個案總覽

This five-case series, sold as a package, presents an opportunity for students to understand that leadership mindset is not going from crisis to crisis, but anticipating and shaping your organization. Through four case scenarios, students learn the need to recognize when there is a crisis situation, explore problems that often occur when issues are ignored, and take appropriate actions to remedy the situation. In the (B) case, one month has elapsed since executives at H2O Inc., first learned of an Avian Flu outbreak in China and Indonesia. More cases have surfaced in Europe and now the United States. The leadership team meets to discuss the contents of an e-mail from the plant manager. The team must now prioritize what needs to be done based on the latest challenges.

Sold as a set, this role-playing series encourages students to clarify different points of view when in leadership roles. Before seeking solutions, students must get a clear, comprehensive picture of the problems at hand. Using the "want-got-gap" model works well. The material affords students an opportunity to develop persuasion techniques. The exercise involves three roles: 1) An executive with the Metropolitan Airports Commission at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who must ensure that taxi companies maintain a high level of quality customer service; within the past year the commission has received close to 4,800 complaints about taxi drivers who refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol; 2) One of 900 Islamic Somali taxi drivers whose mosque leader ruled it was against Islamic law to carry passengers with alcohol; 3) A passenger who, after a long journey, just wants to get home with a few bottles of wine, but struggles to find a taxi driver who will take him or her home.

Sold as a set, this role-playing series encourages students to clarify different points of view when in leadership roles. Before seeking solutions, students must get a clear, comprehensive picture of the problems at hand. Using the "want-got-gap" model works well. The material affords students an opportunity to develop persuasion techniques. The exercise involves three roles: 1) An executive with the Metropolitan Airports Commission at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who must ensure that taxi companies maintain a high level of quality customer service; within the past year the commission has received close to 4,800 complaints about taxi drivers who refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol; 2) One of 900 Islamic Somali taxi drivers whose mosque leader ruled it was against Islamic law to carry passengers with alcohol; 3) A passenger who, after a long journey, just wants to get home with a few bottles of wine, but struggles to find a taxi driver who will take him or her home.

Sold as a set, this role-playing series encourages students to clarify different points of view when in leadership roles (UVA-OB-0921, 0922, and 0923). Before seeking solutions, students must get a clear, comprehensive picture of the problems at hand. Using the "want-got-gap" model works well. The material affords students an opportunity to develop persuasion techniques. The exercise involves three roles: 1) An executive with the Metropolitan Airports Commission at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who must ensure that taxi companies maintain a high level of quality customer service; within the past year the commission has received close to 4,800 complaints about taxi drivers who refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol; 2) One of 900 Islamic Somali taxi drivers whose mosque leader ruled it was against Islamic law to carry passengers with alcohol; 3) A passenger who, after a long journey, just wants to get home with a few bottles of wine, but struggles to find a taxi driver who will take him or her home.

A marketing team, asked to compile a marketing deck in response to an urgent request by the head of a business, has completed the task. Still the team leader is concerned about the dynamics he observed during the meeting of his marketing group team. He has noticed that a recent recruit to the team, an African American, is being ignored when he contributes to the discussion although his ideas are solid ones. The leader is left with some nagging questions: What happened to this recruit in the meeting? Why wasn't he more integrated into the team? How was he feeling about the meeting? And most important, was there any way to make the collaborative process more effective the next time around?

How would you react if you were faced with a humiliating interaction with an abrasive colleague, boss, coworker, or direct report? What if that person is a rainmaker? Most students have found themselves in a difficult situation they thought they had no power to change. This case describes the interaction among four associates at an investment bank and their confrontational team leader-who is also a vice president. Deciding what to do about the vp's behavior is tricky, and there is unease about going upstairs with their complaints. This case allows for a powerful discussion about leadership techniques that only attempt to change behavior.

Always a thorny issue but it had to be asked. Who was next in line? Management succession is a significant issue in many firms. Executives put all their energy into the business. But how much time is spent on bench strength planning? And what happens if the CEO is not ready to hand the reigns over and begin a life outside the office? This case presents transition challenges that many companies currently face-the retirement age of baby boomers and the takeover of the C level suite by the next generation.

Can a company diminish employees' mistrust and distress when downsizing? Is there such a thing as an "effective" workforce reduction process? In this disguised, yet actual case, Peter Morris, manager of Coastal Power Corpus Christi Plant (Bayland) in Texas, tells his team leaders that they had to cut their workforce 10%. Throughout the (A) case a close approximation of how the dialogue went in that meeting offers several ideas for the reduction that include: length of service, experience, outsourcing, covering the plant with a single electrician, and reducing one person from each operating unit. The case includes data for students to use to generate their own assessment of who should go and who should stay. At the end of the (A) case, Morris shared his plan and asked team leaders to generate a ranking sheet of skills they value, rate employees, and build a consensus among them on where plant workers should be placed on the list. In the (B) case the assessment tool is revealed and all plant workers are ranked to identify the bottom performing employees. They are fired. Then the (B) case adds a new twist when two weeks later, Morris stood in front of the remaining employees to hear their reactions. As he explains how criteria was developed, Morris committed to a plant wide process using the same criteria for everyone remaining employed at the plant-including team leaders. We learn in the (C) case that the second "all-hands" round of rankings was consistent with the team leader's rankings.

Not all groups are teams. That statement certainly applies to the learning team in this case study. Tony Marshall, a second-year learning team mentor, witnessed an interaction with the team last night confirmed what he suspected. Only three weeks into the first year of a MBA program at a big name school, the learning team (LT) was in trouble. From his own experience the year before, Marshall knew that a first-rate learning team made a huge positive difference in a student's first year. The corollary was also true; a bad or difficult LT experience could taint the entire FY and school experience. Although Marshall wanted to help, he just was not at all sure how. In the case, Marshall thinks about how to describe the situation to his fellow peer mentors in his second year elective class on managing teams in an effort to draw out some good ideas.

During a discussion, a physician once pointed to the name on his lab jacket and said, "MD-makes decisions!" One of the greatest challenges we face in cultivating leadership competence is being centered and skillful in the midst of difficult and upsetting situations, or during times of crisis. Each of the three vignettes in this case offers an opportunity to practice decision-making in challenging situations. The material helps students focus on decision-making. What guides effective decision-making? The vignettes present situations that can be used to describe common approaches to decision-making and explore problems or challenges with traditional decision-making.

Sometimes the good old tried and true American business team building exercises just don't work. Although frequently successful with teams made up of employees from different sections of an organization, what happens when teams consist of employees from different geographical areas like the United States and Asia-which has a whole set of unique differences. This case follows the experiences of an executive sent to Bangkok Thailand with two other managers from corporate headquarters to clean up and team build following the discovery of fiscal mismanagement and a popular senior executive's high profile firing. This three part case series puts students in the shoes of a financial auditor sent to try and strengthen weakened relationships and performance at Fasco Motors in Thailand. The material describes his efforts to rebuild trust on the Bangkok management team and the difficulties he encounters working as an outsider in every way.

Sometimes the good old tried and true American business team building exercises just don't work. Although frequently successful with teams made up of employees from different sections of an organization, what happens when teams consist of employees from different geographical areas like the United States and Asia-which has a whole set of unique differences. This case follows the experiences of an executive sent to Bangkok Thailand with two other managers from corporate headquarters to clean up and team build following the discovery of fiscal mismanagement and a popular senior executive's high profile firing. This three part case series puts students in the shoes of a financial auditor sent to try and strengthen weakened relationships and performance at Fasco Motors in Thailand. The material describes his efforts to rebuild trust on the Bangkok management team and the difficulties he encounters working as an outsider in every way.

Sometimes the good old tried and true American business team building exercises just don't work. Although frequently successful with teams made up of employees from different sections of an organization, what happens when teams consist of employees from different geographical areas like the United States and Asia-which has a whole set of unique differences. This case follows the experiences of an executive sent to Bangkok Thailand with two other managers from corporate headquarters to clean up and team build following the discovery of fiscal mismanagement and a popular senior executive's high profile firing. This three part case series puts students in the shoes of a financial auditor sent to try and strengthen weakened relationships and performance at Fasco Motors in Thailand. The material describes his efforts to rebuild trust on the Bangkok management team and the difficulties he encounters working as an outsider in every way.

Why do so many corporate initiatives, such as mergers and acquisitions, downsizings, or re-engineerings, look good on paper and turn out so poorly? This case offers the beginnings of one example of a corporate initiative: General Mills' acquisition of the Pillsbury subsidiary from Diageo PLC. Although General Mills financial advisors seemed to think that the balance sheets and products of the two corporations complemented each other and made a perfect match, the organizations were very different. Any shift in corporate control meant things were going to change. Kevin Wilde, the vice president and chief learning officer for General Mills, was part of the transition team responsible for helping the postacquisition integration go smoothly. The B case identifies several issues relevant to managing the integration and includes human resource and organizational information, marketing initiatives, strategy statements, plant closings, and operational changes. Together these cases were meant to motivate students with regard to the importance of understanding human systems and developing people management skills. As an introductory case to Leadership and Organizational Behavior courses, these cases encourage students to think about the skills required of them to be effective in human systems.

How do you tell one of your direct reports that she stinks? This case explores the dynamics behind having difficult conversations, and giving and receiving feedback. It is designed to illustrate the negative effects that can result after a difficult conversation and ways to reduce the risk of adverse consequences. The case also touches on relationships in the workplace and the correlation they have to the bottom line. In the A case students have to decide whether to confront a worker about her hygiene problems. The B case offers a role-playing situation to practice conducting a difficult conversation. We learn in the C case that the discussion went terribly wrong, and in the E case readers are provided an epilogue.

How do you tell one of your direct reports that she stinks? This case explores the dynamics behind having difficult conversations, and giving and receiving feedback. It is designed to illustrate the negative effects that can result after a difficult conversation and ways to reduce the risk of adverse consequences. The case also touches on relationships in the workplace and the correlation they have to the bottom line. In the A case students have to decide whether to confront a worker about her hygiene problems. The B case offers a role-playing situation to practice conducting a difficult conversation. We learn in the C case that the discussion went terribly wrong, and in the E case readers are provided an epilogue.

How do you tell one of your direct reports that she stinks? This case explores the dynamics behind having difficult conversations, and giving and receiving feedback. It is designed to illustrate the negative effects that can result after a difficult conversation and ways to reduce the risk of adverse consequences. The case also touches on relationships in the workplace and the correlation they have to the bottom line. In the A case students have to decide whether to confront a worker about her hygiene problems. The B case offers a role-playing situation to practice conducting a difficult conversation. We learn in the C case that the discussion went terribly wrong, and in the E case readers are provided an epilogue.

How do you tell one of your direct reports that she stinks? This case explores the dynamics behind having difficult conversations, and giving and receiving feedback. It is designed to illustrate the negative effects that can result after a difficult conversation and ways to reduce the risk of adverse consequences. The case also touches on relationships in the workplace and the correlation they have to the bottom line. In the A case students have to decide whether to confront a worker about her hygiene problems. The B case offers a role-playing situation to practice conducting a difficult conversation. We learn in the C case that the discussion went terribly wrong, and in the E case readers are provided an epilogue.

How do you tell one of your direct reports that she stinks? This case explores the dynamics behind having difficult conversations, and giving and receiving feedback. It is designed to illustrate the negative effects that can result after a difficult conversation and ways to reduce the risk of adverse consequences. The case also touches on relationships in the workplace and the correlation they have to the bottom line. In the A case students have to decide whether to confront a worker about her hygiene problems. The B case offers a role-playing situation to practice conducting a difficult conversation. We learn in the C case that the discussion went terribly wrong, and in the E case readers are provided an epilogue.

In October 2005, the Rockingham County Public Schools Web site announced exciting news: For the third consecutive year, all 20 of the district's schools were fully accredited by the Virginia Department of Education. This accomplishment was particularly impressive since it meant that South River Elementary, a school that struggled to consistently achieve during its first eight years of existence, once again had attained a high level of success. Though Principal Mark Keeler was reluctant to take credit for the school's performance, it was no secret that South River's improvement began when he was named principal a few years earlier. But what had he done to turn the school around? And how had he helped the school sustain success?