One way to think about leadership is to think of it as an informal source of authority.
Whereas companies officially put some people in position of authority over other people (called managers or supervisors), sometimes individuals influence others around them without the benefit of the official authority. Of course, at times, formal managers will also be informal leaders, but that is not necessarily the case. Another way to think about leadership is to think of the way people react to leaders. Whereas formal managers have the right to direct their subordinates to do what they want, leaders inspire their fellow workers to do their best or to follow them. Either way, leaders show the way.
In this assignment, students should read the Bistro Champlain case study and prepare a
Word document (saved as a .doc or a .docx) that answers the following questions.
- How can the leadership of one of the main characters in the case (Emile, Gillian, Robert, or Sylvia) be explained?
Leadership can be analyzed using the following theories: Traits theories (Big Five personality framework or Emotional Intelligence), Behavioral theories (Ohio State Studies and Michigan’s Survey Research Center), Contingency theories (Fiedler model, Situation leadership theory, Path-goal theory, Leader-participation model), Charismatic theory, and Transformational theory.
Students should choose one of those theories to analyze the leadership of one of the characters in the case (Emile, Gillian, Robert, or Sylvia). Each analysis should be theoretically justified (so the theory behind it should be presented, described, and explained) and illustrated with information from the case (either talking about what is going on the case or quoting the case directly). - Given the leadership theory chosen and the character chosen, how do the students expect the other people in the case to react to their character if that character maintains his or her current course of action (this is to say, if nothing changes, what will happen at that restaurant)?
- What needs to change about the leadership in this restaurant (and how) to ensure at least its survival and at best its thriving?
- In general, which theory appears to be the best one to understand the phenomenon of leadership in organizations and why?
BISTRO CHAMPLAIN
In February 2008, Emile Fortin2, 46, quit his accounting job to start his own business. A sociable individual, Mr. Fortin could no longer imagine himself aligning numbers all day long. So, with the full support and the constant collaboration of his spouse, Gillian, his creative sidekick, he opened mid-august, a small independent bistro in the midst of a local shopping mall (a common location where they live). Slowly, the bistro’s reputation and popularity have increased, thanks to its original cuisine, its relaxed atmosphere, and its reasonable prices. Currently, the bistro employs 28 people: 2 hostesses, 11 servers, 5 busboys, 6 cooks, and 4 dishwashers.
From the beginning, the bistro has taken a big place in the life of the family. From the beginning, Emile and Gillian involved their three sons. Alan, 18, helped his mother with the purchases. John, 17, did some cleaning. Robert, then 16, chose to be a busboy on weekends. Today still, almost all restaurant-related issues are discussed by the five members of the Fortin’s family at Sunday’s brunch (since the Bistro is closed on Sundays and Mondays). Vacations are even often consumed by the restaurant, occasions to remodel or do some upkeep or rethink the menu. For example, Gillian, who is in charge of everything related to food, often tests new recipes during her time off. Emile, who is in charge of everything related to the administration of the place, never hesitates to help whoever needs help. As for the children, Robert is the one who has stayed with the restaurant work, has learned from it, and hopes to get more and more involved with it.
After cleaning up the tables, Robert started serving tables. Eventually, Robert took up managing the restaurant on Saturday nights. As such, he now organizes the work of the crew for this most important night. Even though he is younger than most of the people he supervises (He is now 20), he seems to have managed to earn their respect. They listen to him, and they do as he asks. He probably respects them and listens to them as much as they him. In fact, never did the people with whom he works opposed him in any way nor did they ever comment negatively on his work or misbehave in his presence or get angry at him. On the contrary, under his supervision, his Saturday night crew generally arrives early to start preparing the night before their shift officially start, and most of them (with the exception of the single parents amongst the workers) tend to stay after their shift to share a late night meal and finish preparing the restaurant for the next opening night.
Robert’s ambition is to stay in the restaurant business. To acquire more knowledge about management, he has started a bachelor degree in business administration after high school. He hopes to become a more active participant in the decision-making process of his parents’ restaurant once he graduates.
During his freshman year, Robert met a young lady, Sylvia, whom he started dating. Sylvia is a generous soul. Rapidly integrated in the family circle (Mrs. Fortin adores her), Sylvia became quickly fascinated by the working of the restaurant. When she and Robert started dating, Sylvia came to the restaurant to wait for the end of his shift. While she waited, she often helped the people around her. If the hostess was busy, she would welcome new patrons; if a table was dirty, she would clean it up; if she were to see empty glasses of water, she would fill them up. Servers and busboys alike started to count on her. On busy weekends, they even asked for her help taking orders or cleaning up.
Sylvia is an only child. At the restaurant, she easily made friends. In fact, Robert’s family and the restaurant’s crew seem to have become her family. She is happy to be of use to them. She really likes helping. When she works (voluntarily), since she mostly work during the busiest days of the week, incidents often happen, weird clients often happen, odd situations often happen. All who have work in a restaurant know how weird things can get when too many exhausted staff members have to respond to too many odd requests from too many annoying customers while barely staying awake at the end of a long, tiring shift. Sylvia, who sees it all without being responsible for any of it (despites the fact that she helps), often end up using her storytelling talent to recount those events to Mr. and Mrs. Fortin around the family table. Sylvia is usually hilarious, and Robert’s parents delight in hearing her tell those stories of mishaps and mayhems.
In September of this year, the restaurant’s clientele increased so much that Mr. Fortin decided to hire new people in the kitchen and on the floor. He has offered a job to Sylvia who has accepted enthusiastically. She and Robert plan to marry and want to put as much money aside as they can. Her hiring is to the other servers’ likings as well. In fact, they were starting to feel a little uncomfortable having Sylvia do so much work for free. So, having her being paid for what she does seems fairer to all involved.
In her new salaried position, Sylvia feels more responsible about what is happening around her. What she considered amusing anecdotes, she now views as problems. Robert is slowly developing the same negative attitude toward those then-funny events. In reaction, he has tried to use his newfound knowledge of management to remedy what he has identified as a problem, most of the time, to no avail. He and Sylvia are becoming so consumed by these work-related activities and responsibilities that Mr. and Mrs. Fortin are starting to think that the restaurant is no longer performing well on Saturday nights.
Emile, always the energetic man of action, has decided to “correct the situation.” Since all he and Gillian know of what is happening on Saturday nights come from the stories Sylvia continues to tell during Sunday’s brunch, Emile has started using these stories as the basis of his actions. For example, Sylvia’s receipts are higher on average than anyone else on the floor (and Robert confirms this). She claims that she sells more because she always offers her clients a cocktail (even if just a beer), an appetizer, and a dessert in addition to suggesting more “exotic” (understand pricy) combination of food. On the basis on her stories, Emile has met with the rest of his servers and has asked them to start doing what Sylvia does. Since the staff was incredulous, Emile showed them Sylvia’s receipts to prove to them that it could be done.
Since then, certain servers have tried to modify their behaviors to match Sylvia’s techniques, and the weekends’ total receipts have increased.
However, Robert and Sylvia seem to have more difficulties than before dealing with the rest of the crew. Last month, Robert had to fill in the beer refrigerators himself because the person responsible for it arrived exactly when his shift started and left exactly when his official shift ended. Other people have started doing the same thing, arriving at the last minute just in time to start working, and no longer lingering after work to finish things up. Last week, a server called in sick at the last minute, and no one else Robert called could make it that night. As for Sylvia, her
sales have first stalled and are now declining maybe as a result of the being assigned tables with single clients or elderly couples. In addition, many of her clients have started complaining that the food served was lukewarm at best, and her tips have also declined. Robert and Sylvia are under the impression that the other members of the crew are switching topics when either of them walks by. Yesterday, Sylvia realized that her best friend had had a shower for her impending wedding. She had not known about it and had clearly not even been invited (nor has she received an invitation for the wedding itself).
Robert is troubled by what he sees happening at the restaurant. Wanting to understand what is happening, he has come to talk to his Organizational Behavior’s professor.
Framework for Answer
First paragraph = Students should introduce the case (What is this case all about?) Students should do the following:
• summarize the situation (2 point),
• theoretically introduce the topic of leadership: this is to say, students should explain what “leadership” is according to the textbook (2 points),
• introduce the task at hand: this is to say, students should announce what they will do in the paper (2 point).
In the next set of paragraphs (minimum three paragraphs), students should answer the first question: How can the leadership of their chosen character (Emile, Gillian, Robert, or Sylvia) be explained? Students should choose ONE theory of leadership and ONE character and proceed as follow:
• write an introductory paragraph presenting (and explaining) the theory they will use to explain their character’s leadership (10 points),
• write a middle paragraph applying the theory to their character (10 points)
• write a concluding paragraph summarizing the leadership of their character according to that theory (10 points).
These analyses should be justified by the theory chosen and illustrated with information from the case.
Fifth paragraph = Students should answer the second question: Given the leadership theory chosen and the character chosen, how do the students expect the other people in the case to react to their character if that character maintains his or her current course of action (this is to say, if nothing changes, what will happen at that restaurant)? (4 points)
Sixth paragraph = Students should answer the third question: What needs to change about the leadership in this restaurant (and how) to ensure at least its survival and at best its thriving? Students should explain what needs to change, using a theory of leadership to justify their suggestion (4 points). Students should explain how that change would be introduced, using a theory of leadership to justify their suggestion (4 points)
Seventh paragraph = Students should answer the fourth question: In general, which theory appears to be the best one to understand the phenomenon of leadership in organizations and why? If they were to only remember one theory of leadership, students should suggest one theory (the one they have previous used to analyze the case or another) that best explain most of the leadership phenomenon in organizations (4 points). Students should say why they think that theory is the best one to remember (4 points).
Eighth paragraph = Students should conclude this leadership analysis. Students should do the following: wrap up their analysis with a brief summary of what they have specifically discovered or inferred about their chosen character’s leadership skills (2 point) and what they have discovered about leadership in general (2 point).
Grading:
This assignment will be graded on content only. If students present a text that contains all the elements required, they will earn 60 points.
This assignment requires a minimum of 8 paragraphs Note that a standard paragraph contains a minimum of 3 sentences. Each paragraph with less than three sentences will cost students 1 point.
The context of the assignment (formatting, grammar, spelling, proper citation techniques, etc.) will be assessed, and points will be subtracted at 0.3 points per mistake with a maximum deduction of 3 points.
The presence of the proper file extension and identification header will always be verified. The absence of either will cost students 2 points. (See Syllabus for an example).
• Improper file extension = -2 points
• Absence of a proper identification header at the top of the page = -2 points
• Less than three sentences in a paragraph = -1 point