You recently graduated from college with your degree in business administration. You have spent the past two summers working at London Mutual Insurance (LMI), filling in as an intern on a number of different jobs while employees took their vacations. You have received and accepted an offer to join LMI full time as supervisor of the policy-renewal department. LMI is a large insurance company. In the headquarters office alone, where you will be working, there are more than 1500 employees. The company believes strongly in the personal development of its employees. This translates into a philosophy, emanating from the top executive offices, of trust and respect for all LMI employees. The company is also regularly at the top of most lists of "best companies to work for," largely because of its progressive work/ life programs and strong commitment to minimizing layoffs.

In your new job, you will direct the activities of 18 policy-renewal clerks. Their jobs require little training and are highly routine. A clerk's responsibility is to ensure that renewal notices are sent on current policies, to tabulate any changes in premiums, to advise the sales division if a policy is to be cancelled as a result of nonresponse to renewal notices, and to answer questions and solve problems related to renewals. The people in your work group range in age from 19 to 62, with a median age of 25. For the most part, they are high school graduates with little previous working experience. They earn between $1850 and $2400 a month. You will be replacing a long-time LMI employee, Jan Allison. Jan is retiring after 37 years with LMI, the past 14 spent as a policy-renewal supervisor. Because you spent a few weeks in Jan's group last summer, you are familiar with Jan's style and are acquainted with most of the department members. But people don't know you very well and are suspicious of the fact that you are fresh out of university and have little experience in the department. And the reality is that you got this job because management wanted someone with a post-secondary degree to oversee the department. Your most vocal critic is Lillian Lantz. Lillian is well into her 50s, has been a policy-renewal clerk for over 12 years, and-as the person who has worked the longest in the department-carries a lot of weight with group members. It will be very hard to lead this department without Lillian's support. Using your knowledge of leadership concepts, 

Which leadership style would you choose and why?