Leadership

1. Woodside possesses many traits that may be helpful to him as he assumes his new position at Sunshine Snacks. He has great “work characteristics such as the desire to excel and persistence against obstacles (Daft, 2011).” He has self-confidence which is assurance in one’s own judgment, decision making, ideas, and capabilities (Daft, 2011).” Woodside will need these traits to obtain commitment and secure trust from the new team that will be reporting to him especially since he sensed some resistance to him in his new role as director. As he is people-oriented, this trait may be a distraction to him as he is known to care about the well being of employees even going to the extent of covering for one of them with a drinking problem. He is already faced with challenges and I think he may focus more on resolving these than the actual work task.

2. Woodside is a people-oriented leader. I think a task-oriented leader would be best suited for the job as research director because work has slowed down under the previous director, the assistant has limited technical knowledge and due to the challenges Woodside is already faced with he may become more concern with the needs or well being of the employees, hence work might suffer.

3. An individualized leadership theory might be useful to Woodside in this situation by firstly Woodside focusing on building a relationship with Henry Meade the assistant as the employees are loyal to him. Once Meade responds to him in a positive way and the employees see this rapport it will be much easier for him to develop” unique relationships with each subordinate (Daft, 2011)”.

Reference

Daft, R.L (2011) The Leadership Experience