Your completed project will be 5-6 pages in length, excluding its title and reference page.

Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment

• Demonstrate leadership skills by communicating a shared vision, motivating and empowering others, and creating a culture of ethical decision-making and innovation.

How to Set Up the Paper

• Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced using 12-point font.
• Create an APA-compliant title page to include: the project title, date, course number, section numbers, student's name, and instructor's name.

Scenario

Tasty Products, a billion-dollar multinational company, has for more than 25 years has developed, produced, and distributed organic food products to major retailers (e.g., Whole Foods; Costco, Safeway) throughout the United States. These products are noted for their salutary effects, including stable blood glucose levels. Tasty Products has recently decided to launch a new line of products.

It will develop, produce, and distribute all-naturally flavored protein bars to its new and existing clients. This new line of all-naturally flavored protein bars will necessitate establishing a new division to develop, produce, market, and distribute the product. A new Executive Vice President will need to be selected to establish and lead the new division.

Your company, Wiz Consultants, has been retained to help Tasty Products' Human Resources Director make the final selection from the candidates she has previously interviewed and narrowed to three (3) possibilities. She has prepared a detailed written profile for each candidate.

Tasty Products' Human Resources Director has explained to you that she has been directed to find the best person to establish and run the new division. The Human Resources Director further explained that the protein bar industry consists of many well-established companies. Accordingly, the ideal candidate will need to learn quickly and handle many complex leadership and management tasks.

These complex management and leadership tasks include the following: developing innovative strategy, creating well-made products, effective product marketing, developing and managing the processes and procedures for employees to follow, and creating and articulating a clear vision for the new division. Strong leadership will be the key to the all-naturally flavored energy bar's success.

The Executive VP will be the face of Tasty Products new brand to existing and prospective clients (e.g., Whole Foods, Safeway, Costco, and the like). The key to success with existing clients and prospective clients will be the ability to communicate to them, "What makes Tasty Products naturally flavored protein bars special." The new Executive VP must be viewed as a person of integrity and an innovative problem solver.

The Executive VP must be seen by current employees and newly hired employees and their managers, who will all work in the new division, as a leader who understands and supports the culture, values, and traditions of Tasty Products. In a short period of time, Tasty Products' leadership expects the new Executive VP to have met the leadership and management expectations discussed above and have the new division running efficiently and productively.

In summary, Tasty Products desires that the new Executive VP for the Energy Bars Division have the array of excellent management and leadership skills necessary to lead the new division.

Your specific role is to analyze the candidate profiles that follow and answer the specific questions (as identified below the last candidate profiles) the company's management has asked you.

Candidate Profiles

T.J. Max

T.J. has spent the past 13 years working for Star Lite Foods, a mid-sized, $220 million in annual sales, vegetarian food distribution company, headquartered and operating its largest facility in Arizona. She started with the company working on the production line that selected the vegetables suitable for distribution throughout the western section of the United States. For the next 4 years, she worked in a variety of management jobs overseeing production.

T.J. then worked for 7 years as a Regional Manager in Idaho, responsible for increasing the production of vegetables on farms that Star Lite used as sources for vegetables needed for their own vegetable production. During her run as a Regional Manager, she was responsible for making visits to farms to help each farm in the Safe Lite network develop a business plan. The focus of these business plans was to help each farm develop a vision, mission, and general operations plan to help ensure production was stable.

T.J. credits her success in that role to her ability to get local farmers to work together instead of independently. She created a program, Community Communications, to keep farmers up to date on farm news affecting the region and encourage cooperative relationships. T.J.'s staff set up a blog and website and expanded social media channels to supplement her Community Communication initiative. These enhancements enabled the latest up-to-date sources of information for farming-related issues and encouraged the cooperative development of strategic goals and plans.

T.J. was promoted and has served for the past 3 years as Star Lite Foods Vice President of the New Product Design and Marketing Department. She proposed focusing on making quality products that can be sourced from local vendors. She stated that once established the company could initiate a move to being more environmentally attentive to the well-being of consumers. T.J. has long advocated for natural products whenever possible and the need for more nutritious and healthy food lines. Management sees T.J. as clever and creative.

T.J. proudly stated that she likes to surround herself with good people. T.J. indicated she likes to delegate because she feels her team of workers needs the freedom to make decisions. She feels people produce more and like work better without strict guidance. She is hands-off. T.J. boasted that the team was instrumental in helping Star Lite obtain a double-digit increase in market share.

T.J. is well-liked by her employees. She communicates what is important and has a good sense of timing. They, at times, describe her as distant, but when they seek her judgment or she offers an opinion, they respect it. T.J. is very open to conversations with others and is known to be truthful and subtle. She often indicates shed like to think about the issue or question before she answers, but she always follow-ups, even if it is a day or so later. T.J. likes people. T.J. will not tolerate employees that dont work well with others, and she is very comfortable working with everyone.

T.J. is confident that her hard work to advance her career and track record in various complex jobs makes her capable of taking on the new role. T.J. earned her B.A. in Business in a part-time program at a local college in Idaho.