The document is a case study focused on Ben Branson, CEO of Batna, a web-based company that involves consumers in the product development process. It explores the distinctions between leadership and management, Branson's self-awareness regarding his leadership capabilities, and his participative leadership style that encourages collaboration. Additionally, it examines various leadership theories and Branson's strengths and weaknesses, ultimately highlighting his effectiveness as a leader despite his recognition of limitations.

1. ASSIGNMENT-2
1
ASSIGNMENT-2
6
Conestoga College
LEADERSHIP AT BATNA CASE STUDY
Name
Institution Affiliation
Course
Professor’s Name

2. Date of submission
6/15
LEADERSHIP AT BATNA CASE STUDY
“Everyone has his or her limitations and skills”, Branson the
CEO of Batna quotes. Batna is a web based company and invites
customers and other companies to bring in ideas for new
products. . The company was initially started to make iPod
accessories but Branson being a man of weird charisma and
vision does not want to be limited in his production line. At
Batna product development cycle involves a lot of people unlike
other companies where only a bunch of marketing professionals
design new products. These made a lot of people praise him for
being smart but he convinces himself that he is not a leader and
demotes himself from being a leader. This is when he realizes
that the company needs good management in order to venture
more capital and to make sales. The paper seeks to explain the
differences between leadership and management based on the
behavioral theories. It will also explain the leadership strengths
and weakness Branson have as well as the leadership style
Branson is using.
1. 1/3 Leadership and management are both necessary for
success. This is why you need to be familiar with the
differences between the two. Successful organizations make the
two distinctions clear in order to develop more opportunities in
the business venture as well as guide those with leadership
skills. Branson points out that, managers promote stability
while leaders press for changes when he says he closely
supervises people in the company but at least tries to make sure
that every employee in his company is happy. This clearly
shows he was a leader and a manager at the same time until
when he demotes himself from being a leader. The aspect of
being a leader is shown when he points it out that he tries to
make every of his employee is happy or at least sort of happy
while being a leader is clearly shown when he says that he

3. closely supervises people in the company. Leaders provide
directions, align people as well as motivation while managers
plan, organize and makes coordination’s. More detail required
in your answer in terms of answering the question “What is the
difference between leadership and management?” On that note,
we can conclude that Branson was both a leader and a manager.
Branson is a leader
2. 2/5 Branson has several leadership styles as based on
leadership theories. Leadership theories are classified based on
the specific behaviors of a leader. For instance, there is the
Great man theory Great Man is not a behaviorial theory. This is
a behavioral theory that was formulated after studying those
men who were born in leadership. There is also the trait theory,
which focuses on those men who were born with inherited
leadership traits. However, these leadership theories can be
clearly identified by the leadership styles one exercise.
According to behavioral theory, leaders are made not born. It is
believed that anyone can be a leader. A leadership style is a
manner and approach of providing direction, implementing
plans as well as motivating people (Renz, 2016). As evident,
Branson is a participative leader and this is shown when he
decides to include other customers and companies in decision
making for new products Participative as you noted is OK, but
he uses supportive style with his employees. It is also clear that
Branson does not tell anyone what to do with their set of skills
this is free-rein type of leadership ????. Branson clear shows he
is a good leader when he closely monitors his employees. A
good leader is one who makes observations to enable an
efficient working team. He also shows traits of a good leader
when he realizes he is not a good leader and decides to demote
himself. A good leader must be someone who has self-
awareness and can realize their own weakness without
necessarily being told by anyone. However, Branson shows
traits of a bad leader because he does not know how to
communicate well with other individuals weakness. He also
shows poor leadership styles when he lacks energy to monitor

4. those employees who he finds them good at what they are doing
Branson’s energy levels are not discussed in the case. This can
motivate them to lack new ideals and make them remain in a
constant norm. On the other hand, this is a good leadership trait
because he trust them and allow them to participate in decision
making he does not strive for consensus, which is not a
strength. Also, your discussion (underlined) is confusing. On
that note we can say, Branson has more of good leadership traits
than the poor traits.
3. 2/5 The contingency theory of leadership states that the
effectiveness of a leader is dependent on how his or her
leadership style match with the situation. This ‘situation’ is
defined by the relationship between leaders and employees, how
leaders set up task structure and the power a leader has over
his/her followers. Branson shows an effective leadership style
when he is praised despite being seen as a teenager CEO. This
is evident that, he has power influence over his followers. His
task structure is excellent because at 17 he started as a web
designer and later came to open up a web-based company that
invites individuals and companies to send in ideas for new
products. He realizes that being a web designer is not his
destiny and had to try out a community-based decision-making
process known as the illuminator project. This clearly shows
that Branson is an effective leader since his task structure is
purely based on involving the community.
I think you may have misunderstood the question. The question
is “Using a contingency theory of your choice, determine which
style of leadership Ben Branson should be using. Identify the
contingency theory you selected.”
4. 1/2 Transformation leadership and transactional
leadership are motivational strategies and techniques to boost
employees’ performance. Transformation leadership is a
strategy that is concerned with maintaining the ordinary flow of
operations. With this kind of strategy, leaders focus on team-
building, motivation and teamwork among every employee. This

5. is transactional leadership. On the other hand, transactional
leadership is concerned about making sure every operation
flows smoothly. It is evident that Branson exercises
transformation OK type of leadership since he is very strict and
this shows that he is not generally concerned with the normal
flow of operations. He also exercises transformation leadership
when he points out that he is focused on motivating his
employees by ensuring that every one of them is at least happy.
Leadership is an attribute of influencing the performance of an
employee in order to meet the goals and mission of an
organization. Branson is a good type of leader despite him being
a teenager. It is evident that Branson exercises all kind of good
leadership traits hence perfect for being a CEO for the Batna
Company. Therefore, we can all conclude that leadership traits
are made not born with.
Reference
Renz, D. O. (2016). The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit
leadership and management. John Wiley & Sons.
NOTE: The assignment should be clear and simple writing.
Explanations about the event: The event was an open house in
my son’s
school. It is a private school and my son in 2nd grade and this is
his first year
in this school. It was a really nice day that we enjoyed. There
were many other
families attending the open house and all teachers including

6. school principle
and other faculty. During the open house, they took us in a tour
in the school
and saw some classes and all the facilities. During the tour,
there were
discussions and questions between the families and the school
principle about
many things such as how students use the facilities and what are
offered for
them and the things that are not allowed for them. Also, we
discussed about
their classes, homework, school website, library, cafeteria,
school fees and
many other things. The school very big and spacious with a
beautiful modern
design. Also, during the open house families got to know each
other and
students met their new friends or classmates. The school
principal and faculty
welcomed us and they provided for the guests coffee, tea, water,
juice, cookies,
fruit and other snacks. The place was clean and smells nice and
clean.

7. Assignment instructions
Participant Observation Exercise:
* This exercise provides a relatively brief, safe, and inexpensive
way to acquire a sense of what
participant observation is like, and to evaluate its strengths and
limitations as a method. Select an
event or activity to observe and, ideally, to participate in at
some level.
* Observe the event, taking a few notes, if this can be done
unobtrusively, to refresh your
memory during debriefing soon after.
* After the event, after consulting your field notes and your key
informant, debrief yourself by
composing a typed document of notes. Include in these notes:
(One page at least)
• What happened at the activity. Include sights, sounds, smells,
tastes, tactile memories.
• How you felt during the activity.

8. • How people responded to you.
• What your key informant told you.
In 3 pages paper, responding to the following questions:
1. What understanding was gained from participation compared
to just observing?
2. What did having a key informant add to your understanding?
3. What was learned from participant observation at this event
that a questionnaire or
interview about it might miss?
4. For what purposes might a questionnaire or interview be
better than participant
observation?
Length: 4 pages in total
• One page for the note

9. • 3 pages for the paper
Due : 24 hours
Assignment instructionsParticipant Observation Exercise:
1
MGMNT 8250 Assignment #2 (15 marks)
Due Date: October 7, 2018 11:59PM to the Assignment Folder
on eConestoga
Purpose:
This assignment provides a case-based assessment of leadership
to determine what makes an
effective leader. The object of this assignment is to put you in
the role of the decision-maker in
the case, and go through the same process as the “real-life”
decision-maker. The ability to
analyze a situation, determine what needs to be done, and
follow through with an appropriate
course of action is critical to your success in business.
Assignment Details:
You are to read the case study and answer the questions.
Report Structure:

10. This paper will be a maximum of five pages, not including
cover page and references and
include:
– includes your name, SIN, date, course and
instructor’s name
- brief abstract/summary/synposis of the case
swer to question 2
– provide a brief summary of your main
conclusions (max two paragraphs)
DO NOT INCLUDE THE QUESTIONS IN YOUR
SUBMISSION. THIS WILL
MINIMIZE THE TURNITIN PLAGIARISM CHECKER
ASSESSMENT.
Expected Compliance Requirements
requirements (i.e. title page,
introduction, headings, correct grammatically, no plagiarism,
citations using APA
format, etc.
ould be written in a professional manner without
excessive abbreviations or
unexplained jargon. Point form may be used.

11. you have obtained from
other sources. Failure to do so will be considered to be
plagiarism.
result in a zero grade.
Submit to Turnitin at least three days before your report is due
to avoid any problems.
In order to receive a first class grade, student(s) must submit a
report that is well organized, well
written, accurate, and complete in its analysis. Clarity and
conciseness are important. First
class reports will contain no spelling and/or grammatical errors,
etc.
2
Leadership at Batna
Ben Branson is the CEO of Batna, a web-based company that
invites individuals and
companies to send in ideas for new products. At age 17,
Branson started his career as a
web designer, but soon became bored with that. At 18, he came
up with a new idea for a
lanyard with integrated headphones to be used with the iPod,
and that was the start of

12. mophie, a company that makes a line of iPod accessories.
At Macworld 2007, Branson tried something new: a community-
based decision-making
process he calls “the illuminator project.” At the show, he
handed out sketch pads to the
attendees and invited them to design new products for mophie.
Within three days, the
company had three new products, and released them two months
later. Although
Branson considered that he was heading up a product
development company, he
eventually had to admit that all of his products were iPod
accessories, and he did not
want to be limited. Branson sold the mophie brand in 2007 and
launched Batna.
Batna gives consumers the opportunity to influence new
products and marketing
strategies using the approach established in the illuminator
project. At Batna, instead of
a bunch of marketing people trying to figure out new products
and how to market new
products, consumers are invited to share their ideas and give
feedback, which brings
them into the product development cycle.
Andres Arango is the design coordinator at Batna. He
coordinates the activity of
Branson and the top designers at the company. Arango says that
Branson has weird
charisma and vision. When Branson originally told Arango
about the illuminator
project idea, Arango thought it was a little crazt. But he also
thought the project was
revolutionary, and that is why he joined the company.

13. Peter Wadsworth, an engineer at Batna, says that Branson
realizes that he is not a
manager, and that is why Branson demoted himself to bring in a
seasoned leader. The
company needed good management in order to get venture
capital and to make sales.
Wadsworth says that Branson is confident, but Branson realized
that other people just
saw a teenage kid running amok with other people’s money.
Branson gets a lot of
praise, but he does not have a big head about it. At the same
time, he is not intimidated
about meeting with celebrities or CEOs because he thinks
everyone is equal.
Branson does not strive for consensus, and having being popular
is not a concern of his.
He knows his limitations and skills. He will not tell someone
else what to do with their
skill set. His communication ability is not always the best, and
he does not give them a
lot of leeway to work on projects when he sees that they are
doing a good job.
Branson does not hesitate when he makes decisions, and he is
prepared to live with the
consequences of his decisions. Wadsworth says he would not
trust Branson to take care
of his dog, but does trust him to make good decisions on the big
issues facing the
company.
3

14. Branson says that he closely supervises people in the company.
He says he is a
“madman.” He wants to make sure that his employees are
happy (or at least sort of
happy.) He does not know whether or not he is a good leader.
He leaves that judgement
to others.
Questions:
1. What is the difference between leadership and management?
Is Branson a
leader? A manager? Both? Neither? Explain your reasoning.
(3 marks)
2. Describe the leadership style of Ben Branson in terms of the
behaviourial theories
learned in this course. What are Branson’s leadership strengths
and weaknesses?
(5 marks)
3. Using a contingency theory of your choice, determine which
style of leadership
Ben Branson should be using. (5 marks)
4. What is the difference between transformational leaders and
transactional
leaders? Is Branson a transformational leader or transactional
leader? Explain
your reasoning. (2 marks)