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The coordinator of an introductory, required freshman course is responsible for managing the final exam for 25 sections every semester. Approximately 500 students took the exam at the same time on a Saturday morning. The students were notified several times throughout the semester about the date and time of the exam. The rules stated that unless arranged prior to the exam, anyone late or absent on the day of the exam would receive a zero on their exam grade. The (A) case has three scenarios, each requiring a decision.

Dr. Jack Perry, a sole practitioner dentist in a small town in Ontario, had a meeting with one of his employees who suggested that there were several problems in the office. These include: low morale, lack of motivation to grow the business, fill cancellations, follow up on collections, and engage in cross-sell procedures. He had noticed these problems previously but felt unsure about his personnel and business management skills. Using his notes from a presentation made by a business consultant at a dental conference, he must decide how to act in order to address these problems.

In the fall of 2002, the directors of process engineering at Rogers Cable had discovered that a significant portion of Rogers Cable's installations and service activities had been followed by repeat visits within the following 30 days. This meant that services were not properly completed the first time. If high numbers of repeat and rework problems continued, customers would readily take their business elsewhere in the highly competitive environment. Eliminating repeat visits is the focus and driving force behind the First Time Right initiative, aimed to satisfy customers on the first try. The directors must devise an action plan that will motivate and retain behavioral change among field service technicians.

Anupam Majumdar, relationship manager, and Aditya Mehta, regional head of Hindustan Neon General Insurance Limited, India, were meeting an important client. Mehta asked Majumdar to serve them tea. This really embarrassed and infuriated Majumdar. It was not the first time that Mehta, Majumdar's boss, had treated him like a peon. Majumdar was about to take a three-week leave of absence to attend his brother's wedding in New York so he was not sure if this was the right time, if ever, to do anything about the situation.

Prashant Lakhera, senior analyst at Credit Rating Agency Limited (CRA), has been working with Deepak Ghosh, project manager of the Construction Development Board, on a report that needs to be submitted within the next few days. Because Ghosh had been acting inappropriately in front of clients, Lakhera and Gagan Vedi, the other analyst working on the report, was concerned about how this might damage the image of CRA. Shortly before the report was due, Lakhera asked Ghosh for his contribution to the report. Ghosh indicated that he did not care and he walked away from the team. Now Lakhera had to decide what to do about the urgent deadline for the report.

This supplement to Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A), product #9B07C035, looks at a specific problem situation arising from the initiative and discusses how the chief executive officer may respond to it.

This supplement to Employee Engagement at Modern Appliances Inc. (A), product # 9B07C035 features the chief executive officer talking about the need for engagement and the process that Modern Appliances used.

The president of a metal products manufacturer and distributor is informed that the company controller is having an affair with another employee who is married to the general manager of production. The president is in the process of selling the company and wonders what affect the affair, if true, will have. Three short supplementary cases are also available: 9B07C021, 9B07C022 and 9B07C023.

This case examines the life, career and leadership style of John Meredith, the group managing director of Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH). Meredith established the company in 1972 based on his vision for more efficient global trade. Under his leadership, the company grew to become the world's largest container port operator. The company grew from owning and managing a single container port to owning and managing 45 container ports by May 2007. This case also examines the importance of leadership at all levels of organizations. When a company grows quickly and sets up operations around the world, it must constantly train new leaders. However, HPH had difficulty finding and training enough leaders who were willing to lead the company's new port operations in far-off destinations. The case examines HPH's actions thus far and asks what other measures may be appropriate in the future.

The director of operations for Millway Fabrics Canada walked into her office and one of the customer service agents was waiting for her in tears. The customer service agent (agent) needed a week off to take care of her son who was about to have surgery to have his tonsils removed. The agent had already taken all her vacation and sick time due to her son's illness. The agent was a strong performer and was well-liked by her co-workers. The director of operations had to make a decision.

Linlin Chen, a sales manager at Allnation Import and Export Co. Ltd. is in her office looking at the revenue reports for her sales in the past three months. Her numbers are very good, and she knows she is about to be rewarded with a promotion and the opportunity to become a shareholder in the company. Chen has been thinking about becoming an entrepreneur for some time. As she weighs in the risks and the opportunities, she realizes that she needs to make a decision within nine days when she will be asked to become a shareholder in the company.

The customer care team lead at Hospital Software Solutions was becoming increasingly distressed in her workplace. Her supervisors were not managing her or the department effectively; her responsibilities did not align with her job description; she was being blamed for computer system failures; and she felt she was being viewed as the office slacker. The case provides for the application of theoretical concepts surrounding leadership, power/influence, motivation, corporate culture and conflict. The supplement case, Hospital Software Solutions (B), product # 9B07C019, follows the events after the customer care team lead attends a town hall meeting to air her concerns about computer systems problems.

The customer care team lead (team lead) decides to attend a town hall meeting with the company's president and publicly air her concerns about computer system problems. This action appears to help resolve the system's problems but her supervisor rates her poorly on a performance review, possibly motivated by the team lead's actions at the town hall meeting. She must find a way to resolve her issues at Hospital Software Solutions without ruining her career. This is a supplement case to Hospital Software Solutions (A), product # 9B07C018.

Michael Aniballi is facing a major career transition as he completes his executive MBA degree. He attempts to evaluate three very different job offers by engaging in a thorough self-assessment.

In this supplement to Michael Aniballi (A), product 9B04C035, Michael Aniballi describes how a thorough self-assessment helped him make a difficult career decision.

Steve Jones, senior investment analyst at Stonehill Capital, among other responsibilities, had to ensure that his team prepared a pitch book which presented all the numbers and graphs necessary to acquire a client's business. Jones was already overworked so he enlisted his intern, Joe Livingston, to help with the task. As the deadline approached, Jones and Livingston worked 18-hour days preparing the pitch book and were very tired and sleep deprived. The morning after the day of the pitch, Jones received an email from the vice-president of Investment Banking telling him that the bank's deal team had been embarrassed by having to explain an error in the pitch book during their meeting to try to secure the deal. Jones is now being asked to explain what happened.

The snack bar supervisor of The Waterview resort in Northern Ontario just had another argument with his boss. He was angry and hated the thought of finishing the remaining four weeks of his summer contract. It was obvious to the supervisor that his boss held a personal grudge against him that was growing in intensity. He wondered how to finally settle their differences. Students will analyse a set of complex issues.

The CEO of Coca-Cola is faced with increasing criticism over the company's handling of alleged human rights abuses in Colombia. A grass roots protest movement known as The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke has built international support for a boycott of Coca-Cola products on college campuses. The campaign centers specifically on the intimidation and murder of union leaders at a specific Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia. Coca-Cola asserted that it was not responsible for such abuses. Rather, the violence at the Coca-Cola plant was the product of a political situation that was beyond the company's control. The company further argued that it was in compliance with local labor laws, and had been dismissed as the defendant in lawsuits filed in Colombia and U.S. courts. At the time of the case, Coca-Cola is faced with anti-Coke campaigns at more than 100 college campuses worldwide and official boycotts of its products at a number of large well-known campuses in the United States. In response, the company has undertaken an audit of its bottling plants in Colombia. It also launched a public relations campaign aimed at refuting accusations of human rights violations. The case can be used to discuss corporate ethics, extraterritoriality, marketing and public relations.

Kirsti Paakkanen has achieved a celebrity status in Finland for her enigmatic leadership of the Finnish design company Marimekko. Purchasing the company in a state of near bankruptcy in 1991, Paakkanen took several actions to restore profitability and realize growth. As of 2006, the company has sales of $64 million (of which 80 per cent are from Finland) and net profits of $8.4 million. Over the last few years, Paakkanen and her team have focused on growing international sales. Recently, the company has opened concept shops in Japan, United Arab Emirates, Iceland, Sweden and the United States owned by foreign partners. In light of the international expansion, Paakkanen is wondering if any changes to Marimekko's personnel policies and/or organization structure are necessary.

This case describes the measurement and evaluation of high performance principles of people management in a retail bank by a consulting company. This case serves as a platform for students to deliberate on what is involved in an organization's quest to achieve competitive success through its workforce. A unique strength of the case is that students are asked to quantitatively test their arguments with data provided in an Excel spreadsheet that accompanies the case (Ivey product #7B07C004). The case is intended as an integrated case across organizational behavior, management science and communication. The organizational behavior teaching approach is included to demonstrate that effective people management is associated with competitive advantages. For management science, the case serves to practice correlation and regression analyses. For communication, the case allows students to prepare a presentation that effectively communicates the complex and comprehensive results of their analyses.