Leadership Principles

             In the case study, The Micromanager, the reader is introduced to George Latour, CEO of Retronics, a software engineering firm, damaged by the dot-com bubble burst, but with desires to eventually go public. The organization is struggling and George's job is on the line. To make matters worse, he runs into conflict with Shelley Stern, the new marketing director hired by Retronics' Chairman. Shelley's performance has been in question, and she hasn't lived up to the great expectations George had expected, given the Chairman's response to her hire. Shelley is able to handle individual projects, yet is unable to perform the more comprehensive management of the organization's marketing, in general. Interestingly, George too is found to hyperfocus on small pieces, and managing the organization, in general, is suffering.
             George is a traditional micromanager. His detail-oriented nature likely served him well as an engineer; however, now that he is charged with leading an entire organization, this could be cause for trouble. As "a seasoned executive with impressive engineering credentials" (Goodnight, Goulston, Lawrie, & Chappelow), George likely worked his way up the organizational ladder, and as such is familiar with the work that needs to be done. Lloyd notes that micromanagers often find satisfaction in doing work, and for this reason like to do it themselves, or, at the very least, tell their employees exactly how the work is to be done.
             We see with George's interaction with his child, as well as his interaction with Shelley and project manager Rich Harmon, that George is a perfectionist, with a desire to be immersed in the details. He checks his employees' work, to make certain its done exactly as he would've done it – or how he's instructed them to have it done. On occasion, this serves the organization well, as in the case when he was able to help Rich locate a section of code that could be reused, that...

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Leadership Principles. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 07:56, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/202979.html