Caso 2

As a formerly government-owned telephone monopoly, Profitel enjoyed many decades of minimal competition. Even today, as a publicly traded enterprise,
the company’s almost exclusive control over telephone copper wiring across the country keeps its profit
margins above 40 percent. Competitors in telephone

PROFITEL INC.

Why is it important for top executives to value and
support leadershipdemonstrated at all levels of the
organization?
Find two newspaper ads for management or executive positions. What leadership competencies are
mentioned in these ads? If you were on the selection
panel, what methods would you use to identify these
competencies in job applicants?
Consider your favorite teacher. What people-oriented
and task-oriented leadership behaviors did he or she
useeffectively? In general, do you think students
prefer an instructor who is more people-oriented or
task-oriented? Explain your preference.
Your employees are skilled and experienced customer service representatives who perform nonroutine tasks, such as solving unique customer problems
or meeting special needs with the company’s equipment. Use path-goal theory to identify the most appropriateleadership style(s) you should use in this
situation. Be sure to fully explain your answer, and
discuss why other styles are inappropriate.
Transformational leadership is the most popular perspective of leadership. However, it is far from perfect.
Discuss the limitations of transformational leadership.

Case Study 12.1

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

This chapter distinguished charismaticleadership
from transformational leadership. Yet charisma is
identified by most employees and managers as a
characteristic of effective leaders. Why is charisma
commonly related to leadership? In your opinion,
are the best leaders charismatic? Why or why not?
Identify a current political leader (e.g., president,
governor, mayor) and his or her recent accomplishments. Now, using the implicitleadership perspective, think of ways that these accomplishments of
the leader may be overstated. In other words, explain why they may be due to factors other than the
leader.
You hear two people debating the merits of women
as leaders. One person claims that women make
better leaders than do men because women are
more sensitive to their employees’ needs and involve them in organizationaldecisions. The other
person counters that although these leadership styles
may be increasingly important, most women have
trouble gaining acceptance as leaders when they
face tough situations in which a more autocratic
style is required. Discuss the accuracy of the comments made in this discussion.

transactional leadership, p. 371
transformational leadership, p. 371

379

and DSL broadbandcontinue to rely on Profitel’s
wholesale business, which generates substantially
more profit than similar wholesale services in many
other countries. However, Profitel has stiff competition in the cellular (mobile) telephone business, and
other emerging technologies (voice-over-Internet)

8.

7.

6.

path-goal leadership theory, p. 365
servant leadership, p. 365
shared leadership,p. 360
situational leadership theory, p. 369

Critical Thinking Questions

Fiedler’s contingency model, p. 369
implicit leadership theory, p. 375
leadership, p. 360
leadership substitutes, p. 370

Key Terms

380

threaten Profitel’s dominance. Because of these threats,
Profitel’s board of directors decided to hire an outsider
as the new chief executive.
Although several qualifiedcandidates expressed
an interest in Profitel’s top job, the board selected
Lars Peeters, who had been CEO for six years of a
publicly traded European telephone company, followed by a brief stint as CEO of a cellular telephone
company in the United States until it was acquired by
a larger firm. Profitel’s board couldn’t believe its good
fortune; Peeters brought extensive industry knowledge...