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Managers trying to execute strategic change often struggle when their stretegic initiatives encounter their organization's culture. Being aware of an organization's culture-the generally unquestioned, shared assumptions people have about "how things should be done around here"-is an ever-present challenge for leaders, to say nothing of trying to change that culture. This fictional role-play case was designed to help students build expertise in understanding fundamentals of organizational culture, strategy development, and change management, group process in a top management team, and negotiation. Grounded in the pedagogy of experiential learning, this case consists of six roles in a single role-play exercise scenario that exemplify a challenging management situation. Individuals are faced with differences in perspectives and goals, and students must address those differences in order to develop a productive strategy and culture for the organization.

Managing conflict and differences has always been an essential, but challenging, skill to master for effective leadership. This case was designed to build expertise in developing external and internal relationships and dealing with conflict. Grounded in the pedagogy of experiential learning, the case consists of three role-play scenarios that exemplify three challenging education situations. In each scenario, two individuals are faced with a possible difference in perspective or goals. The role-play requires students to assume the role of one of the individuals, and each scenario requires one student to initiate the follow-up discussion. Please note: This case should be printed single-sided only.

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.

Despite all the uncertainty mergers and acquisitions create for buyers and sellers, a solid, well-planned post acquisition integration strategy can create opportunity. During the fall of 2001, following a lengthy U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust review, General Mills Inc. acquired the Pillsbury subsidiary from Diageo PLC with an eye towards enhancing their revenue. Although General Mills financial advisors seemed to think that the balance sheets and products of the two corporations complimented 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 post acquisition integration go smoothly. While spending most of the summer working on the acquisition planning stage, Wilde and the team tried to envision what employees' fundamental concerns would be and how the team could help ease anxieties in both organizations. How should the Pillsbury integration process proceed? Despite the extensive planning process, were there any surprises that would affect integration efforts? Could General Mills and Pillsbury be integrated in a way that would generate more value than the companies were generating separately? And which changes should be the team's top priorities? 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.