Hannah Rodricks

Case Study Paper

Communication Leadership & Power in Organizations

9/14/2021

Leadership Case Study

Leadership comes in all different shapes and sizes. It comes voluntarily or involuntarily

and is close to necessary in every elevated situation. Without even knowing it people come

across leadership situations in big and small ways. The situation I chose to talk about today is a

recent experience I had at my resident assistant job at my dorm. I picked this situation because it

was recent and fresh in my mind. It was not a huge incident, but I wanted to show that leadership

opportunities can come in most situations.

Description of Experience

I am a resident assistant at the St. John Paul II Newman Center and this past weekend I

was on call. On Friday and Saturday, I sat at the desk for a couple hours in the evening and then

had the RA phone for the rest of the night. After leaving the desk at 11pm on Saturday to hang

out in my room I was minding my own business, mid shower when I got a call on the RA phone.

I answered and it was one of my RA coworkers calling to inform me of a smoke alarm that went

off in a room and a ton of smoke that engulfed the whole first floor. I quickly went downstairs

and was welcomed with a pillow of smoke. I met the other RAs there and they told me what had

happened. A resident was boiling water and he lit the wrong burner. Instead of lighting the one

he needed, he lit the one that had a plastic pitcher on it which melted. That is what set off the fire

alarms and caused the floor to become smelly and smokey. Luckily my coworkers were right

next door, heard the alarms, and rushed over. That was the first indication of good leadership on
their part of hearing alarms and hurrying over to make sure everyone was okay. We made sure

everyone in that room was awake and out of the room because the burnt plastic smell was not

good for anyone’s lungs. We then made sure every door and window were open to air out the

room. We knew the guys who lived in that room could not spend the night there, so we arranged

for sleeping for that night. Some of the other RAs and I waited for a little bit and closed the main

doors, so it was not a security issue. We did not put the batteries back in the fire alarm because

they would just keep going off until the room was completely smoke free. After everything was

all said and done, I notified my resident manager of the situation and went along with my other

duties. The next day we put the batteries back in the alarm and made sure it was safe for the guys

to sleep there. Overall, I think this incident went well. We took all the necessary steps for a

smooth situation and put the safety of our residents as a priority.

The communication was very open throughout the whole situation. Three of the other

RAs and I talked about every step we took and discussed any decision we made. There was a

little difference in opinions when it came to when the batteries had to be put back in the fire

alarms, but it was quickly resolved with some educated reasoning and a majority decision. I

think one of the guy RAs who was there would have thought it went very smoothly. He knew

what to do the moment he saw the situation and really took charge. He seemed experienced and

was able to discuss the next steps with us. One of the girl RAs who was there on the other hand

was a little bit more nervous and worried. She tends to overthink and sometimes exaggerate

situations so to her it was a pretty big deal while I did not think the same. She was nervous about

where the guys would stay, how the building would react to the smoke, and if another freak

accident would happen without the batteries in the fire alarms. From my perspective I felt as

though the situation was not super serious and was one of little concern because we knew the
problem and how to fix it. I was not worked up about it because I have had a year of being a RA

under my belt and have dealt with similar situations before.

Discussion of Leadership Concepts

In this situation I saw the traits of each RA really come out. To start off with the male

RA, Christian, his intelligent trait really came into play. He used his reasoning abilities to try to

figure out the next steps we needed to take (Northouse, 2021). Christian even thought to turn off

the breaker for the electricity to stay on, something the girls and me did not think of. Many a

times during RA situations the one with the most knowledge on the situation takes charge

because the knowledge that person holds is crucial for the rest of the team. On the other hand, the

trait that I possessed that contributed to this situation was self-confidence. I am quite confident in

my abilities as an RA and do not get stressed by most situations (Northouse, 2021). When I

emerge as a leader who knows what to do, it influencers my followers in a positive way that I

will take care of them and situation. Lastly was the other girl RA, Abbie, who was more nervous

and cautious about the situation. The good thing was that she led by integrity which grounded the

team. She was trustworthy towards the residents by thinking of where they could spend the night

while also taking the responsibility of the building’s safety in terms of leaving the batteries out of

the fire alarms out all night, risking another incident (1980). Within this small example of a

leadership emergence situation, three different character traits are exhibited. No one was in the

right or the wrong by their actions, they were all just different and in the end very helpful and

important to the team.

Evaluation of Leadership Decisions

I think all decisions made in this incident were well thought through, safest for our

residents, and as informed as possible. Christian had some technical skills, or knowledge about
specific maintenance, to help him in making decisions (Northouse, 2021). In the future I think it

would help him to talk to maintenance directly or our resident manager to know exactly what to

do about the technical things like the breaker and fire alarms. Those electrical things can be very

dangerous and not something we really need to mess around with. Learning more technical skills

would be a great asset to the team as buildings get old and need informed people to assist others.

I personally would not have touched the breaker box just in case something happened, but it was

12:30 A.M. so no one was there to assist us. The skills Abbie and I used were human skills. It

was kind of like the paternal and maternal concepts talked about in chapter four. We both had the

mindset that the residents were the most important and needed to be cared for right away. We

both started brainstorming where they could spend the night, and we made sure they made the

necessary phone calls. In the end we just wanted the guys to feel comfortable (Northouse, 2021).

It was a good thing we sent them to spend the night somewhere else because the smoke was very

bad and would have done damage to the lungs if people were continuously inhaling them. One

thing I think we could have done to help them even more was check on them the next day to

make sure everything was still alright.

Discussion of Resolution Strategies

Because there was no superior authority at the situation, it was delegate amongst a couple

RAs. One way we could have solved the situation maybe a little faster is if someone on the

professional staff was there to take the lead. The RAs who were there were either task-oriented,

Christian, relationship-oriented, Abbie, or both, me. Christian was there to make sure we reached

the end goal of the alarms stopping and the smoke filtering out (Northouse, 2021). Abbie was

there to make sure we connected with the guys who lived in the building and to make sure they

knew we cared about them (Northouse, 2021). I was there for both. I communicated with
Christian and helped him with whatever he needed but then also talked to Abbie and we

discussed what the next option was for the guys. Overall, we could have flowed a little better

with a superior but after diving into the situation and seeing how everyone contributed in their

own way, I do not think there is much else we could have done. In this situation we all became

leaders, but it did not clash very much.

Conclusion

In conclusion, today I described the situation that happened over the weekend, I

discussed the leadership skills the RAs used to solve the problem, evaluate the decisions made by

every member, and thought through other solutions to this problem. Before writing this paper, I

looked back at the whole situation and really thought it did not go too well. I felt as though there

was not one leader and that delegating did not work. But, after diving deeper into the way

everyone’s skills, traits, and behaviors came into play, I think it was a smooth situation for

everyone. Leadership experience can come in so many different forms and today I was able to

see it in my own personal experience. I was amused seeing how each leader related to a concept

in our book and I am excited to see the concepts be illustrated in other areas of my life too.
 References

Northouse, P. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Sage Publications.