Leadership Description & Analysis -- State Farm

McWhinney's Four Worldviews

Individuals, organizations, and communities engage in change (McWhinney et al., 1997). If managers are to initiate organizational change, they need to understand how they view the world.

As a leader of the State Farm agency, Toby Stevens is a Unitary leader. He enjoys principles and truths. Playing a leader does not always get anybody happy and satisfied, "this is the business, not a game. We have our responsibility." Leaders must take seriously when they give direct instructions and when employees make mistakes (Stevens, T., personal communications, October 31, 2020). Nevertheless, excessive tension is inappropriate when leaders try to connect with followers closely. Therefore, Toby would also communicate with employees to give them enough space and time to finish the work, examples of taking care of followers' feelings on work time and salary, organizing the team building activities, and listening to followers' advice. In this case, Toby is a socialized leader. When leading a group of trained and knowledgeable people, social would be efficient and encouraged. Being unitary would have followers know their leaders have standards and a bottom line in the workforce.

Regarding Toby's leadership, Lean Miller, who was executing her primary tasks at the service department and making phone calls to clients, said she kept working with different State Farm for more than ten years. Because she believed the company to bring support for her and had a sentimental attachment to the vision and mission of State Farm, "to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected and realize their dreams" and "like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" (StateFarm.com, n.d.). So Lean is a mythic employee based on McWhinney's theory. She lacks rational thinking to solve problems, but her cooperation degree is high when making a decision. Service manager Jennifer indicated that she was good at looking at data and questioning details (Ittner, J., personal communication, October 31, 2020). She always lists data and questions to ask in a weekly meeting. Other followers feel Jennifer is too severe to let things slide. However, this personal sensory style helps her be an excellent service manager in State Farm, responsible for managing clients' databases and solving issues immediately.

Therefore, Toby realized members' assets and deficits after interviewing with them and provide a transparent environment that enables team members to assess the current organizational situation. There is no doubt that conflict would happen in groups when initiative changes based on followers who have different worldviews. However, the key to solving problems is communication and empathy, "making business decisions can be a stressful and emotional process, and we need everyone's participate and help" (Stevens, T., personal communications, October 31, 2020).