Business Finance Homework Help

Question 1: Read the following excerpt from an article (Links to an external site.) in Nonprofit Quarterly by Cyndi Suarez and then answer the questions below.

Recently, as I was doing a Q+A session with a cohort of nonprofit leaders of color who are reading my book The Power Manual, one woman said to me, “Some of us were a bit triggered when we were reading your book. We felt that some of your ideas about personal power were magical thinking! I mean, we need to focus on systemic racism.”

The underlying assumption is that magical thinking is unrealistic, and that developing personal power is not a critical part of social change work.

There are (at least) two types of work to be done now: work at the edge creating the new forms leaders are asking for, and the work of leading organizations. Not only do we need to fund and build out the visioning/creative/imagination space (the support groups aren’t enough), we need the link between these to be stronger, so that instead of triggering, visions of a better world can inspire more visionary leadership and work.

Part A: Given what you have learned about the different aspects of leadership, what type of leadership is the author advocating for and how does that leadership work?

Part B: How might these nonprofit leaders use communication to achieve what they call “magical” thinking, according to the perspective you identified in Part A?

Part B: According to LMX, why can’t leaders treat all their followers the same? Explain the premise of LMX. If the author of the excerpt had to recommend a type of relationship (from the LMX theory) to the nonprofit leaders, which type would she recommend and why? 

Question 2: Read the Harvard Business Review excerpt from an article (Links to an external site.) about what CEOs find challenging with their board of directors:

The most surprising criticism we heard is that directors too often put self-interest and self-preservation ahead of shareholder interests. One CEO told us, “They like their board seats—it gives them some prestige. They can be reluctant to consider recapitalization, going private, or merging—‘Don’t you know, we might lose our board positions!’ I have been shocked by board members’ saying, ‘That would be an interesting thing to do, but what about us?’” Another CEO recalled, “In one situation, we had a merger not go through because of who was going to get what number of board seats.” He shook his head. “It is still the most astounding conversation of my life.”

………

William Lauder, the chairman of Estée Lauder, cautions that when a company is facing a big decision, it may be wise to give directors extra time to conduct due diligence and to deliberate. “With key decisions, we’re not going to present an idea and ask for resolution in the same cycle,” he says. “We’ll let the board know our thoughts and allow for conversation and discussion.” The decision might be made at the following board meeting—“or maybe the issue gets deferred until our next meeting, and we discuss it again.”

Part A: What type of conflict management strategy is revealed by the board of directors? What type of conflict management strategy do you think the CEOs would prefer based on their criticism?

Part B: Of the three type of conflict in groups, what type of group conflict is the CEO of Estée Lauder attempting to avoid? Explain your answer.

Question 3: Part A: Based on your readings, the groups resistant to the COVID interventions exhibited antecedents and symptoms of groupthink. Describe one antecedent and one symptom of groupthink described in the reading.

Part B: Do you think it is possible for workgroups to avoid these groupthink antecedents/symptoms? Why or why not? 

Question 4: Read the following passage from an article (Links to an external site.) in Inc. about what terrible leaders do:

Ignoring people’s natural desire to grow and develop

Treating employees as worker bees with dead-end career paths and no opportunities to grow as professionals and human beings is an absolute engagement killer. On the contrary, good managers with sound leadership skills will invest in their top employees long-term by providing learning, development, and mentoring opportunities. They create an environment that motivates people and keeps their performance at a high level by asking about their development, and whether they’re getting enough opportunities to learn and grow.

Go to the overview lecture. Which of the leadership perspectives (category of leadership theory) is the excerpt focusing on? Explain.

Question 5: Based on the Bushardt reading, what is one challenge for managers who lead millennials? Select one recommendation from the reading that directly aligns with a leadership approach discussed in class. What is the recommendation and how does it align with a leadership theory?