Leading

Project 3: Leadership

(Your Name)

BMGT 364 (section number)

(Instructor’s Name)

Author Note

Leading

Introduction

PureLife Foods is a distributor of organic vegetarian food to a number of retailers around the country, such as Safeway and Giant. These retailers, in turn, supply the public with these organic vegetables. At present, PureLife has decided to start producing and distributing the all-natural energy bars among the clients it holds contracts with. However, they aim to expand this supply chain through an outreach program to reach a wider number of people. In order to do that, the head of R&D at PureLife Foods, Grace Polk, reached out to Greenline Consultants in an effort to seek a candidate for the Executive Director position in the Fitness and Nutrition division.

The senior lead consultant at Greenline Consultants put an associate on the job, in an effort to find a candidate that would not only be a right fit for the company and the department he or she would be assigned to, but this person should also be open to developing innovative and unique ways to ensure that sustainable and green products are marketed at an optimal level and develop the traditional PureLife Food Customer base. This new executive director will also be the face of the company with regard to the marketing of a number of products, thus it is essential that the company markets the products not only to it's current demographic but expands it as well.

Management and Leadership Skills/Style

The first of three choices that Greenline Consultant have to judge on the basis of their transcripts is Beth Jordan. Beth has 25 years of experience working with Star Lite Foods, where she served as the Vice President of Operation and Marketing in the company. During her term, the company gained a 12% increase year-over-year. She also has 10-year experience working as a Regional Director in Maine, where she was tasked with ensuring that the farms in the area were complying with the federal and company regulations. Her suggestions, with regard to the Energy Bars industry, was to focus on providing quality products to the masses since this market is a little difficult for new entrants to make a name for themselves. In her opinion, once the energy bars take off, company can initiate the process making the product sustainable and environmentally friendly. With regard to her leading skills, Beth believes that she is old school, and has a rather hands-on approach with regard to her experience as an executive.

The second candidate is Sharron Tulles. She had been working as the Deputy Executive Director at the West Coast division of the company and has primarily been focused on making the Meatless Hamburger Patty more environmentally, as well as human-friendly. She primarily holds a BS in chemical engineering and also served as a production manager in Arizona. Her research was responsible for getting the ascension of PureLife foods in environmentally, as well as human-friendly companies. According to her initial screening, she admitted not to have any marketing experience. However, she expresses a strong desire to work on these skills and believes that she has the necessary leadership and managerial qualities needed to guide the team to success. In her opinion, her familiarity with the core values of PureLife Foods and her experience will be an asset to the company especially with her in the executive director position. She also plans on making the PureLife Foods and their energy bars a leader in quality in this category.

The third candidate on the list is the owner of Bigsby Frozen Foods, Jack Tillson. The company has been recently purchased by PureLife Foods and Terry Schinn, the COO of the company, believes if Tillson could run an entire company, he should be able to run a new division. In his opinion, while the marketing side of things for his company was being managed by Rico Manuel, Jack’s long-time expert Frozen Foods Director, he was responsible for the exponential growth of the company. Thus, he believes that since he has been leading Bigsby’s through its growth that he could easily manage PureLife Foods into a new venture.

Candidate Recommendation

Management and leadership may alike, especially with regard to the responsibilities assigned to an individual, but these two traits are definitely not the same ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"bn61SjFm","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Azad et al., 2017)","plainCitation":"(Azad et al., 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1042,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/0omESN17/items/6GCSRY2V"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/0omESN17/items/6GCSRY2V"],"itemData":{"id":1042,"type":"article-journal","title":"Leadership and management are one and the same","container-title":"American journal of pharmaceutical education","page":"102","volume":"81","issue":"6","author":[{"family":"Azad","given":"Neelam"},{"family":"Anderson Jr","given":"H. Glenn"},{"family":"Brooks","given":"Amie"},{"family":"Garza","given":"Oscar"},{"family":"O’Neil","given":"Christine"},{"family":"Stutz","given":"Misty M."},{"family":"Sobotka","given":"Jenelle L."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Azad et al., 2017). Leadership is a quality of influencing others, whereas management is the process of directing and coordinating people in order to accomplish a goal ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ub7edSeN","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1041,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/0omESN17/items/C8QR5KMJ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/0omESN17/items/C8QR5KMJ"],"itemData":{"id":1041,"type":"article-journal","title":"How effective leadership can facilitate change in organizations through improvement and innovation","container-title":"Global journal of management and business research","author":[{"family":"Hao","given":"Moo Jun"},{"family":"Yazdanifard","given":"Rashad"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015). A leader holds a more people-oriented position and is responsible for influencing the people around him ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"YExaXXdk","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kurec, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Kurec, 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1040,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/0omESN17/items/FTLUR293"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/0omESN17/items/FTLUR293"],"itemData":{"id":1040,"type":"article-journal","title":"Follow the Leader: Developing Great Leadership Skills","container-title":"Critical Values","page":"24-27","volume":"9","issue":"4","author":[{"family":"Kurec","given":"Anthony"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kurec, 2016). On the other hand, a manager holds formal power in a situation, with his job being more task-oriented.

For PureLife Foods, at present, the executive director needs to be both an innovative leader, that can navigate the right path for the company and lead the new division to new heights. On the other hand, this executive director also needs to be a manager that can give his or her team a direction to focus on and keep them on the task at hand. Compared to all the aforementioned candidates, Beth Jordan is the right fit for the company as compared to any other candidate. Jac Tillson may have run his own company, and Sharron Tulles may have been a part of PureLife Foods for a long time now, neither of them is aware of the nitty-gritty involved in not only launching a new product and making a name for oneself in the field but also of the hands-on approach that Beth does. From the get-go, she made the right call by suggesting that PureLife Foods needs to focus on producing quality energy bars as opposed to focusing on sustainability at present.

Conclusion

Choosing the right candidate from a list of brilliant candidates is never an easy choice. Sometimes, people that look good on paper do not perform as well as others. On the other hand, some candidates prove to be a diamond in the rough, even if their approach is orthodox and conventional at best. However, if they provide results, they are the very best choice on the matter. The same can be said for Beth Jordan. She may have proclaimed herself to be old school, but she is the best choice for the position at PureLife Foods.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Azad, N., Anderson Jr, H. G., Brooks, A., Garza, O., O’Neil, C., Stutz, M. M., & Sobotka, J. L. (2017). Leadership and management are one and the same. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 81(6), 102.

Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How effective leadership can facilitate change in organizations through improvement and innovation. Global Journal of Management and Business Research.

Kurec, A. (2016). Follow the Leader: Developing Great Leadership Skills. Critical Values, 9(4), 24–27.