CSCM OMA Assignment February 2024

QUESTION ONE [5 marks]

Choose the best option in each case.
1. Which of the following are the approaches to the study of leadership
which emphasise the personality of the leader:/
A. Contingency theories
B. Group theories
C. Trait theories
D. Inspirational theories
2. Contingency theories of leadership based upon:
A. That there is no single style of leadership appropriate to all situations
B. That there is a single style of leadership appropriate to all managers
C. That there is a single style of leadership appropriate to all situations
D. None of the above
3. In the leadership theories of management, being a leader would mean
(A). effective leaders prioritize the needs and well-being of their followers
(B). leaders inspire and motivate their followers to achieve common goals by
communicating a concise and clear vision and mission of the organization
(C). leaders possess certain traits or qualities, such as intelligence, and self-
confidence,
(D). All of these

4. Which leadership style focuses on inspiring and motivating team

members towards a shared vision?
A) Autocratic
B) Democratic
C) Transactional
D) Transformational

5. In transformational leadership, what is the leader’s role in fostering

innovation and creativity?
A) Restricting new ideas
B) Encouraging risk-taking and creativity
C) Discouraging change
D) Imposing rigid structures

QUESTION TWO [10 marks]

Leaders and managers have different qualities. While a leader is creative, a
manager is persistent, and while a leader initiates change, a manager tends to be
stabilizing.

In about 80 words, illustrate the difference between a leader and a manager in

respect of the qualities highlighted above.

Candidates are expected to give real-life examples in their illustration.

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QUESTION THREE [35 marks]
Read the following descriptions on three well-known leaders and answer the
questions that follow.
STEVE JOBS
Steve Jobs is as notorious for his leadership style as he is for his black turtleneck.
His approach wasn’t without its flaws, and it certainly doesn’t need to be emulated
exactly.
However, there are plenty of lessons that can be extrracted from the way he led his
team and company, including:

 Hire the right people. Jobs reportedly considered hiring to be one of his most
important responsibilities. He knew he wouldn’t be at Apple forever, and he
wanted to feel confident in the team he was passing the torch to. He looked
for employees who shared his same values for innovation, passion, and high-
quality work.

 Push your employees to be their best. While expectations that are too
unrealistic can set employees up to fail, raising the bar inspires them to
achieve their best. In many ways, having high expectations shows them that
you trust them and you know they’re capable of more.

 Lead by example. One of the greatest things about Jobs was that he didn’t
expect his employees to live up to values that he didn’t embody himself. He
didn’t demand that his employees worked long hours while he was barely in
the office—he was right there with them, putting in the hard work.

 Follow your motivations (and let your employees follow theirs). Jobs was
known for being a bottomless pit of passion, and that would not have been the
case had his work not aligned perfectly with his own motivational traits. This
lesson can (and should!) be applied to your team and the projects they work
on.
Just because someone has the tech skills to do a certain task doesn’t mean it will
light them up. And if they work on something that isn’t a great fit for them for too
long, it will drain them of energy and put them at risk for burnout.
On the other hand, someone who is naturally excited to work on a project will be able
to sustain their passion for the work. They’ll even be eager to learn the tech skills
needed to do great work.
It’s safe to say that some elements of the way Jobs approached leadership were
worthy of applause while others would have benefitted from some softening and
refining. He may not have been the best leader, but he was certainly effective and,
perhaps most of all, memorable.
Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela had a dream that his people would be free one day. He didn’t stop
pursuing that dream, no matter what obstacles were put in his way. Even 27 years in

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prison didn’t stop him from continuing down the path which he felt was meant for him
to walk.

Above anything else, persistence is the key to unlocking the benefits which come
with Mandela’s leadership style.

Here are some of the additional qualities and traits that Mandela exhibited during his
time fighting against apartheid and later when he held political office.

1. Ethics

Although some people may disagree with the idea of violent protest, Mandela
embraced the idea when it was needed because he felt like there were things that
were morally right and morally wrong from a human standpoint. The minority white
leadership in South Africa attempted to stay in power at all costs, often harming the
majority population in untold ways in the name of justice. Mandela taught us that
there are times it is imperative to stand up and fight to protect your nation,
community, and family.

2. Communication

Mandela was arrested several times in the 1950s and 1960s before he was
sentenced to life in prison for his role in fighting apartheid. Even though the
government attempted to stop his ideas by cutting off his access to the rest of the
population, Mandela is proof that a clearly communicated idea can continue to live
on, even if the person who shared that idea is not physically present. If you are
consistent with your ideology and communicate your ideas to others, it is possible to
create the change in the world that you wish to see.

3. Charisma

Mandela had great ideas for his people that would eventually lead them into a new
South Africa. Without his charisma and passion, it is entirely possible that his ideas
would have been ignored. There was a certain enthusiasm that Mandela provided
which created strong emotional connections with people. He was unafraid to do what
he felt was necessary to stand up for his beliefs. This inspired many more people to
stand up for what they believed as well, which eventually allowed them all to form a
new nation.

4. Inspiration

To inspire people, Mandela lived by a philosophy of showing people what he meant

instead of telling them. By showing people his vision, he encouraged them to
develop their own thoughts and understanding of what was important for an equal
South Africa. Mandela would often travel throughout the country, delivering
speeches and meeting with local leaders, to discuss his ideas and show them

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results. By encouraging everyone to work together, it became possible to create a
democratic nation out of the ashes of apartheid.

5. Transformation

Long before he began to publicly fight apartheid, Nelson Mandela was already
transforming expectations within his country. With his partner, Oliver Tambo, he was
able to open the first legal practice that was founded by Black South Africans in
1952. His work became part of the struggle to have people become aware of the
Freedom Charter that circulated at the time. It was his idea, that he deserved
equality, that began to light the fires of freedom in other people too.

Nelson Mandela taught us the importance of standing up for what we think is right.
He applied his leadership concepts to his country, eventually inspiring the end of
apartheid and the beginning of a new chapter. If it is time to start a new chapter in
your life, Mandela’s example is an excellent one to follow.

Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks

Howard Schultz developed a vision and then made it into a reality in partnership with
Starbucks’ other employees. His vision was for Starbucks to be a “third place”
between home and work and that Americans would pay $3-5 for a cup of coffee.
Schultz used his charismatic personality and values to develop a transformational
work environment at Starbucks that built a coffee empire. He uses motivation,
influence and referent power to overcome business obstacles and achieve shared
success.

Evidence of Howard Schultz leadership qualities are a key component of the

Starbucks operation. In the most obvious example, Starbucks refers to all its
employees as, “partners” and offers them stock options and health care benefits (for
both full and part-time employees) . He writes, “From the beginning of my
management of Starbucks, I wanted it to be the employer of choice, the company
everybody wanted to work for.” Schultz realized that leadership was about the
people at the front lines doing the work to bring his vision to reality. He focused on
the employees and used his strong motivation and influence skills to achieve his
vision.

Schultz has also demonstrated the ability to motivate his employees both in terms of
direction and emotional intelligence. On the first day Starbucks was in business,
Schultz went to address the other Starbucks partners. He had three points written
down on a 5-by-7 note card that read, “1. Speak from my heart. 2. Put myself in their
shoes and 3. Share the Big Dream with them.”

When the response to Schultz’s first speech was a combination of scepticism and
guarded optimism, he recognized what he needed to do. Schultz knew he had to
develop referent, expert and position power in addition to his legitimate power role as
the CEO of Starbucks. He used the tactics of shared benefits, consultation and
collaboration, emotional calibration and consistency to motivate his new employees.
He writes, “The only way to win the confidence of Starbucks’ employees was to be

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honest with them, to share my plans and excitement with them and then follow
through and keep my word, delivering exactly what I promised – if not more.”

Schultz focused on outcomes, satisfaction and trust to build employee commitment

to Starbucks, which minimized turnover and retained employees who were aligned to
the vision and brand for Starbucks. He writes, “A business plan is only a piece of
paper, and even implemented properly is not complete unless the people are
committed to it with the same heartfelt urgency as their leader.” When Starbucks lost
its way, in Schultz’s eyes, he closed all Starbucks locations temporarily for
mandatory training, including lessons on how to make the perfect espresso shots.

Schultz has impacted not only the Starbucks partners who have grown and thrived
with the company, but also the patrons of Starbucks. In his book Onward: How
Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing its Soul, Schultz describes the reactions
of patrons when they learn that their neighborhood Starbucks was closing due to the
suffering performance of the company, when, at one point, it was nearly at the brink
of bankruptcy. They felt the loss on a deep emotional level because of what the store
meant to the community. Schultz describes stories where people reacted emotionally
to the announcement that the store they frequent was closing. One woman in
Minnesota wrote, “I can’t believe that ‘my’ Starbucks is closing. You never know how
important a place is until you are about to lose it.”
The impact of the Starbucks that Schultz created has impacted me many people. A
witness had this to share from a Starbucks: It is incredible to me to witness what
Schultz had as vision coming to life in front of me. I was recently in one of the first
Starbucks locations. The layout, the service, and the atmosphere was exactly how
Schultz would have described it to a potential investor, partner or customer. There
was a romance to the coffee service, and sitting there doing work at a table and
drinking from my own personalized cup of coffee was surely a small but meaningful
luxury. Knowing how much work it took Schultz to achieve that vision, including
overcoming many sceptics and frequent trips to Italy, made the taste of my
peppermint mocha even sweeter.

You task:
a) Identify the leadership style of each of the leaders described
above. (10 marks)
Each identification will need substantial justification to be seen as
appropriate.
b) In about 100 words, , propose an appropriate leadership style that
you, as a Civil Service leader, would adopt when transforming the
civil service, making the public officers better facilitators and
more effective and efficient in the delivery of their tasks. (15
marks)
 Candidates may opt to propose one of a number of different leadership styles.
An academic response is not necessarily required, although reference to
appropriate supporting theory on leadership will help.

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 c) In about 80 words, outline a suitable range of leadership skills
that would have been required for you to make the
transformation a success. (10 marks)
 Candidates are expected to refer to relevant theories in response to this
question.
Marks will be awarded for appropriate proposals and supporting explanation.