Practical Problems in Organizations Cases in Leadership, Organizational Behavior, and Human Resources

This volume organizes and presents 42 field-based cases in leadership and organizational behavior. The cases are organized roughly according to the general leadership framework included inLevel Three Leadership,Second Edition, by this editor and as shown below. Briefly put, the model suggests that effective leadership is a function of many elements including characteristics of the individual leader, that person's strategic view of what tasks to select and pay attention to, that person's ability and willingness to influence others toward that vision, and that person's ability to design and implement organizational forms and systems that unlock the potential of its members. These four leadership initiatives--strategic thinking, influencing others, designing high-performance organizations, and leading change--are represented by the northeast, northwest, north-south, and southeast axes, respectively, in the model in Figure 1. The collection of cases presented here is intended to allow students to explore practical realities of leading on each of these axes. This model assumes that conversations about leadership are really about leading strategic change. My premise is straightforward: One cannot talk about leadership and not talk about strategy without asking, "Leadership for what and to what end?" Likewise, one cannot talk about leadership without talking about leading change, because if there is no change, there is no leadership. These and related ideas and concepts are laid out in detail inLevel Three Leadership. The cases all revolve around leadership and related issues in organizational behavior--managing people in organizations. The cases were chosen in part to represent a variety of industries, protagonist gender, diversity, international settings, and level in organizational hierarchy. Many of the cases are new. Some that reflect classic issues and have proved themselves in the classroom have more dated copyrights. While we acknowledge that many business problems today are unique and require fresh perspective, we also note that human behavior has enduring qualities. One challenge in managing people is to use what we have learned over the last century and to augment our understanding of human behavior as it occurs in the modern context. This array of cases should allow one to do that. Instructors may or may not wish to useLevel Three Leadership,Second Edition, as a companion text with the cases presented here. Both volumes can be used independently. One may use the text with a different set of cases (indeed, we often use a variety of cases from other schools to augment our curricula), and one may use this case book with other conceptual frameworks to illustrate and explore the practical realities of leadership in organizational settings. The merits of case method instruction have been debated over the last 50' years. Traditional researchers tend to discount the value of case method instruction, preferring to rely on theory introduction, memorization, and application. We assert, again, that case method is not atheoretical; rather, it provides the same dilemma that confronts a researcher--real-world phenomena and the challenge to deal with them. Further, the high level of involvement that open-case discussions engender in students raises their energy and retention levels significantly. Although one might use the cases in this volume without any theoretical overlay as a means of introducing the students to real problems in managing people in organizations, I believe in a balanced approach--introducing conceptual frameworks inLevel Three Leadership,Second Edition, and practical situations in this volume. Instructors can use either or both in whatever depth and degree they are most comfortable. When examining cases, we can include high levels of student involvement and participation, dealing with the realities of business iClawson, James G. is the author of 'Practical Problems in Organizations Cases in Leadership, Organizational Behavior, and Human Resources', published 2002 under ISBN 9780130083890 and ISBN 0130083895.