Interview Questions
Introduction
Aspects that relates to human and capital utilization are of great importance to the success of any organization. An organization’s Leadership and management comes in handy when dealing with such since the two provides a sense of direction and involvement to all that are involved in an organization. Leadership is particularly important as it makes it possible for an organization to accomplish tasks through people. Leadership essentially involves the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it and the process of facilitating individual and collective individuals to accomplish shared objectives (Gronn, 2003). Cereal stuff thus needs to apply a number of technical and professional skills to determine the right candidate for their new role, head of marketing division. As a head, the incumbent is no doubt expected to demonstrate excellent leadership skills to ensure Cereal Stuff’s marketing division achieves its and organization’s objectives.
Body
In line with Cereal Stuff’s vision statement of providing the world with cereals and good stuff that it can make, the new head of marketing is expected and should demonstrate a broader perspective of the company’s product market. He or she should essentially have a global perceptive of the market since Cereal Stuff looks at satisfying the “world” with its products. It specifically wants to venture into Canadian and Mexican markets.
As the department head, the incumbent is also expected to spearhead the venture into these new markets and also facilitate the introduction of the company’s new product, containing quinoa to satisfy new customer demands. As the marketing head, the incumbent is expected to work with their team to fully incorporate their customer’s idea into their product and introduce the product to the right/potential market at the right time.
He or she is also expected to lead their team into establishing a new business culture away from the current adhocracy practised by Cereal Stuff. A democratic leadership style describes a style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process. Everyone is given the opportunity to participate, ideas are exchanged freely, and discussion is encouraged. While the democratic process tends to focus on group equality and the free flow of ideas, the leader of the group is still there to offer guidance and control (Jurek, 2013).
Interview questions
In your own words, what is the definition of a leader?
A leader will need to understand the candidates’ perception on leadership. A leader must know how to influence others and facilitate in the achievement of the group goals.
Important abilities of a leader are to understand whether the candidate knows, possess or has leant the qualities. The skills should include accountability, decisiveness, empathy and inspiration (Christian, 1960).
Of the skills you have mentioned, what are your strengths?
The strengths are to understand the candidate’s unique leadership skills and abilities. The candidate should demonstrate decisiveness, empathy and a sense of direction.
What leadership styles are you familiar with?
The leadership styles that I am the most familiar with are democratic, authoritarian, charismatic, laissez faire and transformational styles.
Of the leadership styles mentioned, which one do you think is most effective for a marketing department and why?
The leadership style that would be the most effective is to identify the candidates fit to the new leadership style the company is about to embrace.
What is your take on globalization and as a leader, how should one keep abreast with the challenges that come with globalization?
As a leader, it is important to understand whether the incumbent has a grasp of the current business trends and his or her involvement to fit (Merlinova, 2015).
What do you think a typical day is like for one heading a marketing department in any organization? Definition of roles and duties.
The head of the marketing department head will need to understand the candidates’ ability to associate functions of a leader to their unique work environment. Most of the time, they are going to be known as a marketing director. Some of their duties will include developing a market strategy, tracking any of the changes in supply and demand, identifying the customers and the future needs of these customers, and monitoring the competition.
As a leader and marketing professional, what business or marketing strategy will be best for venturing into new markets?
The best marketing strategy would be to align the candidate’s leadership and marketing strategy to the firm’s since it seeks to enter new markets.
Democratic leadership has been criticised for being ineffective when it comes to decision making as it calls for lengthy discussions and consultations. How would you ensure timely decision making in a democratic system?
A leader will need to understand whether the candidate fully understands the cons of democratic leadership and if he or she can offer practical solutions to its challenges. The leader should also demonstrate decisiveness as a leader while still holding on equity and inclusiveness (Avlonitis, 2006).
Cereal Stuff places value on customer needs, quality products and sustainability in the production process. How will you and your team streamline your operations to achieve these goals without compromising profitability?
In summary, after analysing the unique requirements of Cereal Stuff’s new role and matching them with the adoption of the right leadership as demonstrated by the incumbent, The firm should be in position to comfortably and almost seamlessly venture into the new market, introduce its new product (with quinoa) and still maintain profitability since good leadership ensures the smooth running of an organization as a whole besides offering a sense of direction and motivation (Marks, 2012).
References
Avlonitis, George J. (2006). Sustainable Marketing Leadership: A Synthesis of
Polymorphous Axioms, Strategies, and Tactics. Athens University: Athens, GA.
Gronn, P. (2003). Leadership: Who needs it? School Leadership & Management, 23(3), 267-
291.
Christian, R. (1960). Five Keys to Successful Marketing Leadership. Journal of Marketing,
24(3), 79.
Jurek, S., & Scime, A. (2013). Achieving Democratic Leadership: A Data-Mined
Prescription. Social Science Quarterly, 95(1), 97-110.
Marks, Dane. (2012). Right Marketing Leadership: Modern Marketing Management.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing: Charleston, SC.
Merlinova, Iveta. (2015). Molecular Marketing: Market Leadership Creative Modeling.
CINNAM: India.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Sustainable_Marketing_Leadership.html?id=ftO0GQAACAAJ
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1363243032000112784
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274578264_Five_Keys_to_Successful_Marketing_Leadership
https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v95y2014i1p97-110.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=ChiSkgEACAAJ&dq=Right+Marketing+Leadership:+Modern+Marketing+Management.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNv53O1JDMAhWK8CYKHXqpCXsQ6AEIKjAA
https://books.google.com/books?id=VjktpLaTnCQC&pg=PT433&lpg=PT433&dq=Molecular+Marketing:+Market+Leadership+Creative+Modeling&source=bl&ots=ig9aVbJbcr&sig=IZq5laSuSjGthhbFlDZpqAUPe88&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSya7y1JDMAhXOcCYKHcmGDDwQ6AEIPzAH#v=onepage&q=Molecular%20Marketing%3A%20Market%20Leadership%20Creative%20Modeling&f=false
