Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Instructions
There are 12 situations described on the following pages. After each situation there is a list of 4 different responses you could make in your position as a manager. In each case, you must award points to each response to indicate to what extent each one is representative of your likely reaction. To do this, use the 0 - 9 scales provided. Start by indicating on the scale the response which is most representative of you, followed by the one which is least representative of you and then you can slot the other 2 in between.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 1
A salesperson who has been employed for one year sometimes shows a certain insecurity in doing the job. This is despite experience in similar work with another company.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You leave the salesperson alone and assume that he or she will be able to cope with the work in due course.
b)You ask the salesperson if he or she needs support and jointly agree what actions to take.
c)You question the salesperson about the job, in order to reveal if he or she feels insecure.
d)You explain to the salesperson how certain key parts of the job should be done.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 2
A salesperson who has been well trained and is very experienced seems to have some difficulty in carrying out certain aspects of the job. You know that this person has previously mastered similar problems without help.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You tell the salesperson how to solve their problem.
b)You have a meeting with the salesperson and hope the problem will be raised in conversation.
c)You ask the salesperson if you can solve the problem together.
d)You wait to see if the salesperson can solve the problem unaided.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 3
You have a salesperson whom you require to carry out different tasks. When having difficulties with some of the tasks, the salesperson gets very irritated and moody. When this situation has occurred before, you have tried to discuss it without any success.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You discuss the salesperson’s view of the job to try and establish why these problems are taken so seriously.
b)You counsel the salesperson and suggest how he or she should behave in future.
c)You leave the salesperson alone so that he or she can solve their own problems.
d)You bring up the situation as a problem that you can both discuss and solve together.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 4
You have a salesperson who, despite some experience, cannot satisfactorily prioritise work. You have discussed this previously without any effect.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You explain to the person what the priorities should be.
b)Your try to influence the sales person to change priorities by discussion.
c)You try to reassure the person by showing you understand the problem and by stressing you are sure the person will be able to find a solution to the problem.
d)You leave the sales person alone since you think that he or she will be able to set correct priorities in time.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9e)
Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 5
One of your sales people, who has worked with you for five years, comes to you with a problem that you weren’t expecting and asks for a suggestion to solve it.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)“I have no instant solution and I think you should find a better solution yourself. I will happily discuss you solution with you”
b)“You can usually handle this type of problem well yourself. However, sit down and let’s see what we can come up with.”
c)“Give me the background and I’ll see if I have a solution to the problem.”
d)“You can usually handle these types of problems yourself. I’ll tell you my view and then we can decide if it is the best solution.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 6
A salesperson has changed job some months ago and seems very insecure in the new situation.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You explain what is expected of a salesperson and how the job should be carried out.
b)You talk to the salesperson and give reassurance by stressing you have faith in the person to cope with the new job.
c)You leave the salesperson alone since you believe that he or she will soon be at ease with the new situation.
d)You discuss the salesperson’s feelings and agree how you can co-operate so that the salesperson will be able to manage the job.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 7
You hear gossip about your team that one salesperson is not working as hard as the others.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You immediately contact the salesperson and clarify the requirements of the job.
b)You immediately contact the salesperson and asks if there are problems that you can solve together.
c)You contact the salesperson and asks how he or she sees the situation.
d)You wait for a reaction as you want to give the salesperson a little more time to increase selling activity.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 8
A newly hired salesperson shows a good understanding of the job but seems to have difficulties in the relationship with certain customers.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You have a chat with the salesperson about techniques to develop better relations with customers.
b)You wait for a while to see if the salesperson will bring up the problem with you.
c)You discuss the problem with the salesperson and suggest that you solve it jointly.
d)You have a discussion to find out the salesperson’s own view of relations with customers.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 9
Your team is about to undertake some new tasks and you are unsure if they will all be able to manage them even if most of them have previously achieved good results.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You wait a while to see if the group can handle the new tasks.
b)You have an intensive meeting to discuss joint solutions to problems posed by the new situation.
c)You assemble the group and tell them that you think they can handle the tasks but you make it clear that there can be problems initially and ask them what support they would like.
d)You clarify the objectives for the group and give your views on how the new tasks can be handled.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 10
A salesperson who is being transferred to your team show good ability for the job but can sometimes make mistakes which suggests personal insecurity in the job.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You leave the salesperson alone but keep an eye on what is happening so that you can act if need be.
b)You take the initiative for a meeting with the salesperson and ask how he or she sees the job and if any help is needed.
c)You talk about the new job and point out that there may be difficulties and that these may have to be solved by you together.
d)You have a chat with the salesperson and say you have seen which tasks have been handled well and how others can be improved.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9e)
Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 11
An experienced team for which you are responsible has developed some problems with co-operation. They have previously been able to sort out similar problems themselves.
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You inform the group how the conflict can and should be solved so that work will not suffer.
b)You call the group together and remind them that conflicts should be resolved with your involvement.
c)You inform the group how you see the situation and offer your help to everyone so that no one will feel left out.
d)You inform the group that your experience indicates that they normally sort out their problems themselves. You then wait until you see that help is absolutely necessary.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management Styles
Situation Analysis
Situation 12
Your team is relatively experienced. Recently there have been internal problems due to certain new working tasks
Manager’s Behaviour
a)You advise the group how you think the problems should be solved.
b)You sit down with the group and discuss how you should jointly solve the problem.
c)You discuss the problem with the group and encourage them to try to solve it themselves.
d)You delay bringing up the problem with the group but monitor their work closely.
0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9Management styles
Evaluation of situation analysis
Management styles
Evaluation of situation analysis
D / P /S
/ T1 / A / C / B / D
2 / D / B / C / A
3 / C / A / D / B
4 / D / C / B / A
5 / A / B / D / C
6 / C / B / D / A
7 / D / C / B / A
8 / B / D / C / A
9 / A / C / B / D
10 / A / B / C / D
11 / D / C / B / A
12 / D / C / A / B
Totals / = Grand Total
% of Grand Total
Management styles
Situation analysis – model answer
Delegating / Participating / Selling / Telling1 / A / 3 / C / 9 / B / 6 / D / 0
2 / D / 9 / B / 6 / C / 3 / A / 0
3 / C / 0 / A / 3 / D / 6 / B / 9
4 / D / 0 / C / 3 / B / 6 / A / 9
5 / A / 9 / B / 6 / D / 3 / C / 0
6 / C / 0 / B / 3 / D / 6 / A / 9
7 / D / 9 / C / 6 / B / 3 / A / 0
8 / B / 0 / D / 3 / C / 6 / A / 9
9 / A / 0 / C / 6 / B / 9 / D / 3
10 / A / 0 / B / 6 / C / 9 / D / 3
11 / D / 9 / C / 6 / B / 3 / A / 0
12 / D / 3 / C / 9 / A / 6 / B / 0
Totals / 42 / 66 / 66 / 42 / = Grand Total 216
% of Grand Total / 19% / 31% / 31% / 19%