ARELLANO UNIVERSITY
FLORENTINO CAYCO MEMORIAL SCHOOL
OF GRADUATE STUDIES
2600 Legarda Street, Sampaloc, Manila 1008
www.arellano.edu.ph
Name: Menere R. Nasiad
School: St. Scholastica’s Academy – Marikina
Subject: Leadership Theories and Organizational Design
Professor: Dr. Marita Canapi
Q 1. Write a brief summary of Susie Wong’s behavior towards their organization.
Susie Wong, a Senior Finance Analyst in the largest corporation in
the country, is described by her colleagues as an intelligent and goal-
driven woman. She could have been a perfect example of a model
employee; however, her strong personality traits and aggressive
behavior towards her co-workers appeared to be a major hindrance in
her leap to success. In fact, Wong is tagged as the “terror” in the
finance division for she can openly show her worst side if she feels
dissatisfied with other people’s performance at work or sees
incompetence in the work system. Take for example the way she
treats the finance groups of her division’s operating units. Instead of
cooperating to work things out, Wong slams their failure to perform
their assigned tasks making each employee feel insignificant at work.
Overwhelmed by her creditable achievements, Wong displays a
superior attitude in many work situations that may have resulted in
her career and employment dissatisfaction. One such case is having
her to do the binding of the annual budgets, which she insists must be
a responsibility of another department. She even compared it to her
previous work practices, which is quite unethical to do for a
professional woman like her. Likewise, Wong doesn’t seem to believe
in obedience to superior. In fact, she neither allows herself to be
cowed by her boss, the Finance Manager, who is equally stringent,
aloof and deceptive to his subordinates.
In addition, Wong, who expects to be the next Section Head, feels
frustrated when she gets passed up for job promotion in the company.
Apparently, this has caused a chaotic movement in the department
when Wong opts to deliberately work half-heartedly to show her
resentment for the Finance Manager.
Wong may be competent and knowledgeable in her chosen
profession, but her low emotional intelligence, which is evidently
shown in her words and actions, has a negative effect to her overall
performance.
Q 2. What problems did Susie Wong create in their organization as a
result of her behavior?
As a result of her behavior, Susie Wong created a negative
perception among her coworkers that eventually hinders all her
career plans making her less motivated to contribute significantly for
the company’s progress. Wong herself built a wall with a strong belief
that she was far different from her colleagues and almost equal to her
superior. Her lack of cooperation with team members and aggressive
SUSIE WONG
In 2005, Susie Wong joined the largest
corporation in the country as a Senior Finance Analyst.
She had quite impressive credentials; second placer in
the local Certified Public Accountant’s Licensure Exam
and MBA from the University of California in Los
Angeles. Her aptitude undeniably showed in her work.
Whenever she argued a point, she was more often than
not right.
That was however her waterloo. It seemed
that Susie Wong started to become known as the terror
of Finance in her Division. The task assigned to her
required her to request information from the finance
groups of her division’s operating units. Apparently, the
inefficiency of the information system irked her and she
found it difficult to be patient with finance personnel who
could not give her the information she needed. This,
aside from the fact that she could not point out a fault
diplomatically made people wary of her.
It seemed that her previous job had given her
the same problem. Because she was grouchy with the
rest of the staff, her father requested her to leave his
freight forwarding company. But she was not totally
disagreeable. As long as conversation was not on the
job, she had made successful attempts to be sociable.
The job likewise had certain flaws in the eyes
of Susie. Aside from the difficulty in securing data, she
was not happy about having to do the binding of the
annual budgets. She had mentioned that when she
worked for an auditing firm, another department was
specifically assigned to do the work of binding reports.
Another source of dissatisfaction for her was
her boss, the Finance Manager. She was however, not
alone in this. Her immediate superior had received
negative reviews from other staff members both within
and outside the finance group for his stringent
demands, aloofness and inability to give ordered
directions. Neither did Susie allow herself to be cowed
by him.
Leadership Theories 1
 behavior when confronted by difficult work-related situations may lead The job of Head of her section had been vacant for a
to personal conflicts harboring grudges and dismantling harmony at year. When Susie was hired, there had been an
work. understanding that she would be considered for the job.
What Wong didn’t seem to know or care about is that her overall And, except that the other members of the section were
not reporting to her, she was practically doing the work of
performance may be based not only on her knowledge and the section head. When her boss had observed that she
competence, but also on her way of establishing rapport with the had been making significant advances in gaining rapport
members in the department. with the other members of the section, he went to far as
to say, unofficially that the appointment would be given to
her.
Q 3. Which of the motivation theories learned affect this case? However, a Section Head in one of the
Susie Wong’s competitive attitude towards work is triggered by her operating units had requested to be reassigned in Manila
for personal reasons and the position was given to him.
desire to get job promotion. In her mind, taking a much higher From the start, it had become quite obvious that Susie
position equates sense of fulfillment, what with her sterling academic was technically superior to her new head. Arguments
and professional achievements, and authority to make major between them had come as far as to cause the new head
decisions for the company. Obviously, Wong is driven to keep her to reprimand her insubordination officially in writing.
upward momentum; however, she gets passed up for the job The finance manager, too, had not been
satisfied with the performance of the new Section Head
promotion causing her to behave out of character and make unwise but since it was not a corporate practice to fire people, he
career decisions. had him transferred to another operating unit. Yet, the job
Based on Frederick Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, there of Section Head was again given to another Senior
are certain factors why an employee lacks the satisfaction at work. Finance staff from the corporate Head Office and not to
Susie Wong.
These are: company policies, supervision, relationship with Not surprisingly, Susie had started to let her
supervisors and peers, work condition, salary, status and security. resentment for the Finance Manager show in the
In the case of Susie Wong, she feels that the company she works deliberate half-hearted manner in which she
for doesn’t seem to have well-defined promotion criteria for the accomplished her tasks. It is unfortunate that the
vacated position, although her boss, The Finance Manager, has told immediate recipient of the effects of her inefficiency was
the new Section Head and not the Finance Manager. #
her that the position would be given to her. For Wong, she practically
does the work of the section head while waiting for the formal
appointment. But to Wong’s surprise, the Section Head has already
been given to a transferred employee. Luck may be far-fetched to
Susie Wong though. When the same position is offered again, Wong
is left to the sideline when the position is given to another Senior
Finance staff from the corporate head office by the Finance Manager.
This has irked Wong because she can’t seem to find the logic behind
the decision of her boss. The demotivated Wong starts to defy
company policy and deliberately accomplishes task with no guarantee
of efficiency and productivity, all because of her resentment for her
Finance Manager in which the negative impact on it is directly felt by
the new Section Head.
Another theory that affects this case is Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y of Motivation, in which the two
theories represent the extreme ranges of assumptions. This means that the managerial attitudes and supervisory practices
resulting from such assumptions have an important bearing on employees’ behavior. In this case, the dominant qualities
are shown in Theory X.
To note, the Finance Manager’s management style may be an ultimate reason why people under his leadership tends to
dislike him as the boss. In fact, he receives negative reviews from other staff members both within and outside the finance
group for his rigidness, indifference and ineptness. As a result, the members tend to behave pessimistically for fear of being
coerced or punished. 

Q 4. Propose ways of solving the problems if you are one of the organization’s top managers?
If I were one of the organization’s top managers, I would discuss the matters with the Finance Manager and hear his
reasons for bypassing Susie Wong. After weighing the pros and cons, I would then decide if giving Susie Wong a chance to
lead her section is the best way to go or if letting her go would serve the company best. There is no doubt that Susie Wong is
more than qualified to be the section head but being a leader is not all aptitude and credentials.

Leadership Theories 2
 A leader also needs to build rapport with the rest of the staff and, more importantly, earn the group’s trust, confidence and
respect. It was mentioned that Susie Wong, at one point, had made significant advancement in her relationship with her co-
workers only to be snubbed once again in the selection for Section Head. Worse, the new head underperformed and Susie
Wong, as well as the finance manager, realized this. Maybe its pride or misjudgment on the part of the finance manager but I
don’t feel that he is ready to give Susie Wong a chance. Therefore, there can only be two things to be done as far as the
Susie Wong case is concerned. It is either to, number one, promote her and give her the chance to lead the section or,
number two, talk to her and promise her that if she brings back her enthusiasm and efficiency at work and be more
understanding and patient with her co-workers, she will be next in line to head her section. After all, what has been done can
no longer be undone but what comes next, I can be in control. 

Q 5. Cite a similar case you have encountered in your own school. What did you do to solve this problem?
In a Catholic school such as ours, job promotion is regarded as an additional responsibility given to a teacher by the
directress, who is a Benedictine Sister. In our community, we don’t call it job promotion; we call it special assignment. The
school empowers teachers to broaden their skills, practice flexibility and improve workforce through job rotation.
Remuneration is structured in such a way that teachers, whether in the middle management or not, are paid based on
services rendered and special assignments given. Therefore, salary and other incentives have not become a pressing issue.

So far, the highest position given to a layman is the academic coordinator who assists the principal - also a Benedictine
Sister - and directs the faculty towards the fulfilment of the school’s vision and mission. Administrative positions are not
permanent, though. Any appointed faculty in the middle administration has a maximum of six years to carry out his or her
responsibilities. The middle administration comprises academic coordinator, student activities coordinator and student
formation coordinator. And since these positions are appointive, any faculty member regardless of years in service and
experience can possibly be a candidate for middle administration. The selection process depends solely on the
recommendation of the principal to the Directress who makes the final decision. Here’s one situation that happened two
years ago.

Let’s call her Ms. Mary Conde (not her real name). She graduated elementary and secondary at SSAM, where her mother
worked as the assistant principal. When her mother retired, Ms. Conde applied for work as a regular teacher and became the
subject area coordinator. Under her supervision were six teachers. When it comes to work, she’s determined to make things
done with perfection. Things had changed when she started to lead her team; she began to feel the “authority” over her
teachers. She had a habit of blaming her teachers when conflicts arise, saying embarrassing words during the area meeting,
and showing resentment towards teachers who would raise concerns or complaints. Certainly, these situations had affected
the work performance of her teachers. The teachers under her wing could not have the courage to raise their concerns to the
principal since Ms. Conde herself seems to be manipulative aside from the fact that she’s close to the principal.

I, being one of her teachers, had been restrained to attend off-campus seminars for professional growth. She would not
even support me whenever I receive invitations to facilitate a talk to different schools. Although she knew for the fact that I
had been an area coordinator years back, she would insist that my absences would negatively affect my overall performance.
Because of this, I personally went to our principal for a closed door meeting with her. With sadness in my eyes, I explained to
our principal that being a book author is no easy task and part of my professional growth is to share my knowledge and skills
with teachers from other schools. I even pointed out that our school being an advocate of academic excellence through social
responsibility, not to mention having achieved Level 3 accreditation from the PAASCU, is supposed to be more generous in
exhausting all possibilities for the enhancement and advancement of skills of its teachers. I took the opportunity to become
honest by telling the principal that most of us in our department which Ms. Conde handled were dismayed by the everyday
situation and demotivated to work with her. It took a while for our principal to make a decision regarding this matter, although
she did mention that gossips circulating in the faculty about the attitude of Ms. Conde towards the teachers had already
reached her office.

After one school year, we found out that Ms. Conde was transferred to the senior high school department, and, gladly, a
young teacher in our department was appointed as our area coordinator. 

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