Ajeet Singh was an example of an authentic leader, devoting himself to tackling the societal grand challenge of sex trafficking and child prostitution in India. Singh was the founder and leader of Guria India (Guria), a non-governmental organization with a holistic approach to improving the lives of sex workers and trafficked women and children. Through trial and error learning as well as years of immersion in and working with the community in one of India’s red-light districts, Guria had developed an end-to-end approach attacking the challenge at its systemic roots in poverty, corruption, and the failure of social institutions. However, Guria still struggled with an insecure funding base, low salaries for staff, and an insufficient leadership pipeline; Singh could identify no successor to take up his work. Singh wondered how he could extend Guria’s reach across all of India: Should Guria establish new locations in other cities, and if so, how would these be staffed, and what kind of leaders would be needed? How could Singh find and groom a cohort of successors to follow and replace him once he was no longer capable of providing his current level of proactive leadership?
This case has been written for use in undergraduate- and graduate-level modules pertaining to equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Particularly, it can be introduced in organizational behaviour, leadership, and communication courses. It is recommended that this case be taught early in the course or program.<br><br>This case involves international students’ experiences while studying at Canadian universities. The case is written to discuss the unique challenges international students face when entering a new country to study and intends to start the dialogue between domestic and international students to ensure that all students feel included in the cultures they are exposed to. This case will encourage students to be mindful of non-inclusive actions and behaviours (unintentional or otherwise) and their consequences, and then provide appropriate communication strategies and starting solutions to make students feel welcome and heard.
The case highlights the challenges encountered by a corporate life and health insurance leader while dealing with an underperforming employee, Tina Smith, in 2016 in Toronto, Ontario. It provides an overview of the process involved in performance management, including steps associated with exiting an employee from an organization. The protagonist in this case, Alexandra Thorn, also encountered challenges in her working relationship with Smith. Thorn was a lesbian and was open about this fact with her team and clients. Smith felt that in sharing information about her sexuality, Thorn jeopardized her business relationship with their clients; consequently, Smith suggested that Thorn not accompany her to meetings with clients in their Southwestern Ontario region, which included a large, traditional farming community. During a client meeting, Thorn witnessed Smith displaying inappropriate behaviour that stemmed from Smith’s implicit bias and discomfort with diversity. After Thorn reported her concerns to the company’s human resources (HR) partner, however, she was informed that the incident did not warrant intervention. As a values-based leader aligned with the organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity, Thorn had to consider how to proceed.
Tom Ewart had been recently promoted to associate vice-president (VP) of Sustainability at The Co-operators Group Limited (Co-operators), a Canadian financial services company focused on insurance. Ewart and his team were in the process of publishing the company’s annual integrated report to inform stakeholders of the firm’s current environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives and commitments. With sustainability trends rapidly growing, Ewart wanted to ensure Co-operators was well positioned to address upcoming changes and to continue to be a catalyst for a sustainable society. Ewart was excited about the growing industry, but he also wanted to find ways to improve Co-operators’ current sustainability strategies and ensure the company was on track towards its ESG commitments. One option Ewart was considering was to hire more individuals to join his Sustainability team, which currently had 3.5 employees. Given the lack of clear career structure in the industry, he was unsure of the types of candidates he should be looking for and what sort of experience they should have. Ewart reflected on his own career journey and the path he had taken to reach his current role as a sustainability executive. He also thought about the experiences and traits of his employees and how they brought value to the team.
Intolerance and discrimination against LGBTQ+ identifying individuals are widespread in the workplace and in academic institutions. This case explores the consequences of intolerance and offers participants an opportunity to consider and practice how individuals can use inclusive language and mindful communication strategies to deal with episodes of intolerance. Learning how to break the silence when faced with taboo or challenging topics enables people to understand other individuals’ perspectives and draw them into a shared conversation, thereby fostering understanding. <br><br>The case focuses on the prevalence of common types of microaggressions and discrimination in the workplace and in academic institutions and enables participants to consider and role-play multiple mini cases connected to queer and trans experiences based on real-life events.
The case highlights the challenges encountered by Laura Williams, founder and owner of Williams HR Law, a firm based in Toronto, Ontario, providing a full range of legal services on labour, employment law, and human resources (HR) matters. Demand for the firm’s services grew exponentially in 2020 following the tragic death of George Floyd and due to the ongoing workplace challenges encountered during the global pandemic. Williams faced decisions regarding the best and most sustainable ways to address increasing demand. She had solidified her reputation in the marketplace as an “advocate-of-choice” and was mindful of ensuring that her growth decisions did not negatively affect her brand or impact the organizational culture she had proudly developed. She was committed to ensuring that her growth aligned with her purpose—to provide best-in-class legal support that enabled clients to make informed decision-making and diffuse workplace issues before they escalated.
In 2017, Total Credit Recovery Limited (TCR), an accounts receivables management and debt collection firm, hired a data scientist to analyze the firm’s current data analytics practices and create a plan to extend the use of its data. TCR collected more than 1 million points of data per day, and the company’s new data scientist knew that with a proper team in place, he could use this data to offer his firm a competitive advantage that was currently non-existent in the industry. TCR's leadership supported the data scientist with substantial resources and the team made notable contributions to the firm’s operations. However, one year later, as the firm was preparing to launch a new venture that relied on the contributions of the new data analytics team, the young leader was struggling to build a positive dynamic within his cross-functional team. How could he improve his team's dynamics and thus its ability to add value to TCR?
Janet Zuccarini, the sole owner and visionary behind the Gusto 54 Restaurant Group (Gusto 54), had leveraged her industry experience to grow the restaurant group into a huge success story. Gusto 54 owned and operated nine restaurant concepts in Toronto and Los Angeles, and rapid expansion plans were underway. In a competitive, low-margin industry, where more than half of new restaurants failed, Gusto 54 had found a way to outperform its peers and consistently achieve its desired profit margins. Gusto 54’s strategy was grounded in innovative growth, the use of technology, and empowerment of all employees to take an entrepreneurial approach to their roles. <br><br>This two-part case allows students to examine in Case A how Zuccarini built an organizational culture that invested in employees and entrusted the leadership team with autonomy. The strategy had been effective in fuelling the company’s present growth, but as Gusto 54 expanded, Zuccarini wanted to ensure that the growth plans did not compromise the family-style culture her employees valued. Case B picks up Gusto 54’s story in September 2020, the restaurant having dealt with the challenges of the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic and a cultural self-examination amid the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. With Gusto 54’s previous expansion plans placing the restaurant in a financially precarious position, could the restaurant’s established culture help the restaurant survive the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic and respond to the cultural crisis raised by the BLM movement?
Like the society of which it is a part, the work world has not been immune to the plight of intolerance. Recognizing that while systemic changes are necessary, this case offers a powerful way to combat bias by empowering employees to speak up in order to share their concerns, discomfort, and frustrations with intolerance and bias in real time, as they see it happening. An organization is more than the sum of its policies, procedures, and other initiatives. A company is made up of many thousands of personal interactions, and much of the intolerance that marginalized employees experience occur within these moments. Learning to break the silence in these moments is key.
During a strategic planning process in early 2018, the chief executive officer of St. Joseph’s Health Care in London, Ontario, Canada encountered various challenges that tested her values-based leadership style and innovative approach to stakeholder engagement. She had not anticipated the skepticism from the senior management team that surfaced when she attempted to finalize the strategic plan for presentation to the board of directors. Although she faced resistance to the detailed wording of the proposed aims, she was opposed to diluting the language in the strategic plan. She found it important for all engaged stakeholders to see that their input had shaped the resulting plan. However, successful implementation of the strategic plan would depend on the support of her team members, who were accountable for its implementation. Overruling a management recommendation could potentially jeopardize the good working relationship she had established, but failing to deliver a plan to stakeholders that reflected their input posed a reputational risk for the organization. The chief executive officer had to decide how to move forward.
Students need to practice talking about taboo topics. The ‘A’ case offers background on recent calls to end discrimination (e.g., #MeToo, Black Lives Matter protests) and highlights the struggles business schools, in particular, have faced in dealing with intolerance. It offers an opportunity for students to consider and role play eight mini-cases based on real events. Topics covered include gender, race, diversity/inclusion, socio-economic inequities, harassment, LGBTQ+ issues, white privilege, and ableism. The ‘B’ case asks students to consider similar past interactions in their own lives so they can personalize the process and make plans for how they will deal with such events in the future.
Pamela Jeffery, founder and chief executive officer of The Pamela Jeffery Group and the Canadian Board Diversity Council (CBDC), had worked diligently for nine years to improve diversity at the board level. While the CBDC aimed at improving diversity in general at the board level, its key focus was to improve the representation of women on corporate boards in Canada. Jeffery and the CBDC methodically carried out plans to involve stakeholders, establish processes, and deliver progress on their goals. Yet they faced a new set of challenges in 2019: while Canadian boards now included more women overall, and most board directors felt that their boards were diverse enough, men and women were still not equally represented at the board level. Jeffery’s challenge was to determine what the next steps could be in what seemed like a long journey of transformation at the board level.
In the first of three mini-cases on workplace mistreatment, "Casual Fridays Gone Wrong," the vice-president of compliance for a collections company faced the dilemma of how to deal with a complaint about a manager's comments. The incident raised challenges for maintaining a respectful and inclusive workplace environment. In the second mini-case, "Dial 911—Health Care in Distress," a nurses' union representative at a mid-sized urban hospital needed to respond to a patient's threat to take his complaints about negligence to the media; he planned to identify the individual nurses he claimed had provided negligent care, in part due to his race. In the third mini-case, "A Toxic Academic Environment," formal harassment actions have been taken against Professor Marybeth Gasman, holder of an endowed chair at the University of Pennsylvania.
We all occasionally hear comments potentially driven by intolerance or bias. They often come without warning, sometimes from someone you really like. This article is about how to react. Research suggests that managers and employees alike are often loath to tackle uncomfortable topics. However, when formal company programs discourage bias, but everyday interactions allow or even encourage it, bias lives on. The good news is that the small everyday moments of potential intolerance are wonderful opportunities to tackle the problem of bias and discrimination in the workplace. What we are calling for is engagement, which doesn’t involve shaming or blaming. The goal is one of perspective-taking, which can make a difference without creating conflict. Engaging can have a positive impact in terms of cultivating empathy, increasing understanding, fostering speaker insight, and setting an example for bystanders. While formal training programs that address equity, diversity, and inclusion issues are helpful, they rarely have the reach required to fight intolerance where it breeds—at the micro level. Workplaces that are effective at micro-level engagement may get fewer complaints about bias. In addition, when employees feel psychologically safe and valued, they are more likely to share their thoughts and idea, which can lead to higher levels of productivity, innovation, and adaptability.
The sole owner of the Gusto 54 Restaurant Group (Gusto 54), which owned and operated nine restaurant concepts in Toronto and Los Angeles, had grown the restaurant group into a huge success story. In a competitive, low-margin industry, Gusto 54 outperformed its peers and consistently achieved its desired profit margins. Gusto 54's strategy was grounded in innovative growth, the use of technology, and empowerment of all employees to take an entrepreneurial approach to their roles. The owner had grown the company strategically, making business decisions based on her belief that her most valuable resource was having the right employees. She focused on building culture, hiring employees who fit the culture, and investing in the employee experience to retain them. She also made efforts to keep the leadership team lean and to include all members in decision-making. While Gusto 54's strategy had fuelled its present growth, in 2020, the owner was concerned about the impacts of rapid expansion. She wondered how to balance growth plans with the need to hire and retain top talent and maintain an engaged, motivated workforce. How could she scale up without losing the family-style culture her employees valued?
In September 2014, the national logistics manager at Lajpal Tea Pvt. Limited (Lajpal Tea), a leading tea brand in Pakistan, received notice that one of his key logistics service providers would soon terminate his service contract for transportation services. This contractor had been associated with Lajpal Tea since the company originated; however, due to payment delays and non-responsive behaviour from the logistics team, he decided to terminate his services and provided three months’ notice as per the terms and conditions of his contract. The transport company’s business was strong: the owner had many local contacts, geopolitical influence, and a good understanding of the local market. However, his trucks were old fashioned and were not equipped with the latest technology, such as global positioning system tracking. Lajpal Tea, a leading organization with plans for expansion, had to decide what to do now. Should the logistics manager negotiate with the existing contractor or find an alternate transporter from among the other available options?
In August 2017, the Canadian country leader of Red Hat Inc., an open source software company, was reviewing the progress made by the Canadian subsidiary of the American multinational in bridging the gender gap. The subsidiary had met its target of increasing the ratio of women in its sales team from 5 per cent in August 2014 to 40 per cent in July 2017. The country leader was examining ways to leverage the takeaways from the four-year experience in reducing the gender gap in an effort to not only sustain the momentum but also go beyond gender parity.