Vanderbilt University Leadership Case Study Discussion

Scholars have struggled for years to define ‘leadership’. Those definitions and our thoughts about leadership have evolved greatly over time and consequently, leadership means different things to different people. Some consider leadership as evidenced by the presence of certain traits, specific abilities, or even a particular set of skills. Others look at specific behaviors the leader engages in or view leadership as a relationship or a process.

The way you think about leadership influences how you practice leadership. To see how leadership is practiced and to answer the question ‘What is Leadership?’, we will explore the case study below and complete the Conceptualizing Leadership Questionnaire.

As emerging leaders, you will be launching your careers soon, so we have structured many of your assignments so that they will relate the course concepts to potential job interview questions.

For this assignment: Read the Case Study Below ” Job Interview question: Describe your leadership experience.”

2. Complete the Conceptualizing Leadership Questionnaire (p 20-22).

3. Answer the following seven questions about the case/questionnaire. Be sure to number your responses (i.e. do not write your paper in a narrative form). Be sure to support your answers using concepts (citations) from the text or other sources.

4. Limit your response to 750 words, double spaced, use Times New Roman, font size 12, include your name and submit your assignment below. Link your reactions to the text citing the referenced page. A citation may look like (Northouse, pg. 10). Once you put a citation/reference in your paper, you must include a works cited section at the end of your paper.Of course, papers should be organized, thorough, with proper sentence structure and grammar. Assignment deadline 11:59 p.m. Day 7 (Saturday).

Job Interview question: Describe your leadership experience?

What leadership experiences do you have? Whether it is babysitting your siblings, helping a neighbor, serving on a high school project, volunteering at the community center or in a paid position, each of these experiences are ripe with leadership opportunities.

Case 1- Emerging Leadership: Lessons learned

As a recent college graduate, Sam had updated his resume and applied for several positions. After several leadership courses, discussions with his advisers and career services, Sam appreciated the importance of being prepared for the upcoming interviews. As he reviewed his resume Sam reflected on his prior experiences to crystallize some of his accomplishments and his leadership experiences. His research showed that interviewers would most likely ask him directly to describe his leadership experience. Sam’s volunteer work at a hospital, his summer camp jobs and the dining services job at the University stood out as key experiences where he developed his skill set.

In high school Sam had volunteered at the local hospital where, assigned to the emergency room, he cleaned and sterilized beds, equipment and trays, and delivered and retrieved supplies for the staff. Basically, he did what was ever asked of him, although it was not very glamorous work. While volunteering, Sam met a lot of people from different parts of the hospital including Human Resources and Food Services. When one of the food services workers told him about an open position Sam applied and told his supervising nurse who then offered to serve as a reference.

Sam found washing pots and pans was not the most exciting job, in fact it was the same thing day after day. To deal with the tedium, Sam challenged himself with a little game to ‘make the pots and pans shine!’ When a coworker suddenly quit, Sam volunteered to assist the Cook until a replacement was found. Showing initiative along with his good work ethic (showing up early for work, following through on assignments, asking clarifying questions) impressed the Hospital staff and Sam was offered the position of assistant cook. In this new role, Sam learned about meal preparation, food safety, dietary restrictions and more. Who knew that this experience would pave the way for a future position at Rutgers Dining services?

When Sam started college, he needed more hours and a higher paying job. He worked a series of part time positions at Costco and at an upscale fusion restaurant. His knowledge of food preparation continued to develop while he fine-tuned his skills in food service. Over time, as his knowledge and skills grew so did his confidence. On reflection, Sam realized that through these experiences he ‘learned how to learn’ about the food industry and, that he could learn even more. Could he apply this newfound knowledge to other areas? Was he discovering how to ‘learn’ in other areas?

Assessment Questions:

1. Sam demonstrated leadership Identify 2 different traits and provide examples for each.
2. Consider Sam’s leadership ability. How did Sam demonstrate his ability to grow into a leadership role? Provide at least one specific example.

Throughout High School and college, Sam spent his summers working as a lifeguard and water sports instructor and eventually head instructor at sleep away camps. As with many young adults, aka emerging leaders, Sam realized from his prior work experience, he was not fond of being micromanaged. Thus, as lead instructor, he employed a more interactive style with his team holding daily meetings to hear their concerns and ideas, provide guidance and remind the team of the importance of teaching children how to swim. The campers in the swim program ranged in age and ability, some fearful and others fearless. Although he preferred an interactive more personal approach with his team, Sam recognized that strict adherence to safety and protocol was essential in this environment and he was very direct in this regard. Newer instructors, those with less experience, required more oversight or direct supervision than the others; this was not the kind of job where he could take a break and leave it all up to the employees to decide what to do. Sam stressed the need to work together as a team and to keep each other focused on the task at hand when guarding the swimmers.

Assessment Questions:

1. Give an example where Sam demonstrated “leadership is a relationship”. Provide at least one specific example.
2. How did Sam exhibit leadership as an “influence process”? Provide at least one specific example.

Whether swimming, water skiing, canoeing or kayaking, Sam’s goal was to ensure every child would advance in their particular water sport. Working with his team, Sam encouraged each instructor to develop goals for their students along with check points to measure student progress. He continuously stressed the importance of adhering to safety rules and regulations. Sam also created a check list for himself to follow up on each instructor so he could measure their performance and provide appropriate feedback and coaching.

From his earlier work and volunteer experiences, Sam found that often he thought he was doing good job only to learn that it was not exactly what the boss wanted. Also, he didn’t always feel he was part of the team. Some of his supervisors seem to be all business and oblivious to what else might be going on in the employee’s world. In retrospect, Sam recalled one of his co-workers was struggling with his home life as his mom was very ill. Naturally, this co-worker was distracted. Similarly, at the summer camp, Sam noticed some of his instructors were preoccupied with the interpersonal dating issues and their upcoming senior school year (SATs, FAFSA, college applications). It wasn’t that long ago when Sam was in their shoes wondering what path to take. Plus, lifeguarding, working with kids around water sports is a high stress job. Thus, Sam instituted a weekly ‘fun night’ activity for the instructors designed to build camaraderie. Whether karaoke, frisbee golf, talent night or a ‘cook off’ challenge, the instructors organized, planned and participated with lots of enthusiasm. As a result, Sam’s team

opened up more, shared their concerns and ideas and basically bonded as a group.

Assessment Question:

1. Consider Sam’s leadership behavior. Provide one specific example of his task behavior and one specific example where he employed relationship behaviors. Provide at least one specific example.

All of Sam’s volunteer experience, summer camp jobs, and part-time work experiences made him aware

there are different ways to lead others. He recognized that while the job must get done, employees are people with their own issues which can often interfere with the work. He also realized that he had ‘learned’ on the job, lessons that could transcend to future positions. Customer service, conflict management, delegating, coaching others for improved performance were all experiences that he could address in a job interview. So, when he arrived on campus and applied for a job at University Dining Services, Sam was successful in landing his first position on the grill at the University café. Over three semesters Sam worked the grill, the sandwich counter and cash register finally being promoted to student supervisor where he was in charge of a student crew. In this role Sam planned out the weekly work schedule assigning students to different stations based on their expertise. He trained and coached student employees on both the specific work tasks as well as their work habits (arrive on time, focus on the tasks, ask for clarification when unsure). Sam also had to think outside of the box and solve the unexpected problems as they arose. He recalled a scenario when the café freezer broke and the maintenance folks said it would take 24 hours for the parts to arrive. Thousands of dollars of frozen food were at stake. Sam asked his student team to come up with some creative menu ideas using the quickly thawing food. He also located a secure space outside the facility, which since it was January and the temperature was in single digits, would preserve the food. Quick thinking, contacting the food safety folks and engaging his student employees in creative problem solving resulted in a successful outcome. Lesson learned here was to think ahead, ask ‘what could go wrong?’ and develop a plan, just in case.

While in college, Sam felt the pressures of trying to figure it all out and encountered some challenges as did his peer group. Upon reflection he recognized that he had experienced leadership from different perspectives over the course of these various jobs and volunteer experiences. By taking the initiative, maintaining a positive attitude and being open to learning and feedback from others, Sam had developed his leadership skill set and has several solid examples that he can share during the upcoming job interviews.

Assessment questions:

1. Consider Sam’s leadership skills. Provide one example of Sam’s leadership skills. Provide at least one specific example.
2. Complete the Conceptualizing Leadership Questionnaire (p 14-16). Analyze your results. How do you see leadership? How to the results compare to how you see yourself and how you define leadership