Comparative Public Sector Administration Assignment

Comparative Public Sector Administration - Assignment Example Based on Northouse's (2007) definition, of leadership — Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal – we gather that a leader’s style of functioning can have significant implications for the employees as well as the goals. In examining the case of Albert Dunlap, we can identify how this seems to occur. Albert Dunlap served as the Chief Executive officer at Sunbeam Corporation using a managerial style that was both ruthless and rigorous. The emphasis seems to have been on profit-making; to the extent that ethical behavior was deeply compromised to that end. There is supposed evidence of tampering with the revenue books; which if true, would be evidence of a selfish motivation to the ruthless attempt at making profits. Such behavior shows a marked lack of consideration for the staff’s needs or their due. According to Blake and Mouton’s (1957) model, these are signs of low concern for people and a high concern for tasks. Such a pattern of leadership is described as the ‘Authoritarian Leadership. The Authoritarian leader is focused on the task to exclusion of the people involved in completing the task. In the case of Albert Dunlap, this ‘task’ was creating as much profit as possible, and siphoning much of it into personal desires. This kind of leader views people as means to an end, and communicates only what s/he believes is essential to the task.