Leadership Case Study
Case Summary
In June 1950, the battle between South and North Korea began after North Korea invaded South Korea. The Unit States deployed the Marine Corps under the leadership of General Clifton Cates to assist South Korea. However, General O.P. Smith later took command of the 1st Marine Division after being promoted from Assistant Commandant. He used a unique strategy to defeat his enemies after studying the issues that caused defeat. He was also a member of a Board for the Commandant that was planning on how to use nuclear weapons. His involvement in the war encouraged the Marine Corps to use nuclear weapons because he argued that they would increase the possibility of limited, lower-level conflicts, which was one of the areas that the Marine Corps officers were good at. He also gained recognition for doing everything by the book. This created tension between him and the leaders and a lack of support. However, he left a good legacy as one of the best commanders because he used his strengths to leverage the opportunities that enabled him to stay ahead of his enemies despite facing various internal and external threats.
One of Smith’s strengths was his leadership principles. According to Lejeune Leadership Institute & Marine Corps History Division (2017), one of Smith’s leadership principles was being prepared for the worst. This principle enabled him to remain keen when planning for attacks and during attacks, which led to success during the war. The second principle was being optimistic. This principle gave him confidence during attacks, which resulted in successful attacks. The second strength was his leadership approach. Smith used his position as a leader to set a clear direction for the soldiers and ensure that they all understood what was expected of them. For instance, he clarified to all officers what they were required to do when the Chinese attacked, thus guaranteeing that they were always ready to respond to an attack. He was also good at organizing the officers and coordinating their actions during attacks. For example, he created a tactic that involved fighting from high ground, moving during the day, resting at night, and using fire support and artillery as an equalizer for enemies who exceeded their power. Another strength was his military expertise. According to Lejeune Leadership Institute & Marine Corps History Division (2017), Smith had served as an Assistant Division Commander in the Second World War before becoming the commander of the Marine Corps Schools.
One of Smith’s weaknesses was his inability to sustain a good relationship with other officers and leaders. For instance, the officers stated that he did everything by the book and was a strict disciplinarian. These traits caused tension between him and the officers and the leaders to the point that the leaders no longer supported him. However, he managed to win the officers’ support by leveraging opportunities such as clearing the mess created by Almond after he refused to listen to the concerns raised by the subordinate commanders during a crisis (Lejeune Leadership Institute & Marine Corps History Division, 2017). Smith took that opportunity to gain the support of the other commanders because he was in charge of rescuing the Task Force Faith, an entity supported by the commanders. He also leveraged the opportunity to create a strong defense by ordering the repair of all bridges because the bridges granted access to the mountains and kept the division united.
The success of Smith’s troops was due to his ability to use his power and influence to support his officers. For instance, he ordered engineers to build an airfield that could later be used as the linchpin of their operation if they were forced to conduct a breakout. However, Smith faced various threats, such as the conflict with the Division Commander because the commander preferred using a centralized style of command and did not empower the officers. The second threat was a lack of support from leaders, which made him vulnerable and increased the likelihood of his army’s failure. Another leadership issue that posed a threat to Smith’s success was Rupertus’ loss of touch with reality because it impacted his decision-making ability, which made it hard for Smithy to implement his military tactics.
Leadership Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
The leadership self-assessment questionnaire analyzed my leadership capabilities. My total score was 190, indicating that I am on my way to becoming a leader. One of my leadership strengths, based on the survey results, is the ability to create rapport with the people I interact with because I enjoy communicating with others. The second strength is the ability to determine the requirements that people in my department need and create a job description for them. The third strength is the ability to determine whether a person is fit for a job based on my assessment of their qualifications, knowledge, and capabilities. The fourth strength is the ability to decide when to be political and when to act informally. For instance, I can be political when influencing people’s conduct. The fifth strength is the ability to reward employees when they perform well to keep them motivated. I also have good convincing power, which is essential in influencing people to offer their support. Therefore, I am able to get support from the people around me and earn their trust. I also learned that I have integrity and can gain the trust of the people I interact with.
The survey also helped me identify weaknesses that could impact my progress toward becoming a good leader. One of the weaknesses is my reluctance to consider other people’s input when making decisions. My second weakness is the lack of consistency in my actions. This could create uncertainty among my followers, thus making it hard to get their support and respect (Klebe et al., 2022). The results also indicated that I rarely ask questions. Failing to ask questions may lead to biased decisions, which could impact how I relate with my followers. According to Du et al. (2022), a leader’s bias could create employee exclusion, leading to weak support and limited opportunities and support. Denying followers opportunities could create conflict between the leader and followers, thus limiting effective leadership (Caputo et al., 2023). The survey results also indicated that I am good at setting guidelines for how others should treat each other. This could impact my ability to keep my followers united and ensure that they all work towards accomplishing a shared goal.
My journey towards becoming a good leader requires leveraging opportunities that enhance my leadership skills and capabilities. The survey enabled me to identify various opportunities that I can consider. One of the opportunities is requesting feedback from those around me to determine areas I should improve to become a good leader. Papasava (2017) argues that leaders should initiate feedback and embrace positive and negative feedback to get a genuine assessment of the actions and decisions and improve their leadership capabilities. Therefore, I can use my ability to communicate with others to get feedback from my followers and become a good leader. The second opportunity is using my career and personal goals to develop leadership development plans. For instance, I can use the goals to plan a leadership course or apply for a leadership position.
One of the threats that could impact my progress toward becoming a good leader is conflict with followers because of my reluctance to accept ownership of team decisions. Tjosvold & Tjosvold (2015) argues that effective leadership requires teamwork. Being reluctant to accept ownership for team decisions may signal a lack of willingness to be a team player, which could create conflict and impact my ability to work with my followers to achieve a shared goal. The second threat is situations that demand a change in the leadership style. Leaders often encounter situations that require changing their leadership style to accommodate the needs of their followers. According to Lacroix & Verdorfer (2017), leadership styles are vital in creating a good relationship between leaders and followers. Therefore, every leader needs to understand different leadership styles and how to implement them. This can be achieved by interacting with other leaders and leveraging my ability to talk and learn from others, as well as understand the basics of leadership styles in real-life situations.
Application of Leadership Capabilities to the Case
The results of the leadership survey indicate that my leadership capabilities include interpersonal skills, good communication skills, the ability to create an effective team by selecting team members with the skills and capabilities required for the job, the ability to create a shared vision for all followers, the ability to use political influence in the right situation, good convincing power and the ability to motivate people. These capabilities are applicable to the case because they align with military leadership approaches. For instance, the ability to use political influence is essential in military leadership. According to Boettcher (2022), politics and military action are linked because political decisions dictate the decisions made by military leaders. For example, in the current case, I could use my political influence to convince the South Korean government to authorize the use of nuclear weapons because the Marine Corps had expertise in using the weapons. I could also use my political influence to convince the South Korean government leaders to offer support to the Marine Corps, such as the labor needed to construct the bridges to create a strong defense and ease the movement of soldiers to enemy territory during the attacks.
The information provided in the case suggests that good communication was essential in keeping the officers united and ensuring they understood what was expected. For instance, Smith used his good communication skills to inform the officers what they were expected to do when they were attacked and clarify that the actions were only for when there was an attack and not if there was an attack. Therefore, I could use my good communication skills, the ability to create an effective team, and the ability to motivate people to implement situational leadership. According to Islam et al. (2021), situational leadership includes changing the level of directness, supportiveness, and motivation based on a situation. For example, I could use a high level of directness when planning the attacks with my officers to ensure that they understood what they were expected of them and how their actions could influence the outcome of an attack. I could then increase support when implementing the plans to keep the officers motivated and focused on achieving the goal of the attack. Situational leadership would be applicable in the attacks against enemies in the war between the North Koreans and South Koreans because the situations in the war zones and military camps changed based on the threat posed by the enemies and their fighting strategy.
Although applying situational leadership would be effective in leading the officers against the enemies in the war between North and South Korea, it would be vital to consider an additional leadership style. Oyelude & Fadun (2018) argue that situational leaders switch between various leadership styles to meet an organization’s needs and develop confidence and trust among followers. Therefore, I would use my ability to create a shared vision for all followers and good convincing power to implement the transformational leadership style. According to Korejan & Shahbazi (2016), transformational leadership focuses on maximizing professional performance. Transformational leaders can use their power and influence over followers to develop loyalty, passion, and commitment among them and mobilize them to make vital changes to stay prepared and acquire the necessary capabilities for moving in new directions and reaching the required performance levels (Khan et al.,2020). Therefore, transformational leadership is applicable in this case because it would enable me to develop the officers’ loyalty and commitment to winning the war against the enemies. I would also use transformational leadership to mobilize the soldiers to change their fighting tactics and respond appropriately to enemy attacks. Kernic et al. (2023) argue that commanders can use transformational leadership to make soldiers comply with orders. Transformational leadership would also be effective in leading the officers against enemies because it would promote compliance with orders from the commanders and ensure that the officers are committed to achieving a common goal.
Leadership Choices Justification
One of the leadership choices selected in the section above is using political influence to support the officers during the war between North Korea and South Korea. Using political influence would be effective in ensuring that the officers got the support they needed throughout the war and that their needs were met. Political influence would also be essential in ensuring that other commanders respected and recognized my legitimate power as a commander. According to McShane & Glinow (2021), legitimate power is an agreement among people in an organization that people with specific roles request specific behaviors from others. In my case, I would use my political influence to agree with other commanders that I could request specific behaviors from them based on my ability to influence political decisions that impact the officers and access to the resources needed for the war. For instance, I could request the commanders to support me in generating ideas on the appropriate military tactics based on the goals that the political leaders in South Korea wanted to achieve during the war. I would also use my political influence to ensure that my officers were safe and had access to the resources needed. For example, I would use political influence to request the South Korean government to send more officers to assist the Marine Corps officers in preventing the massive loss of Marine Corps Officers’ lives.
The second leadership choice is using situational leadership to lead the Marine Corps officers effectively throughout the war. McShane & Glinow (2021) argue that situations influence performance and individual behaviors by facilitating specific performance and behavior and providing cues to motivate and hide people. Therefore, I would use situational leadership to maintain proper control over the officers and ensure they are always motivated. For example, I would encourage the officers to share their ideas on the best attack strategies and how to respond during the planning stage and share my ideas with them to reason with them on the most effective approach. I would also change the leadership tactic during the attacks to keep the officers committed and motivated to fight. For example, I would order the officers to keep fighting if I realized we had a chance to win against the enemies and order a retreat from the situation, which presented the likelihood of defeat and massive loss of life. I would also embrace the ideas shared by other commanders in situations that demand more expertise than my current expertise. For example, I would encourage my officers to follow the tactics recommended by other commanders and change them only when they are ineffective.
The third leadership style is transformational leadership. I would use my expert power to change the officers’ perceptions and opinions during the war to keep them focused on winning against the enemies. McShane & Glinow (2021) define expert power as a person’s ability to influence others by possessing the skills or knowledge valued by others. For instance, I would use my military expertise and understanding of the topography of South Korea to influence the officers to embrace my military tactics and ideas. I would also use transformational leadership to convince other commands to change their leadership tactics. Transformational leadership is essential in inspiring officers to behave in a specific way (Hamad, 2015). Therefore, I would use transformational leadership to encourage the Division Commander to change from a centralized style of command to a decentralized style that would empower the officers. Using a similar leadership style could promote collaboration among the generals to solve problems such as the lack of practical cooperation among officers. Boettcher (2022) argues that military leaders may be more used to creating a clear vision and a cross-functional environment, inspiring confidence in their subordinates, and identifying the main problem. Therefore, I would use my ability to convince other commanders to embrace my leadership style to inspire confidence among the officers, thus encouraging them to follow my tactics.
Conclusion
Leadership plays a vital role in influencing the outcome of a situation. One of the most effective military leaders in history is General O.P. Smith, who took command of the 1st Marine Division after being promoted from Assistant Commandant during the war between South and North Korea. Smith demonstrated great leadership by using his military expertise and leadership skills to lead the officers. Although Smith’s leadership style, characterized by guiding the officers and ensuring that they were always united, was effective, other leadership styles, such as situational and transformational leadership, can be considered. Situational leadership can be used to motivate the officers and ensure that they work towards achieving a similar goal. Situational leadership would be applicable in the attacks against enemies in the war because the situations in the war zones and military camps changed based on the threat posed by the enemies and their fighting strategy. Transformational leadership would also be effective in leading the officers against enemies because it would promote compliance with orders from the commanders and ensure that the officers are committed to achieving a common goal.
References
Boettcher, F. (2022). Exploratory study upon military leadership in the 21st century. What are skills and knowledge required for leadership success? Polish Political Science Yearbook, 51, 39–55. https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202227
Caputo, A., Gatti, P., Clari, M., Garzaro, G., Dimonte, V., & Cortese, C. G. (2023). Leaders’ role in shaping followers’ well-being: Crossover in a sample of Nurses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2386. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032386
Du, S., Xie, W., & Wang, J. (2022). How leaders’ bias tendency affects employees’ knowledge hiding behavior: The mediating role of workplace marginalization perception. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.965972
Hamad, H. B. (2015). Transformational leadership theory: Why military leaders are more charismatic and transformational? International Journal on Leadership, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.21863/ijl/2015.3.1.001
Islam, Q., Juraybi, M., & Alraythi, M. (2021). Effectiveness of Situational Leadership Style in Managing Workplace Crisis. Saudi Journal of Business and Management Studies, 6(9). https://doi.org/https://saudijournals.com/media/articles/SJBMS_69_362-365.pdf
Kernic, F., Elbe, M., & Richter, G. (2023). Military leadership: Concepts and theoretical approaches. Handbook of Military Sciences, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02866-4_61-1
Khan, H., Rehmat, M., Butt, T. H., Farooqi, S., & Asim, J. (2020). Impact of transformational leadership on work performance, Burnout, and Social Loafing: A mediation model. Future Business Journal, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-020-00043-8
Klebe, L., Klug, K., & Felfe, J. (2022). When your boss is under pressure: On the relationships between leadership inconsistency, leader and follower strain. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.816258
Korejan, M., & Shahbazi, H. (2016). An analysis of the Transformational Leadership Theory. Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 8(3), 452. https://doi.org/10.4314/jfas.v8i3s.192
Lacroix, M., & Verdorfer, A. (2017). Can servant leaders fuel The leadership fire? the relationship between servant leadership and followers’ leadership avoidance. Administrative Sciences, 7(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci7010006
Lejeune Leadership Institute, & Marine Corps History Division. (2017). Commandership at the Chosin Reservoir: A triumph of Optimism and Resilience. Marine Corps Gazette. https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/LLI/MLD/Commandership at the Chosin Reservoir 19 Feb 19.pdf? ver=2019-02-19-093922-057
McShane, S., & Glinow, M. (2021). Organizational Behavior (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Oyelude, M., & Fadun, T. (2018). Situational Leadership Style in Managing Conflicts in an Organization: A Case of Nigerian Eagle Flour. International Journal of Social Sciences and Management Research, 1. https://doi.org/https://www.iiardjournals.org/get/IJSSMR/VOL.%204%20NO.%201%202018/SITUATIONAL%20LEADERSHIP.pdf
Papasava, A. (2017). How Leaders Can Use Negative Feedback to Their Advantage. The International Journal Of Business & Management, 5(8). https://doi.org/https://www.academia.edu/34896142/How_Leaders_Can_Use_Negative_Feedback_to_Their_Advantage
Tjosvold, D., & Tjosvold, M. (2015). Leadership for teamwork, teamwork for leadership. Building the Team Organization, 65–79. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137479938_5
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Question 
In a 10-12 page paper, explore the leader within. You will be applying your own leadership skills to a real-world scenario within the U.S. Marine Corps. Go to https://www.usmcu.edu/mld-discussion-topics/ and click on the Command and Leadership module. What would you do as a leader based on one of the case studies from the U.S. Marine Corps located at (copy and paste the URL below into the address bar of your search engine – clicking will not work)
Leadership Case Study
https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/LLI/MLD/Commandership%20at%20the%20Chosin%20Reservoir%20%2019%20Feb%2019.pdf?ver=2019-02-19-093922-057
(the link info above is in PDF in the handouts in Getting Started>Course Resources) . Leading can be a difficult task. It is hard to know what other leaders are thinking, what is important to them, and how they do it day in and day out.
First: Summarize the case. What were the leadership issues. SWOT it with your words and put your SWOT chart in an appendix after the references (not in the body of your paper).
Second: Now, evaluate your own personal leadership characteristics by taking the following assessment instrument at http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/survlead.html. The survey is designed to provide you with feedback about your level of preference or comfort with leadership characteristics and skills. What are your leadership strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats?
Third: Apply your leadership capabilities to the case. How would your style of leadership fit? Show you can analyze, synthesize, and evaluate.
Fourth: Justify the leadership choices you made in step 3 with the literature. In your analysis and evaluation, note what your strengths are and areas for development. Your leadership paper should synthesize OB theories and concepts learned throughout the term demonstrating your ability to apply them to real-world scenarios. You should have strong ties to all chapters of your textbook readings as well as scholarly academic peer-reviewed articles researched in the Keiser University online library.