PD1/January 2016

Professional diploma in procurement and supply

Leadership in procurement and supply

Date Wednesday 27 January 2016

Time Start 14:00 End 17:00 Duration 3 hours

QUESTION PAPERINSTRUCTIONS FOR CANDIDATES

This examination has FOUR compulsory questions worth 25 marks each.

1. Do not open this question paper until instructed by the invigilator.

2. All answers must be written in the answer booklet provided.

3. All rough work and notes should be written in the answer booklet.

QP04

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You are advised to allow 20 minutes to read carefully and analyse the information in the case study before attempting to answer the questions.

CASE STUDY – FM SERVICES

Celine Jameson is excited by her new role as group Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) for FM Services, a multinational facilities management company. She has spent many years in procurement, working her way up from a position as a junior buyer to procurement manager. This latest promotion feels like the greatest challenge, as it involves a move from a management position to a leadership role. Consequently, Celine is keen to refresh her knowledge regarding the latest leadership research. She often reads the McKinsey Quarterly, a journal published by a major international management consultancy. Her attention is drawn to three articles in Issue 4, 2014.

The first article presents a summary of research into leadership behaviours. The McKinsey Quarterly found that there are four leadership behaviours that explain 89 percent of the variance between strong and weak leadership in organisations.

These are: • solving problems effectively • operating with a strong results orientation • seeking different perspectives on issues • supporting others.

McKinsey advises that these represent a set of core leadership behaviours that are relevant to most companies today. However, the article also notes that different business situations often require different styles of leadership.

One of Celine’s procurement teams is based in India and she is therefore interested in the second article that is based on research in India. This research found that participants look for four key characteristics in their leaders:

• being generous and compassionate • encouraging participation, inclusion and collaboration • helping teams to work together • being charismatic and inspiring.

However, the research found that there were differences of opinion across different generations. Somewhat surprisingly, older respondents to the research placed more importance on being participative than respondents from younger generations. Younger people are often perceived as being keener on participation. Older people were also found to stress the importance of charisma in leaders. One possible explanation for this different view of charisma is that younger people are more used to technology-based interactions, where charisma is less relevant than in face to face contact. This is an interesting finding for Celine, as her team in India is young and she will be leading them remotely.

PLEASE TURN OVER

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Another of Celine’s procurement teams is based in the Middle East, and the third article is relevant to this situation.

One of Celine’s responsibilities is to promote an equality and diversity agenda in the region in order to encourage more representation of women in senior procurement positions. A McKinsey survey in the region found that 80 percent of women said that gender diversity was a “very important” driver of organisational effectiveness, but only 53 percent of men thought so. This is notable, since encouragement by men (for instance, in the form of mentorship) is a significant factor affecting women’s ability to reach senior management positions in the Middle East. Celine will clearly need to use her influencing skills to drive the equality and diversity agenda in the region.

Another responsibility for Celine in her new position is to consolidate procurement spend across the regions and to set up global contracts for the major category areas. She knows that this will be a transformational change for the organisation and that there is likely to be resistance from the regions. There may also be conflict between procurement’s need to centralise spend authority and the regions’ desire for independence. Celine excels at change and conflict management, and is looking forward to the challenge.

ReferencesMcKinsey Quarterly Issue 4 2014: • Decoding Leadership: What really matters • Top Kinds of Leadership Behaviour, McKinsey’s Organisational Health Index • Promoting gender diversity in the Gulf.

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QUESTIONS

These questions relate to the case study and should be answered in the context of the information provided. You are advised to spend 40 minutes on each question.

Q1 One of the McKinsey articles mentioned in the case study notes that ‘different business situations often require different styles of leadership’.

Using appropriate theory, discuss the typical factors that might contribute to the style of leadership that Celine may adopt when working with her procurement teams. (25 marks)

Q2 Discuss FIVE leadership skills or techniques that Celine will need to develop and apply in order to influence her teams. (25 marks)

Q3 One of Celine’s responsibilities is to promote a diversity agenda for her organisation.

(a) Explain the benefits of ensuring diversity within an organisation such as FM Services. (12 marks)

(b) Explain how equality and diversity issues can be managed to improve the effectiveness of the organisation. (13 marks)

Q4 The case study suggests that there may be conflict within Celine’s organisation based on the transformational changes required.

(a) Discuss the potential positive and negative outcomes of conflict in an organisation such as FM Services. (12 marks)

(b) Explain a range of conflict handling approaches that Celine could consider to address the potential conflict situations in her new role. (13 marks)

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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BLANK PAGE

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PLEASE RETURN THIS FORM TO:

CIPS ASSESSMENT MANAGEMENT CENTRE

c/o LINNEY DIRECT, A7 GOODS IN

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NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG18 4LN

UNITED KINGDOM

TEL: +44(0) 845 880 1188

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