Case Study 3CAPITOL AEROSPACE CORPORATION

Dr. Jerry Lucas closed the door to his office and slowly sank into his chair. The four section chiefs from Bob Sanford’s department had just left after a 2 hour-meeting set upon their request. Lucas was the director of the propulsion division, and Sanford was one of his six branch chiefs.

Lucas had known for some time that there were problems in Stanford’s organization, but he hadn’t been able to put his finger on the cause. The work was getting done pretty much on schedule, but there were obvious morale problems. Anytime that Lucas spoke to any of the people in Stanford’s group, their responses were always very guarded. He has also noticed that if he asked anyone a question about a project or requested any information, he got an evasive answer. Later Sanford would come to his office with the answer or data.

The four section heads had requested the private meeting with Lucas without specifying the purpose. However, they had been very specific in asking that Sanford not be present. The reason for the meeting had immediately become clear as the section heads brought out their grievances. Their basic complaint was lack of authority. On numerous occasions Sanford had reversed their decisions without consulting them. Several of the section heads said this had resulted in their subordinates going directly to Sanford whenever they had a question or needed a decision. They complained that matters had reached the point where very few decisions, even routine ones, could be made without his approval. He also made it very clear that no information or data was to be given to anyone outside of the branch without his knowledge and concurrence. This policy had made it almost impossible for the section head or other engineers to work cooperatively with engineers from other parts of the organization.

Finally, they had complained that Sanford’s encouragement of engineers and even technicians to go around the section heads directly to him with their problems and complaints has led to an atmosphere of fear and suspicion. Everyone in the organization felt that everything they said or did was likely to be reported to Stanford. One of the section heads said that it was widely believed that Sanford had split spies or informants in every section. Whether true or not, this had a chilling effect on interpersonal relation, and everyone tended to pull back into their shell and play everything very conservatively.

Each of the section heads stated that they had a great respect for Sanford as an engineer and his technical judgment. However, they could not tolerate the lack of authority and the oppressive atmosphere. The threat was clear (although not stated explicitly) that each of the section heads felt that if something was not done, they would soon be leaving.

As Lucas sat at his desk after the men left, he realized that the problem was more serious that he had guessed. Sanford was by far the best solid rocket propulsion in the branch. That was the reason Lucas had made him branch chief 2 years ago. Sanford was totally dedicated to his job, and Lucas knew that he arrived at his office every morning at 7 a.m. and left before 6 p.m. He often came to the office on weekends, never took a vacation,

and rarely took even a day off. On the other hand, it was also now obvious that Sanford had not been completely candid in his relationship with Lucas. Many of the projects were not as far along as he had reported, and many difficulties were being covered up. Also, the very fact that the section heads had felt the situation was serious enough to come to him as a group convinced Lucas that something had to be done. He finally decided that he would face the situation squarely and candidly by discussing the meeting with Sanford.

The next day, Lucas asked Sanford to come to his office and reported the meeting to him exactly as it had transpired. He did not, however told Sanford who had said what. Sanford became very angry and vehemently denied all the allegations. Part of the conversation went as follows.

SANFORD: As long as I’m responsible for the solid propellant projects, I’ve got to know what’s going on. The only way I can be sure the section heads are not covering up problems is occasionally to go directly to the people doing the work. If they see that as snooping or spying, that’s too bad. What they are really concerned with is that I sometimes find out their stupid decisions. They are right about one thing, I do sometimes overrule their decisions when I think they are wrong. But when I do, I always tell them about it. What am I supposed to do when I see a mistake? I can’t just let it go and let the project fail just so as not to hurt their precious image with the engineers. Their problem is they just don’t want to admit they ever make mistakes.

LUCAS: Perhaps you’re not very diplomatic when you find what you think is a mistake.

SANFORD: How can you be diplomatic and at the same time tell a person they’ve made a stupid decision? An error judgment is an error judgment, and there is no way you can make it into anything else. Do you want me to ignore something when I know it is wrong?

LUCAS: No, of course not, but are you sure that you are always right and they are wrong?

SANFORD: Look, I have more experience and knowledge about solid propellant rockets than all four of those guys put together, I know what works and what doesn’t. I can’t just stand by idly and let the projects get screwed up when I see them doing something I know won’t work. As long as I’m head of this branch, I’m going to do everything I can to see that the projects are done on time, within budget, and that the systems work. I thought that was what I was supposed to do as a manager. If that isn’t what you want, then you better get another branch chief.

Case study discussion questions:1. Discuss Sanford’s leadership style.2. What are the chances that Dr. Lucas can get Sanford to change?3. Should Lucas have met the section heads without Sanford being present? 4. What would you do if you were Dr. Lucas?