John Allan G.

Ongleo

Section – 2

Selecting the New Vice President 1

1. At this point, what are your predictions about Treeholm as the interim vice president?
Given her credentials, devotion, work experience and popularity, she can easily handle the position
as interim vice president. She already gained the leadership skills necessary due to her previous
appointments as president of the faculty senate and as associate vice president. Her colleagues’
support and confidence can be affirmed by their suggestion of her for the position, it also shows that
they have high expectation from her. Not only that she is the most suited for the position but she is
also the most deserving because of her devotion to the job, familiarity with the different aspects of
the work and many contributions/accomplishments for the institution.

2. What do you predict will be her management/leadership style?

She will be an approachable and pro-people leader. Her career mostly grew at Mid-West U in which
she was familiarized with the works of almost everyone. She can empathize with other people. She
even go out of her way to support others, especially now that she is in a position which can actually
do more.

3. What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? What is the basis for your assessment?
Ms. Treeholm’s strengths emanates from her educational attainment, popularity, work experience
and devotion to the job. She earned her Ph.D. at Metropolitan U while continuing to teach at Mid-
West. She was well known in the campus and even suggested by many faculty leaders and former
administrators for the position of interim vice president. She started out teaching introductory history
before getting her degree, she was appointed as assistant professor and then associate. Ms. Treeholm
was also elected as president of the faculty senate before taking the position of associate vice
president.

Her weaknesses arise in the fact that her whole career mostly grew at Mid-West U. Her general
knowledge and experience might be lacking because she was confined in her safe zone, the Mid-West
U, and she never tried to go out. It is also observable that she is very friendly and easily approachable,
although it may seem a strength but it can also be seen as a weakness as this may affect her decision
making especially those which will negatively affect her close friends.

My assessment was based in the facts that Ms. Treeholm was suggested by her colleagues, on how
they have high expectations from her, on her educational background, work experience and
accomplishments. Furthermore, I also consider her popularity, devotion to the job and her attitude
outside the office.
Selecting the New Vice President 2

1. What is the major problem facing Treeholm?

The major problem facing Ms. Treeholm is the fact that they have different leadership/management
style of the president of the school. She could not give her full support to the president but she could
not also oppose the decisions made by their president. In addition to these is that the other members
of the president’s senior staff which are mostly men all support him and his decisions without
question. They discuss matters in private and not in group meetings which makes those who do not
support the president excluded including Ms. Treeholm. While most of the senior staff were men, she
talked mostly to her female friends putting a gender gap in their group. Her group of longtime female
colleagues also failed to offer their support to their statement that more women should move to
important positions in campus which makes matters worse to Ms. Treeholm.

2. What would you do if you were in her position?

If I were in Ms. Treeholm’s position, I will assess the president’s way of leadership/management. If I
found his methods/decisions concerning, then I as the vice president shall give my advice to the
president for the betterment of the institution. Being an interim is not an excuse to not perform the
task given to you, your colleagues trust that you have what it takes to fulfill the role of the interim
vice president. I’ll put a boundary between work and personal relationships that may affect my work
decisions.

3. Would a man have the same experience as Treeholm?

I think regardless of the gender, anyone will have the same experience. Based on the facts, the main
problem is that Ms. Treeholm found the behavior and decision-making style different from what she
was used to handling. Her being friendly, desire to please everybody and to try to take care of
everyone does not suit well in top management especially in making tough decisions which will affect
others. She was not congruent with the other staff which makes her everyday life at the office difficult.

4. Are any of your predictions about her management style holding up?
My predictions about her management style are not holding up, it is mainly because my predictions
were based on her personal information alone. I assumed her management/leadership style based on
her educational background, experience, popularity and other matters about her. Upon her
assumption to duty, her leadership/management style was greatly affected by her surroundings. The
persons around her greatly affects her output, she was forced to adapt to the environment she was
put into. It became difficult for her to exert her values.