個案總覽

Luthra Engineering Industries (LEI), a small-scale, family-run manufacturing business, based in a small Indian city, is going through a crisis. Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, LEI had been shut for two months but has received the government’s permission to re-open, albeit, if it complies with certain conditions. LEI can invite only 30 per cent of its employees back to the office amidst proper safety, leading to challenges of maintaining equity due to salary dilemmas and implementing various safety protocols. However, LEI’s management are not only dealing with a pandemic looming large along but also macroeconomic uncertainty, business continuity, financial crunch, and employee motivation, equity, and safety. LEI’s leaders need to make sense of this multi-pronged crisis.

In August 2020, Schneider Electric India (SE), a major Indian low-voltage switchgear company, pursued a strategic growth plan by acquiring Larsen & Toubro’s Electrical and Automation business from its competitor. This unprecedented deal involved two organizations that had previously competed for the same markets and customers but would subsequently operate under one parent company named Schneider Electric India Pvt. Ltd. The new company would have two brands of the same product and different sales models. The merger would also have wide-ranging implications for the stakeholders on both the sides, which included customers, suppliers, employees, and regulators. The timing of the merger was further complicated with the integration taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent nationwide lockdowns. The acquisition brought together an Indian company and a global organization, with stark differences in terms of culture and employee policies. Therefore, the integration of two competing businesses with disparate employee policies and cultures, amid pandemic-led challenges, seemed like a herculean task for the integration team. Rachna Mukherjee, the chief human resources officer of SE, was heading the integration plan and was contemplating the many challenges that she would encounter. She knew that she would need the right approach to overcome these challenges and ensure a smooth integration of the two companies.

<p align="justify">In July 2017, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations in Tofino, British Columbia, Canada, grappled with mounting conservation costs, inconsistent and unreliable funding, and the erosion of their cultural identity within their Tribal Parks. Some of the community’s past knowledge had also been lost due to ongoing colonial impacts, and the sacred protocol for visitors to the land was often disregarded. The community also had to contend with the significant expenses required to sustain the lands, aggravated by inconsistent support from tourism operators and the government. Julian Hockin-Grant, a senior consultant with responsibilities spanning the entire Clayoquot region, faced a daunting challenge. In an average year, the Tribal Parks hosted approximately a million visitors engaging with the community in various ways. Managing funding was an arduous task, as donations and grants fluctuated annually, making budgeting and project planning difficult. Relying on volunteers and a limited crew of Guardians only stretched resources so far. Hockin-Grant’s mission was twofold: to secure greater funding opportunities and to ensure that financial progress remained within the operations of the Tribal Parks. He also had to craft strategies to strike a delicate balance between sustaining the Tla-o-qui-aht culture from extinction and coping with the influx of tourism that would generate support for the area.

<p align="justify">In response to the boycott of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership attempted to placate dissatisfied consumers by reaffirming their support for conservative values and distancing the company from both the executive in charge of the promotional campaign and the transgender influencer it had partnered with. This course of action, however, not only failed to repair the company’s relationship with conservative consumers but also drew further criticism from liberal consumers who felt that the company’s response contradicted its core values of equity and inclusivity. This is the continuing B-case for product W36313.

<p align="justify">In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV leadership faced a developing crisis in the United States after conservative backlash to a Bud Light promotional campaign in partnership with a transgender influencer led to a boycott of the brand. The promotional campaign aimed to appeal to a more diverse and inclusive audience but ultimately resulted in Bud Light losing significant sales and market share. This put the brand at risk of losing its competitive advantage, brand value, and long-standing position as the leading beer brand in the United States. This case is the first in a continuing A-B case set.

SAP’s global approach of Pledge to Flex was the foundation for hybrid working for its employees. The approach empowers employees to balance when, how, and where they work best, considering business requirements and local legislation. The organization’s people leaders co-developed a model with their team that considers customer and partner-specific needs. The case also describes SAP’s strategic move in establishing the Future of Work (FoW) organization to continually evaluate and innovate in this direction. The case raises the following questions: How does a large multinational company with a research and development centre in India decide on a hybrid model? How does a large multinational with a presence in several countries introduce a change plan conceived in the global corporate office, what are the challenges to this approach, and will it impact people’s experience and turnover? How much customization should be allowed? Will the true shift come with frequent assessment, experimentation, and application as per the changing needs?

In September 2022, the vice president of talent engagement at TBK Beverages met with the executive sponsor of a proposed mentoring program to discuss plans. A year earlier, employees had shared their dissatisfaction with the lack of access for under-recognized groups to executive-level mentorship and training, a dissatisfaction voiced in the context of rising awareness across the United States after the death of George Floyd. The vice president was reviewing survey data about mentorships and was responsible for developing an inclusive leadership mentoring program as part of the company’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives. What approach should the mentorship program take and what elements should it include?

Why dealing with turnover requires understanding how the traditional foundation of the workplace has been cracked by a seismic shift in the employer-employee relationship.

Brice Scheschuk, chief executive officer of WIND Mobile, embarks on a transformative journey to revitalize the company's organizational culture. This case provides a lens into the challenges and opportunities inherent in building a workplace culture in a fast-paced telecommunications market. Scheschuk employs a strategy that places significant focus on the field employees, who are often overlooked in corporate strategies. Students will gain insights into the nuanced art of leading change, leveraging HR as a strategic asset, and measuring the effectiveness of cultural interventions. This case employees qualitative and quantitative data and is an exemplar for those aiming to integrate HR strategy with organizational effectiveness.

Orange Sky Australia evolved as an entrepreneurial non-profit organization offering two primary services for the homeless: mobile laundering of clothes and engaging in genuine, individual, face-to-face connections through conversation. In February 2024, with 73 employees and roughly 3,000 volunteers spread throughout Australia and New Zealand, the company’s recent staff engagement data indicated a decline in well-being metrics since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, despite the strong positive organizational culture. The company’s growth strategy to double volunteer numbers within the next two years created additional challenges for how to recruit volunteer team leaders to manage and oversee daily operations as most volunteers did not want leadership roles.

The case looks at an organisation called CSG Group (CSG), which successfully diversified over the span of several years to become an integrated facilities management and talent services provider. Along their journey of diversification, they acquired a business which had misrepresented its finances – however this was only discovered after the sale had gone through. The financially distressed acquisition threatened the future viability of the company and required a swift turnaround in order for the organisation to remain afloat. Many varying turnaround strategies were implemented, and the division ended up successful. During the turnaround, the protagonist took the opportunity to restructure the divisions and merge multiple businesses inside

The implementation of the OKR-based Performance Management System (PMS) in Quick Heal, an Indian cybersecurity company came about because of Ms. Reetu Raina, the CHRO’s revelation about loopholes in the existing PMS that needed to be addressed. The old PMS had a rigid top-to-bottom approach without any mechanism for frequent feedback. Moreover, not every individual goal was tangible or aligned with the organizational strategy. As a result, it had become challenging to differentiate between high and low performers, and Quick Heal was missing out on a chance to grow as a company. The organization faced several challenges during the implementation process of the new OKR-based PMS, such as employees’ resistance to change, slow transformation of the traditional goal-setting process to a more agile approach and other barriers towards the new system’s adoption. Employees questioned the need and relevance of the new PMS amidst the uncertainties of the post-pandemic work norms and strongly resisted the transition. Mixed reviews from the department heads left Raina puzzled and wondering about the pitfalls of the transition, the implementation process and overall the potential of the new OKR-based PMS as a tool to create a performance-based culture at Quick Heal.

Supplement for product W35261.

Soulpepper Theatre Company (Soulpepper) underwent a significant transformation under the leadership of its new co-leaders. The co-leaders not only navigated the aftermath of a crisis in 2018 that saw the immediate resignation of a well-known artistic director accused of sexual harassment but also steered the company towards a bright future aligned with an ambitious five-year strategic plan. The plan, endorsed by the board of directors, was a crucial step towards recovering from the tarnished reputation and elevating Soulpepper to global recognition, rooted in the excellence of its productions and celebration of Canadian creativity. However, as the theatre was laying down the building blocks for renewal, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, causing significant disruptions in the Canadian theatre scene and necessitating a re-evaluation of the co-leaders’ strategic approach.

Natalie Wilson, a human resources administrator at League Plastics, a manufacturer of parts for the recreational vehicle industry, was worried that she would be blamed by her supervisor for an increasing number of workers’ compensation claims. After gathering data on the ever-worsening safety record in the facility and taking notes about where injuries were occurring, Wilson knew she would need to act before the company’s workers’ compensation policy came due for renewal. She needed to put together a plan that would start reducing injuries for the rest of the year, and she needed to persuade her supervisor to implement it.

The case describes the nature of the challenges facing Osman Arbee, CEO of Motus Holdings Limited (Motus) and his executive committee (exco) as they led the business through the challenges inherent in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the South African government’s initially stringent response to it. Arbee and other exco members explain the competing interests of different stakeholders and highlight the urgency with which they needed to act to ensure the long-term viability of the business. Motus is an integrated automotive holding company based in Ekurhuleni, near Johannesburg, South Africa. Its four divisions include Import and Distribution, Retail and Rental, Motor-Related Financial Services, and Aftermarket Parts.

In this exercise, students are asked to assume the role of a project manager for Kaymak Consulting, a 210-employee management consulting firm located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Students must work in groups to determine how much of a merit increase each of six analysts should receive during their next salary review. They make their decisions while considering the values that the organization would like to encourage. Background information on each analyst, along with current salary, are provided in the exercise. The task is to determine the most fair and effective method for dividing the pool of funds for salary increase among the six analysts.

For this exercise, students are asked to assume the place of the two founders and owners of a web-based company called Good Authority. The venture was launched one year earlier and has been successful, although the two owners are finding it difficult to continue operating the company during their spare time while working full-time hours at their day jobs. Recently, an investor offered to fund the salary and payroll expenses for one employee, allowing the two owners more time to grow and expand the business. The students are tasked with effectively designing a job for the new employee to allow the two owners time and energy to focus on the future and success of the business.

Nora is an intelligent, hard-working employee in her first managerial role. As she attempts to move from a role as a contributor to that of a leader, she struggles to effectively manage her workload, her boss, and her team. While she is prepared to do what it takes to be successful, the characteristics that got her to her current level are not those that are needed in her new position. In other words, while she is technically adept, motivated, and customer-focused, this is no longer enough. Nora needs to identify what she can do—and what resources and support she should ask for—to fulfill her potential in this new role.

By September 2022, Elizabeth Hooper had been working for 100 days as chief human resources officer at AccelleWell, a contract development and manufacturing organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Just before her arrival, AccelleWell was acquired by the private equity firm Evenhuis Equity Partners. The company’s chief executive officer who hired Hooper was fired shortly after she started and was replaced by a new “fixer” who was brought in to turn around the company. Initially, Hooper thought that she could work well with the new leader, who voiced his support for Hooper publicly at an all-staff meeting and approved her plan to add new positions to the human resources team. However, he soon proved to be a toxic leader, making sexist and ageist comments and firing various executive team members. Hooper wondered if she could hold on to her own job. Was there any hope that she could still be successful as part of the executive team that had transformed AccelleWell into a leading life sciences employer?