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Situational Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ)

Your company sells automobiles and has a strong track record. You are the operations manager. Each section of your department is led by an experienced team leader who reports directly to you. In order to enhance your effectiveness you wish to implement a series of measures. Which would be most appropriate?

You require each section head to provide you with the daily sales figures from each operational outlet, with breakdowns of items sold.

You wish to meet with your team leaders once per week.

Team leaders are to provide you with a monthly analysis of the market and customer trends.

You will visit one operational outlet each month.

You are the business development manager for a major company and you are looking to expand your business into the exciting Burmese market. Several foreign companies already have a foot in Burma and your boss is concerned that your company is not left behind. Your company specialises in medium range health and beauty products. Prior to opening your first store in Yangon which of the following would you examine most closely?

The strengths of your business.

Competitive threats to your business.

The global economic situation.

The needs and spending power of the consumers in Yangon.

You are the operations director of a major retailer. You meet with your key managers to discuss the way forward for the company. Business has been excellent over the last few years and you are hoping to build on this success. What information would you consider most important to build a vision for future?

Sales figures for past five years.

Reports from sales people on problems they have encountered.

Anticipated demographic changes in your market.

What the competitors are doing.

You are a senior sales manager in large insurance company. You are keen to exploit new opportunities in the market for your products and services. To this end you wish to streamline the way your staff interact with your major customers. You hope this will enable your staff to deal with more customers per day, thus increasing revenue. Which method would you choose to implement your new ideas?

Publish comprehensive standard operating procedures so that all staff know exactly how to spend their time when dealing with customers, and what procedures to follow.

Ask your staff to design new procedures aimed at achieving your goal.

Ask your staff to design the new procedures in conjunction with key customers.

Partner with an individual customer to tailor processes to meet their needs and use this as a model for others.

You are an operations manager and keen to develop an open culture within your company which provides office solutions. To this end you intend to implement a number of measures, one of which will be to have an ‘open office’. The new ‘open office’ will be quite radical, and will have no assigned offices or desks. You realise that many of your staff are sceptical of the proposed changes. What would you consider as being the most effective means of dealing with this reluctance to change?

Send a warm email to all encouraging the organisational change.

Ensure all your senior managers ‘buy into’ the scheme and adopt the ‘no assigned desk’ culture.

Give up your desk and office as part of the scheme, but retain a desk for your PA.

Allow those who want a slower pace of change to retain ‘their’ desks until the new system has been trialled for several months.

Your company provides technical IT support for a number of major clients. You are a line manager and have highly competent staff who are able to advise clients on solutions that best meet their needs. One client in particular constantly challenges the solutions being provided and you are aware that some of your staff find the situation frustrating. How would you deal with this particular client?

Call the client and explain why your proposed solutions are desirable.

Ask your IT staff to ‘sell’ the solutions with more passion.

Meet with the client and seek to understand their needs.

Personally examine the proposed solutions with your staff and seek to enhance the value of such for the client.

You are a sales manager and your company has a number of car show rooms in China to showcase your products and allow customers to trial your cars. Business is generally good, but there are plenty of competitors in the market and your customers tend to be fickle. You have been mulling over options with regard to your showrooms. What would you do?

Seek to expand your website, making it more interactive, with a view to reducing the number of people who pass through your showrooms. More sales being made online.

Allow your show room managers more flexibility in designing layouts so as to make the show rooms more individual.

Gather all show room managers for a two-day brain storming session to come up with new show room ideas.

Interview potential customers passing through the show rooms and canvas their views on what would add value to their shopping experience.

You are an operations manager in a construction company. Your company has recently completed construction of a high-end spa and resort in Thailand. The project was very lucrative but time pressures in terms of the finishing date were severe. Your company used several local contractors. The owner of the resort has now complained about poor build quality in some areas of the resort. Your local manager suspects the owner might be trying to ‘invent’ defects to get a discount on the final price. Consider your action to deal with this complaint:

Ask the owner to provide evidence from an independent surveyor.

Meet with the owner and investigate the basis of the complaint.

As you have made a handsome profit of the project, agree to the repairs/alterations requested by the owner.

Ask the local manager to provide a written report to back his claim that your company is not to blame.

Amongst other activities your company runs a call centre, which offers advice to clients on the insurance products you have sold. You are the operations manager. The call centre works effectively and efficiently, but is seen by your boss as a ‘cost centre’ and she wishes to cut the costs involved by outsourcing and moving the call centre operation to Mumbai, where your company currently has no presence. You are asked to examine the proposal and report back to your boss. What would be your primary consideration?

The proposed move makes sense in terms of costs and thus will definitely benefit the company.

A trial run should be attempted to assess the move’s impact.

Costs may be less, but the risk of weaker customer service should be closely examined.

The impact of staff morale must be assessed prior to any move/outsourcing.

Your company has obtained sole distribution rights for a new health product for sale in your retail stores. You are the product development manager. The product is aimed at assisting people to lose weight and has been termed ‘revolutionary’ by the manufacturers. Initial trials amongst the public have been carried out with favourable results, but there is conflicting data as to the side effects of the product on customers’ digestive system. You are aware your competitor is eager to gain the sole rights if you decline the product. What do you consider as the most appropriate action?

Conduct further analysis of the product even if this means a delay in the launch.

Ask the manufacturer to 100% guarantee the safety of the product.

Scrap the launch and seek other product solutions.

Launch the product with the current favourable data to ensure sole rights are maintained, and ensure the product contains a written warning on the possible side effects.

Your IT department has produced a new system for warehouse inventory checks which should save delivery time (thus reducing customer complaints) and cut staff overtime costs. You are the IT manager. Your boss is anxious to implement the new system and customers have been told to expect an enhanced service in the near future. However, your warehouse staff have expressed concerns over the accuracy of the new system. Time is pressing; consider what action you would take?

Ensure all warehouse staff are ‘sold’ the new system by the IT department.

Meet with the warehouse staff and ensure their concerns are reflected in the new system before it is rolled out.

Customers need a new system and it must be implemented immediately, otherwise they may move to another supplier.

Implement the new system in an incremental manner so that staff and customers can comment on its effectiveness.

Your company provides fast food services to the public. This area is one of keen competition but also fraught with possible customer complaints and Government criticism. You are the operations manager and keen to stay ahead of the curve of expectations. Which tactic would consider first?

Send key staff members overseas to examine similar operations (significant cost implications).

Encourage staff members to share ideas at weekly meetings.

Establish an internal IT platform where staff members can share ideas.

Establish an external IT platform where customers can comment on service standards.

You receive a written complaint from a major customer about poor service at one of the hotels in your group of hotels. You are the service quality manager. The customer is concerned about the attitude and competence of some of your junior staff. It appears the crux of the complaint is quite minor. Which action is most appropriate?

Acknowledge the complaint letter then pass to the relevant section manager to handle, then follow up.

Call the person complaining directly as soon as you have time.

Compile a detailed written reply once a full investigation has been completed.

Arrange an immediate discount for the person complaining to remove/reduce any ill-feeling.

You are a regional manager for a group of furniture stores, and have been on a series of visits around the Region. You have had little time to keep abreast of your day-to-day work. You arrive back at the office and are confronted with several important and/or urgent matters requiring your attention. Which action will be priority?

Prepare the budget for next year. A great deal of work due in only six weeks time.

Prepare the Annual Dinner programme at which the Chairman will be guest of honour. The dinner will take place in one month.

Interview a very talented management trainee who wishes to resign.

Conference call with a key supplier who wishes to discuss new products.

You work as an area manager in a restaurant group. Your group embarks on a marketing campaign involving a celebrity. After only a few days a scandal breaks surrounding the celebrity. Which action would consider taking?

End the campaign immediately.

Issue a public statement apologizing for the campaign.

Suspend the campaign whilst you implement a prepared ‘plan B’ which does not involve the celebrity.

Continue with the campaign in order to preserve your investment.

You are the marketing manager with a major retailer, and your department is under pressure to produce a market survey regarding the introduction of a new retail product (shampoo). They have been slow to finish the report (which is about 90% complete) and now a competitor is about to enter the market with a similar product. What will you do?

Wait until the report is 100% complete, otherwise market entry would be too risky.

Postpone the launch and assess the success of the competitor’s product.

Launch the product with the available information.

Abandon the launch and have serious words with the marketing department to ensure this situation does not arise again.

You work as a front line area manager in the fast food industry and your boss has provided you with the quarter’s sales targets. The targets are always challenging. To motivate your team you, what course of action would you choose?

You inform your team that any shortfall from targets will be their responsibility and they will bear the consequences.

You inform your team that you will take all the responsibility for any shortfall.

You inform your team that you will work with them to achieve the targets, but that you cannot be responsible for any failure on their part.

You inform your team that you will work with them to achieve the targets.

You are an operations manager in an electrical engineering company. A major client will drop by your office shortly (and unexpectedly). It appears the client wants to discuss some technical IT features contained in one of the electronic products you sell. You are not technically up to date regarding the IT features of the product in question, and your IT expert is out of town. What action would you take?

See the customer immediately, despite your technical shortcomings, to take down his questions and respond where you can.

Ask your PA to delay the customer in the meeting room, whilst you read up on the technical specifications.

Ask your PA to tell the customer to come back later (when my IT expert is available).

Call the customer and ask him to come on another day so that your IT expert can be present to answer any questions.

You are an IT manager in a construction company, and are rolling out a new IT system which will impact on all members of staff. The new system will increase workloads in the short-term until staff become familiar with how it works. There have been some disgruntled comments already, but time is pressing and the new system must be implemented in the very near future. What action would you take next?

Send an urgent email to all staff informing them of the importance of the new system and the fact that it will add shareholder value.

Ask department heads to urgently ‘sell’ the system more vigorously to their staff.

Arrange ‘town-hall’ meetings so that you can address members of staff and answer their questions.

Speak to the members of each department via video link to ‘sell’ the new system personally.

You are a port agency manager in a shipping company, and your boss has asked you to make savings which may involve redundancies (with redundancy package). This is a very delicate area as you wish to maintain good relations with all staff. What immediate action would you take?

Ask all department heads to report confidentially back on those staff who might be cut.

Keep the need for cuts to yourself until you decided who should go.

Tell staff there will be no redundancies in order to maintain morale.

Inform the staff of the need for cuts and ask for volunteers to be made redundant.

You are a manager in an insurance company. You hear from a friend that one of your high- performing senior insurance sales people has been poached by a competitor, and will leave in a month. The sales person in question has not said anything and is continuing to work as normal, but is working on a major client account at present. What action would you take?

Arrange for the sales person to leave immediately, blocking access to any digital information and not allowing access the office, unless supervised.

Ask the sales person’s direct boss to conduct an interview and immediately fire the sales person if the story is true.

Interview the sales person yourself with a view to persuading the sales person to stay.

Interview the sales person together with your company lawyer, with a view to warning the sales person about moving to a competitor with client accounts.

You are a senior executive in retail organisation and your PA informs you that one of the female admin staff has complained about being sexually harassed (involving touching) by a male member of staff. What immediate action would you take?

Interview the female staff member involved in the presence of your PA.

Ask a senior female manager to interview the female staff member initially.

Interview the alleged offender to get his side of the story.

Ask the female staff member to report the matter to the Police.

You are a regional head with a major supermarket and receive a call from the manager of one of your stores who informs you that a sewage pipe has burst in the store. The store is flooded with sewage and one staff member has been hospitalised after falling and breaking her wrist. What immediate action would you take to deal with this emergency?

Ask the manager to quickly cordon-off the store and arrange for the insurance company to attend the scene so that a claim can be expedited.

Seek guidance from your boss before doing anything.

Ensure that someone visits the injured staff member and arrange for her family to be informed.

Ask the manager to ensure as much stock as possible is saved in order to reopen the store with minimal reordering.

You are a manager in a large insurance company and you are having a meeting with a major client in the financial industry. The client asks you to adjust one of your insurance products to meet certain of their needs. Such adjustment would be a major servicing order for your company, worth a substantial sum. However, the adjustment would not, in your opinion be of benefit to either the client or in turn their customers. Consider your actions:

Go ahead with the work order as it will enhance your bottom line.

Verbally advise the client of your concerns but go ahead with the work.

Provide a comprehensive report to the client outlining your concerns, and discuss with the client

Decline to make the requested adjustments.

You are the business development head with an office supplies company. A great opportunity has arisen in Cambodia. Your company is about to win a large contract to supply the Government with office products. This success has taken many months of tortuous negotiation and you have narrowly won the order over a Chinese company. At the last moment you receive a call from your manager in Cambodia stating the Government negotiator has asked for a substantial, final ‘arrangement fee’ in cash. Without payment of this fee the contract may go to your competitor. How will you resolve this issue?

Pay the fee as quickly as possible so as not to lose the order.

Ask the manager in Cambodia to negotiate a lower fee.

Ask the manager in Cambodia to pay the fee through a third party.

Do not pay the fee, but ask the manager to liaise closely with the Government over the matter.

You are the operations director in a construction company. A new member of your team is the nephew of the Chairman. He joined as a management trainee but has consistently under-performed, despite encouragement and warnings from his direct boss. His direct boss has recommended his employment be terminated. This is a delicate situation as the Chairman directly recommended the hire of the trainee. Consider your actions:

Interview the trainee, coach him on what he’s not doing and give him ‘one last chance’.

Inform the Chairman that his nephew is under-performing and let him handle the matter.

Ask the trainee’s boss to give him further guidance.

Interview the trainee and inform him that he is not cut out for this line of work and you are letting him go.

You are an HR manager in an engineering company, and have recently implemented new procedures regarding the claiming of allowances in your team. This has tightened up a rather lax process whereby staff did not need to present original invoices to make a claim. All members of staff will be affected by the change, including your boss. You are interviewed by your boss over your plan and asked to ensure senior managers are not included in the new requirements. How will you tackle this problem?

Agree to the suggestion from your boss as senior managers can be trusted.

Meet your boss again, re-explain the rationale and try to get him to agree to the new procedure.

Propose that the new scheme be scrapped.

Suggest to your boss that only he be excluded from the new procedures.

You are a regional executive of an insurance company based in Hong Kong. Your office in Vietnam reports a problem in their annual internal audit. Vietnam is a minor portion of your business and the audit issue may be a mistake by junior staff. Your Vietnam manager calls you and asks for guidance. What action would you take?

Ask the Vietnam manager to undertake a second audit.

Fly to Vietnam and examine the matter personally.

Ask for the report to be sent to you and interview the auditor who wrote the report.

Ask another audit team to go to Vietnam to examine the issue.

You are the marketing director of an F&B company and have developed a new home delivery concept for your food products, involving the opening of home delivery outlets. The CEO of the company is skeptical of your initiative, and has accepted your proposal only with great reluctance. What would you do?

Go-ahead and open one home delivery outlet on a pilot basis.

You decide to open four home delivery outlets, and provide yourself with a target of three years to break even.

Given the risk of failure and your CEO’s lukewarm support you decide to withdraw your proposal for home delivery.

You decide to put your proposal on hold whilst you conduct further market research, which will result in a long delay.

You are a senior engineer in a construction company. Your staff are required to wear a safety helmet on site but there are many, continued instances of staff ignoring this rule. What would you do?

Instantly dismiss any worker seen not wearing a helmet on site and his supervisor.

Reeducate all workers, highlighting the benefits of wearing a helmet.

Employ more safety supervisors on site to ensure workers wear helmets.

Introduce a system of fines to punish offending staff members.

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