 What are the differences among Burke, Cooper and Wendall in terms of their personality,

goals, ability, styles, etc.?

Paul Burke Max Cooper Chip Wendall

Personality 1) We see in the case, 1) Max comes across 1) Chip comes
Paul is concerned with the as a very empathetic guy across as someone who
performance of 5 teams who connects with people needs to realise that he
under him. He comes across at a very deeper level. He is connecting with
as someone exhibiting shows strong signs of being people in a a very
Openness and Conscientious, agreeable unhealthy way. His
Agreeableness as he was openness and few signs of team perceives him to
looking forward to different Extraversion itself. He be selfish and someone
ways by which he can exudes lot of positivity and who lacks care. He
understand the situation commands (not demand shows signs of
including taking help of a but commands) respect. He Neuroticism.
consultant. has earned the trust of his 2) In terms of
2) In terms of MBTI we team MBTI test, he is
can see him exhibiting lot of 2) In terms of MBTI Introvert who reflects
reflection which indicates we can see him exhibiting but clearly his reflection
high Introversion, he prefers lot of energy and social is not accurate. He is
data which shows his interaction showing showing signs of
sensing side, His analysis Extraversion side. He is hunching that other
points to critical side and Sensing and Feeling kind people will look at
judging side, hence he of person who appreciates things the way he does,
might be ISTJ how his team feels on any His decisions lack logic
3) In terms of situation as exhibited by and are more feeling
Hollands’ RIASEC model his verbatim “I hope they oriented, although he is
he is Realistic, investigative are satisfied with second not getting the sense of
and Conventional as draft. He is flexible, hence other people’s feeling
exhibited by the structured he might be ESFP accurately and he likes
approach adopted to solve 3) In terms of to have extreme control
the problem Hollands’ RIASEC model showing judging side.
he is Realistic, Social and He is IIFJ
Enterprising as exhibited 3) He is in his own
by the balance displayed in world and very wrong.
handling people with ease He is showing signs of
and getting work done Artistic, Enterprising
and Conventional
elements
Goals Paul Burke’s Goal can be Max Cooper’s goals are Chip’s goals seem to be
summed as 1) How can he help his 1) How to get the
1) Why the two team team and achieve goals in a job done?
(Lumen and Absorb) are so manner that everyone likes 2) How to make
different in terms of what they do? sure that work by
Motivation and creatitivity. 2) How to create an the team
What’s the reason behind it environment of openness,
 2) Can this reason be honest, transparency and subscribes to his
used to make all his teams communication standards
equally motivated and 3) To learn from team 3) How to make
productive in order to become a better sure that the
leader recommendations
are politically
correct so as not
make anyone
angry

Ability Paul exhibited high
Perceptual and reasoning
ability as he observed patters
among team performance.
This helped his decide his
approach and to hire a
consultant
Styles Very structured and a leader
who works in a delegating
manner.
Max exhibited high Chip has good verbal
Emotional ability. He ability as showed by his
showed high self-awareness efforts and editing
and emotional intelligence reports, however he
lacks emotional
intelligence as exhibited
by his verbatims which
are completely opposite
of what his team feels
Hands on leader who Hands on leader who
commands respect by the nitpicks things and make
virtue of his Empathy, sure that work prescribes
ability to connect with to his standard and
people and showing them assumes that his team
that he dependable and will automatically
transparent connect with is vision
without making any
efforts

 How do members of the Lumen and Absorb Teams perceive their team leaders regarding
trustworthiness and justice?

Lumen Team: Described in the case as the “most motivated team”, Lumen team shows high
amount of trust in the team leader
Trustworthiness: We can see from the case how Lumen team specially acknowledged that they
could not have done their tasks as well without the guidance of the leader. We see How Melinda
and Max describe how “Max wanted to make sure that in general my work was going smoothly”.
Max displays all three forms Cognition based trust i.e. Ability (His team is confident of his
capabilities) Benevolence (His team describes how Max is relentless in getting new team
members so that the workload of team decreases and Integrity
Justice: The Lumen team is motivated to do really good work because of the atmosphere of
justice as created by the team leader. The members have Voice as exhibited by Max who not
only took the tem members suggestion on other things but also on grammar and then Max sent
the updated report showing how he cares. Then Max gives respect and propriety by always
acknowledging the work and motivating his team.
Absorb team : Absorb team on the other hand is least motivated and we can see why
Trustworthiness: The team has lost trust in their leader as exhibited by Dave when he says “I
don’t feel that I can work effectively when my team leader is trying to be involved in every detail
of my work” We can see how the team feels nitpicked and dissatisfied with Chip. How Chip’s
habit of admonishing people is creating a negative atmosphere
Justice: Absorb team does not feel valued. They believe that they don’t have a voice. It’s a one
man show who does not value their work.

 If you were Paul Burke, what would you do to resolve the performance issues among your
project teams?

If I was Paul Burke, I would realize that at the core of the problem of the performance issue, lies
the leadership style. Clearly Max is exhibiting the ideal behavior that a leader should show.
Hence, I will talk to Max and will have a workshop in which he can share with other team
leaders on how he handles his day to day work.
I would also talk to Chip and reason with him, how he needs to connect with his team in a deeper
level. Chip needs to realize that respect and creativity are commanded and not demanded. Once
he starts building bonds of trust and freedom with his team, his team members will be motivated
to do their best and the whole team’s performance will improve.
If I am Paul then I need to deal with Chip like Max would deal with him, I myself need to learn
from the observations and further improve my way of leadership and my test will be the way I
handle the challenge with Absorb team.