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II. Synopsis: Airstar, Inc.

Airstar, Inc. manufactures, repairs, and overhauls pistons and jet engines for smaller, often
privately owned aircraft. The company has a solid niche, and most managers have been with the
founder for over 20 years. With the founder’s death five years ago, Roy Morgan became
president. Mr. Morgan has called you in as a consultant. Your research indicates that this
industry is changing rapidly. Airstar is feeling encroachment from large conglomerates and its
backlog of orders is the lowest in several years. Senior managers are not sure what direction to
take. Morgan confides that organizing should be as easy as dividing the work into simple,
logical, routine tasks. Tasks are assigned superficially in an informal manner. Communications
are atrocious. Responsibilities overlap.

1. What is your reaction to this conversation? What would you say to Morgan to help him lead
the organization?

Morgan has an outdated view. He is managing under the assumptions of a stable, predicable
environment. Explaining that today's environment is changing and chaotic would help him
rethink his position as leader of the organization.

Morgan needs both leadership and management skills to provide direction for Airstar.
Management focuses on establishing detailed plans and schedules for achieving specific results,
then allocating resources to accomplish the plan. Leadership calls for creating a compelling
vision of the future for Airstar and developing farsighted strategies for producing the changes
needed to achieve that vision. A vision is a picture of an ambitious, desirable future for the
organization or team. To be compelling for followers, the vision has to be one that Airstar
employees can relate to and share. Morgan needs to develop his leadership skills.

2. To what extent do you rate both Morgan and Robinson as a good manager versus a good
leader according to the dimensions in Exhibit 1.3?

Overall Morgan and Robinson rank low in the dimensions of a good manager.

 Direction: Morgan and Robinson rank low on direction which includes planning. The
organization is under threat, and they are not sure which direction to take. They have
considered potential acquisitions, imports and exports, more research, and additional
repair lines.
 Alignment: Robinson ranks far higher than Morgan on alignment which includes
organizing and staffing. Robinson believes in the “principles of good organization” that
written whereas Morgan assigned tasks informally.

 Relationships: Morgan ranks low on relationships which includes acting as boss. The
employees write their own job descriptions and there is a significant amount of conflict.

 Personal qualities: Robinson ranks much higher on personal qualities than Morgan
because he has management expertise and insight into the organization. He proposed that
the group study the organizational chart and the various corporate business tasks.

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 Outcomes: They rank low on the management dimension of outcomes. They can’t
maintain stability. The organization is being increasingly chaotic, and instead of creating
a culture of efficiency, there is a duplication of work and poor communication.

Neither Robinson nor Morgan rank high in the dimensions of leadership.

 Direction: neither has created a vision and a strategy for the company.

 Alignment, neither has created a shared culture that helps employees grow.

 Relationships, Robinson includes others more than Morgan, but neither really motivates
followers.

 Personal qualities: There is no emotional connection between Robinson or Morgan and

the employees of the company.

 Change: Robinson is trying to bring about change but Morgan realizes that he is part of
the problem.

3. If you were to take over as president of Airstar, what would you do first? Second? Third?

First, the president should make sure that Morgan gains some leadership skills. Leadership takes
practice and hands-on experience. Knowing about leadership research would help Morgan
analyze situations from a variety of perspectives and learn how to be a more effective leader.
Morgan should study leadership training and develop a vision for the future of Airstar in a
changing environment. Second, Morgan should align employees to carry out the vision for
Airstar. Third, Morgan must develop personal relationships to motivate and energize others and
to unlock the personal qualities of Airstar's employees so they can work toward the fulfillment of
Airstar's vision.

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