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In the Newstar Magazine exercise, participants are assigned one of three roles—managing editor, publisher, or board chair—and provided with information about personnel difficulties that have emerged at the independent Canadian magazine. The organization is small, financially strapped, and conflict has appeared within the magazine’s leadership. The objective of the exercise is to understand the source of this conflict and ultimately to resolve it. Use with 9B17C050 and 9B17C052.

In the Newstar Magazine exercise, participants are assigned one of three roles—managing editor, publisher, or board chair—and provided with information about personnel difficulties that have emerged at the independent Canadian magazine. The organization is small, financially strapped, and conflict has appeared within the magazine’s leadership. The objective of the exercise is to understand the source of this conflict and ultimately to resolve it. Use with 9B17C050 and 9B17C051.

Centric Cleveland was a business unit of Centric Consulting, a full-service management consulting and technology solutions firm. The firm had been founded with the intention of being different from other consulting firms with regard to building internal and external relationships, developing and supporting employees, adjusting for work-life balance, and being devoted to community service. But in 2015, Centric Cleveland was experiencing rapid growth, which was challenging the company’s ability to sustain its unique corporate culture. How could Centric Cleveland sustain its culture and core values as it grew and gained more employees? What changes needed to be made to meet rising expectations for personal well-being and meaningfulness among millennials and generation Z hires? When culture was becoming a popular selling feature to potential new hires in the consulting sector, what could Centric Cleveland do to remain unique and stay competitive?

A business student received a low rating on class contribution from her leadership professor. She struggled to understand how this low rating happened, as she thought she had contributed in every class. She then lost the motivation to participate in class discussions, but considered developing a plan of action to address the problem. What strategies would help her to increase her contributions in class and improve her grades?

The co-founder of a geological consulting start-up was taking an unconventional approach to employee motivation by using non-salary enticements (e.g. retreats) as tools to drive employees' engagement with the company. The approach ran contrary to not only long-standing human resources practices but also to the preferences of the company's own employees. But that approach had only been tested in a small setting so far. Would it work as the company scaled up in size to become a larger organization?

On January 5, 2015, the chief executive officer of the Beijing Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Corporation (Ameco) was busy reviewing the company’s annual report. Overall, the company’s performance in 2014 had been good: eight foreign airlines had become new customers of the company, which meant that more than 70 international customers had signed contracts for airline maintenance-related business. The growth trend in labour costs had been contained to a certain extent, thanks in part to the implementation of the Direct Control of Personnel Cost monthly performance evaluation program. Over the previous four years, the implementation of this program had generated many positive influences on Ameco. However, new challenges created by changes in the external environment resulted in sharp conflict among departments, raising questions such as how could Ameco set up indicators to motivate the employees and keep talented personnel in the company; minimize the impact of external factors; and avoid the phenomenon of “unmerited” workers being rewarded. How could Ameco use performance appraisals to increase the overall performance of the company?

In June 2017, transportation company Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber), which operated in 70 countries and had net revenue in the fourth quarter of 2016 of US$1.7 billion, fired its chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick. By the time of Kalanick's departure, negative publicity had contributed to a decline in market share, and a number of other high-level executives had left the company. What options could the company identify for the future that would address existing issues, including those surrounding its culture, practices, financing, and consumer confidence?

Presentation for product 8B18C006.

In June 2017, the managing director of T-Systems South Africa (TSSA) was considering how best to inspire stakeholders to join his movement towards contributing positively to nation building in South Africa. TSSA had experienced some success in setting up information and communication technology systems and academies to create jobs and to create shared value, but it needed to overcome a threshold to exert its influence over a broader level within the country. Specifically, the managing director wondered how TSSA could receive a positive sustainable return on its investments in environmental and social impacts during a time of cost-cutting.

GAIL (India) Limited (GAIL), a public-sector undertaking, was India’s largest gas transmission and marketing company. As a leader in India’s gas and energy sector, the organization aimed to set a benchmark for other companies in the industry by implementing the best safety practices for its employees. In late 2013, GAIL’s top management decided to implement the behaviour-based safety (BBS) program across all of the company’s work sites. BBS was a health and safety standard that promoted change by training and enabling employees to observe and correct unsafe behaviour on the spot. BBS’s strength—changing employee behaviour—was also BBS’s challenge. Employees initially supported the initiative; but over time, employee commitment began to wane, and leaders redirected their energy to other pressing work demands. In 2016, general manager of HSE, and his team were finding it increasingly difficult to sustain the BBS initiative and transform the safety culture of the company. With the company’s operations growing and the number of employees increasing, management was grappling with what more could be done to inculcate a culture of safety.

In 2013, the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the Christian Children’s Home of Florida (CCHF), a well-established, faith-based residential care facility for neglected and abused children, was in the process of seeking a deep understanding of the issues affecting company morale. The CEO had just received the field notes of an extensive qualitative research study of CCHF completed by a Master of Business Administration consulting team from a local university. She wanted to make her own assessment of the themes that were emerging from their data and identify any policies, procedures, or other recommendations that the data would suggest. With morale rumoured to have slipped prior to her appointment, and with employee turnover above industry norms, the new CEO felt that identifying and addressing needed changes was a priority.

Supplement for product 9B18C026.

Fauzia Kehar was a woman working in the male-dominated legal profession in Pakistan. She had overcome many barriers to achieve outstanding career success in Pakistan—a male-dominated environment with conservative laws and culture. Her impressive educational background and work experience led to her rapid progression to the role of head of Legal, Gulf Cluster, at Citibank NA in Dubai. After more than 20 years working as a lawyer, Fauzia had reached the top of her profession. In May 2018, she was reflecting back on the sacrifices she had made, and although she was confident she had made the right career choices, she wondered what was next. Should she continue her career in law or utilize her skill set to pursue a new career?

In 2016, Somany Ceramics Limited (SCL), a ceramic tile manufacturing company in India, needed industry-ready workers to meet the company’s expansion plan; however, the whole ceramics industry was affected by a shortage of labour. Most of the technically competent ceramics and construction personnel in India preferred to work in the construction industry or join other sectors such as information technology. The company’s human resources team needed to develop a strategy to hire an adequate number of skilled employees and to retain them as the competitors also attempted to take advantage of growth opportunities in the global ceramics industry.

On December 5, 2017, Tony Mun-Gavin, the business unit head for Personal Care at Unilever South Africa, was leading an immersion experience for new team members in the Soweto township of Johannesburg. The immersion was part of an effort to continuously embed a culture of inclusive growth with new employees, and it aligned with the corporate social responsibility commitment of the parent company, Unilever Pty. Ltd. Mun-Gavin faced a conflict in marketing the company’s personal care brand, Lux, which had always been associated with glamorous female celebrities but that was no longer in line with the company’s commitments to sustainability, inclusive growth, and women’s empowerment. His team had to work to re-position the brand to celebrate the diverse roles of women in the 21st century. Would the re-positioning work, and would it be consistent with the company’s goals of embedding a culture of inclusive growth and ensuring sustainability across the organization?

Presentation for product 8B18C015.

The general manager of operations and interim general manager of human resources at Linda Dor Restaurant and Rest Stop (Linda Dor) was facing challenges recruiting, training, and retaining staff at the lower levels of the organization. These customer-facing positions, which include wait staff, cashiers, and runners, are responsible for delivering the high level of customer service enshrined in Linda Dor Enterprises’ corporate values. Providing a positive customer experience is becoming increasingly important for Linda Dor because the company is expanding into the hotel industry and needs to ensure that its reputation for high-quality customer service is untarnished. How could Linda Dor improve employee retention and build a strong corporate culture?

UltraTech Cement Limited was a global leading producer of cement that had implemented best-in-class safety practices at all of its units. Despite this, the company’s Rawan Cement Works plant in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India, had witnessed some serious safety incidents in the past, and these had resulted in lowered employee morale. A close analysis revealed that un-safe conduct by employees was partly responsible for the accidents, and that there was a strong need to bring about behavioural modification among employees in order to avoid such accidents in the future. In 2015, the chief operating officer and executive president of the Rawan Cement Works plant faced the challenge of managing the crisis that had engulfed the unit and looked for ways to effect a transition from a process-centric approach to a people-centric approach.

Working the night shift to accommodate the time difference with U.S. customers was a well-known call-centre practice in India, and staffing the graveyard shift was challenging. In 2016, one of Diglot Capital Management (DCM)'s vice-presidents faced a challenge that most leaders did not have to contend with: DCM's employees were avoiding working the night shift or quitting altogether because they believed the workplace was haunted. The employees' superstitions, rooted in cultural and religious beliefs, were creating a serious decline in productivity; thus, jeopardizing the company's partnership with an American firm. The situation was troubling the vice-president and totally bewildering the American manager, who demanded that DCM's employees be disciplined. The vice-president was at risk of losing most of his workforce. Was there a way he could keep all stakeholders happy?

Sekar Group (Sekar), based in Surabaya, Indonesia, started in 1966 as a small business purchasing fish and shrimp. Led by its founder Harry Susilo, Sekar grew into a large holding company with several business divisions in the global market. Sekar's achievements were closely linked to Susilo’s moral leadership, which was greatly influenced by Eastern culture. As the eldest of a large family, Susilo had cared for his siblings as his own children. Some of these siblings were involved with Sekar, and the last of them was preparing to retire. Susilo, as the company’s patriarch, was facing the challenge of ensuring lasting success. A new leader from the next generation needed to be chosen to assume Susilo’s moral leadership and to sustain family business management and corporate ethics. Who should become the new leader and how would Susilo pass down his ethical framework to a generation largely raised with Western values?