Sally Witherspoon had a PhD in Statistics, was a 30-something mother of two young children, and was a highly successful manager at Legend Corporation, a high-technology company which sent its high-performing women managers to its Women's Leadership Workshop. Before attending the program, Witherspoon, like the other WLW attendees, asked colleagues and her boss to give her feedback on the Kouzes and Posner's 360-degree Leadership Practices Inventory. On the first day of the program, the participants received their 360-degree feedback: Witherspoon was stunned and emotionally distraught by the negative data that she received from her boss. Now, she needs to figure out how to calm herself; if and how to share her harsh feedback with others at WLW; and, in addition, how to prepare herself for a conversation about her feedback with her boss.
This case looks closely at the management of a branch of the YMCA in Boston during periods of growth and contraction and at the development of Wendy Zinn's career, all in the context of the YMCA's organizational culture. The roles of strategy, decision-making, leadership and organizational culture are described as critical both to the organization's development and to the career development the organization affords. Social capital and networking skills are also critical success factors in the YMCA's growth.
In early 2006, Helen Drinan, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Caritas Christi Health Care System (CCHCS), Boston, received two sexual harassment charges against the organization's CEO and President, Robert Haddad. While she knew she was legally charged with acting, she faced a complicated situation: one, the hospital system was owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Boston with Cardinal O'Malley as the Chairman of the Board for the system; and two, these charges came after the priest molestation cases which rocked the Catholic Church of Boston. In Case A, Drinan presented the well-documented results from an independent investigator into the sexual harassment charges against Haddad. Although Drinan's investigator presented clear evidence as to Haddad's guilt, the Cardinal decided to launch a second investigation, using the Church's lawyers. Drinan, interpreting this action as a delaying or avoidance tactic, decided that she must act. But, what should she say, to whom and how should she frame this critical conversation? In Case B, students read the letter Drinan sent to O'Malley, voicing her values. There is an extensive Epilogue that the instructor can report from or hand out to students that brings the case to a conclusion.
Gretchen Fox, founder and CEO of FOX Relocation Management Corp., a company that specializes in managing the relocation of organizations, has successfully grown her Boston-based business form a 1 to a 40-person firm. Fox's business model and management style were unusual and fit her personal beliefs. For example, Fox disliked hierarchical, highly structured organizations and kept the lines of responsibility and authority ambiguous between herself and her second in command. As the demands for the company's services expanded and Fox prepared to grow her firm from 40 to 60 people, her experimentations with organizing principles and compensation approaches have come under pressure. Fox needs to decide: which of the organizational design and management practices need to change? How should they change? Concomitantly, how does Fox maintain the culture of the company that she has so carefully nurtured and that has brought success to the company?
This case addresses the new opportunities and challenges in design and marketing to customers who are elderly or have disabilities. A product manager learns that Leviton's wall switches are favored over less expensive competitive products by homeowners with limited vision or dexterity. With the help of a federal center on disability research, she convinces her managers to develop a marketing program to promote these features to this large and growing market segment. Leviton's in-house marketing department prepares a promotional campaign modeled on a previous successful niche marketing program. The research center staff warns that treating elders and people with disabilities as a niche market will cause the program to fail. They recommend emphasis on the "universal design" appeal of Leviton's products to children as well as elders, able-bodied as well as disabled. The product manager must choose a direction for the program based on either the research center's experience with this new market or her own company's marketing expertise.
Today corporate education is a vast and complex undertaking that costs U.S. business $30 billion a year and occupies most workers for a significant part of their lives. Unfortunately, much of this time and money is thrown away. To carry out effective corporate education, companies must: have a clear strategic vision; analyze their needs and priorities; learn to distinguish between training and development; learn how to choose teachers and locations for instruction; involve top executives in T&D; and conduct a continuing evaluation of educational worth and cost-effectiveness.