Follower/Situation Paper -Project 2

Follower/Situation Paper -Project 2
Summary
For this project, you will study “leadership” as opposed to the “leader” you studied in the Project
1. In other words, you will explore the characteristics of the followers and the characteristics of
the situation that complete the picture of the leader you studied in Project 1. Your task in Project
2 is to study the followers, the situation, and the process by which the leader negotiated the
relationships between these factors.
Topics to Cover
1. Motivating and satisfying followers
a. How does the leader motivate his or her followers? Does the leader try to meet
specific needs of followers? Does the leader surround herself with people high in
achievement motivation or intrinsic motivation? Does the leader set goals and
provide a link between effort and rewards? Does the leader modify the task to make it
more motivating?
b. Is there any evidence that followers’ satisfaction is a consequence of their success
rather than a cause of their success?
c. Has the leader done something that was likely to make followers unhappy, but was
ultimately good for the group’s success?
2. Leading groups and teams
a. How does the leader coordinate the balance between influencing individuals and
influencing groups?
b. Does the leader refer to groups as teams?
c. Is there any evidence that the leader specifically avoids the above?
3. Situational characteristics
a. What are the characteristics of the task in terms of skill variety, task identity, task
significance, autonomy, and feedback? Is the task structured or unstructured? How
much interdependence is required among organizational members? How do these
characteristics influence the leader’s behavior? How does the leader influence these
characteristics?
b. What are the skills, experiences, needs, and preferences of the followers? How do
these characteristics influence the leader’s behavior? How does the leader influence
these characteristics?
c. What is the leader’s level of authority? Is the organization complex? Formalized?
Centralized? How do these characteristics influence the leader’s behavior? How does
the leader influence these characteristics?
d. What is the culture of the organization? How do these characteristics influence the
leader’s behavior? How does the leader influence these characteristics?
e. What are the technological, economic, political, social, and legal forces that influence
the organization and the leader? How do these characteristics influence the leader’s
behavior? How does the leader influence these characteristics?
4. Contingency theories

a. Is there any evidence that your leader acted according to the Normative Decision
Model when making decisions? Did they seek input according to the model? Did they
make decisions autocratically according to the model?
b. Is there any evidence that your leader adjusts his or her behavior according the the
maturity of the followers as prescribed by Situational Leadership Theory?
c. Is there any evidence that your leader adjusts his or her behavior according to the
leader-member relations, task structure, and position power as prescribed by Fiedler’s
Contingency Theory? Also, is there any evidence that the leader attempted to bring
the situation into alignment with their preferred leadership style?
d. Which type of leader behavior in path-goal theory best describes your leader and
why?
5. Leading change
a. What kind of crisis or change has the leader led his or her group through?
b. Does the leader show charismatic characteristics such as the ability to communicate a
vision, etc.?
c. How did the followers’ behaviors enable the leader to succeed (or fail)?
As in Project 1, you shouldn’t simply rely on your “impressions” as you answer these questions.
You should have evidence or specific examples whenever possible.
Specific Details on Paper
1. Paper must be 8-10 double-spaced pages (not including cover or work cited pages.
Papers too short or too long will result in a 6 point deduction per page over or under
the required pages.
2.
Paper should be completed in a Word Processing software. Font should be 12-point
Times New Roman or a similar font and have one-inch margins all around.
Failure to
meet these criteria will result in a 20-point deduction.
3. Proper Citations is required for this paper. APA, MLA and Chicago Citations Styles
are all acceptable. Please pick the system you are most familiar with and use it
throughout your paper.
4. Draft must be submitted SmarThinking. You must use the SmarThinking suggestions
to correct your paper before submissions to Dropbox.
Failure to correct your paper
based on the SMARTHINKING remarks and/or submitting the SMARTHINKING
comments will result in an automatic 20 point deduction.
a. You will need to plan to ensure that this is done in a timely manner. It takes at
least 48 hours to receive results back.
b. Review the feedback and comments from SmarThinking. Make improvements to
the final draft of paper before you submit it to the instructor.
c. Note in Red changes made to the paper. In addition, submit SmarThinking
comments with your final paper.
SmarThinking
Follow these steps to get started with SmarThinking:




Access your course by logging in at: https://gotoclass.tnecampus.org.
Go to the course homepage.
Select the Smarthinking link in the right-hand menu shown under
Course Resources.
Review the Support+ link on the Smarthinking home page. This section will provide
access to tutorials, a knowledge base, and even technical support in the use of various
Smarthinking features.
The first page of SmarThinking is a System Check. After check click continue.
On this page click “Submit My Writing.”
On the next page click “Essay Center.” The two areas in which you need help will be
“Grammar & Mechanics” and “Sentence Structure.”