Unit IV Case Study
Professor Janice Spangenburg

Current Issues in Leadership (MSL 6040-12C-3)

January 20, 2013

Andra Rush, a minority female of Native American descent, was a nurse working on a Master’s degree in Business Administration. She started this journey in an effort to ensure employees were treated fairly in the workplace after hearing her co-workers complain. While caring for a patient and listening to him talk about his career in the transport business, Andra decided this would be a career she wanted to pursue. Andra Rush started a transport business that specialized in emergency shipping. She started with three transport trucks and never turned down a job opportunity. Andra rolled up her sleeves and did every tasks required to make this business successful. She drove the trucks to make deliveries, answered the phones, maintained the accounting books, and repaired the trucks when they needed maintenance. Andra was customer-oriented and strived to exceed the customer’s expectations. Her transport company grew to over 1700 trucks and 390 employees. The workforce was diverse with half from minority backgrounds and a greater number were female workers. Andra Rush attributed her business success to her Native American heritage and family values. She was an active listener and was honest and direct which demonstrated the values of integrity. She valued her employees and was very involved in community programs focused on assisting minorities (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2009, pp. 314-316).
Competency models describe the skills and behaviors leaders need to be successful. The leadership characteristics include value-based traits and people-oriented traits. Leadership competency models include personal character, people leadership, stakeholder focus, personal leadership, execution and results, and strategic leadership. Andra Rush was