Theory Final Exam

8/3/2019 Theory Final Exam

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Final Exam 1

Kenyon Stanley

Dr. White

COMM 604

23 April 2011 Final Exam

In Adam Bryants interview with Drew Gilpin Faust, Faust reveals her preferred leadership style

through a qualitative question and answer session conducted by Bryant. Faust (the current President of

Harvard University), describes her early experience in leading and managing others at University of

Pennsylvania and her recent tenure at Harvard. After carefully studying the Faust interview and

interfacing the content with course material, it is clear that Faust subscribe to a Transformational

Leadership method. Faust is an effective leader who values empowering, supporting and motivating

others to reach a strategically implemented goal.

According to Eisenberg, E.M, Goodall, H.L. & Trethewey, A. (2010), transformational

leadership foregrounds organizational change and transformation as the essential task of effective leaders

(P.255). During the Faust interview, Faust describes her experience in spearheading organizational shift

at The University of Pennsylvania. Faust admits that she was leading a change in an organization that had

both shaped her and which had a following of extremely loyal colleagues. Faust realized that in order to

be an effective change agent, she would need to strategically communicate her vision to her subordinates

in order to obtain a genuine buy in. According to Eisenberg et al. (2010), transformational leaders

encourage leaders to think of themselves as stewards and workers to see themselves as stakeholders (p.

256). Additionally Eisenberg et al. (2010) went on to say that leaders should put less of an emphasis on

hierarchy and more of a strategic use of leading relationally. Thus leaders will have a full understanding

about the realities that employees are constantly creating, recreating and reifying in the workplace. By

understanding these realities, leaders, through empowerment and connecting relationally with the

workers, leaders can shape these realities towards a purposed goal and foster effective change and buy in

to a leaders vision. Faust addresses the concept of social reality in the workplace by recalling an


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Final Exam 2

experience wherein members in her department had created their own reality about how Faust had already

determined to hire certain people when in fact, Faust had no notion to hire those people. Faust mentioned

that she was forced to introspectively analyze herself and determine what messages she had sent that

would have contributed to the distorted reality her members had created. Its clear that Faust definitely

understands the need for a leader to not only understand implicit and explicit organizational realities, but

Faust also grasps the importance of strategically guiding the construction, reconstruction and reification

of socially constructed realities within the workplace. Fausts method for controlling (or guiding)

organizational reality can be identified by examining her answer to Bryants inquiry regarding what Faust

believed to be the most important leadership lessons she has learned.

Faust believes that understanding the special circumstances that may exist in the workplace is the

first step in achieving an effective leadership approach. Faust went on to describe the unique

organizational environment in a University by describing the vast amount of distributed authority among

different interdependent and independent departments. Furthermore, Faust noted that all of the people

under her have a stake in the institution. By recognizing that each organizational member is vested in the

organization, Faust is practicing the transformational leadership quality of recognizing that workers see

themselves as stakeholders, as stated in Eisenberg et al. (2010). Faust continued to explain how she

would recognize and implement an effective organizational approach. By dedicating an enormous

amount of time reaching out to people literally and digitally, Faust would be able to listen to the

employees needs and understanding where they are coming from. Once Faust felt that she has listened to

the employees she would direct their understandings of themselves into the goals of the institution. Faust

emphasized the importance of being creative during this approach through describing the many venues

(email, virtual meetings, face-to-face, Q & A sessions etc.). By effectively reaching a vested global

audience, Faust would be better able to strategically guide everyone towards a common goal. Although

Faust realizes that one cant please everyone, she believes that if everyone feels like they are listened to,

then there is greater likelihood that they will go along with a decisionin Fausts case, organizational


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Final Exam 3

change. Furthermore, Faust admitted to being a proponent of reaching out to other leaders on the campus

and soliciting ideas. In fact, she cited two instances wherein Faust went to an alum and the dean of

business school to truly listen to their ideas about effectively implementing organizational change. There

suggestions of investing in the people and constantly communicate were right in line with the traits

described in Transformational Leadership.

According to Eisenberg et al. (2010), effective leaders are supportive, motivating and

empowering. It is very clear that Faust is supportive by her continued efforts to reach out and actively

listen to her people. Eisenberg et al. (2010) continue to say that, supportive

communicationemphasizes active listening and taking a real interest in employees (p. 264). Faust

believes that by being supportive employees feel as though their voice has been heard and are easier to

motivate. Additionally, the incredible amount of time Faust dedicates to understand her employees is

recognized and the exchange of information between Faust and her employees creates an empowering

environment that allows Fausts Transformational Leadership style to succeed.

In conclusion, an argument can be made about Faust subscribing to a discursive leadership style.

After all, Fausts emphasis on leaders continually communicating with her subordinates is evident

throughout the interview. For example, Fausts recommendation to fellow leaders is to remain flexible to

the environment and always listen and convey to your audience that you have heard him/her or them.

However, due to Bryants interview focus regarding organizational change, its reasonable to assume that

Faust excels in effectively incorporating micro and macro change in some of the most prestigious learning

institutions in the world.


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Final Exam 4

Question 3

Daniel Pinks bookDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us is a prescriptive

argument that attempts to persuade organizations to change their methods regarding how to motivate their

workforces. Daniel Pink (2011) asserts performance and satisfactionat work, and at homeis the

deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves

and our world (p. 1). On the surface, Pinks theory is transformational and a game change that benefits

both employee and employer. After all, organizations would be pleased by the benefits of increased

productivity, increased worker satisfaction and significantly reduced turnover rates. Employees would be

happy with the notion that their organization is valuing creativity, innovation, employees achieving self-

actualization needs and benefitting a global community. Although all of the above-mentioned items are

great indicators that identify a forward thinking and responsible organization, left unchecked,

organizations are able to acquire the skills highlighted in Pinks book for manipulative purposes which

could steal an individuals need to direct, learn and do better and replacing them with corporate needs,

directives and goals.

I remember when I was interviewing for a management position at the Mens Shelter of

Charlotte. The Shelter was eager to hire me and was boasting about their placing a high value on family,

individual creativity, flexibility and passion for the homeless cause. This esprit-de-corps ideology was

also communicated in internal and external publications, social media outlets and in the news. It didnt

take long for me to see that the Shelter didnt value the individual and that the organizational expectation

was to put the needs of the agency over our own personal needs. The shelter was guilty of creating a

hegemonic ideology that robbed employees of their dedication to their families in order to serve the needs

of the shelter and the overall homelessness cause. In other words, what the Shelter said in words and on

paper didnt match their actions. Perhaps my previous studies in communication have sharpened my skills

to identify a bait and switch quickly and accurately. In any case, The Mens Shelter of Charlotte used

elements of Pinks prescriptive ideas to serve their own needs at the expense of the workers.


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Final Exam 5

According to Morgan, Gary (2006), Organizations perpetuate structures and practices that

promote workaholism and associated forms of social and mental illness (p. 298). The saving the world

mentality of the shelter is one of Pinks focal points in his argument. Pink suggests that effectively

motivating employees occurs when employees feel that they are bettering themselves and the world. The

Mens Shelter of Charlotte was a stressful and thankless job. Consistently underfunded and without

needed resources to affect permanent change in the lives of vulnerable homeless men, the executives

would attempt to increase the morale by holding weekly mandatory meetings wherein new initiatives

would be presented and accepted through coercive control techniques. My hours at the shelter were from

midnight to 8:30 in the morning and the meetings were at 2:00 p.m.right in the middle of my sleep

time. Therefore, these meetings were incredibly inconvenient for me to attend and whenever I would

attempt to back out of a meeting due to exhaustion, I was accused of not being truly passionate about the

cause of homelessness. Although that was not true in my case, I knew that if I didnt show up, my fellow

workers would see me as an outcast and not vested in serving the homeless. So, for some time, I would

sacrifice my sleep to attend meetings that were nothing more than fluff. Additionally, once a month, the

shelter would hold four hour meetings on Saturday mornings. Management would boast that these

Saturday mandatory meetings were designed to stimulate new ideas that would help the agency.

However, the groups were always assigned and leaders were appointed with a fixed agenda prepared by

the Executive Director. As one of the leaders, it was explained to me that it was my job to obtain buy in

from my group, not hear their ideas. In addition to believing that these sessions actually stifled creativity

and promoted groupthink, I devote Saturdays solely to my family. Therefore, I saw the Saturday as an

invasion into my family life. However, I wouldnt speak out for fear that my work peers would exercise

their power through concertive control and label me as a dispassionate worker.

According to Deetz, S. (1992), The tendency to move from a family and community centered

identity to a corporate one passes with little notice (p. 26). For me, Deetz is 100% correct. It didnt take

long for me to adopt the shelters ideology and sacrifice my precious time with my family in order to keep


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Final Exam 6

my identity with my work peers, subordinates and managers. The shelters intrusion into my home life is

one example of how organizations can misuse the steps prescribed by Pink. Additionally, nonprofits are

well known for exploiting their employees for whatever cause they serve. Although the purpose that

nonprofits serve are usually noble ones, manipulating and controlling employees is a dark side to the

nonprofit world that it not well known. These unethical practices lead to employee dissatisfaction,

resistance and an overall reduction in productivity. According to Eisenberg et al. (2010), Resistance is

distancing and defending themselves from organizational power (p. 160). Before I resigned at the

shelter, I was resisting the agency in a variety of ways. For example, on one occasion we were supposed

to have a Saturday morning meeting and it happened to fall on my wedding anniversary and we were

planning on going out of town for the weekend. Since I was normally off on the weekends, there was no

need to put in for a vacation request. Unfortunately, the executive director was rather irate when I told

him that I would not be attending. Unlike previous discussions regarding mandatory meetings, this time I

held my ground. When he told me that I wasnt dedicated to the cause, I responded by telling him that I

am dedicated to the cause but I am married to my wife. After a few moments of awkward silence, he

backed down. It was after this encounter with the executive director when I finally realized that the

shelter would intrude into my life at any time they think would benefit them. My response time to emails

significantly slowed down, I spent more time in the break room, I took longer lunches and I completely

stopped volunteering for anything. Furthermore, my actions were noticed by others engaging in

resistance and we began socializing during work time and discussing how the shelter isnt the great

agency they perpetuate themselves to be both internally and externally. Surprisingly, there were several

other management personnel in our cohort of resisting employees and some that were on a higher level

than me. The one thing we all had in common was an absolute disgust for the shelters continual

manipulation of employees in the name of homelessness. Something that Pink does not address while

emphasizing the importance of meeting the employees need to better themselves and the world.


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Final Exam 7

Question 2

Peter Claytons podcast interview with McDonalds Recruitment Manager Marcia Wolfe reveals

some interesting insight into how McDonalds shapes their employees identity into their successful yet

strict organizational boundaries which encompasses McDonalds organizational identity. While listening

to the podcast for the first time, I noticed that the target employee Wolfe was attempting to reach and

potentially recruit was unit level employees. Typically, unit level fast food employees are teenagers or

young adults, usually with a limited amount of education. However, in recent years, there has been an

increased amount of older and retired people entering the fast food industry. Wolfe effectively pitched

McDonalds to both cohorts by highlighting the benefits of McDonalds. First, Wolfe describes

McDonalds Ronald McDonald House program and boasts about how the program benefits communities

worldwide. Next, Wolfe goes over the access to health, dental and vision benefits that every crew

member is eligible to obtain. Although, in my mind, I was wondering what the cost of their health plan

is and how affordable would that plan be to a minimum wage worker. Although the dedication to the

Ronald McDonald House and health care are attractive to a job seeker, Wolfes emphasis on McDonalds

advancement opportunities is the main hook which would have a potential job seeker drinking the

McDonalds Kool Aid. Referring back to our class discussion on identity, I was struck by how Wolfe

successfully used the we as a currency in her pitch. Furthermore, Wolfe strategically used the identity

by association to reach McDonalds audience. After all, a high school graduate or a retired man or

woman are both struggling to find a new identity. Last year, my father had a stroke and was unable to

continue his practice as a therapist. This was and continues to be devastating for him. Although my

fathers finances are okay, creating a new identity continues to be a challenge for him.

According to Eisenberg et al. (2010), organizations regulate and control their members identities.

One way organizations do this is by explicating morals and values. When asked what kind of person is

McDonalds looking to hire, Wolfe emphasizes McDonalds employees rigid boundaries regarding values,

innovation, customer service and efficiency. Although Wolfe clearly lays out the expectations of how


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Final Exam 8

McDonalds employees are expected to conform to McDonalds and federal standards, a potential

employee would be ready to conform simply by the previous explanation of the attractive benefits and

opportunity for advancement that McDonalds have to offer. After all, I personally have adopted several

organizational identities in my lifetime.

Another component of the interview is how Wolfe targeted women in her target audience. First

of all, Wolfe herself is a successful woman working and thriving in the McDonalds organization.

Furthermore, the success story Wolfe cited was of a vice president who worked herself up through the

ranks and even had to take several busses in order to get to work. Wolfe basically argued that if an

ambitious student, single mother, or any young ambitious woman wanted to achieve success then

McDonalds would give her an opportunity. For a single mother, an organizations dedication to honoring

a sustainable work life balance would be critical in deciding whether or not a mother would seek

employment at McDonalds. After all, the parental identity is a boundary that has to be breached if

McDonalds wants to reach this audience. According to Eisenberg et al. (2010), women have struggled to

gain the ability to successfully negotiate work-life balance and to craft successful identities (p. 177).

Eisenberg (2010) continues to assert that the reason why women have struggled to obtain successful dual

identities is that women are hampered by social constructions of gender that encourage women to take

on significant duties in the private sphere, such as child care and domestic labor, once they get home from

work (p. 177). Wolfe successfully reaches the female audience by emphasizing McDonalds flex time

and flexible scheduling philosophy that would be extremely attractive to a female job seeker hoping to

find identity both inside and outside of her home.

In conclusion, I believe that Wolfe successfully reached her target audience and probably noticed

a spike in applicants following the podcast. However, although this assignment doesnt focus on critical

theory, the critical theorist inside of me cant help but come away from analyzing the presentation without

some questions. First, if McDonalds is hiring 50,000 people per day, I would like to know how many are

they firing, and why? Second, Wolfe boasts about McDonalds involvement in philanthropy through the


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Final Exam 9

Ronald McDonald house. How much involvement and access to the Ronald McDonald Program does a

unit level employee receive to the program? Does McDonalds require their employees to volunteer at

local facilities? Also, regarding the health care plan, how affordable is the plan and are they really good

benefits? Wolfe mentioned that employees have access to an on call nurse. What about urgent care? I

digress. Forgive me Dr. White. Although I came away from listening to this podcast 12 times with more

questions than answers, the target audience of McDonalds and Wolfe were successfully reached and

influenced. After all, in this economic climate there are more job seekers than job providers. I would be

interested to see how McDonalds strategically recruits employees after the economy recovers and some of

their unit level personnel realize that their qualifications are valued elsewhere.

THANKS FOR ANOTHER AWESOME CLASS


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Final Exam 10

References

Bryant, A. (2009) The New York Times. Leadership without a secret code.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/business/01corner.html

Deetz, S. (1992). Democracy in an age of corporate colonization: Developments in the communication

and the politics of everyday life. NJ: SUNY Press.

Eisenberg, E.M., Goodall, H.L., Jr., & Trethewey, A. (2010). Organizational

communication: Balancing creativity and constraint (6th

Edition). Boston: Bedford/St.

Martins.

Morgan, G. (2006).Images of organization. Thousand Oaks: CA. Sage

Publications, Inc.

Pink, Daniel (2011). A summary of the bookThe Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Retrieved

from http://www.danpink.com/drive . (couldnt find the exact way to cite this source)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/business/01corner.html

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Theory Final Exam