How would you characterize De la Vega's style as a follower? What tactics might help improve his relationship with Bussard? Explain.

De la Vega's style as a follower can be characterized as honest, dependable, cooperative and competent. According to the textbook exhibit, 7.5 displays the characteristics the follower and leader must display. After analyzing the case study, we can see De la Vega was using all the attributes from exhibit 7.5. De la Vega was showing exhilarating skills as a follower; he followed orders and did his job diligently; even though the leader was not acting in his role, De la Vega was still cooperating. He also had a knack for being competent in biometrics. The tactic that I think De la Vega should use to improve his relationship with Bussard would be to use the courage to challenge tactic. According to the textbook, this tactic is defined as "effective followers who do not sacrifice their integrity or the good of the organization to maintain harmony (Daft, 2017, pg 212)." De la Vega is doing all the work, and his boss does not give him any sort of guidelines and De la Vega does not challenge or ask questions. As suggested by Garcia (2018), without having the courage to challenge decisions that are made on the basis of tradition or pure reaction, the leader does not experience progress in the organization and neither do the followers in their own professional lives. As a result, it is imperative that De la Vega remain firm and stand his ground to let the boss know his vague and confusing instructions.

Additionally, De la Vega must recognize that being the new COO and having all these unique, well thought out ideas, may not necessarily impress Bussard. For De la Vega to earn the appreciation of Bussard, he may have to act the way Laura Stein did as the general counsel for the Clorox company. Stein studied her CEO's character and personality so that she understood how to work with him more effectively. Most importantly, as someone who had not built a reputation with the CEO, Stein made it a priority to agree on many of the propositions that were set forth by the CEO even if she had disagreed with him. This implies that Stein knew her role was not above the CEO's role and if she were to judge him too soon, this would have caused conflict. For De la Vega, it is important for him to work within the system that has been built to earn the trust of his superior.

Textbook: Daft, R.L. (2015). The leadership Experience(7Thedition),

Please use scholarly articles to add to the answer and please use in-text citations as well.