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An effective and highly motivated executive at 3DP Incorporated, a company that specialized in manufacturing objects with three-dimensional printing, often told his friends that he thought he could be the next Steve Jobs. He wanted to take advantage of the “next great opportunity” to change the world by producing and marketing his own creations. However, his inability to deal effectively with his subordinates, peers, and superiors, as shown by instances of abrasive behaviour throughout the cases, contributed to his eventual downfall.

In February 2019, Cognizant Technology Solutions (Cognizant), an American information technology (IT) outsourcing company, was ordered to pay a total of US$28 million in penalties to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Department of Justice. Certain payments relating to facilities in India were allegedly made improperly and in possible violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In April 2019, Brian Humphries took over the role of chief executive officer at Cognizant. What could Humphries and Cognizant do to recover and to prevent future incidents of corruption?

Presentation to accompany product 8B20C029.

After only two years on the job, a successful young female engineer encountered a critical and independent decision-making scenario in a profession traditionally dominated by males. She identified a safety risk in a construction project as she was driving to work and decided to ask the crew to stop their work for a safety assessment. The issue raised several key factors that she had to address in her attempt to manage risk. Her decision to shut down a field project in a residential neighbourhood was based on various considerations, given her assessment of an imminent threat to public safety. Was she right to stop the construction project? Could she have done things differently?

In December 2017, the Electrical and Mechanical Services department (EMSD) held its first Innovative Technology Day in collaboration with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation at EMSD’s Hong Kong headquarters. The event, which brought together government departments and related organizations as well as developers of innovative technologies, was a first step in responding to the new policy direction outlined by the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in her first policy address and to the challenge issued to EMSD staff by the director of Electrical and Mechanical Services. Supervising engineers at EMSD were directed to develop a strategic roadmap and implementation plan to move EMSD forward to implement the organization’s new mandate: to be a promoter and facilitator of innovation and technology (I&T).

On October 8, 2019, Blizzard Entertainment Inc. (Blizzard), a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest video game companies, banned a popular player from participating in future video game tournaments for one year and stripped him of his winnings—a response to a dramatic political statement that the player had made during a post-game interview at a Blizzard event. The immediate response was a flurry of angry fans who used social media to protest Blizzard’s actions and call for a boycott of its products. Some of Blizzard’s employees had staged a walkout and US politicians were accusing the company of censorship. For six days, the company said nothing. Blizzard had an upcoming product launch in days and a massive eSports convention in just two weeks, and the CEO needed to do something. He needed a crisis communications plan for the short-term to address a number of stakeholders.

In August 2018, a recent Canadian business school graduate was excited about starting her dream job at a global financial consulting firm headquartered in the United Kingdom. However, on her first day, she learned from discussions with co-workers that newly hired women (including herself) were offered lower salaries than men who were newly hired for the same positions. She later learned, in an onboarding session, that the company had a strict policy prohibiting pay discussions among employees. The new employee faced a difficult decision in considering what to do next: What were her responsibilities and options? How could she expect the human resources department to respond? Could her choices possibly put her or her colleagues at risk?

In March 2012, the head of compensation for Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited was reviewing five resumes. He had been asked to determine appropriate pay scales for the five candidates, and he knew that the decision had ramifications far beyond the salary of a few employees. The giant corporation, which was well established in India, had opened other plants in India in the past, but the new toothbrush factory in Sri City had just started operations. The head of compensation would need to define an appropriate pay philosophy and strategy that would enable the organization to attract, motivate, and retain the right talent for the Sri City plant. That strategy would have to be consistent with the existing culture at Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited.

Spreadsheet for product 9B20C026.

In July 2017, with a proven track record in power distribution in Delhi and Mumbai, Tata Power Co Limited incorporated a new organization called TP Ajmer Distribution Limited using the distribution franchise model in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. The new company was created in partnership with the state government company Ajmer Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited as a strategic partner. One year later, the management team had to overcome various challenges including recruitment from diverse private and public sources, a limited competent talent pool, a lack of administrative and technology infrastructure, many first-time managers, a scattered team concept, a silos working style, a low level of work experience, and a dated distribution network. To ensure a successful transition, the new company had to streamline business processes and establish an organizational culture of safety, excellence, quality, and ethics consistent with the Tata name. The company had to decide whether to adopt the organizational culture of its parent company, create and entirely new culture, or customize its own culture based on Tata Power principles.

This note describes what leader character is, how leader character differs from leaders’ personality traits and universal values, and how leader character relates to an organization’s culture. Using Schein’s classic definition of organizational culture, the note explains how leaders’ strength of character can help to shape a culture of excellence. The note also follows Galbraith’s model of organizational design to relate leaders’ character to organizational-level constructs, such as strategy, structure, people, rewards, and processes.

In 2017, Billy McFarland set out to create an immersive music festival in the Bahamas. He spent eight weeks with rapper Ja Rule planning the Fyre Festival, which, in the end, never brought a single act to the stage. The Fyre Festival became one of the most widely documented festivals of the century, and the subject matter of thousands of news articles, parodies, and memes that poked fun at what was an event planning nightmare. What had gone wrong from an organizational standpoint, and what proactive measures could have been taken to avoid the problems?

In late 2018, a female entrepreneur, the founder and chief executive officer of Candi&Co, South Africa’s first ethnic hair salon franchise faced a dilemma. After launching in 2014, Candi&Co had quickly expanded to five locations. The founder’s priority was to continue to grow the business; however, she had been approached about selling her business to South Africa’s Long4Life investment group, which was acquiring the Sorbet Group’s companies, including Candi&Co. The entrepreneur had set out to change the way consumers felt about their hair, to offer a service they did not believe they deserved, to professionalize an industry, to empower stylists, and to grow the industry in a sustainable manner. Would selling to Long4Life allow her vision to materialize faster than she could do it on her own? Or would she need to break away from the Sorbet Group and continue building her vision alone?

Presentation to accompany product 8B20C027.

Pamela Jeffery, founder and chief executive officer of The Pamela Jeffery Group and the Canadian Board Diversity Council (CBDC), had worked diligently for nine years to improve diversity at the board level. While the CBDC aimed at improving diversity in general at the board level, its key focus was to improve the representation of women on corporate boards in Canada. Jeffery and the CBDC methodically carried out plans to involve stakeholders, establish processes, and deliver progress on their goals. Yet they faced a new set of challenges in 2019: while Canadian boards now included more women overall, and most board directors felt that their boards were diverse enough, men and women were still not equally represented at the board level. Jeffery’s challenge was to determine what the next steps could be in what seemed like a long journey of transformation at the board level.

In March 2016, the associate finance director at Bevaco China (Bevaco), an American multinational firm in China, faced a tough decision. Over the past four years, she had worked diligently to shift her focus from managing work to leading people. She was assigned to work in a joint venture between Bevaco and Mask, a leading Chinese private enterprise, where she faced numerous challenges. A year later, she moved back to Bevaco and worked with a charismatic and visionary leader, who inspired her to further develop her leadership as she built a 50-member team. However, as the associate finance director was enjoying her progress in leadership development, the leader resigned and the team’s work was to be outsourced. Amid this upheaval, she received an offer to work in a globalizing high-tech Chinese firm with the opportunity to work overseas. Was she ready for this opportunity? Could she overcome the challenge of a new company and lead others in a global context?

On June 30, 2018, the founders of Mkhiwa Trust, Johannesburg, South Africa, considered their dilemma of deepening their impact in South Africa, using education as a key vehicle to bring about systemic change. The case highlights the evolution of their mutual support throughout their careers. The tragic death of their young son had far-reaching implications for the couple and their business interests, their career aspirations and the focus of many of their future business and philanthropic initiatives. It also defined a number of choices taken by the couple since then. The story of these individual leaders, who support each other in their businesses, illustrates the power of a couple as servant leaders.

On June 21, 2019, the human resources director at Renaissance Packaging and Manufacturing Ltd., in Nagpur, India, was feeling a considerable amount of stress. As the presiding officer of the company’s internal complaints committee, she was tasked with handling a sexual harassment complaint filed by the company’s chief engineer at the plant. In her complaint, the chief engineer accused the production manager, her superior, of sexual harassment. The internal complaints committee had to make an unbiased decision based on the specific details provided in the complaint. However, the human resources director worried that the situation raised underlying cultural issues at the plant, including a lack of awareness and sensitivity regarding interactions among male and female employees. How could the internal complaints committee resolve the complaint without creating hostility between the two co-workers and other employees? What kinds of organizational changes could help the company address sexual harassment in the workplace? What could the human resources director do to promote a positive and welcoming attitude toward female employees at the plant, especially women in leadership positions?

In August 2018, Excelco Equipment Pte. Ltd. (Excelco), based in Singapore, was facing challenges in recruiting talented young workers. The company’s senior staff would retire soon, and the majority of its workers were above the age of 40. Excelco had enjoyed a stable workforce flow for several decades, but now its employees were aging, and it needed to attract young workers. Excelco’s executive director was proud of the company’s family culture and attractive work environment, but prospective young workers seemed to have different wish lists for their dream jobs. Based on the feedback he received from young talent on what Excelco had to offer, he needed to make some important decisions on issues including how to improve the company’s current recruitment process and how to raise its employer brand awareness. Excelco’s resource constraints, as a small company in a traditional industry, meant that tackling its employment challenges would not be easy. The executive director needed to address several issues, including countering the poor image of construction jobs, promoting Excelco’s unique selling points, and finding the right recruitment channels. Ultimately, he had to recruit the right young talent into the right positions. Could he do it?

The director of diversity and inclusion at a community agency is trying to decide whether to update her business email signature to express her gender identity by providing preferred pronouns. The director must decide whether the benefits of adding the information exceed the potential costs.<br><br><br><br>Subsequently, in a second and third situation—each situation presented as a separate addition to the main case—the director must decide the extent to which she will formally influence her workers to update their email signatures with gender pronoun, and then whether to update her LinkedIn profile. Much of her decision rests on the cultural operating norms of the organization and the director’s role in the organization.