Affecting Change

Running Head: AFFECTING CHANGE

Affecting Change

Alvin Terez Jones

University of Phoenix

November 2, 2009

“When one has all five virtues together, intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and sternness, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a leader (University of Phoenix, 2009). Leadership can be defined as the ability to influence a common group of people toward the achievement of a vision or goals that have been set (Robbins & Judge, 2007 p 402). Leading people also takes a great deal of charisma because a leader must be able to change the opinions, mind sets and break new ground with his followers . Leadership change in an organization or business can cause the entire organization to experience resentment to change which inevitably affects the organization. Many times new leadership comes into an organization with a new plan about how the organization will function. The shift in leadership may lead employees to believe their jobs are in jeopardy as with Smith and Falmouth. This may cause some employees to want to leave the company out of fear. To avoid gross changes throughout an organization, careful planning and strong leadership must be implemented.

Smith and Falmouth is a mid-sized tele-shopping and mail ordering company with operations in the United States and in Canada. Driven by industry forecasts and internal strategies, Smith and Falmouth’s e-tailing division is considered crucial to the growth of Smith and Falmouth. Therefore, CEO Irene Seagraves quickly moved to put in place the proper web development team, logistics team and marketing manager that will be able to coordinate the proper marketing and logistics with the parent company. With the driving force being time to market and a three year growth strategy, it is most important that a leader make the type of decisions that will lead the department and company in the right direction.

As the new chief operating officer, one must quickly understand and...