Assessing Self and Potential Candidates
Instructions
Step 1: Review “How to Analyze a Case Study” under Week 6 Content.
Step 2: Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product will be between 5-7 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page.
Step 3: Review the grading rubric for the assignment.
Step 4: In addition to providing an introduction, students will use headings following this format:
- Title page with title, your name, the course, the instructor’s name;
- Results of Myers-Briggs Personality Test
- Ranking of CEO Candidates
- Top Candidates
- Interview Questions
Step 5: In writing a case study, the writing is in the third person. What this means is that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person writing). If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person. Also note that students are not to provide personal commentary.
Step 6: In writing this assignment, students are expected to support the reasoning using in-text citations and a reference list. If any material is used from a source document, it must be cited and referenced. A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa. View the sample APA paper under Week 1 content.
Step 7: In writing this assignment, students will use resources from the course material and no more than 3 external source documents. NOTE: The expectation is that students provide a robust use of the course material including the material presented in this assignment.
Step 8: In completing the assignment, students are expected to use the facts from the case study paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the analysis. The case study is not cited or referenced.
Step 9: In writing this assignment, students are expected to paraphrase and not use direct quotes. Students are expected to paraphrase, which can be learned by reviewing this link: https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html
Step 11: Read and use the Global Delivery Direct (GDD) Company Profile.
Step 12: Read critically and analyze the following scenario:
Scenario: Having bought the business from Alex Cheng, owner and CEO of Mail on Wheels, who decided not to stay on in a leadership capacity, Rockfish now has to hire a replacement for Alex Cheng. Rockfish is looking for a candidate who knows the business, can present a good corporate image (i.e., to the bigger clients who are more likely to pay for the custom service), is well-educated, and will lead the existing group with a balance of firmness and give enough freedom to creatively personalize fulfillment of each client’s needs. Since you are the manager with whom Cheng’s replacement will have the most contact, Rockfish has decided that you should participate in the call back interview. Further he has given you his interview notes on each candidate and wants you to rank them on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best fit, so that he has some idea going into the interview what your “on paper” reaction is to each candidate.
Here are his notes on each candidate:
Candidate One- Henrietta Raynard
Henrietta was the assistant to Alex Cheng. She is 28 years old with 3 years of college. She currently is finishing her degree online at UMUC. Henrietta is a Business Administration major. She is friendly and has a quiet demeanor. Her Myers-Briggs personality test ranked her as an ISTJ. She has received high marks from Cheng who says she is detailed oriented, had a good understanding of the business organization and seemed to work well with the younger staff. She did not tolerate much nonsense from people, hated surprises, and wanted people to be brief in talking with her. These personality traits meant she could at times be cold to customers whose demands she believed were unfounded or unrealistic. Cheng did not see this as bad per se because he thought he was too pleasing sometimes. After all, he was in the business to make money. Overall, Cheng felt that she could handle the job. Rockfish’s personal impressions were that she was hesitant in joining a bigger company. She liked the smallness of a business and felt in control. She did like the collaborative environment of GDD and responded well to the idea that her opinions and suggestions were welcome at all times. Her reasons for wanting the job centered mainly on the idea that she felt she could run the business well and had some good ideas about making the mobile units better using the advanced technology that Cheng wanted. The technology would allow for better connections to GDD allowing deadlines to be met faster. When asked how the staff perceived her, she laughed and said they called her “Type A”. but then to some of the people I work with, anyone who shows up for a meeting early is a “Type A.” Rockfish noted that during this statement, it was only one of two times during the interview that she held my gaze for any length of time.” When asked what characteristics she thought a leader needed to succeed in the 21st century she replied, “…objective, practical, controlled and fair”. Her knowledge of the business was sound. She seemed to not know a lot about how GDD was operating.
Candidate Two- Orson Hernandez
Hernandez currently manages the local Kinko’s store. He has remained loyal to the company even after the merger. However, he feels that the store’s image, culture, and mission have changed dramatically since the merger. He enjoys working with a customer until they were satisfied and regrets having to short change the time he spends with customers today. He also feels that the company culture has become more rigid. Hernandez’s Myers-Briggs personality test showed him as an ENFP. He could be very ebullient. At times, he was not sure of the facts. When asked what characteristics he thought a leader needed to succeed in the 21stcentury, he replied, “…flexible, compassionate, insightful and honest”. Hernandez seemed to understand the idea of a mobile packaging store and was aware that Cheng’s company was becoming a strong competitor for his small business customers. He liked the clan culture at GDD and showed signs of having done his homework on the company. When asked how he created followers among his employees, Hernandez replied that he liked to use incentive motivational techniques and would sometimes empower workers if they showed the ability to manage others well. He was not aware of how his workers perceived his leadership style, which he characterized as being diplomatic. He liked to be in agreement with people and to be flexible. He enjoyed surprises. Hernandez has a B.A. in art history. Overall impression: able to do the job well.
Candidate Three- Jonathan Livingston
Graduated from UMUC’s MBA program two years ago! Currently works for the IT department at UPS. This is a job he obtained right out of the military. Livingston entered the interview room all smiles and with a firm handshake. I was impressed by the firm handshake and the eye contact throughout the interview. Livingston was very prepared to discuss both companies having visited them both prior to the interview. Livingston had also read about GDD online and spoke with current employees. He also mentioned looking at Glass Doors as well. Livingston’s knowledge of the delivery/cargo business was extensive having worked with UPS for 6 years in IT. His Myers-Briggs personality test gave him an ETP with a split SN. Livingston indicated that he was the team leader in his current job and was content with the organization. However, his current job could not lead him to a career position in management. He felt confident that he could handle the new job as leader of the mobile division. Livingston said his leadership style was situational with a little transformational thrown in. General impression: great candidate but maybe more qualified than the job entailed. Too good to be true???!
Candidate Four-Adrianna Coyote
Graduate of Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana with an AA in business studies. Coyote went to work with GDD part-time straight out of college. She took time off to have a family and is now managing the GDD airport station of the Ontario Hub. Having read about the opportunity through the GDD’s HR division website, Coyote was excited to have the opportunity to move forward in her career. She is quite familiar with GDD shipping methods, deadlines, and policy. Coyote has many innovative ideas besides the mobile vans that would encourage the business boutique market. The Myers-Briggs test scored her primarily as anExtrovert with some Introvert influence, N intuition Thinking, Perceiving. Coyote’s evaluations are superior and she works well with her team. Her colleagues suggest that she is flexible and a people-first person. She does not always make decisions with data; sometimes her decisions are based more on feelings.
Coyote is an attractive woman but does not present herself as well as she could. Her eye contact is good and she comes off very authentic. However, her use of English is not always good. She describes her leadership style as transformational. Her team seems to concur. She has little knowledge of the mobile business but has researched Mail on Wheels and looked at the business. General impression of candidate: could do the job but worried about the impression she may make on the bigger customers who were more likely to spend the money on boutique service. Overall impression: strong candidate.
Required Elements for Project Two
- As was noted earlier Rockfish has decided that you should participate in the call back interview because he realizes that you will be working with the new CEO the most and is anxious to get your input in the decision. Prior to participating in the interview, Rockfish wants you to rank each candidate based on his interview notes so that you can give him some idea going into the interview as to what your “fresh eyes” reaction is to each candidate. Using Rockfish’s notes rank each candidate using a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best fit and 1 being the worst fit for the company. Explain you’re the reasoning for the ranking.
- He has also given you two articles that he wants you to read because they will help explain the Myers-Briggs personality types that he referenced. They are:
Read: Effects of Each Preference in Work Situations
- http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:o8DCcCnzS24J:www.mass.gov/eopss/docs/dfs/fiu/interview-work-preferences.doc+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
and
Read: Preferred Methods of Communication http://www.csun.edu/~hcpsy002/Type_Methods_Communication.pdf
- As you are the manager who will be working with the newly hired candidate, you also want to get a person in the position that will work well with you and will fit the organization. Identify your personality type, the effects of the type preferences in a workplace situation and preferred methods of communication by taking the following Myers-Briggs Personality test:
- Take the Free Personality Test at: https://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality
- Once you have taken the quiz compare your results against those of the candidates and select the top two people whom you will work the best. Explain the reasons for your conclusions and support it with the class material.
- Now that you have completed a pre-interview evaluation of the candidates, both for yourself and for Rockfish, create at least three interview questions for each candidate. These questions should address points about individual leadership “people skills” that the candidates need and that have not been addressed by Rockfish’s notes, and that are important to you working with the new person. Refrain from typical HR questions like where do you see yourself in five years? Focus on those themes found in weeks 4-6 to create the questions.
Step 13: Create the introductory paragraph. Within this paragraph, provide a brief overview of the scenario. Then, provide a thesis statement and tell the reader the main topics covered in the paper. The introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper but is typically written after writing the body of the paper (Questions students responded to above). View this website to learn how to write an introductory paragraph: http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html
Step 14: Respond to the questions in Part One and Part Two following the format provided. Be clear and concise in the writing and make sure the questions are comprehensively answered.
Step 15: Using the grading rubric as a comparison, read through the paper to ensure all required elements are presented.
Step 16: Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.
- Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a first measure;
- Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the paper;
- Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4-6 areas that may need improvement
Assessing Self and Potential Candidates
It is critical that leaders maintain the image of their companies. Rockfish, the owner of the Mail on Wheels, wants to achieve business success by employing individuals that understand the various roles needed for the operations of the firm. As a result, Rockfish wants help with the selection process. A successful candidate for the position will be the one ranked and emerge as the best candidate basing on their personality and knowledge of the job.
Results of Myers-Briggs Personality Test
The results of the test indicate the personality is a protagonist. According to the result, protagonists are natural-born leaders and usually take leadership positions in the society. Their core characters include being intuitive, judgmental, and assertive (“ENFJ Personality (“The Protagonist”) | 16Personalities”, 2016). A good character to note is that they are firm believers of people. Their best communication for this type of personality is intuition in which possible future challenges are discussed (“California State University, Northridge”, 2016).
Ranking of CEO Candidates
The various candidates can be ranked based on their personality types as well as their knowledge of the field. Henrietta Raynard ranks 4 because she has been in business and the assistant to Alex Cheng. Adrianna Coyote ranks 3 because she has a knowledge of the business operations and creative ideas that may help improve the business. Jonathan Livingston ranks 3 because he has been in the same line of operations and has extensive knowledge in the field. Orson Hernandez ranks 2 because he has little knowledge of the mobile packaging store.
Top Candidates
From the results, the top candidates are Henrietta Raynard, Adrianna Coyote, and Jonathan Livingston. However, it is important to point out the best candidates from the three top candidates. The best candidate for this position is one that likes variety, solving problems, and can plan their work. Considering these traits, Adrianna Coyote is the best candidate because she possesses these attributes that are preferable in the work situations (“California State University, Northridge”, 2016).
Interview Questions
1. Do you prefer working alone on new projects or teaching fellow colleagues to work together on the projects?
2. Would you perceive yourself as an action person or a creative person?
3. Do you believe in giving emotional support
to colleagues or suggesting the solutions for the problems they face?
References
California State University, Northridge. (2016). California State University, Northridge. Retrieved 30 September 2016, from http://www.csun.edu/~hcpsy002/Type_Methods_Communication.pdf
California State University, Northridge. (2016). California State University, Northridge. Retrieved 30 September 2016, from http://www.csun.edu/~hcpsy002/Type_Work_Situations.pdf
ENFJ Personality (“The Protagonist”) | 16Personalities. (2016). 16Personalities. Retrieved 30 September 2016, from https://www.16personalities.com/enfj-personality
