St Francis Institute of Management and Research

MMS I Semester I Term End Exam - March 2023

Date: 29th March 2023 Max Marks: 60
Subject Perspective Management Duration: 3 hours
lnstructions:
1) Ql is compulsory of 20 Marks
2) From the remaining Six questions attempt any Four questions, each question carrying l0 Marks.
3) Draw the diagram and write examples for applicable questions and concepts.
Question Question Marks CO BTL
No.
I Case Study:
Bold leadership is good... until it becomes too bold.
"It's Okay to have your eggs in one basket as long as you
control what happens to that basket" - Elon Musk

Bold leadership provides powerful direction to businesses when

navigating competitive markets and dynamic environments. But
too much of anything can be detrimental, and boldness poorly
contained is downright reckless. When bold leaders repeatedly
overstep key boundaries, they moye ever closer to becoming bad
leaders. This article explores the recent trend in Elon Musk's
leadership.

Given recent events, it appears Musk has taken boldness too far.
And because of bad leadership, his company, and his
shareholders are suffering the consequences.

It's no secret that leadership makes or breaks many businesses.

In competitive markets, leadership can provide the necessary
direction, motivation, and vision to help companies succeed.
Bold leaders accomplish this with ease. But what separates bold
leaders from bad leaders?

Certainly, bold leaders are visionary, have excellent

communication abilities, and have powerful interpersonal skills.
But their bold nature includes many other valuable assets that set
them apart.

By all accounts, Musk is a visionary and a genius.

His corporate career highlights many incredible

accomplishments, ranging from PayPal to SpaceX. He has
repeatedly shown perseverance and commitment in many
endeavors. He has also demonstrated an ability to be dynamic and
rolls with a changing market. And he is extremely charismatic,
outspoken, and forceful in his public communication. Certainly,
these attributes would better align with bold leadership than bad
leadership.

Consider his ability to recruit and use top talent. Tesla Inc.
remains without a Chief Operations Officer and has for some
time. The Chief Accounting Officerrecently left afterbeing there
for only a month. Rumors abound that Tesla's Vice President of
Global Finance may be exiting as well. Unlike bold leadership,
bad leaders struggle to keep top talent due to poor organizational
cultures. Not only does bring into question Musk's ability
to create team environments, but it also raises concerns about his
interpersonal skills.
 Musk's authoritarian leadership styre might
have worked before
still might in some industiies _"Out in many
-.and
voice-of-God. approach no longer .rur.,
cases, the
u, rnuny employees to
snap to attention.

Many workers are tired and unhappy with the

status quo, and
that's a sign leader should p.o.".i *itt,
.uutior. Sr.i, rnuoy
CEOs are worried about a recession and
they,re going to bL
demanding more. But they need to u. ,-u.r-uuo,it
rro-'* trr.y
communicate and what they ask of their people
because workers
are no longer automatically saying,
',How high?,, when leaders
tell them to jump.

A go.od CEO's response shouldn't show aggression:

While CEOs
can demand workers do their best, they
so with such force
"ui[Oo and still
and with such disregard for workers'weilbeing
expect to
get good results.

Bad leaders tentl tofocus too muclt on

their self_interests rqtlter
lhan those of the compuny or customet.

Jn lecent weeks, Musk has demonstrated questionable behaviors

in both respects. Concerning values, fvfus[ recentfy
appeared on
a podcast with Joe RoSaO smoking marijuana-and drinking
whiskey. Back in July, Musk also cjled or.
of tn. Thai caver
rescuers a pedophile without justification.
Why? Because the
man suggested Musk's offer to help with
a mini-submarine was
a PR stunt. These are hardly the values
typical Jan effective bold
leader.

Each of these indiscretions required Musk

to apologize, and each
has resulted ,1 a drop in Tesla^'s stock price.
s'ut these behaviors
are not the only ones reflective of bad
Ladership.

Pt5hq quarterly earnings interviews, Musk berated analysts

for
being ignorant and uneducated. Likewir., t t
u, taunted short
sellers on numerous occasions, stating they "
undermine the value
of the company. Unlike bold leaderslip tirat io.trrc
respect for
others, Musk seems to be doing the opposite.
fnifr" p.o."rs, he is
isolating himself while unaermining f"sU,s
vau".

Musk's ability to embrace media is well recognized.

His
attention-grabbing efforts have coincided
with tfrE a"rig, of
luxurious electric
"*l: the
and transportation tunleling.
tauncfrin! of rockets,
When d; well, these
opportunities in the spotlight can be helpful.

Pll 1:$*:Inuse
rnsprratron.
such ptatforms for communication, vision,
contrast, bad leaders
and
create distractions and trinaer
their firms- by using the media ineffectively. Musk
mort ,"c"rtly
porhays the latter, as he appears to be progressively
more
consumed by his ego.

Not only is Tesla without a Chief Operations Officer,

but Musk
also serves as both Chairman and CEb. In addition
to his struggle
 to
to retain top talent, he also has difficulty delegating control
others.

he is only
Even if Musk could handle all these positions at Tesla,
involved in the company part-time' SpaceX and other endeavors
*rr.r-. a significant po.tio" of this time' Musk admitted as
how
much during irecent Niw York Times interview, describing
burdened he is with responsibilities'

This inability to effectively delegate tasks to others and

share

control reflects key aspects ofbad leadership'

For any company, bad leadership can steer the business in

a less-

it u*opti.nuf direction. For Teila, this tendency seems to be

iuffy true. This is where Musk's boldness is uniquely
"*pon"n
derimental.

For example, since he threatened to take Tesla private (and

aiar'i), stock prices have dropped 27 percent' Likewise' Tesla
has repeatedly (if not consisturtly) failed to-.meet production
forecasts. And the company is over $9 billion in debt
with
revenues paling bY comParison.

When bold leadership isn't backed up with performance' or

thr.ut, are made without action, confidence falls' This is exactly
where Tesla finds itself now'

uTeslo Inc. is under investigation by the Justice Departtnent

over public statements made by the company and Clief
Execitive OfJicer Elon Musk, according to two peoplefamiliar
with the *ittur. The criminul probe is running alongside a
pieviously reported civil inquiry by securities regulators"'
- Bloomberg.com

a bold
Despite Musk's recent tirades and outbursts, Tesla remains
Musk remains
irrrir.r, with tremendous opportunity for success'
leaders in
one of the most innovative, charismatic, and visionary
the world. Thus, the bad leadership tendencies of late certainly
significant changes need to take place'
can be reversed. But some

in the
And Musk himself will have to dial back his boldness a bit
p.o..tr. The actions of bold leaders like Musk, who is slightly
eccentric and extremely intelligent, can be hard to predict'

But even so, being too bold can result in bad leadership' The
message here is not or. of doom and gloom' However,
waming
Augt ui. flying, and changes in leadership approaches are needed
for Tesla to excel.

Right now, those changes involve tvlsn' '!n{ with Musk in the
driier's seat, he wifl bJt]re one deciding whether to shift gears'

The future of Tesla dePends on it.

Based on the above article and classroom concepts answer the

following questions:
 a. Interpret the bold leadership of Mr. Elon Musk from the above
case?

b. Identifr the pros and cons of bold leadership from the

management perspective.

c. Evaluate and recommend the organizational structure of the

05 col 02

above case in the context of, "Too many eggs in one basket, is
okay to manage".

d. Outline the changes to be executed from bad bold leadership 05 co4 04

to effective bold leadership style.

05 cos 05

05 coz 03

) Identiff the various steps every successful leader should take in 10 co3 04
a VUCA world for effective crisis management.

3 Mr. Amit has joined an organization as a manager. Illustrate 10 co2 03

various Ineffective styles of leadership to be avoidedby Mr. Amit
with suitable examples.
4 Ms. Cherryl is expanding her business from small to mid-size 10 co5 05
level. As a need for expansion, she needs to hire newly as well as
rearrange the existing managerial roles to share the growing
responsibilities. Recommend Ms. Cherryl as Mintzberg's
Managerial role model with a suitable example and diagram for
her growing organization.
5 Identi$r various factors responsible for resistance to change in an 10 co3 04
organization.
6 a. Differentiate between Leader and Manager. 05 co4 04
b. Outline the various approaches wherein, business
05 c04 04
leaders incorporate social responsibilities and ethics.

7 Explain any two of the following concepts: l0 col 02

a. Greenwashing
b. Quality Trilogy
c. VUCA