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Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
Case 4.2: Eating Lunch Standing Up
Case Synopsis and Analysis
Susan Parks is the part–owner and manager of a sports equipment store that largely employs
part-time college students. She works 50 hr a week, and is a task-oriented leader. All
employees clearly understand their tasks and objectives, and are always kept busy at the
store. Some enjoy Susan’s style, but others feel that she is impersonal.
This case portrays a task-oriented leader, who is largely successful in her work. It asks
students to consider the pay-off for her being more relationship focused. She is already hard-
working, and is a busy mother. Would it be a worthwhile investment for her to spend more
time getting to know the part-time college workers in her store? Should she be more
relationship focused, or is it appropriate to stay task oriented?
Learning objectives:
• Students should be able to apply the principles of the behavioral approach to a
leader.
• Students should be able to apply Blake and Mouton’s grid to a leader.
• Students should recognize some of the complexities of developing relationship
skills for a task driven, busy leader.
Answers to questions in the text:
1. According to the behavioral approach, how would you describe Susan’s leadership?
Susan is a task-oriented leader. She has a high concern for production with a smaller
2. Why does her leadership behavior create such a pronounced reaction from her
subordinates?
Some subordinates need a relationship with their supervisor before they can be
3. Do you think she should change her behavior?
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
Students will have varying answers here. If Susan becomes more relationship
focused, she may have less retention issues and find more engaged workers. It could
4. Would she be effective if she changed?
Potential teaching approaches:
Below is a way to structure a class based on the behavioral approach and Case Study 4.2:
• Hold a lecture on the behavioral approach.
• Offer a complete overview of the Blake and Mouton grid.
• Read Case 4.2.
• Discuss Questions 1–4 in the case study as a class.
• Finally, the professor may choose to conduct in-class exercises listed below.
Exercises for this case study:
1) Ask the class to place Susan on the Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid. Where is she
at currently? Then, create a list of professional development offerings that Susan
2) Role-Play: Have someone role-play as Susan (based on her portrayal in Case 4.2).
Have two groups of students play two unique teams: (1) those that admire her work
