Case Study of Korn Ferry Organization
In the Korn Ferry Organization, although employees are working on their responsibilities, the
organization’s success line remains stagnant and unable to increase productivity. Thus, the employees
become demotivated and lack confidence, and the organization’s turnover rate even goes up. To assess
the details of the situation, the employees are given the wrong instruction, which means that they are not
in the proper positions. Thus, the Korn Ferry organization’s goals are not being met as soon as they
should be.
Applying leadership theories
In this situation, the two main effective strategies—Burns transformational leadership theory and
transactional leadership theory—have to be utilized to turn into positive outcomes for the Korn Ferry.
Firstly, by using Burns theory, the leader has to have individualized consideration in order to know the
skills and competencies of each employee to be the right person for the necessary positions so as to
maximize productivity and efficiency. The leader also has to become an idealized person for giving
motivation and inspiration to the employees. After that, by following the transactional leadership theory,
the leader must apply contingent rewards by setting up SMART goals for the employees to have specific
and clear instructions. Employees may occasionally undermine the leader’s trust if the leader focuses too
much on relationships with them. Therefore, the leader has to use passive management in some way to
motivate employees by offering rewards and punishments based on their performances. Depending on the
situation, the leader has to apply these two leadership theories to the Korn Ferry organization to result in
better outcomes.
Applying management theories
Therefore, by using Henri Fayol's management, the manager has to plan specific and clear instructions
and procedures and then delegate the work to employees. After that, the employees lack motivation and
confidence, so the manager has to coordinate and encourage each individual, provide compensation, and
provide benefits for the employees to boost motivation, loyalty, and productivity by establishing a positive
working environment. According to Taylor's scientific management, the manager has to train the
employees to clearly comprehend the instructions, work procedures, and processes so that they can work
effectively and efficiently in their job positions. Furthermore, the manager has to provide skill development
training for each employee to become first-class workers. The manager and employees should be fully
harmonized and build mutually understanding relationships to go forward with the primary goals of the
Korn Ferry organization.
Case study 2
Case Study
When looking into the leadership and management styles of the Korn Ferry organization, they are fully
using democratic leadership styles. Although utilizing the democratic system is suitable for employees in
the organization, giving abdication to employees all the time is inappropriate. As a result of giving full
freedom to employees, they become less interested in taking on responsibilities, ignoring the
organization's rules and regulations, delay in decision-making process, and, in the worst-case scenario,
behaving misappropriately in the organization by taking advantage of the trust of the manager in them.
Therefore, in order to adjust to this situation, the Korn Ferry organization needs to use autocratic systems
in some cases. By assessing the situation, Korn Ferry should use Tannenbaum and Schmidt's
continuum of leadership style. The manager has to use full authority to guide the employees on what
to do and listen to. The manager has to evaluate the circumstances of employees and implement the most
suitable one in order to strike the right balance in the Korn Ferry Organization.
Tannenbaum and Schmidt's continuum of leadership style
This leadership style is used to lead the employees with
the right balance. The manager has to stay in the
consultation zone by having half authority and half
freedom over employees. There are seven different
ways to manage employees: telling styles, selling
styles, suggesting, consulting, joining, delegating, and
abdicating. The manager has to implement these
leadership styles by assessing the situation of the
employees.
Applying the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum
of Leadership Styles
Tannenbaum and Schmidt's continuum of leadership styles is assessed in the Korn Ferry
Organization. The manager at Korn Ferry has to evaluate the circumstances of the employees first before
leading them. Using fully democratic and autocratic systems to employees is inappropriate in every
situation. The employees might be demotivated and raise turnover because the manager uses full
authority, and they might also lack control by being given full freedom. Therefore, among the seven
leadership behaviors, the manager should utilize suggests, joins, and delegates mostly. Thus, the manager
should ask for advice, present the problems to employees, and make the final decisions. The manager
should occasionally delegate the responsibility to make decisions to reliable employees, which can be
time-saving for the manager. By implementing this leadership style in the Korn Ferry organization, it can
help the manager strike the right balance between using authority and giving freedom to employees.
Moreover, by evaluating the situations, the manager can pick the leadership style that is most suitable. On
the other hand, this leadership style isn't identified because it has to be implemented based on the
circumstances.
Furthermore, there are several approaches to implementing a leadership style in the workplace, which will
be defined below.
It needs to determine what the needs are before adopting the
leadership style.
The leaders have to have an adaptable mindset.
Select the leadership style that best suits the situation.
Experiment with what does and doesn't work.
Seek feedback on the selected leadership style.
Monitor the emotions of the employees.
Comparing the impact of leadership and management
styles on decision making in different organizations
No. Organization Name Application of Leadership Style
1. Korn Ferry Organization Tannenbaum and Schmidt's continuum of leadership style
Positive impacts of Tannenbaum and Schmidt's continuum of leadership style on Korn Ferry
Organization
Can strike the right balance between employee freedom and autonomy.
Enhanced comprehension of the best leadership behaviors to apply based on the analysis of
situations.
Can rapidly make decisions that are better and more appropriate for the organization and its
employees.
Better engagement between the leader and employees
Negative impacts of Tannenbaum and Schmidt's continuum of leadership style on Korn Ferry
Organization
Adopting leadership behaviors inappropriately in certain circumstances can lead to unfavorable
outcomes.
It is not identified because it needs to be applied in accordance with the circumstances
Applying one leadership behavior to its fullest extent all the time might negatively impact employee
behavior and cause a delay in achieving the organization's objective.
