teach the second subject. Since the situation was at a dead end, Ron decided to teach the third subject himself – he wanted to lead by example.Ron realized that there was a lack of transparent and open communication between the management and the academic staff. Besides, there was no coordination between the marketing team that marketed the courses and the teachers. So he started a monthly meeting of the management team with the teachers and the marketing team. Everyone was allowed to raise the issues that concerned them for an immediate resolution.During these meetings, Ron encouraged the team members to think creatively about the problems and their solutions. Often, the issues could be resolved by the team members themselves, without the intervention of the management.Many good ideas and suggestions for improvement of the working of the college also emerged from these meetings. This started to develop a team spirit among all the members. They were motivated to look upon themselves as a single team where each member would help others to achieve their goals and objectives. This also contributed to making the working environment more positive.While the above actions were underway, Ron gave a lot of attention to meeting the commitments he had given in the time bound action plan earlier. He referred to the list several times a day to ensure that even the smallest action was not left out. He knew that a leader has to deliver on his promises.Ron infused confidence among the employees by replacing the prevailing pressure with pleasure, distrust with trust, and miscommunication with prompt and open communication. During the transformation of the college, Ron took initiatives in all areas. He identified the areas where there were gaps and addressed them. He did not shirk responsibility. He announced that the primary responsibility and accountability on any matter was his.Ron also realized that the previous principal, Professor James, had encouraged petty politics by favouring a few people and alienating the rest. He had been surrounded by sycophants. Ron changed all this. He ensured that everyone who had a stake in a decision was involved in the decision-making process.Ron made sure that the faculty members were always kept informed of all developments. He persuaded the administration department to take quick actions on all feedback. Gradually, a climate of trust and confidence was built up. Thus, Ron built bridges and removed the barriers.QUESTIONS:1.Why might Ron be classified as a transformational leader?2.What actions might you suggest Ron take to achieve his goals?3.What extent do you agree or disagree with Ron’s leadership style in this case study setting?BusinessBUSINESS M QWE
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