CASE STUDYSALES ENGINEERIGN DIVISIONWhen Tractor and Equipment International, a manufacturer of refinery equipment, brought inKwame Mensah to manage its Sales Engineering division, company executives informed himof the urgent situation. Sales Engineering, with 20 engineers, was the highest paid, besteducated, and least productive division in the company. The instructions to Mensah: "Turn itaround. Mensah called a meeting of the engineers. He showed great concern for theirpersonal welfare and asked point blank: "What's the problem? Why can't we produce? Whydoes this division have such turnover?"Without hesitation, employees launched a hail of complaints. "I was hired as an engineer. nota pencil pusher" "We spend over half of our time writing asinine reports in triplicate for topmanagement, and no one reads the reports." We have to account for every penny, whichdoesn't give us time to work with customers or new developments."After a two-hour discussion, Mensah began to envision a future in which engineers were freeto work with customers and join self-directed teams for product improvement. Mensahconcluded he had to get top management off the engineers' backs. He promised theengineers, "My job is to stay out of your way so you can do your work, and I'll try to keeptop management off your backs, too." He called for the day's reports and issued an ordereffective immediately that the originals be returned in daily to his office rather than mailed toheadquarters. For three weeks, technical reports piled up on his desk. By month's end, thestack was nearly three feet high. During that time, no one called for the reports. When othermanagers entered his office and saw the stack, they usually asked, "What's all this? Mensahanswered, "Technical reports" No one asked to read them.Finally at month's end, a secretary from finance called and asked for the monthly travel andexpense reports. Mensah responded, "Meet me in the president's office tomorrow morning,"The next morning the engineers cheered as Mensah walked through the department pushing acart loaded with the enormous stack of reports. They knew the showdown had come. Mensahentered the president's office and placed the stack of reports on his desk. The president andthe other and the other senior executives looked bewiled.This." Mensah announced. "is the reason for the lack of productivity in the SalesEngineering division. These are the reports your people require every month. The fact thatthey sit on my desk all month shows that no one reads this material. I suggest that theengineers' time could be used in a more productive manner, and that one brief monthlyreport from my office will satisfy the needs of the other departments."QUESTIONS1. Does Kwame Mensah's leadership style fit the definition of leadership in our course?Explain. (2. With respect to what you have learnt in this course concerning leadership evolution,in what leadership era is Mensah? In what ere is headquarters? Justify your answer.3. What approach would you have taken in this situation? Give reasons for your answer.

The case at hand revolves around the challenges faced by Tractor and Equipment International, a…

Answered: QUESTIONS 1. Does Kwame Mensah's…

Understanding Business

12th Edition

ISBN:9781259929434

Author:William Nickels

Publisher:William Nickels

Chapter1: Taking Risks And Making Profits Within The Dynamic Business Environment

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1CE

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