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Interviewee First and Last Name Andrew Highfill Interviewee Job…
Interviewee First and Last Name

Andrew Highfill

Interviewee Job Title or Team Leadership Role

Process Assistant

Interviewee’s Employer or Business (if owner)

Amazon

D. Interview Date: April 1st, 2023

E. Interview Time: 11 PM

F. Interview Modality (i.e., phone, in person, WebEx, email, etc.)

Email

G. Interview Questions and Responses:

MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Please describe the navigation of your career path that led to your current management or team leadership role.

-I have worked for Huckaby Jewelers, First Union and Home Depot 

What are the qualifications (e.g., education, certification, special skills, training, and experience) necessary to perform in your current management or team leadership role  and how do you keep your skills current?

-I have a degree in English Literature and a minor in Economics. In no way has that helped me perform well in my position.

-Training for this job was mostly learned through having worked most of the lower positions available.

-I received no actual training from anyone other than select fellow Process Assistants.

-My skills are kept current by adhering to the needs management requires of me.

Briefly share three or four main strengths regarding your hard/soft skills or experience that will allow me to gain a healthy perspective of what makes you successful in your management or team leadership role.

-My main strengths are interpersonal skills, a highly developed sense of work ethic and responsibility.  Plus being physically fit doesnt hurt in this job.

 

How do you incorporate the four functions of management—planning, leading, organizing, and controlling—into your work routine and which of these functions do you tend to practice or focus on the most?

-I plan each day based on the workload our section is expected to process in the amount of time given.

-I lead by example and by listening to the needs of those I am supervising.

-I also plan out where each employee is going to work based on their own strengths, abilities, training, work ethic and interpersonal skills.  *This is the what I tend to focus on the most*

 

Please describe a typical workday or work week and the decisions you must make on a frequent basis regarding management or team leadership issues.

-Refer to question 4.

What do you enjoy the most and what do you enjoy the least about your management or team leadership role and why?

– I enjoy when people are working effectively together to achieve a goal.

-I dislike when I am put in situations where I must remove associates because they are being disruptive or do not perform well enough.

-I also do not like it when my managers step in and make arbitrary decisions.

 

What are your upward mobility aspirations with regard to a promotion, greater responsibility, or a possible career change?

-Currently I aspire to achieve a role in operations management.

-However before doing so I would prefer to learn all of the other Process Assistant roles. 

 TEAM COHESION AND DYNAMICS BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

With a focus on strengthening cohesion within the teams that you lead, what do you look for (in terms of criteria) when assigning or selecting new team members?

-Work ethic.  The ability to see that other areas need help and the willingness to move there without having to be asked.

To what extent is compensation based upon individual accomplishment and to what extent is it based upon achieving team or department goals?

-Sadly accomplishment has little or nothing to do with compensation in an environment like this.  Those doing a great job and those just scraping by will reap the same rewards financially.

-Achieving department goals will likely help one when interviewing for different positions within the company as a demonstration of your ability.

How are the team members or employees in your group evaluated and what reward criteria is offered to motivate them beyond just compensation?

-Team members are evaluated based on ability to perform jobs at a high level of proficiency.  There is little that Amazon offers to motivate regular employees past occasional praise and food.  I do not consider cheerleading, buttons, stars or even the limited amount of swag they offer to be an effective means to motivate people.

-I try to respond to my team members’ needs when I can but ultimately I am only able to offer them my sincere appreciation and admiration for a job well done.

-Praise from someone you respect is often a reward in itself.

-They must find pride in simply doing a job well.

With regard to conflict resolution, please discuss an example of conflict that occurred within your team or department and describe how you effectively resolved this conflict.

-I stress to team members that have problems to bring their complaints to me so that I can evaluate the issues and provide a solution.

-Typically when a tangible problem arises I will try to accommodate that person’s need by fixing the issue myself.  When problems arise between individuals the best solution is to separate the individuals and to coach them individually as to how they should comporte themselves in the future.

(need help in this selection)

Explore and describe the ethical and cultural aspects/norms of the organization as they relate to business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. Areas of focus should include mission and vision statements, organizational goals/objectives, corporate policies, press releases, etc. In this part of the paper, you should focus on how the organization defines, communicates, and applies business ethics and ethical expectations within the organization. It would prove helpful if you contacted a manager, executive, or employee of the organization to ask a few open-ended questions. If you do, then make sure that you identify yourself as a college student writing a research paper because most managers will gladly assist college students.