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This article aims to help employers support women as they pursue their goals and dreams by changing organizational dynamics that prevent progress. There are steps that one can take to balance cross-gender relationships and improve the cultural context in which employees interact. These steps will get organizations headed in the right direction—and faster, while getting them farther, than preaching change by itself. Unfortunately, when an organization decides that it needs to change something like its gender relationships, employees typically have no idea what to do other than talk about the fact that they are being told to change. The following steps can mitigate the pain associated with change by focusing on objectives while letting employees lead the conversation about what needs fixing to achieve them: 1) start at the end and visualize the story you want tomorrow’s organization to tell, 2) set a release date for your new story, 3) build a plan backward, 4) create a pilot team of change agents, 5) create new habits one at a time, 6) measure the right things, and 7) celebrate objectives and reward the right behaviours. Ultimately, firms should not assume their employees will reject change no matter how it is positioned. More often than you might think, an organization’s people really just don’t know what change could or should be.

As the second wave of COVID-19 was ramping up in 2020, a three-day virtual summit organized by the Ivey Academy brought together senior HR professionals from across Canada to discuss working on the front lines of organizational disruption. Day 1 examined equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts. As 2020’s civil rights protests demonstrated, the institutional programs conducted around EDI in the past have failed to deliver what is expected today, not to mention what justice demands. Day 2 was themed “from staying afloat to charting a course.” With remote work leading to problems—ranging from rising mental health issues and Zoom fatigue to increased cyberattacks—most companies are still trying to figure out what level of remote work makes sense for future operations. Summit attendees discussed the need to further develop virtual working skills and leadership empathy, while focusing employees on purpose more than profits, beefing up mentoring/coaching, and breaking down virtual silos. Finally, Day 3 examined the re-humanization of the workplace. The pandemic has essentially stripped the workplace of direct human-to-human interaction as work hours soar. As a result, employee stress is up, along with substance use, which has impacted engagement. HR summit attendees discussed the need to explore new ideas that go well beyond offering flexible hours, technical training, and mental health support programs—these included blackout periods, high-end virtual events, and online food vouchers for team lunches.

Eagles Nest Association of Waterdown was a not-for-profit organization in Waterdown, Ontario. It had two active programs: the HOPE Centre (Home of Practical Education) and Rescued & Restored (R&R), a thrift shop that provided up to 40 per cent of the organization’s revenue. Changes in the retail environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increased turnover of volunteers at the store have forced the volunteer coordinator to evaluate the costs and benefits of the organization’s staffing model. Should Eagles Nest hire paid staff as sales associates for the thrift store or recruit volunteers to fill those roles?

In May 2020, Benjamin Chua, the founder of Spic & Span, a cleaning company with a stated social mission to employ marginalized Singaporeans, was reviewing the company’s strategic goals. Since its founding in 2017, the start-up had become an award-winning company, and with the introduction of its new cleaning technology, Speco, in September 2019, new job opportunities had been brought to the table for cleaners and management staff alike. The company’s workforce had effectively doubled in size in less than a year. Spic & Span was expanding its services from condominiums and offices to schools, restaurants, hotels, transportations, hospitals, and homes. While the new technology had opened up new job opportunities for marginalized Singaporeans, it had also increased the level of job complexity. As a consequence, the turnover rate of newly employed staff had increased. Why were the cleaners not motivated by the new job opportunities? How could Chua motivate cleaners to stay with the company?

In November 2016, the secretary of Mannarkkad Rural Service Co-operative Bank Ltd. (MCB) based in Kerala, India, learned that the prime minister of India had announced that large-denomination currency notes would be invalid as of midnight November 8. This demonetization move was to eradicate unaccounted for “black money” from the nation. Co-operative banks like MCB were excluded from the purview of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, and as a primary agricultural credit society providing short-term credit to rural borrowers, MCB stood out from similar institutions by providing best-in-class banking services and constantly innovating to meet its vision of providing “the pleasure of personal banking” to its customers. MCB was the only bank in India to provide 24/7, 365-day banking operations through its overnight counter, and through a series of innovations, it had successfully pushed the boundaries of a rural co-operative bank to provide maximum convenience to its customers. The secretary of MCB now had to make some critical decisions: How should MCB handle the demonetization crisis with its existing and potential customers? Should MCB keep its overnight counter open? Should the secretary alert the bank’s micro-ATM agents? Would MCB’s parent bank provide funds? How could he address these concerns in a way that would maintain the goodwill MCB had built up among its customers over the past 27 years?

In May 2019, the head of Organizational Development and Talent for Comair Limited (Comair), was contemplating the dilemma of stimulating higher buy-in for team coaching—a program in formal leadership development emphasizing collaboration and shared responsibility. The long-standing chief executive officer (CEO) had just resigned. He had focused over the last few years on enabling a leadership style of collaboration where departmental silos would be removed and management structures would evolve to reflect a new way of working along functional rather than departmental lines. The head wondered how she could promote team coaching to a new CEO, and specifically, how she could help stimulate more interest and buy-in for team coaching. What could be done to help the teams that had undergone team coaching to sustain the newly learned behaviours, especially when the pressure was high?

On August 12, 1819, a crew set sail for the Pacific Ocean on a three-year voyage on the Essex whaling ship. On November 20, 1820, a giant sperm whale emerged from the ocean and critically damaged the Essex’s starboard hull. The crew consisted of the captain, two officers, three boat steerers, and 13 sailors, most of whom lacked experience. While the captain and officers of the Essex huddled to plan their next move, the crew trusted the first officer to make the crucial decisions about using the ship’s three remaining whaleboats for the long voyage home. Surviving the wreckage would not be an easy task; therefore, making the right decisions would be essential for survival. As the ship continued to take in water, the captain and officers had to decide who should go in each whaleboat, what direction they should take, and what provisions they should carry.

Spreadsheet to accompany product 9B20C049.

On January 12, 2020, Michael McCain, the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., posted four tweets on the company's social media platform, venting his anger at the US administration over a civilian airplane shot down in Iran. Specifically, he expressed his anger at the loss of life—including that of the wife and 11-year-old son of an employee of Maple Leaf Foods—which, according to McCain, stemmed from “a needless, irresponsible series of events in Iran. McCain cast blame on US president Donald Trump for escalating tensions with an ill-conceived plan to divert focus from political woes. Should McCain, as CEO, have expressed his personal views on Maple Leaf Foods' Twitter feed? Would his tweets damage the company's brand and destroy shareholder value?

Juhi Warrier was a successful human resources (HR) professional with almost two decades of work experience across various industries. She had recently joined the Indian unit of Revital Pharma Inc. (Revital), a leading healthcare manufacturer based in the United States. Heading talent acquisition (TA), Warrier was hired to bring in a fresh perspective and drive change. As only the third female among the 200 leaders in senior management roles, gender diversity was among the top goals on her agenda. However, she was in for a shock, as not only did her ideas for revamping the TA process find no takers but she also had a hard time gaining acceptance as a woman who was a senior leader on the team. The case describes the challenges faced by Warrier in championing the diversity agenda at Revital, while navigating the personal battles of gaining acceptance as a leader. Various incidents described in the case reveal the gaps in the system and the ingrained biases in the company culture. As Warrier works through the system, she is often forced to compromise on her diversity goals. Warrier now faces the dilemma of whether she should re-evaluate her goals or keep striving for equal opportunities in the TA process. What can Warrier do to succeed as a leader and build an inclusive workplace?

In part A of the case, Melissa Law was offered a position as a human resources operations manager only a few weeks after completing her final course in a graduate industrial relations program at a prestigious Canadian university. She was ecstatic when Elias Ferenc, the person she would report to, offered her the position. Her enthusiasm, however, was quickly deflated when Elias expressed his reservations about hiring her. He worried that she would rely too heavily on her formal education rather than getting to know her new work environment and the employees that she managed, many of whom had significantly less formal education than she did. Melissa had to make a quick decision about the job offer. How would she respond to Elias? In Part B of the case, after Melissa accepted the position, she was challenged with making changes in a workplace where the staff members were much older, with much lower formal education. How would she relate to employees that would be reporting to her?

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Students need to practice talking about taboo topics. The ‘A’ case offers background on recent calls to end discrimination (e.g., #MeToo, Black Lives Matter protests) and highlights the struggles business schools, in particular, have faced in dealing with intolerance. It offers an opportunity for students to consider and role play eight mini-cases based on real events. Topics covered include gender, race, diversity/inclusion, socio-economic inequities, harassment, LGBTQ+ issues, white privilege, and ableism. The ‘B’ case asks students to consider similar past interactions in their own lives so they can personalize the process and make plans for how they will deal with such events in the future.

Supplemental case for product 9B20C043.

PeopleFirst Inc. (PeopleFirst) was a management consulting company founded and run by Renee Janssen. Janssen had recently promoted a star employee, Marcela Lopez, to the position of manager. However, Lopez’s first foray into management was turning into a disaster. Lopez was suddenly aggressive and defiant toward Janssen. Worse, the results from a survey Janssen administered indicated that Lopez’s team lacked psychological safety—an important factor in their ability to work together and be successful.<br><br>Janssen’s efforts to learn more about the dynamics of Lopez’s team led to three findings. First, Lopez was not taking responsibility for her past actions. Second, Lopez was doing a disproportionate amount of work relative to the rest of her team. Third, Lopez was lying to Janssen about past events. Janssen was faced with the challenge of determining how to persuade Lopez to become a more effective manager and how to increase the morale of the members of Lopez’s team.

In 2018, Vince Wong, the founder and chief operating officer of Toronto-based artificial intelligence firm Dessa, faced the challenge of developing a diverse workforce and a culture supportive of diversity through his hiring practices at the rapidly growing start-up. Until now, Wong had handled all of the hiring at the 30-person firm himself. However, as he expected the firm to double in size within the next year, Wong had hired an internal recruiter and was considering how to formalize and transition hiring in a way that supported expanding diversity within the firm. Wong’s main focus was on determining how to support diversity through hiring and inclusion via the development of a staffing system that aligned with his desire to develop a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

The owner of All Women Recycling, a small manufacturing business in South Africa, is perplexed after the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic. She wonders how she should structure business operations to ensure the safety of her staff and meet business goals. She debates between a remote staffing model and a limited staffing model. There will be compensation changes in either approach. The entrepreneur wonders how she should manage employee concerns while continuing to run a profitable business.

In 2017, Advaith Group was an Indian conglomerate with interests in various businesses including chemicals, infrastructure, and engineering. An advisor to the corporate communications group was employed on a contractual basis. Each year at the time of his contract extension, organizational politics were played out around the decision to renew the contract. The advisor was very good at what he did, but his behaviour with colleagues left room for improvement. The head of human resources had his reasons to stall the extension of the advisor’s contract and tried different means to have his way, including sidelining him within the organization. A new recruit in corporate communications came into the company with hope and the ambition to be successful in the corporate world. However, she was unsure if she could achieve this goal under the current circumstances. The managing director was asked by the chairman of the group to decide on the extension of the advisor’s contract, but he had to look at all possible angles before doing so.

In 2018, the chairman and managing director of Teckwah Industrial Corporation Ltd. (Teckwah), sat in his office, looking back on the company's journey. Starting in Singapore as a humble producer of plain packaging boxes, Teckwah had evolved to become a multinational company providing a full suite of supply chain management solutions for international clients. As the second-generation custodian, the chairman and managing director first joined in 1979 and had been steering the company through various stages of development, including diversifying its business offerings, undertaking an initial public offering, and eventually expanding overseas. However, Teckwah still faced growth challenges. The chairman and managing director was considering his retirement and the possibility of taking a lesser role in the company’s daily operations. With Teckwah's 50th anniversary near at hand, he pondered the dual challenges of business transformation and leadership succession.

On January 10, 2020, Samira Ahmed, a British Asian woman, won a landmark gender discrimination case against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Ahmed’s emphatic victory was a major setback for the BBC, which had been facing accusations of inequities since 2017, after it released the salary details of its top earners and a gender pay gap report showing major disparities in the way men and women were paid. Tony Hall, the BBC’s director general, had pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2020 or sooner, assuring that work was already underway. Was Hall heading in the right direction to crack down on gender inequality? What could Hall do to be at the forefront of change on gender equality?