leadership
Case Study 1- Trait Leadership ApproachChoosing a New Director of Research
Sandra Coke is vice president for research and development at Great LakesFoods (GLF), a large snack food company that has approximately 1,000 employees. Asa result of a recent reorganization, Sandra must choose the new director of research.The director will report directly to Sandra and will be responsible for developing andtesting new products. The research division of GLF employs about 200 people. Thechoice of directors is important because Ms. Coke is receiving pressure from thepresident and board of GLF to improve the company’s overall growth and productivity.Sandra has identified three candidates for the position. Each candidate is at thesame managerial level. She is having difficulty choosing one of them because each of them has very strong credentials.Alexa Smith is a longtime employee of GLF who started part-time in themailroom while in high school and after finishing school worked in as many as 10different positions throughout the company to become manager of new productmarketing. Performance reviews of Alex’s work have repeatedly described her as beingvery creative and insightful. In her tenure at GLF, Alexa has developed and brought tomarket four new product lines. Alexa is also known throughout GLF as being verypersistent about her work; when she starts a project she stays with it until it is finished. Itis this quality that probably accounts for the success of each of the four new productswith which she been involved.A second candidate for new position is Kelsey Metts, who has been with GLF for 5 years and is manager of quality control for established products. Kelsey has areputation of being very bright. Before joining GLF, she received her M.B.A. a Harvard,graduating at the top of her class. People talk about Kelsey as the kind of person whowill be president of her own company someday. Kelsey is also very personable. On allher performance reviews, she received extra-high
Sandra Coke is vice president for research and development at Great LakesFoods (GLF), a large snack food company that has approximately 1,000 employees. Asa result of a recent reorganization, Sandra must choose the new director of research.The director will report directly to Sandra and will be responsible for developing andtesting new products. The research division of GLF employs about 200 people. Thechoice of directors is important because Ms. Coke is receiving pressure from thepresident and board of GLF to improve the company’s overall growth and productivity.Sandra has identified three candidates for the position. Each candidate is at thesame managerial level. She is having difficulty choosing one of them because each of them has very strong credentials.Alexa Smith is a longtime employee of GLF who started part-time in themailroom while in high school and after finishing school worked in as many as 10different positions throughout the company to become manager of new productmarketing. Performance reviews of Alex’s work have repeatedly described her as beingvery creative and insightful. In her tenure at GLF, Alexa has developed and brought tomarket four new product lines. Alexa is also known throughout GLF as being verypersistent about her work; when she starts a project she stays with it until it is finished. Itis this quality that probably accounts for the success of each of the four new productswith which she been involved.A second candidate for new position is Kelsey Metts, who has been with GLF for 5 years and is manager of quality control for established products. Kelsey has areputation of being very bright. Before joining GLF, she received her M.B.A. a Harvard,graduating at the top of her class. People talk about Kelsey as the kind of person whowill be president of her own company someday. Kelsey is also very personable. On allher performance reviews, she received extra-high