A Case Study of an Italian Restaurant in Peter Northouse's Leadership: Theory and Practice

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Recommended: The importance of leadership skills

Northouse’s (2013) book, Leadership: Theory and Practice, presents a case study of an Italian restaurant successfully operating in the Midwest for 25 years. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the restaurant’s various levels of leadership using the Skills Approach. First, the restaurant’s success will be described through the owner’s general leadership. Second, the managers’ leadership skills will be described and improvement identified. Finally, the owner’s competencies will be described and assessed.
Success through Leadership by the Owner
The Italian restaurant has had long term success due to the owner’s, Andy Garagallo, high level of confidence. He believes if he meets the customers’ food and relationship needs, they will come back again and again. His approach is working as the restaurant annually nets 30% profit as compared to the industry standard of 5-7%. Andy success comes from confidence, putting the customers first, being flexible, and consistency.
Managers’ Leadership Style
The skills approach to leadership focuses on what a leader can accomplish. Katz (as cited in Northouse, 2013) identified two skills for lower level managers. The skills are is technical and interpersonal proficiency demonstrating the ability to work with things and people. Katz included a third skill, conceptual, but stated its relevance to high level managers. Petkevičiūtė and Giedraitis (2013) concur with Katz that first level managers 1) run day to day operations which need less conceptual skills and 2) technical and human skills are critical for business success. Thus, conceptual skills are not part of the discussion on skills. The skills most applicable to the managers’ position will be discussed.
The first manager is Kelly who overs...

... middle of paper ...

...managers do not possess equal leadership skills but skills appropriate to their position. Based on the Skill Approach, this does not present a problem as weaknesses can be developed. Since the restaurant is an environment for continued leadership development, based off of Andy’s strength, the restaurant will enjoy continued success.

Works Cited

Holt, S. & Marques, J. (2012). Empathy in leadership: appropriate or misplaced? An empirical study on a topic that is asking for attention. Journal of Business Ethics, 105(1), 95-105. doi: 10.1007/s10551-011-0951-5
Northouse, P.G. (20130. Leadership: Theory and practice. (6th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Petkevičiūtė, N. & Giedraitis, A. (2013). Leadership skills formation in workgroup of the first level managers in manufacturing companies. Management of Organizations: Systematic Research, (67), 69-82.

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