Eva and Madelia Case Study

Case study 11.1

Name: Lina.Ma

ID: 524400

Course: LDRS 303 IR

Instructor: Steven Liang

Date: 2016/10/19

Case Study 11.1

Eva and Madelia faced a leadership situation that can be clearly defined as a technical and an adaptive challenge in which the issues can be identified but do not have practical solutions (Northouse, 2013, p.262). In the case of Eva and Madelia, who experienced the stigma of mental problems, the editors found a concrete way to solve and alleviate loneliness. Therefore, the editors are willing to publish a book, it can be freely in public to share and tell their stories and help young people with mental problems. However, the project failed because the school principal opposed publication stories, even though students and their parents were willing to cooperate. In general, these challenges are both "technical and adaptive" (Northouse, 2013, p. 263). In fact, editors and principals should provide support and encouragement as leaders, but more importantly, these students need to adapt and change

As for the behavior of the principal seems to be selfish and uncooperative, because she does not allow editors to print the story of students. On the one hand, she opposed the release of the real case, which is to avoid further bullying on campus. At the same time, she feared that the reports would affect the school's reputation. However, she did not help students adapt to new challenges. First, she was able to identify students' problems but did not set any “goals to address the problems.” (Northouse, 2013, p 2013). Second, the headmaster does not stop people from accepting “new roles and responsibilities” because of the unpredictable impact this may have, and she does not want students to adapt to change. As for conflict management and production norms, she missed the opportunity to deal with conflict and create rules. Nonetheless, good students arouse controversy in the news newspaper, which may give them unbearable external pressure. She persuaded the editor not to put the real name of the student in the newspaper.

Eva and Madelia created a holding environment created, building a space for those youngsters to talk and share their psychological distress, forming a communicating bridge between them. A holding environment is a safe place where people feel confident to solve difficult problems and that allows them to do the adaptive work to overcome internal fears and stand in front of a public again (Northouse, 2013, p, 266). However, the place the editors provided made it unsafe for the students to speak out due to the readers feeling free to post their negative comments. Likewise, if I were the editors, I would have collected those students’ real stories together and then made up a new story that covered all of the real events. As a result, the students could openly and honestly talk about their ideas in a safer environment than before.