Misuse of Power and Position

This was my post on my SiliconIndia blog  and interestingly got lot of views in short period of time.  http://blogs.siliconindia.com/Visionahead/

I believe that the views were not due to the fact that I had written good or great article or case study. It was because most us could relate to it. We must have faced it in our professional life and tackled it differently according to the situation, Organizational structure, authority etc.

This blog post shows-- how important it is to carefully hire a Good leader for heading any business and more importantly  there should be matrix and responsibilities laid down clearly for evaluating the Leader and his performance.   

Read and find solutions to this Case Study!!

Friends! A very interesting case study I received from one of the member of our HR fraternity . This is a typical case of misuse of power at a higher position and harrasing employees silently.

This case study is from a mid size company in  Education Sector

A senior management person Mr. X, handles a team of 100 people , all professionally qualified. He was hired by the Top Management to grow the business, revenue and team size. He was given free hand in operation and decision making. 

A brief about his attitude/behaviour.....

He is a go getter (at any cost). Outwardly aggressive, loud about ideas and thoughts. But internally lacks depth. Communication is rude and rarely making sense. Prefers interacting only with 2nd in line. 

Always likes and favours people who do exactly what he says without applying their mind. People who are at his service 24*7 are appreciated. His attitude--" I am always right" killed the creative thought process of the employees and forced them to do just, what he said with out argument. Loves to give his expert advise, even if he does not understand the subject matter and expect others to obey. "Best part of his behaviour"-- is to pull- down people, demotivate them, pin point their faults in public.   

 Problems that cropped up:

1. Star performers or ( people who use their mind) left the company

2. Demotivated team members

3. No leadership in the company, team moving ahead all by themselves

4 His confident s whom he hired are upset because he misuses them and makes them work 15-20 hrs almost everyday.

5. HR partially empowered, as he is also reporting to MR.X 

6. Eventually neither the revenue  nor the team size grew.

Now Questions:

1. How do we dissect this case? 

2. What other problems can we anticipate?

3. Is the leadership style of Mr.X correct? What do we term this style as.

4. How this can be handled tactfully?

5. How should the Top management react?

6. What are the learnings?