Question A
Kirk and Malcolm seem to demonstrate a democratic leadership style in which they other employees have the opportunity to contribute to the success of the organization. As the style was democratic, the leadership style which came up clearly is the team management leadership skill. Malcolm had a problem of recruiting talent during the first days. To be more specific, he had a challenge of finding a team which put the values and organization mission and goals at heart. Therefore, he had to be able to create a culture and environment to clearly demonstrate to the teams the type of business that he required (Anonymous, 2011). They develop interventions, clarify goals, established a structure that was effective for business success and collaborated with the teams to ensure that they meet the increasing demands (Anonymous, 2011). They supported their team and assessed their performance through sharing of information. They organized their management team and tried to deliver on client engagements. The demand on NerveWire increased significantly and increased its clients. It increased its management team and hired more employees and opened markets in many other locations; for instance it opened new branches in New York City, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Helsinki. Though the economy was going down in 2001, NerveWire managed to survive through formation of partnership with other companies like Ariba Technologies, i2 Technologies, Sun Microsystems, TibCo and webMethods. This can be explained using the Hill’s team leadership model in which the managements made an intervention decision to partner with other companies in order for them to survive the bad economic times.
Question B
Kirk and Malcolm are effective leaders based on the management style they use. The way they interact with employees and their desire to meet the demand and supply shows their effectiveness. They do not ignore the increasing demand but try their best to ensure that they are in line with the increasing demand. They both have work ethics and have good relations with people outside and inside their organization. The good relationships they have create confidence and this may be used to explain why their products are still in very high demand. They are also focused on their goals and stops at nothing to ensure that they achieve them. The relationships they have build goes behold the organization and even go ahead to form partnerships to ensure that they work with other people. They are able to see the important of working with experienced people and how to use their skills to resolve conflicts incase it arises.
Despite the fact that they are effective in their management styles, there are things which they can do better. NerveWire is facing a lot of challenges as it can be seen in 2001. The economy is slowing down and declining as from late 2000. This decline had made many clients to pull off from NerveWire. The competition is also getting tougher. Due to these challenges, they should develop more strong relationships with their clients and form more profound partnerships. Apparently, they have identified these problems and are incorporating it in their solutions. During the formation of the relationships, they should take time and assess the commitment of their clients or partners to ensure that the relationships can last longer and are productive.
Question C
Arnold has been a manager before and she was working for a big company so she has that experience which makes her be effective in her work. As for Malcolm, he is committed to the success of the organization and even tries to look for someone who can take care of both supply and demand. They apply work ethics which makes the employees appreciate their work and work even more. Work ethics is one of the most important aspects in management. This is why their management style is effective because there is respect for every one which ever rank they are in. they are direct and open in what they do, they are objective and have a great desire to work. This makes them serve as an example to others because if the managers are committed to their work, their subordinates will also work hard. Most of mangers have been found to take advantage of their position and rest. This is not happening with Kirk. Kirk is an excellent professional, talented and has a good track record. Despite being a manager, she was responsible for both supply and demand which enhanced capacity building. She was also charged with the responsibility of making sure that sales and deliveries never go out of alignment.
Question D
Kirk and Malcolm can be described as calm and people who are optimistic. Despite the fact that the economy is declining, they put efforts to ensure that the company is still on its feet. They interact with people well, which is the reason as to why they are developing strong relationships and partnerships with other companies. They believe that despite all these shortcomings, they can do it. There were many difficulties which forced Nerve Wire to reduce its employees by 20%. These difficulties would have put them down if they were not optimistic. Besides these difficulties, they were receiving positive comments from outsiders.
A leader needs to be optimistic in order to be a good leader to his or her followers. The personality of being calm and optimistic contributed to Kirk and Malcolm being good leaders in that they were able to choose appropriate alternatives when need arose. Their calmness also facilitated to their following the work ethics. It is their personality type which made it easier to gain confidence from other people and they were able to form relationships and partnerships.
There is no evidence of narcissism which is a personality trait of egoism, vanity, conceit and selfishness. In this case Kirk and Malcolm do not have any of these traits. We can see that they are involved in the company activities and do not take their position as an advantage. They have respect for their employees and customers and are observing work ethics. The concrete prove that they do not have narcissism is that they have been able to build relations and partnerships. Their reputation is also exemplary.
Question E
Gender stereotypes have been a barrier to women advancement especially when it comes to management. There are extreme perceptions towards women leaders in business (Price, 2011). Women leaders are perceived as never right. If a woman leader adheres to this stereotype, she is considered soft, if she goes against it, she is considered rough. Women leaders may have a high competence but the rewards are very low (Price, 2011). Women have to work really hard for them to be recognized as leaders. A woman leader may be competent but disliked by her followers. This is especially where the woman shows skills of leadership like being assertive. If a woman leader adopts stereotypically feminine style, her followers like her but people do not think she values leadership skills.
This case is against these stereotypes. This is because despite the fact that Malcolm was a man, he hired Kirk who is a lady. He believes that she can successfully deal with supply, demand and ensure that sales and deliveries do not go out of line (Price, 2011). She was considered as an extraordinary professional, extraordinarily talented and has an amazing track of record. Malcolm considered what she knows and what she is capable of doing but not he gender. Despite being a female, she was talented and was able to do he work well.
Factors which might have contributed to Kirk’s success in business may include her work ethics where she could respect her subordinates and her customers. She also has skills and experience which she uses to successfully contact her businesses. She knows how to make interactions which result in to strong relationships. Business is about relationships hence if one knows how to make strong relationships, the probability of succeeding is high. She also has the character of being optimistic. This helps her not to give up even when the business is down. On the contrary, she is creative enough to come up with coping mechanisms.
Question F
The leadership style is well suited for NerveWire since the economy is declining and the company needs someone creative to come up with mechanism to cope with this situation. The leadership style is direct because the mangers; Kirk and Malcolm are directly involved in the activities of the business. They sit and wait for their subordinates to work alone. This style is responsive because it is saving the company during the difficult times. Hence it is suitable. The company involves consultations and system developments. This makes it necessary identify specific needs for customers. This can only be achieved by creative thinking demonstrated by Kirk. Unlike in some business categories which do not require a lot of thinking, NerveWire is one business which requires innovative thinking. NerveWire is good business environment for Kirk because she gets the opportunity to apply her experience and skills as she comes up with creative alternatives. Kirk’s leadership skills are appropriate NerveWire demographics because they put in to consideration all stakeholders in the business chain. They are able to make sure that all the stakeholders are satisfied.
Question G
In NerveWire we can see the concept of power distance in which power is distributed equally. Even though they have different ranks every one is given the opportunity to participate in the activities. The leaders have ethics they respect the work done by every body. The leaders try to void uncertainty by forming partnerships and ensuring that they form strong relationships. This reduces the uncertainty of losing jobs when the economy declines further. The organization has respect for Kirk and believes that she can be a good leader. This is the aspect of gender egalitarianism. They are future oriented because they note that economy might decline further hence Malcolm and Kirk is putting mechanism to form more strong relationships and partnerships. The aspect of performance orientation can also be seen by encouraging all the employees to be productive.

References
Anonymous. (2011). Team Leadership. Retrieved on April 9, 2011 from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/team_leadership.html
Hoppe, M. (2007). Culture and Leader Effectiveness: The GLOBE Study. Retrieved on April 9, 2011 from http://www.inspireimagineinnovate.com/PDF/GLOBEsummary-by-Michael-H-Hoppe.p https://dspace.ist.utl.pt/bitstream/2295/233250/1/NerveWire.pdf df
Jung, C & Sheldon, W. (2011). Personality Types. Retrieved on April 9, 2011 from http://wilderdom.com/personality/L6-1PersonalityTypes.html
NerveWire Inc. (2002). NerveWire Inc. Retrieved on April 9, 2011 from https://dspace.ist.utl.pt/bitstream/2295/233250/1/NerveWire.pdf
Price, A. (2011). Gender Stereotyping A Key Barrier. Retrieved on April 9, 2011 from
http://www.hrmguide.com/diversity/gender-stereotyping.htm