Please read the case study and answer the questions listed below the case study
HOT-HEADED HOSTESSES It was late December, and Jen was becoming more and more excited about the prospect of getting married to David in June of the following year. They had been engaged for almost six months now, and planning was in full swing. Just as she was daydreaming about the wedding, the phone rang and brought her back to reality. It was her sister Marcy. She wanted to throw Jen a bridal shower but was worried about not having enough time or money to make all the arrangements. After a couple of minutes chatting about some options, Jen suggested involving other people. Perhaps David’s sister, Alyson, would be interested in helping with the planning. Jen wanted a bridal shower so badly that she knew she had to overcome Marcy’s objection about paying for the event. Marcy had just graduated from medical school and gotten married herself; she was overburdened with debt. Then it hit them: Their aunt Carol is a single, successful businesswoman with plenty of financial resources at her disposal. Marcy quickly got off the phone and called her aunt. Carol welcomed the idea but warned that she was too busy to do any of the grunt work. She would pay for the event – that was it. Excitedly, Marcy called Alyson to enlist her help. Alyson accepted readily, despite the fact that she realized that she would be doing much of the research, design, planning, and coordinating. Alyson knew that the first stage in planning an event is to do research about previous events similar in size and scope. She was anxious to begin discussing possible dates and general locations (i.e., Philadelphia, or Wilmington, Delaware) so that she could start gathering data. Early February, Alyson and Marcy had engaged in some initial brainstorming about the design of the event. Together, the three hostesses selected a date: Saturday, May 13, 20XX. Both Marcy and Carol gave Alyson permission to proceed in researching specific venues in the Wilmington area. They selected this location because nearly all the guests were located between New York and Washington, DC. There were three essential benefits to having the event in Delaware: 1. The groom’s parents live in Wilmington and can accommodate a number of overnight guests in their home. 2. Everything tends to be less expensive in Delaware than in Philadelphia. 3. Alyson is from Wilmington and is very familiar with a number of venues and vendors, whereas none of the three hostesses are from Philadelphia, nor do they have any contacts there. Alyson spent much of the first two weeks in February collecting costs and specifications about various venues in the Wilmington area. Alyson told Carol that she would email all the information she has collected by the end of the business day on Friday, February 11. When 5 P.M. rolled around, however, Alyson was still awaiting the response of one very nice hotel, the Hotel duPont. Instead of emailing the incomplete information, she decided to wait until Monday, when she hoped the information would be complete. Quite to Alyson’s surprise, Jen called Alyson that Sunday to express her excitement at having the bridal shower in Philadelphia. Confused, Alyson asked Jen who had told her that the shower would be held in Philadelphia. Jen explained that Carol had changed her mind and decided to book a hotel in Philadelphia instead of Wilmington, as the three hostesses had decided previously. Alyson was enraged and hurt. She emailed Carol a letter expressing her disappointment, accompanied by all the information she had collected on possible venues up until that point. In the email, she “graciously decline(d) the honor of being a hostess,” as she felt that she had little value to add to the planning function should it be located in Philadelphia. The next day, Jen called Alyson again and begged her to rethink her decision. Alyson refused until she received an apology directly from Carol. Just over a week late, Carol emailed Alyson an apology and expressed how impressed she has been with the information that Alyson had collected and emailed to her. She had been so impressed, in fact, that she had selected a venue for the event, the Hotel duPont in Wilmington. She asked Alyson to rethink her decision and rejoin the effort to plan Jen’s shower. Alyson knew how much it meant to Jen and agreed. Throughout the remainder of the planning, Alyson and Carol remained very distant and communicated only when it was critical to the success of the event. The event, however, turned out to be an overwhelming success. QUESTIONS 1. Who was the Event Manager in this scenario? 2. What type of leadership style did Carol use? Was it successful? Why or why not? 3. What policies, procedures, or practices could have eliminated this conflict? 4. What would have been some effective ways to motivate Alyson to cooperate more fully with Carol? Adopted from: Goldblatt, J. (2005). Special events: Event Leadership for a new world. 4th Edition. Wiley: Hoboken, New Jersey