Skills of a good leader play the vital role in company management.

This case study

report presents an analysis of leadership theories, approaches, and styles of four candidates

for the job at Global Delivery Direct, the global delivery organisation in Norfolk. The main

objective of the paper is to identify company leader in the potential candidates who will fit

the twenty-first-century leadership model to be the head of the new boutique services

department. Among the key concepts addressed in this report are leadership theories, styles,

and approaches. In order to gain the purpose of the study, the comparative analysis was

performed. The data was obtained by considering results of the interview of the owner of the

company Andrew Rockfish with the candidates.

For several years much effort has been devoted to the studies of leadership theories.

Previous research has demonstrated that there are four of them that had been popular at the

particular decade. As stated by Boundless (2016), Great Man theory was the first American

business leadership method in Post-War and Depression era. Daft (2008) suggested that

contingency theory existed during American business growth in 1960 80, influence theory

was in 1980 2000 and modern relational model of leadership emerged in 2000 (p. 68).

After studying the background information about Global Delivery Direct, prevalent

leadership theory, approach and style were identified. The data is shown in Table 1. In the

words of Adrian Cheng, the company stuff members have the modern philosophy that they

must give the customers the best of their time and service. For that reason, the companys

leadership theory is relational. The mission of the organisation is personal service and

friendliness. Consequently, its leadership style is servant. Its approach is to spend as much

time as it takes to make the customer satisfied with the service.

 Global Delivery Direct
Leadership theory Leadership style Leadership approach
Relational Servant To spend as much time as it

takes to make the customer

satisfied with the service

Table 1.

In order to make right choice of the candidate to the new manager position, it was

necessary to analyze Rockfishs interview with them and deduce from their answers and

suggestions different values and attitudes to the role of leader. Table 2 outlines the obtained

results.

Candidate Leadership theory Leadership style Leadership

approach
Henrietta Raynard Great Man Transactional (as she To be objective,

said) and practical, controlled

authoritarian and fair

(Rockfishs

conclusion)
Orson Hernandez Contingency theory Laisse-faire No approach
Jonathan Livingston Relationship theory Transformational To look for

leadership

opportunities and

encourage

employees
Adrianna Coyote Relationship theory Servant with the To encourage others

touch of

authoritarian
Table 2.

One of the most significant differences between all four candidates is their leadership

style choice. Since the first candidate, Henrietta Raynard likes Great Man theory where the

leader was considered as hero who controls everybody and everything. Furthermore, she

admitted that she wanted her opinions and suggestions to be always welcome. So, she seems

to be really authoritarian. On the contrary, second candidate Orson Hernandez is flexible and

compassionate. Moreover, he likes to encourage creativity and inspiration of the workers to

make efforts for companys growth is the tendency of contingency theory of leadership.

Laisse-fair style lets him motivate freedom among employees.

Third candidate Jonathan Livingston has very firm handshake and constant eye

contact that are the signs of being confident, active and open. In addition, he believes good

relations with the followers to be one of the most important things of leadership and his

approach aims to look for new opportunities. This suggestion is an explanation of his

leadership relationship theory and transformational style choice.

The last candidate Adrianna Coyote is the manager of Global Delivery Direct airport

station and is aware of how the company operated. She knows its shipping ways, policies,

and ethics. Her flexibility and innovative ideas are the peculiarities of relationship theory.

Since she tries to serve her employees by considering their needs, she demonstrates her

people-first attitude. This means that her leadership style is servant.

After comparing data from the two tables illustrating leadership skills of candidates

and organizational structure of Global Delivery Direct it is possible to determine what person

is the best fit for the job. Henrietta Raynard pays much attention to discipline of employees

and prefers stability. Besides that, her chosen leadership theory completely differs from
theory of the organization. For that reason, she is bad fit for Global Delivery Direct which

priorities are flexibility, innovation, and constant change.

Orson Hernandez said that he used incentive motivational techniques. He is more

insightful, loyal and flexible than Raynard, understands the idea of a mobile packaging store.

Nevertheless, he is not sure to be the best fit because he does not have any leadership

approach and prefer contingency theory which is not similar to company's relationship one.

Unlike Hernandez, candidate Jonathan Livingston has virtually the same favourite

leadership theory as Global Delivery Direct. Furthermore, he knows about the company

policies and his current work is for IT department at competitive organisation. For this

reason, he can bring a big picture perspective to the new firm. So, Livingston has slightly

higher rating than Hernandez. Due to the fact that his leadership style is transformational, he

is not quite a convenient candidate for the job.

Table 3 represents the ratings of all four candidates in comparison.

Candidate 1 No Fit 2 Bad Fit 3 Not Sure 4 Good Fit 5 Best Fit

Raynard +

Hernandez +

Livingston +

Coyote +

Table 3.

It can be seen from the table that Adrianna Coyote is the best fit for the job. This

candidate has entirely different leadership values from Raynard and Hernandez. She is

somewhat better prepared for the job than Livingston because she works at the airport station

of this organization. Coyote is totally aware of deadlines and culture of the company. Other

important reasons for this include her preference of exactly the same leadership theory and

servant style as Global Delivery Direct model. Since Adrianna Coyote is very authentic and

gives her employees the chance to be happy at their workplace she is recommended for the
job. It is essential for the company to hire her for that position because she has researched

Mail on Wheels and looked closely at its operations.

To sum up, this paper has demonstrated an in-depth analysis of leadership skills,

values, and attitudes of different people. It has been made the estimation of their leadership

theories, styles, and approaches and found the candidate best fit for the manager position. It

has been shown that Adrianna Coyotes leadership approach was ideal for Global Delivery

Direct as she can make the necessary changes in its functional and organisational structures.

References:

Boundless. (2016, May 26). Four theories of leadership. (Version 9). Boundless Management.

Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-

management-textbook/leadership-9/defining-leadership-68/four-theories-of-

leadership-344-7580/

Daft, R. L. (2008). The leadership experience (5th ed.). Mason, OH: South-western Cengage

Learning.