個案總覽

This is the third case in a three-case series. The role-play exercise that relates to the (C) case illustrates the current Chinese cultural characteristics that influence leadership succession and highlights the case issues to be explored in the case discussion. See also 9B15C020 and 9B15C021.

Speechwriters do not exist to free executives from having to work on presentations; they exist to help make executives look good enough to give their careers a boost. The objective is the creation of a speech that is memorable, hopefully for its key message. Those planning speeches must ask: “Do I endure or embrace the speech experience?” Because giving a great speech can help one climb the corporate hierarchy, there is no excuse not to embrace it. Speeches should be clear and concise, usually between 1,500 and 2,000 words. As very few people are born to give fabulous keynote addresses without preparation, practice is key. Indeed, delivering a good speech requires training, energy and commitment. While preparing, one should ask for and be open to blunt feedback. Inserting brief pauses into speeches as a means to emphasize key points can be a powerful tool. When crafting a speech, it is important to consider aural quality and avoid non-conversational language. Good speeches create a dialogue with the audience through relating to people and involving participants. Furthermore, every good speech should feature an attention-grabbing title.

Negotiation skills benefit everyone in a management position — not just sales and procurement executives. While a lot of training is indeed dedicated to these functions, negotiation happens in the daily lives of all people. Some employees possess a natural talent for deal making, but training can still make them better at leadership, collaboration and big-picture thinking. Being an effective negotiator is not about shouting demands and putting on a good poker face. It requires an understanding of negotiation techniques, developed interpersonal skills and a commitment to developing a knowledge-driven negotiation strategy. To reach agreements that can be implemented successfully, negotiators must be prepared. Long before anyone comes to the negotiating table, they should know their goals, their alternatives, and what they may be willing to give up to meet their objectives. They must also understand the other side’s position and objectives and anticipate ways in which these can be met. In the corporate world, negotiation is typically about creating value by aligning resources, and non-monetary issues often prove to be key in negotiating acceptable outcomes. Negotiation training seeks to make professionals better at their jobs by helping them develop the ability to lead a collaborative process that aims to achieve the best outcome for everyone while developing high-quality relationships.

With over one million employees, Mega Railway Network is one of the largest recruiters in the world. As the result of criminal activity in one of its largest rail yards, a worker lost his life in the line of duty. The circumstances of the incident have led to a high-stakes strike action by workers at one of its busiest rail depots. As the divisional operations manager, chief transportation manager or the head of locomotive engineers (drivers), you must reconcile differences between management and staff or risk stalling the hundreds of freight and passenger trains that pass through each day. As a worker, you need safety and other concerns addressed.

The Friends of Western Buddhist Order, an organization dedicated to spreading the teachings of Buddha in modern context, started a giftware company called Windhorse, with a two-part vision of making work a context for spiritual growth and raising money for charity. After operating for more than 20 years, Windhorse experienced challenges in keeping up with its rapid business growth. To bridge this gap, the company recruited non-Buddhists to the organization; however, many of the Buddhist members felt that the purpose and meaning that had bonded the members to the organization was fading. As a result, an increasing number of Buddhists started leaving the organization, while many new members were unwilling to work for the low remuneration. Was it viable for such a value-based organization to continue to pursue financial prosperity?

As a leading name in the Indian tractor industry, New Holland Tractors India (CNH) is known for its participative employee culture and holds the distinction of having no employee union organization to date, a feat generally unheard of in this industry in India. Thanks to its excellent community-management policies, CNH has derived certain indirect benefits in the form of increased workplace productivity and improved employee behaviours. The company wants to roll out some aggressive plans for growth, but of late, a series of altercations between its blue-collar and white-collar employees threatens to disturb workplace harmony. In terms of its human resource policies, CNH’s management team must decide whether to maintain the status quo or put some new strategies in place.

Two employees at 8SK Consulting, a major firm with 800 staff in five divisions, need to find a way to manage their leader effectively. A junior hire who is ready to take on more responsibility in order to advance her career is frustrated – although her leader has previously played an important role as her mentor and guide in the company, he now seems to be in the way of her promotion to more important positions. A senior quality specialist wants to refuse an offered team leader role, because of family concerns, but is worried how that may disappoint her boss and how it might affect not only hers but his career. How can these employees effectively and proactively manage a leader in order to reach personal and career goals? Can be used with 9B15C025.

Supplement to A case, see 9B15C024.

Students assume the role of regional president, Asia, for Delta Beverages, a large U.S.-based firm and a leader in the beverage industry. In assuming this role, students face the task of selecting a country manager for India. In this two-part case, Part 1 focuses on the most critical criteria to select the best candidate, while Part 2 focuses on the personal details and experience of the five top-rated candidates for the position.

People are wired to respond to similar situations and stimuli in pre-set ways without realizing it. With limited brain power at our disposal, we create standard operating procedures and habits to keep mental bandwidth free to handle complex tasks. Subconsciously setting defaults likely cannot be avoided. In fact, it is often desirable — otherwise, our brains would be drained in trying to meet daily responsibilities. However, it is harmful to fall victim to one’s default settings, which happens when autopilot behaviours run counter to what we would do if we were controlled by our conscious mind. Three common casualties of slipping into default are discretion, objectivity and moderation. After observing many leaders who effectively manage their default settings, the author suggests the following steps: a) awareness — understanding that we all have defaults and the potential for unwanted actions can prompt reflection that leads to corrective actions; b) always be on the lookout; c) seek feedback — create a network of trusted people empowered to provide feedback; d) log defaults — keep a record of your slippages into default to assist in the development of insights that help you recognize triggers; and e) check expiration dates — nothing stays relevant forever, so use a default log to rethink your standard operating procedures.

Virtual teams can boost productivity and employee flexibility while reducing the time and cost of travel. However, such teams face disadvantages in terms of developing trust, maintaining morale, monitoring performance, and accommodating different time zones and cultural barriers. Unfortunately, most firms do not adequately train virtual teams or promote the right leadership behaviours. The authors studied 48 virtual teams and 427 virtual team leaders across a range of industries and found that high-performing virtual leaders all share the ability to do four things exceptionally well: build relationships, hold teams accountable, motivate teams and implement effective processes. These attributes and the habits that accompany them fit into a framework known as the RAMP Model — Relationships, Accountability, Motivation and Purpose and Process. In applying RAMP effectively in a virtual environment, firms can employ software for project management, time-tracking, collaborative meetings and shared documents. They can also make use of a variety of practices such as scheduling virtual coffee breaks and birthday parties, practicing active listening, putting results ahead of hours worked, and making leaders available outside of normal business hours.

TriCiclos, a recycling company in Chile, and the first B Corporation in Latin America, is innovating the way business is understood and conducted. The chief executive officer is excited about the financial future of the company, including expansion into new geographic markets in Latin America. Nevertheless, different geographic markets bring a new set of challenges for a sustainable business: foreign governments with different laws and regulations for recycling and partnering with clients and recyclers, the need to establish partnerships with local recycling plants and, more importantly, how these variables affect the company’s organizational mission and culture.

On June 6, 2014, the deputy general manager of the human resources department of Xiamen Airlines, based in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China, discussed his company’s best practices at China's first national forum on aviation security. Since 2009, a significant reform in the company’s pilot compensation system had aimed to promote a stronger linkage between their pay and performance. Initial outcomes had been positive, with improved productivity and job satisfaction. Yet, there were ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining pilots due to increasing shortages of qualified personnel in the domestic and global aviation labour market and greater competition from both state-owned and new private airline companies in China. How could Xiamen Airlines become an employer of choice? Was the high compensation sustainable if the industry became less profitable? What else could the company offer to retain talented pilots?

Too many CEOs believe they need to have all the answers, all the time. But companies are run well by asking questions, not having all the answers. Not understanding this sets leaders on the path to failure. This article argues that the best way for CEOs to harness the skills of others is by using the listening–sensing–observing troika. 1. Listening: Simply by listening to both customers and employees, CEOs can break the glass ceiling of imagination. While most organizations strive to hear customers, many do so while overlooking the need to hear employees. And when employees are not adequately heard, good ideas are left unexpressed and employees underperform and appear to lack skills. 2. Sensing: During the growth phase, organizations commonly develop slack in the system, which impedes fresh thinking and creates a lack of perceptiveness regarding market trends and customer preferences. To battle the slack buildup, companies need a detecting culture that can uncover hidden problems and identify unwanted behaviours. 3. Observing: CEOs must always be on the lookout for what is portrayed in rosy pictures painted by employees, as well as what is deliberately being hidden by growth and success.

Following the board’s suspension of the chief executive officer (CEO) due to a corruption scandal, Cricket South Africa (CSA) appointed an acting CEO in March 2012. After successfully restoring the organization’s damaged reputation, re-establishing the confidence of existing sponsors and attracting new corporate partners within his first four months, the acting CEO submitted his letter of resignation. In it, he cited hostility from some members of the board and a lack of confidence in his judgment. However, after his resignation he was encouraged to reconsider his decision. Should he withdraw his resignation and continue the important turnaround task? If so, could he manage the challenges facing him and CSA in a different way? If not, what would the implications be for him, the management of cricket in South Africa and the multiple stakeholders, including sponsors?

In November 2013, the senior manager of Human Resources at Attock Refinery Limited, headquartered in Morgah Rawalpindi, Pakistan, is considering whether to amend the current performance appraisal system to bring it in line with the goal of creating a performance-oriented culture in the company, which refines 70 per cent of the country’s crude oil. Significant changes had been made over the last 14 years, but the current performance management system is still not distinguishing between different categories of performers, and employees continue to complain that everyone gets more or less the same ratings and pay increments regardless of the amount or quality of the work they do. Should the weights for objective setting and competencies in the appraisal forms be adjusted? Should competencies be better defined and training sessions held on how to objectively evaluate them? Should there be more direction at all levels in setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely objectives? Considering the views of employees and managers in all departments, he must decide what, if any, changes should be made to promote the desired company culture.

Religion in the workplace is of growing interest as more individuals desire to express their spirituality and incorporate their whole selves there. Expression can take a variety of forms as employees and employers attempt to integrate their personal beliefs into their daily work.<br><br>This case considers two organizational sides of integrating faith into the workplace: the employee and employer perspectives. The first part of the case takes the perspective of the owner of Hobby Lobby, a privately held arts and crafts company whose founder has always endeavoured to incorporate his Christian beliefs within business practices. The company must react to changes imposed by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that it perceives as contrary to its values. The second part of the case considers religious discrimination experienced by an employee of AutoZone, a distributor and retailer of automobile parts. What is the place of religion in the workplace? How important is it for organizations to adapt to various forms of religious expression?

The head of Performance and Rewards at Tata Motors Limited (TML) was reviewing the reports before him and considering their implications. The company had just embarked on a major initiative to identify employees’ concerns and the results were not good. Employees across all levels, including senior leadership, were unclear about their compensation. The employees were not the only ones who were puzzled; even the recruitment team at TML had no clear basis for determining and comparing the salaries of new recruits. It was obvious that something needed to be done. Should it be a major restructuring of the compensation or could the matter be solved by simply educating the employees? Should the company remove some of the components from its compensation structure and make it simpler? If so, which components could be dropped and which should be retained?

When it comes to the development of future leaders, even the best CEOs can fail to give pipeline building the attention it deserves. Leadership pipelines should be viewed in the same way that an energy firm thinks about building pipelines that carry oil to market. In other words, it requires time, attention and significant financial resources. This article offers three steps that executives can follow to build a leadership pipeline. First, when developing a strong leadership pipeline, it is important to identify and target employees with the most potential for leadership positions. Second, organizations need to ensure that employees are able to develop in roles that push them beyond comfort zones. Finally, firms must invest in their leadership pipelines through executive development programs, executive coaching and mentorship initiatives. Such investments signal a commitment to future leaders, and when valued employees see this they double down on commitment to the organization. Smart companies do not spend money on leadership development in an attempt to buy employee loyalty; they invest money because not investing in people will always come back to haunt them.

For Eva Kor, one of the Mengele Twins used in horrific Nazi experiments after being torn away from her family as a 10-year-old, forgiveness is not just key to peace on Earth — it also clears the minds of decision makers. After the Holocaust survivor thanked a former Nazi doctor who agreed to go on record about working at Auschwitz, the “Book-keeper of Auschwitz” gave Kor a kiss that was tweeted around the world, creating a mixture of hope and outrage. But as far as the 81-year-old Kor is concerned, forgiveness is for victims, who have the right to be free. Although forgiving is rarely easy, Kor sees it as key to achieving internal peace, which improves quality of life, not to mention management skills and productivity in both our professional and personal lives.