Management, 11th Edition

Chapter 13. Leading and Leadership Development

Chapter 13 Study Questions

1. What is the nature of leadership?

2. What are the key leadership traits and behaviors?

3. What are the contingency approaches to leadership?

4. What are current issues in personal leadership development?

Learning From Others, Leaders Provide the Roadmaps

When Kraft Foods was bidding to buy Cadbury, Irene Rosenfeld was often in the news. As CEO of Kraft, she was leading a dramatic attempt to capture the British candy maker, against its wishes. It was all part of Rosenfeld's strategy to transform Kraft as a global powerhouse in snacks and confectionery.

Upon taking over as CEO, Rosenfeld said she found a firm that "was not living up to our potential." She's been relentless in engaging the firm's employees and stakeholders in frank discussions, and then embarking on strategies—such as the Cadbury acquisition—to meet her lofty goals.

One of Rosenfeld's leadership initiatives was to push decision authority down the hierarchy, such as letting managers of Kraft's major brands have control of their budgets and operations. She also built top management teams to bring perspectives in from all parts of the company. And she urged division managers to focus resources on what they did best in their customer markets. All the while, however, she stuck with the goal, pushing her turnaround strategy by communicating the ever present message of "Let's Get Growing!"

A former Kraft executive says that Rosenfeld "is a risk taker" and the Cadbury ...