Leadership
What to know
Leadership is the ability to set direction, align people, and create the culture in which quality can flourish; management is the discipline of planning, organizing, staffing, controlling, and budgeting. Questions often describe a behavior and ask you to label it - assigning work and tracking schedule compliance is management, while articulating a shared vision and persuading people to change is leadership.
Know the classic frameworks: Lewin's three-stage change model (unfreeze–change–refreeze), force-field analysis (driving versus restraining forces), and Kotter's eight steps (urgency, coalition, vision, communicate, empower, short-term wins, consolidate, anchor). Know the bases of power - legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent - and remember that expert and referent power tend to produce commitment rather than mere compliance. Situational leadership says the style used (directing, coaching, supporting, delegating) should follow the follower's competence and commitment.
Expect traps on transformational versus transactional leadership (inspiration and intellectual stimulation versus contingent reward and management-by-exception), on servant leadership (the leader removes barriers), and on Deming's points (drive out fear, break down barriers between departments, institute leadership, eliminate slogans and numerical quotas).
Worked example
A plant must adopt a new SPC system. Driving forces score 40, restraining forces score 35, so the net force is 5 in favor of change. A novice answer tries to raise driving forces to 60. The better answer attacks the 35 of restraint - training, removing fear of reprisal for stopping the line - because weakening resistance shifts the equilibrium with far less organizational strain.