Free Leadership Plan Case Study Example

Introduction

This paper is a case study of a business that requires a leadership plan. The company under study is called “Invitation Inc” and deals mainly with party invitations. It is a medium sized company located in Kent, Washington. It is owned by a father who intends for the daughter to take over in the next two months from him. The daughter is a Business Management graduate and has been working in the company for some years now but never in a critical leadership role. The father intends to stay on in a semi-retired state but insists that the business is now up for the daughter to run.
Some of the main points to note about the company is that there is a Singapore company that has shown interest in the company and would like to go into a joint venture as well as put up a web store that will serve the Singapore market. The daughter has thought of trying new strategies that would enable growth of the company. She has noted that the company has recorded net sales of one point five million for two years consecutively, but there has been no growth in the company. She has therefore thought of using the internet as a sales tool as well as try direct sales.
Another challenge for the company even as the daughter prepares to take the reigns is that the company has always relied on timber as a source of paper for their production. There has however been a lot of pressure for companies to green and look for alternative sources of raw materials or production methods. This will prove to be a huge challenge. The other challenge that Joan, the daughter, faces is that she and her father have different ways of doing things. Her father is the hands on type of a leader while she on the other hand not so much.
This paper shall discuss the father and daughter in terms of the leadership roles they play, their leadership as individuals, the social architect of each of them and the change agent between the two. The paper shall also delve into the father as a manager with short term goals and Joan as a leader with long term goals.

A leadership plan is a step by step strategy that outlines the role of leadership in the operations of an organization. A leadership plan is essential because it outlines the vision and mission of an organization as well as the ways in which the leadership or management if an organization can aid in achieving those (Wooden & Jamison, 2009). 

Leadership Role

The role that the father plays in the organization in terms of leadership is crucial. The father, Mr. Garret Salmon, started the company from scratch. He acts as the vision bearer of the company and has always provided direction and leadership for the company. He, however, has not been a very innovative leader as things still get done the same way they were done when the company was started, that is over twenty-five years.
The role of the daughter is that she is son set to be the active leader of the organization. Her leadership style seems to incorporate more innovation and emerging trends into the picture. She anticipates to use the internet for internet marketing and also to venture into directly selling to the clients as compared to the traditional practice of selling to retail shops as has been the norm of the company. The daughter brings with her a wealth of knowledge and education concerning business management. Joan is also keener on ensuring that the business grows and not just continue to exist to make sales.

Leader as an Individual

The father appears to have the old school form of leadership style. He is more involved in the business at the lower levels and is almost the sole decision make in the company. The daughter has overheard managers as that they gave up long ago on making decisions for themselves. He has survived and grown the business majorly based on decisions made by instinct and not necessarily decisions that follow a specified strategy or method to arrive at (Bradt et al., 2011).
The daughter, on the other hand, is first and foremost learned. Joan, therefore, brings with her a rich educational background in managing a business. Joan also appears to be more goal and vision oriented than her father is. She is concerned that the business has been recording high sales for the past two years yet has little to show in terms of growth rate. Joan also has the advantage of having worked in various departments within the company in the years preceding her take over and is, therefore, aware of the inner and more intricate business culture of the organization. She is therefore well suited to direct the business culture into the direction that is most suitable for the company to be able to achieve its goals and objectives (Wooden & Jamison, 2009). 

Social Architect

Social architecture in leaders is all about their belief system. What a person believes as an individual ultimately becomes what they apply in the workplace. A good example is the use of the clock by most employers to ensure that employees work for the number of hours that they are required to. This practice is based on the belief that employees cannot be trusted (Adair, 2010).
Joan, on the other hand, has a democratic approach in leadership. She believes that everyone has something to contribute to the success of the company. She does not even want to let go of her father entirely as she acknowledges that his knowledge and expertise would be very useful going forward. This is probably due to her educational exposure where she may have been sensitized on the importance of inclusion.

Change Agent

It is important for every leader to be an agent of change whenever the company is undergoing a transformation. In this case, the transformation is the change of leadership and course leadership style (Wooden & Jamison, 2009).  Joan has shown traits of a good agent of change as she has thought of retaining her father actively in the company. This will ensure that the transition is smooth and that a vacuum is not left. The father too appears to be a good agent of change. The only mishap on his end is not having informed the other stakeholders in good time of the change in leadership. It is important to prepare the employees in good time in the event of any transformation in an organization so that they may prepare themselves for the same.
The father appears to have only short term goals as he is not concerned about the growth of the company but rather the sales that the company is making. It is common knowledge that the growth rate of a company, in the long run, is the real indicator of success in a company compared to the sales being made. The daughter on the other side has long term goals in mind which is one of her strong points as a leader in the organization. She is concerned about the growth rate, the future of the company with its raw material being threatened, the possibility of mergers and using information technology as a tool to grow the company. All these are long term ambitions (Adair, 2010).

Conclusion

The father and daughter can use the moral compass to contribute to the success of the company by making decisions based on what is right or wrong. Fr example using the moral compass, it would be prudent if the father and daughter to find a new source of raw materials or a new way of producing invitation cards other than paper due to the environmental impact of cutting down trees.

References

Adair, J. E. (2010). Strategic leadership: How to think and plan strategically and provide direction. London: Kogan Page.
Bradt, G. B., Check, J. A., & Pedraza, J. E. (2011). The new leader's 100-day action plan: How to take charge, build your team, and get immediate results. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Wooden, J., & Jamison, S. (2009). Coach Wooden's leadership game plan for success: 12 lessons for extraordinary performance and personal excellence.