Leadership development: cases for analysis

Answer the case study Q

QUESTIONS

1. What traits does Woodside possess that might be helpful to him as he assumes his new position? What traits might be detrimental?

D. L. Woodside, Sunshine Snacks

D. L. Woodside has recently accepted the position of research and development director for Sunshine Snacks, a large snack food company. Woodside has been assistant director of research at Skids, a competing company, for several years, but it became clear to him that his chances of moving higher were slim. So, when Sunshine was looking for a new director, Woodside jumped at the chance.

At Skids, Woodside had worked his way up from the mail room, going to school at night to obtain first a bachelors degree and eventually a Ph.D. Management admired his drive and determination, as well as his ability to get along with just about anyone he came in contact with, and they gave him opportunities to work in various positions around the company over the years. Thats when he discovered he had a love for developing new products. He had been almost single-handedly responsible for introducing four new successful product lines at Skids. Woodsides technical knowledge and understanding of the needs of the research and develop- ment department were excellent. In addition, he was a tireless workerwhen he started a project he rarely rested until it was finished, and finished well.

Despite his ambition and his hard-charging approach to work, Woodside was consid- ered an easy-going fellow. He liked to talk and joke around, and whenever anyone had a problem theyd come to Woodside rather than go to the director. Woodside was always willing to listen to a research assistants personal problems. Besides that, he would often stay late or come in on weekends to finish an assistants work if the employee was hav- ing problems at home or difficulty with a particular project. Woodside knew the director was a hard taskmaster, and he didnt want anyone getting into trouble over things they couldnt help. In fact, hed been covering the mistakes of George, an employee who had a drinking problem, ever since hed been appointed assistant director. Well, George was on his own now. Woodside had his own career to think about, and the position at Sunshine was his chance to finally lead a department rather than play second fiddle.

At Sunshine, Woodside is replacing Henry Meade, who has been the director for almost 30 years. However, it seems clear that Meade has been slowing down over the past few years, turning more and more of his work over to his assistant, Harmon Davis. When Woodside was first introduced to the people in the research department at Sunshine, he sensed not only a loyalty to Davis, whod been passed over for the top job because of his lack of technical knowledge, but also an undercurrent of resistance to his own selection as the new director.

Woodside knows he needs to build good relationships with the team, and especially with Davis, quickly. The company has made it clear that it wants the department to initi- ate several new projects as soon as possible. One reason they selected Woodside for the job was his successful track record with new product development at Skids.

Source: Based in part on The Take Over, Incident 52 in Bernard A. Deitzer and Karl A. Shilliff, Contemporary Management Incidents (Columbus, OH: Grid, Inc., 1977), pp. 161162; and Choosing a New Director of Research, Case 2.1 in Peter G. Northouse, Leadership Theory and Practice, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001), pp. 2526.