個案總覽

Steve Jones, senior investment analyst at Stonehill Capital, among other responsibilities, had to ensure that his team prepared a pitch book which presented all the numbers and graphs necessary to acquire a client's business. Jones was already overworked so he enlisted his intern, Joe Livingston, to help with the task. As the deadline approached, Jones and Livingston worked 18-hour days preparing the pitch book and were very tired and sleep deprived. The morning after the day of the pitch, Jones received an email from the vice-president of Investment Banking telling him that the bank's deal team had been embarrassed by having to explain an error in the pitch book during their meeting to try to secure the deal. Jones is now being asked to explain what happened.

A junior consultant at a large consulting company, based in Boston, has accepted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work in a divisional office in Toronto. Having vacated her apartment and with her personal belongings in transit, she finds out that the Toronto office will be closing in the near future. She must decide whether she should proceed with her to move, knowing that once this office is closed, she will be out of work or whether she should remain in her current position.

The supervisor at a popular bar and eatery is close to finishing off the shift and is reflecting on the events that took place in the past couple of hours. He had just finished escorting the service manager of the restaurant out after watching him snort a line of white powder. The supervisor knew he could not just ignore what had happened but was concerned about what to do next.

An expansion in the bottling plant of a brewery leads to a reassessment of the manual palletizing operation. It is possible to purchase expensive automatic equipment and a choice of makes is involved.

The administration director at an assembly plant for optical communication products in a US-Chinese joint venture in Shenzhen is wondering what he should do about a recent situation with one of his peers. The director was responsible for all non-production staff and his peer was responsible for production-related staff, both working on a pilot project for the company. Shortly after the project started, the director noticed his peer was becoming more aggressive and making comments about firing staff inside and outside his department. Tension was increasing between them and among other members of the project. He decided to discuss the issue with his peer but was unprepared for the response. He must decide if he should bring this to the attention of senior officers or continue with his approach in resolving the situation.

The purchasing manager was wondering how many bottles he should purchase in the coming year. Last year, the market had levelled off and sales predictions were difficult. On the one hand he wanted to be sure sufficient bottles were available to supply this year's sales levels, yet he also wanted to minimize year-end inventories as covered storage space for empty bottles was tight and a bottle change-over seemed possible in the next two years.

The purchasing manager was wondering how many bottles he should purchase in the coming year. Last year, the market had levelled off and sales predictions were difficult. On the one hand he wanted to be sure sufficient bottles were available to supply this year's sales levels, yet he also wanted to minimize year-end inventories as covered storage space for empty bottles was tight and a bottle change-over seemed possible in the next two years.

A summer assignment is turning into a nightmare for an intern at a large consulting firm. He has just receive his third reprimand from his boss, and is concerned how this relationship is distracting him from the project he needs to complete and how it could hurt his chances of obtaining full-time employment. He must decide how he can salvage the relationship with his boss and whether this organization is the best fit for him.

InsureTech is an online insurance business focusing on the small business owner market. An analyst with the company was asked to investigate and determine a solution for the problem of tracking and reporting sales results, currently a manual process. The analyst assigned to the project would work independently and was aware that the success of this project would significantly benefit the company but would also boost his own career. After six months of working on the project, the analyst presented the new system to the management committee. The system was well received but there were some reservations; he felt these issues would be resolved within a year. The launch date was set for the following month and he prepared the plan to ensure a smooth implementation. Weeks after the launch, the analyst discovered that the sales staff was still using the manual process and feedback on the new system was not favourable. He must determine why the sales staff are reluctant to use the system and what steps to take to deal with this resistance to change.

A partner at a law firm has been given a choice by one of the firm's assistants, either increase her salary or she would give her two-week resignation notice. The firm was extremely busy with clients and could not afford a reduction in staff, however, this employee's performance had not been up to standard and the partner must decide whether or not he should agree to this pay increase or if there are other options.

A summer assignment is turning into a nightmare for an intern at a large consulting firm. He has just receive his third reprimand from his boss, and is concerned how this relationship is distracting him from the project he needs to complete and how it could hurt his chances of obtaining full-time employment. He must decide how he can salvage the relationship with his boss and whether this organization is the best fit for him.

A supervisor at a telesales office has received very low ratings on an employee survey and the marketing manager is concerned that this team leader is not performing well. The marketing manager must decide what actions are needed to improve the leadership skills of this supervisor.

In less than six months, a telecommunications company has faced two incidents of alleged violations of the Canadian Human Rights Act. The general manager spent considerable time interviewing employees about the first incident. He then reported his findings, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission confirmed that no discrimination had occurred. Just a few months later, an employee approached her supervisor, alleging sexual harassment by a colleague. The company's general manager must not only deal with the second incident, he wonders whether he needs to draft a human resources policy to outline employee rights and responsibilities under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

John McCulloch takes a job as assistant general manager at a meat packing plant. After a short time in the job, he discovers it was nothing like he expected, worker safety is constantly compromised, the safety of the public from consuming tainted food is compromised and everything is subordinated to the production line's constant movement. He must decide whether or not he will stay with the company.

A policy advisor in the Ministry of Industry, working on a summer job, has received an offer from the Minister of Industry to stay in his current position for another year, and to pay for his MBA degree at the end of it. He must decide whether to accept this offer, or leave as planned to continue his studies. He must consider whether short-term financial gain outweighs long-term career objectives.

Foster Technologies Inc. is a wholly owned research and development subsidiary of LB Foster that focuses on wheel counter research and development for traffic control and the railway industry. The failed test of the railway wheel counting prototype was jeopardizing the company's promised delivery of the devices to a customer by the end of the month. With the company's and the vice-president of operations reputations at stake, he must decide what the next move is: Can his team resolve the problems with the prototype? Should he ask to have the chief design engineer removed or should he resign?

A new server at an established franchise restaurant is finishing her shift and has to decide how respond to a situation that happened with a customer earlier that day. The customer had found a lemon wedge in his milk. She resolved the problem with the customer but was concerned that this was another of many incidents that happened since she started. Should she deal with the person she believed was responsible directly or discuss the issue with the restaurant manager?

Cinatron Computing is a leading producer and distributor of managing workload software. The newly hired marketing manager has just received a phone call from the travel department requesting authorization for an employee's trip to a workshop. She thought she had already addressed this issue with the employee and now it seems he is going over her head. Why did this occur and what is her next step?

Metropolitan Maintenance is a small, locally owned janitorial service. For some time the company has been pursuing a large commercial contract, and the president has just been notified that they have been awarded the contract. Shortly after finding out the company has received the contract, he discovers that a number of employees at the site are unhappy and threatening to walk out. He must act quickly to resolve the conflict among the employees as the contract start date was only a week away.

A partner at a leading Canadian law firm discovers that one of the firm's employees has been stealing from the business. After a discussion with the employee, he must decide how to handle the crisis in a short time frame: How did this happen? What steps are needed to prevent this from happening again? And how should he deal with the employee? The supplement Harrison-Lockington (B), product 9B03C020 highlights how the partner addresses the issue with staff at the office.