Reference no: EM131666021

SCENARIO:

Mary hopes she has what it takes in her new management position, because it is clearly a tough situation. She has taken this management job to get ahead, but she knows that she might fail. Her predecessor did! She has been a line supervisor in the agency for 7 years, but in a different division. Therefore she does know the work well. It is the specific production and interpersonal problems that are what she will need to master according to the mandate of her division head.

Three supervisors report to Mary in her new job. Barry and Armando are both near retirement and both are relatively good managers instinctively. It is hard to fault them on anything specific but is easy to fault them in general. They are both entirely reactive in their management style. Barry sees his main job as preventing problems and he does a fairly good job at doing so. Armando likes to fix problems, and because he does not monitor his staff well, there are always plenty of problems to fix. Neither of them have instituted many process improvements in their units in years. This attitude has affected their staff too. The easy-going style of the two has made for pleasant working conditions and little turnover. Only a couple of employees exhibit outright laziness, but most of their employees are relatively nonchalant in their style. The work will get done when it gets done, even if a backlog is typical. (Of course some employees are quietly diligent and efficient despite the work climate.) Clients sometimes complain about the limited hours, waiting times for appointments, slow response time in completing the process, and the number of 'hands' that seem to have to handle their cases. They also feel somewhat intimidated by staff who it is often felt provide more scrutiny and tougher standards for those who complain.

Elena is a new supervisor, just barely preceding Mary. She was promoted from the line being the most efficient. Since she is just finishing an MPA, is very eager to make a difference. However, her predecessor was relatively similar supervisor to Barry and Armando. Further, the atmosphere that exists in the other units also exists in hers too. Elena would like to change that--to make her unit more productive--but she is concerned. The group sticks together and has made it clear in subtle ways that she will find unified opposition if she tries to raise production or quality standards very much. She has told this to Mary.

Mary's immediate predecessor did not last long. He came in to 'whip the place into shape.' The joke among staff is that he was the one who got the whipping. He passed down more directives and new rules in six months than had occurred in the last 20 years. It caused havoc. At first the work slowdown was caused by the confusion, but even as the new rules were better understood and might have yielded real productivity gains, a conscious work slow-down occurred. He overstepped his bounds slightly several times in terms of reprimanding employees (on purely technical grounds), but the union successfully 'nailed' him and his orders were countermanded. When he left, many cheered as he had quickly become widely disliked.

Mary has some advantages that her predecessor did not have. Specifically, she can see what he did and figure out why it failed. The division director is very supportive and aware of the difficult situation, and at least one of the supervisors is new and cooperative. One of the new challenges is that the staff have 'tasted blood' and have a sense of their own power.

QUESTION:

Analyze the problem using Path Goal Theory. Use Path Goal Theory to propose a strategy for Mary. (Minimum of 12 sentences)