1. What type of leadership is the CFO displaying according to the directors? Can/should you believe their story?
Bligh et al. (2018) asserts that effective leaders must be able to influence their followers in a particular manner in order to achieve the desired goals. Thus, leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group to move towards a common objective (Freedom Learning Group, n.d.). In addition, today's enterprises require effective leaders with the ability to understand the complexities of a dynamic global environment and the rapidly changing consumer needs to achieve organizational priorities.
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The chief financial officer (CFO) at Finance in Informational Systems (FIT) manifests the autocratic leadership style. According to Kuntz et al. 92019) , an autocratic leader provides clear expectations on what needs to be accomplished, how, and when it should be accomplished with little or no input from colleagues. In autocratic leadership, there is a clear distinction between the leader and his/her subordinates. This is the style of leadership that the directors are describing. The directors allege that the CFO makes all the decisions independently without their input, leading to dissatisfaction among them (Freedom Learning Group, n.d.). According to the directors, the leadership style employed by the CFO involves authoritarian and absolute control over them because he generally makes the decisions based on his ideas and judgments without considering their advice.
As a consultant, it is important to consider the decisions made by the CFO from a management point of view. Therefore, to understand the decisions made by the CFO, I must consider how the decisions made looked from their position and their level before making an informed decision (Freedom Learning Group, n.d.). At this stage, I am not able to believe the directors' story about their CFO. However, I can listen to their allegations and evaluate if the issue could endanger the business, consumers, or employees. After that, I will employ a measured approach by investigating the issue to find out if the story by the directors is true. It is only after the investigations and drawing up conclusions on the matter that I can believe the story about the CFO from his directors.
2. Given the right circumstances and/or conditions, could this type of leadership actually be successful? Why/why not? Describe those circumstances/conditions?
Although the leaders who exhibit autocratic leadership may be seen as dictators, there are situations that this leadership style can be beneficial. For example, an autocratic leadership style can be useful in instances when decisions must be made quickly without consulting team members, or when the leader is more knowledgeable than his team members, or when the situation needs decisive actions (Bligh et al., 2018) . Furthermore, Kuntz et al. (2019) asserts that the autocratic leader makes decisions for other team members using personal observations and what they feel is most important or needed by the group or the project at that particular time. Therefore, given the right circumstances, this type of leadership can be successful.
When working with co-workers or team members on a project that gets hindered by lack of leadership, poor organization, and the inability to meet deadlines, autocratic leadership is required in such circumstances to provide direction (Bligh et al., 2018) . An autocratic leader can be effective in such a situation by providing clear workplace expectations, such as setting clear deadlines for completing projects and delegating tasks to different members (Freedom Learning Group, n.d.). This makes it possible for the co-workers to deliver the project on time and with each member providing equal contributions.
In times of crisis, such as in military assignments, an autocratic leadership style is more effective because they are well-equipped to make decisions in such situations. In addition, their expertise becomes an asset to enterprises because they are able to immediately correct the problem during a shortfall in any situation (Freedom Learning Group, n.d.). Also, this type of leadership style is effective when dealing with inexperienced teams. This is because employees can be productive by using the experience of the leader in achieving organizational objectives (Bligh et al., 2018) . Thus, working with an autocratic leader who provides clear guidelines and expectations makes the acclimating process to a new work environment easier for new employees.
3. What would you say to the CFO when they returned?
When the CFO arrives, I will take him to lunch. This provides a casual atmosphere away from work so that he feels less stressed and pressured and will be willing to focus on the issues raised by the directors. Then I would present the concerns from the directors, staying away from personal opinion. I will begin by stating that his directors feel left out in the decision-making process because he makes most if not all of them with minimal or no feedback from his subordinates. The directors' lack of requesting expertise or opinions has resulted in low morale among the directors because they are not trusted with important tasks and decisions that they have begun to question their value (Kuntz et al., 2019) . Thus, when the directors are challenging the hierarchy, this means that the leadership has a negative outcome on team performance.
As a result, the directors have found it challenging to thrive in an environment that does not promote initiative and collaboration. Also, the directors claim that your leadership does not encourage their best skills and are requesting to be engaged in the decision-making process. Hence, the directors feel frustrated and hindered because their contributions, ideas, choices, and judgments are not considered when making decisions (Kuntz et al., 2019) .
I will then request for feedback from the CFO about the concerns raised by the directors and then request him to establish meaningful relationships with the directors, and encourage employee initiative so that organizational performance and productivity is not affected.
References
Bligh, M., Kohles, J., & Yan, Q. (2018). Leading and learning to change: The role of leadership style and mindset in error learning and organizational change. Journal Of Change Management , 18(2), 116-141. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2018.1446693
Freedom Learning Group. (n.d.). Organizational behavior/human relations . Lumen Learning. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-organizationalbehavior/chapter/leadership-styles-and-topics/
Freedom Learning Group. (n.d.). Organizational behavior/human relations. Lumen Learning. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-organizationalbehavior/chapter/why-it-matters-leadership/
Freedom Learning Group. (n.d.). Organizational behavior/human relations . Lumen Learning. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-organizationalbehavior/chapter/the-history-of-leadership-theories/
Kuntz, J., Davies, B., & Naswall, K. (2019). From transactional to transformational. Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 40(7), 815-827. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj-01-2019-0012
