Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors 2022/23: No. 44

The case is designed to help undergraduate and graduate students, as well as participants in executive education programmes recognise the differences between six leadership styles identified by the work of Litwin & Stringer (1971) and further popularised by Goleman (2000), Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee (2013), and Korn & Ferry (2017). The case presents employee descriptions of their superior's behaviours that are indicative of one of the six leadership styles: directive, visionary, affiliative, participative, pacesetting, and coaching.

This field research case presents an account of leading digital transformation in a traditional organiSation. The case briefly traces more than 100 years of history of Klockner & Co, an independent global steel and metal distributor, and presents challenges faced by the steel distribution branch. It then describes the thinking process of Gisbert Rühl, the company's CEO concerned about taking the company into the future in the face of global changes faced by the industry. The case presents Rühl's view of digital opportunities for the organisation and his attempts to prepare the company for the digital age. 

The six vignettes in this case present situations that call for the application of one of the six leadership styles: coercive, pacesetting, authoritative, affiliative, democratic, and coaching. The vignettes, each demonstrating a correct, incorrect, or possible use of a particular style, can be used in class for the purpose of developing students’ leadership style, diagnostic skills, as a group discussion material, or as test material for post-class examination.