After a major setback in the fall of 2018, Dr. David Jacobs, a radiologist and physician leader in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was frustrated in his attempts to reform the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), the professional association which represented all physicians in the province. He must decide whether to keep trying to reform the OMA or to launch a new association, the Ontario Specialists Association (OSA), which would be devoted to addressing the minority interests of the province's high-billing specialists. After years of trying to make progress on the key issues for specialist physicians within the OMA, the minority specialist group felt poorly represented by the OMA and unfairly treated in contract negotiations for physician services with the province's Ministry of Health, the sole payer of insured physician services in Ontario. Jacobs must decide whether it was in the best interests of the high-billing specialists to continue being represented by the OMA - whose membership was dominated by primary care physicians with divergent interests from those of the specialists - or to establish the OSA to represent the unique interests of specialists in contract negotiations with the Ministry. The central issue dividing the minority specialists and the majority primary care physicians was a fair resolution to the issue of "relativity" - or relative physician compensation between areas of clinical practice. The minority high-billing specialists were facing another round of fee cuts in order to redirect money to the lower billing majority including primary care. Consequently, the high-billing specialists were contemplating leaving from the OMA - their representative that had sanctioned the proposed deal that benefited the majority at their expense.

This case showcases the deliberations of co-founder, Erin Kelly, CEO of Ottawa, Ontario based artificial intelligence (AI) driven market research start-up, Advanced Symbolics Inc. (ASI), along with her co-founder, Kenton White. Kelly and White must decide whether their vision for the firm's culture is the right decision for their growing firm seeking to disrupt the market. Having felt excluded in the technology industry as a female employee by the industry's cultural norms which did not support workforce diversity but rather "bro culture," Kelly and White's vision was to develop a culture of workforce diversity at ASI. They have repeatedly been told by industry experts that their cultural vision - where employees' diverse needs are accommodated - will not work. Tech experts argue that it is too difficult to manage a highly diverse group of employees, and that in order to attract top tech talent, start-ups like ASI need to offer the kind of "fun" environment that tech workers expect - precisely the kind that had made Kelly feel excluded. Experts warn Kelly and White that if they pursue their cultural vision, ASI will be disadvantaged in the tech talent wars - a huge problem for a fast-growing firm with the need for rare skills. Should Kelly and White stick to their vision, or should they heed the experts' advice to make their firm attractive by offering the kind of "fun" culture expected within the industry? Their personal preferences aside, which is the better cultural direction for their firm's long-term business success? Finally, as the firm grows by adding satellite offices and remote workers, how can they develop a plan to achieve a culture that is adaptive for their promising firm?

This case describes a complicated employee decision experienced by entrepreneur, Sana Remekie, in mid-2019 after she opted to mix business and friendship. Sana was the CEO of Conscia Corporation, a tech company focused on knowledge management software solutions (i.e., the integration of disparate content from throughout an organization into a single, useable information hub). Sana recruited Caesar Martinez away from his previous employer to work as one of her Solution Architects. Sana hired Martinez in part because of their previous working relationship and subsequent friendship. Unfortunately, Martinez's performance did not meet Sana's expectations. Consequently, Sana was torn between her need for strong employee performance at her startup firm, and her longstanding friendship and feelings of personal responsibility for Martinez's career and well-being. To resolve this dilemma, students are put into Sana's shoes as they formulate and defend a course of action for deciding how to manage Martinez.

In 2018, the leaders of Cisca Engineering Ltd. (CEL), a small engineering firm in Waterloo, Ontario, faced a decision about whether to go beyond their normal pay scale in order to hire a mechanical engineering candidate they desperately wanted. The company was struggling to attract top talent since its normal base salary capabilities were thought to be lower than those of larger firms. Considering the trade-offs, the company president weighed the potentially negative effect on overall employee morale with the advantages of having a needed new employee. Should he offer the candidate the pipe stress analyst position at a lower salary and risk being turned down? Should he offer the salary the candidate wanted and risk upsetting his other employees if they found out? Should he revamp his compensation system and increase salary levels for all of the company's engineers?

The founder of Cisca Engineering Limited (CEL), a Canadian engineering consulting firm, announced in 2017 that she would be retiring in the following year. The company's president was considering how to leverage his soon-to-be-expanded authority to ensure that the company's vision and core values would effectively drive the organization's culture. He wanted to avoid vision and mission statements that were simply posted on the company's website and had little resulting impact on employee behaviour. How could he lead the organization beyond defining core values and vision to infuse these principles throughout the organization and to mindfully build a strong organizational culture?

The owner of a small robotics company needs to make some decisions regarding his company's employee compensation plan. One of the owner's valued employees has approached him with a request for a pay increase; the owner has to decide whether to grant the raise. The owner is also considering instituting an 'employee trust' (i.e., an organization-level reward plan that would provide a payout to employees in the event that the company is sold). The owner also needs to consider his employee compensation plan as a whole and decide whether his current compensation system is helping him to achieve the company's goals.