Mahla was recently promoted to supervisor in the Procurement Unit at the canning factory where she had been employed for the past two years. The manager who had oversight for the Unit left on pre-retirement leave, and Mahla was asked to take up the reins. The senior clerk in the Unit had also applied for the position but was not successful. The Procurement Unit is primarily responsible internal customers for sourcing, negotiating, contracting, monitoring vendors' performance, and processing payments in compliance with company guidelines.

During the three-month probationary period, Mahla reinstituted weekly staff meetings with the ten employees in the Unit (two older than she is, and four men), reviewed their files, conducted one-on-one consultations, and has been thinking through ideas for improving the Unit's effectiveness. The main idea she has been considering, is the automation of some processes.

Mahla was surprised at the apparently low level of certification among her team; many had school-leaving certificates, and two held associate degrees in administration. She is generally unsure of the real educational levels represented on file, and that is a source of concern. Now that she had access to the confidential files, Mahla noted several letters dated in the past year from customers (internal and external), and from the department head about invoicing errors, delayed processing, and late payments. The plant manager in particular, was quite frustrated with the performance of a supplier, who nonetheless remained on the company's preferred list. Mahla realized that she has quite a lot to do.

a. Outline the four (4) main functions of management Mahla has to perform in relation her new position. (8 Marks)

b. Carefully describe the challenges she is likely to face with respect to each function citing examples from the case. (5 Marks)

c. Discuss two(2) advantages / benefits associated with

i. the review of each staff member's file (6 Marks)

ii. the one-on-one consultations. (6 Marks)

d. Mahla displays a democraticleadershipstyle.

i. Explain what democraticleadershipmeans, and state three (3) advantages of the style; (5 Marks)

ii.. With the aid of a diagram, discuss the steps in the decision process;

(5 Marks)