You are required to provide at least one response. Your response will be graded as closely as your main post. View this part of the assignment as providing feedback to a peer just as you would on the job. Imagine you are giving feedback to someone you are supervising who has completed a project. You want to give substantive feedback on their performance – what was good and what needed a bit more attention to detail. You need to deliver this feedback professionally, honestly, tactfully, and thoroughly. This is not like that standard discussion response you might be used to.
Please use the following list of questions to provide this feedback. You can feel free to cut and paste the list into your post and provide feedback under each question. Here is the catch that you must be aware of. You can provide feedback to any other student who was not assigned to the same chapter.
You cannot post a response for the same chapter you were assigned nor the same case you did in your main post. For example – If you did Case 2.1, you cannot provide feedback to any other peer who did any case from Chapter 2. You need to evaluate a case from a different chapter and read the second case so you can truly give a meaningful response to the following questions. This way, you have effectively studied two cases where you apply different leadership theories in each module.
Response Questions you need to address
1. Provide the name and number of the case study you are reviewing
2. Did your peer address all the questions required? Yes or no
3. Provide a critique of the completed case study based on their thoroughness and substance, including if you see clear connections to the readings. In other words, what did they do well?
4. Do you feel they missed anything they might have or should have mentioned? Is there something you would have liked to have seen added?
Important Note: Numbers 1 and 2 in the response section are rather simple. The main part of the response is in parts 3 and 4. If the person you evaluated did a good job, then I would expect to see quite a bit of feedback on number 3 with examples of things that show you read it and what was well done. I expect to see less feedback in part 4 but try to be objective here. Students like to say that the person they are evaluating covered everything; nothing was missing. If you say that, I should see clear evidence of this in number 3. Rarely is a case study perfect.
As you read each case, try to apply the principles of the skills approach to the leaders and their situations. At the end of each case are questions that will assist you in analyzing the case.
Case 3.1 A Strained Research Team
Dr. Adam Wood is the principal investigator on a three-year, $1 million federally funded research grant to study health education programs for older populations, called the Elder Care Project. Unlike previous projects, in which Dr. Wood worked alone or with one or two other investigators, on this project Dr. Wood has 11 colleagues. His project team is made up of two co-investigators (with PhDs), four intervention staff (with MAs), and five general staff members (with BAs). One year into the project, it has become apparent to Dr. Wood and the team that the project is underbudgeted and has too few resources. Team members are spending 20%–30% more time on the project than has been budgeted to pay them. Regardless of the resource strain, all team members are committed to the project; they believe in its goals and the importance of its outcomes. Dr. Wood is known throughout the country as the foremost scholar in this area of health education research. He is often asked to serve on national review and advisory boards. His publication record is second to none. In addition, his colleagues in the university know Dr. Wood as a very competent researcher. People come to Dr. Wood for advice on research design and methodology questions. They also come to him for questions about theoretical formulations. He has a reputation as someone who can see the big picture on research projects.
Despite his research competence, there are problems on Dr. Wood’s research team. Dr. Wood worries there is a great deal of work to be done but that the members of the team are not devoting sufficient time to the Elder Care Project. He is frustrated because many of the day-to-day research tasks of the project are falling into his lap. He enters a research meeting, throws his notebook down on the table, and says, “I wish I’d never taken this project on. It’s taking way too much of my time. The rest of you aren’t pulling your fair share.” [Page 74]Team members feel exasperated at Dr. Wood’s comments. Although they respect his competence, they find his leadership style frustrating. His negative comments at staff meetings are having a demoralizing effect on the research team. Despite their hard work and devotion to the project, Dr. Wood seldom compliments or praises their efforts. Team members believe that they have spent more time than anticipated on the project and have received less pay or credit than expected. The project is sucking away a lot of staff energy, yet Dr. Wood does not seem to understand the pressures confronting his staff.
The research staff is starting to feel burned out, but members realize they need to keep trying because they are under time constraints from the federal government to do the work promised.
The team needs to develop a pamphlet for the participants in the Elder Care Project, but the pamphlet costs are significantly more than budgeted in the grant. Dr. Wood has been very adept at finding out where they might find small pockets of money to help cover those costs.
Although team members are pleased that he is able to obtain the money, they are sure he will use this as just another example of how he was the one doing most of the work on the project.
Questions
Based on the skills approach,
how would you assess Dr. Wood’s leadership and his relationship to the members of the Elder Care Project team?
Will the project be successful?
Does Dr. Wood have the skills necessary to be an effective leader of this research team?
The skills model describes three important competencies for leaders: problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and knowledge.
If you were to coach Dr. Wood using this model, what competencies would you address with him? What changes would you suggest that he make in his leadership?
Last Completed Projects
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