Jennifer's dilemma

Jennifer Treeholm, the former Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs was appointed interim Vice President for a 3 year term at Mid-West University by the newly appointed President of said University. After the interim, the President reluctantly appointed her the role of Vice President of the University.

Jennifer has devoted her entire career to Mid-West U. She was initially hired as an Introductory History instructor. While teaching history, she earned her PH.D and was appointed Assistant Professor and as time progressed she was promoted to Associate Professor due to her popularity and excellent teaching ability. Over time, she would become actively involved in various activities on campus such as forming the first union, acquiring grants, writing skits for the faculty club’s annual follies and generally offering her support to anyone who needed her assistance. She became President of the Faculty Senate where she served two years before being offered the position of Associate Vice President of Academic
Affairs where for the next ten years she handled most of the academic complaints, oversaw several committees and wrote lettes and reports for the then Vice President. She was well known and admired among her peers for her devotion to the University as well as for her energy and charm.

Not long into his new position, the newly appointed President was met with the resignation of the Vice President at a time when a hiring freeze was in order; however he needed to find a replacement. He was advised by many faculty leaders and administrators that Jennifer would be the logical choice for replacement because of her experience and devotion to the school. The President agreed to appoint Jennifer as the Interim Vice President for a 3 yr period with the possibility of becoming a candidate for the permanent position once the hiring freeze came to an end. The President was influenced by Organizational Politics. He acknowledged the opinion and interests of other faculty and administrators in regards to Jennifer being considered for the position (Ch. 12 Power and Politics p 292-293)

During her time as interim VP Jennifer’s performance became unsatisfactory. It appeared that she did not fully understand her role as interim vice president. She exhibited a participative leadership style, which prevented her from completing tasks in a timely manner. She needed to delegate tasks effectively instead of focusing on going above and beyond to nurture subordinates. The President began to realize her weakness and her supporters questioned her ability to lead though they still supported her and she remained popular nonetheless.

After the hiring freeze came to an end, the President set forth on a national search for a potential candidate as clearly he was not moved by Jennifer’s performance as Interim Vice President. After a yearlong search, the President along with the Search Committee met and found that the external candidates were not fit for the position. They recommend that Jennifer be appointed contingent upon if she agreed to change her management style and the following conditions: 1) she would organize her office and staff and begin delegating more work to others, 2) She would "play" her number two position, backing the president and echoing his position on the university's vision statement, 3) She would provide greater direction for the Deans who report to her. She agreed and was officially became the first ever female Vice President of Mid-West University.

The Vice President position encompassed many responsibilities which Jennifer could not handle due to her lack of knowledge and experience as it relates to the other administrations outside of Academic and Faculty Affairs. She was thrown in to a position (VP) where she had to make decisions and did not know how to execute them as previously she did not manage or delegate tasks; rather she took them on herself in the hopes of pacifying her followers. The President decided to hire someone with extensive experience to fill the position of Vice President of Finance and Administration to Jennifer’s relief. Strangely enough she still remained popular and well-liked.

In retrospect, Jennifer should have been appointed Vice President of Academic and Faculty Affairs instead of University Vice President, as she has numerous years of experience in this arena having served ten years as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. She was the Associate VP of Academic Affairs where she handled most of the academic complaints in addition to writing reports and letters for the then Vice President. She is well versed on the dynamics of relationships, needs and goals of Academic and Faculty affairs and has developed popularity on campus and is known to be a good teacher. The Inspirational Leadership Perspective introduces Charismatic Leadership (Chapter 13 page 321-325) as leaders who are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on followers. Jennifer is charismatic and well liked. Two traits that may help to facilitate change needed to resolve academic and faculty complaints.

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