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Fintech Solutions: Under Pressure
In October 2022, Priyanka Bhat, the project manager leading a project for Fintech Solutions, was contemplating her options to handle issues plaguing the project. Foremost among them was to find an effective solution to the many conflicts between the team’s business analyst, Jada Goodwin, and the other team members. Although Goodwin was a competent employee and liked by the client, she had been accused by several team members of creating a hostile work environment. Bhat needed to quickly devise a plan that restored a collegial team environment and ensured on-time delivery of the project to the client. -
SpiceJet and Jaisalmer: A Win-Win Negotiation during a Crisis
Tourism, the fulcrum of the livelihoods for residents of Jaisalmer, India, was significantly affected during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred in January 2021. The situation worsened when SpiceJet, the only airline operator of Jaisalmer, announced the suspension of its operations, citing low passenger load and high operating costs. With the support of Ashish Modi, their district administrator, the Jaisalmer community tackled the issue using a first-of-its-kind initiative called “the citizen-airline partnership model.” The interplay between the Jaisalmer community and SpiceJet management unveiled finer aspects of negotiation during a crisis. Would the model succeed in a win-win negotiation? -
SpiceJet and Jaisalmer: A Win-Win Negotiation during a Crisis - Presentation
Presentation to accompany product W31054. -
Writing a Beautiful Action Plan
This note can be used in any case class. A strong analysis should be followed by a solid action plan. Unfortunately, a lot of action plans are not worthy of the solution they are meant to support because they are vague and open-ended. A beautiful action plan is specific and clear, with lots of detail. This note offers careful instruction on how to build a beautiful action plan. For instance, action plan builders should ensure the action plan flows from the analysis; be specific, especially in the early stages; make steps realistic; plan on overcoming natural resistance to change; state and justify assumptions; address the short and long term; define critical steps; and outline ways to measure progress. Examples of good and poor plans are included. -
Virtual AB: An Illusion of Leadership
In July 2022, upon his return from vacation, Lamar Gilbert, the head of the French subsidiary of successful Swedish unicorn Virtual AB (Virtual), found himself abruptly grappling with an unsettling reality. Leo Svennson, his closest direct report, had been accused of sexually harassing two female colleagues. As he pursued an investigation into the allegations, Gilbert also realized Svennson had blatantly disparaged his authority behind his back. The French unit was in disarray and Svennson’s conduct was not the only cause. Despite Gilbert’s flattering track record, his influence had waned. In addition to removing Svennson, it was urgent for him to demonstrate more effective leadership behaviours and new influence tactics to put the French subsidiary back on track, before it was too late. -
Elon Musk: In Need of Responsible Human Resource Management Practices At Twitter
By early November 2022, Elon Musk, the new owner of the social media platform Twitter, had fired approximately 75 per cent of the company’s workforce. The decision regarding which employees to dismiss was based both on low performance criteria and unwillingness to commit to a new demanding corporate culture. Twitter had mainly incurred losses since its launch in 2006. Musk acquired the company after several glitches in the purchase agreement regarding the accuracy of verified versus fake (spam) Twitter accounts. Musk’s new corporate vision, which he termed “Twitter 2.0,” would require employees to work long hours at Twitter’s offices. This plan was in stark contrast to the work-from-home policy that had been established by the company’s previous leaders. Musk also fired large numbers of employees without appropriate notice. Understandably, these actions generated negative responses from fired employees. But there were also concerns from observers regarding the damaged brand image of Twitter under Musk’s leadership. Could Musk lead a positive change in Twitter’s culture? Could he improve the company’s employer brand value? What traits and strategies should he consider to become a more responsible leader? -
Chem-ARC: Playing the Blame Game
The turnaround coordinator at Chem-ARC Industries (Chem-ARC) had to solve a dispute involving multiple stakeholders within the Turnaround Scheduling and Planning Department. Chem-ARC had been only two days into a company-wide shutdown when a delay on the plant floor sent the outage schedule into disarray. Members of the department started to blame one another for the issues Chem-ARC was facing. With a group of disgruntled employees, a costly problem that urgently needed fixing, and a senior management team pressing for answers, the coordinator had to find a way to improve teamwork within her department while conveying to upper management that she was capable of her position as leader. -
Sexual Harassment in Virtual Workplaces
Sexual Harassment in Virtual Workplaces is a collection of eight vignettes set in India that describe various sexual harassment incidents perpetrated by supervisors, colleagues, and clients at virtual workplaces involving video calls, social media groups, and online chats. The harassment occurred both as one incident and as a series of incidents and consisted of behaviours such as requesting video meetings, comments about appearance, sharing pictures without permission, verbal put-downs, offensive comments, and sexual propositions, all of which led to adverse impacts on their targets. -
Mindgeek’s Risky ESG Makeover
A major reason for the purchase of Pornhub owner MindGeek by Ethical Capital Partners (ECP) is the chance to profit by winning back the support of Visa and Mastercard, who previously cut off Pornhub from payment services. ECP’s partners appear to be trying to put an ethical spin on MindGeek’s operations, aiming to drive growth by promoting a commitment to ethical leadership along with the adoption of tools for detecting and deterring illegal online activity. But branding MindGeek’s operations as ethical will take more than respecting industry workers and getting rid of illegal content. MindGeek’s content moderation practices still enable adult consumers to live out morally questionable fantasies. ECP freely admits it plans to unlock shareholder value in MindGeek through state-of-the-art tech and intellectual property investments. This has some observers speculating that the Pornhub acquisition is all about cashing in on the savings that can be achieved by investing in technology-generated porn, which could eliminate any reputational risk of being associated with child pornography. Nonetheless, Pornhub still allows viewers to engage in fantasies that are taboo, unethical, or illegal. And while anyone can try raising money for a company that does this by talking about free markets and freedom of expression, the investment banking community probably won’t bite. -
LIV Golf: Sportswashing and the End of a Monopoly
In June 2022, Jay Monahan and his executive team at the PGA Tour were evaluating their current state of operations after some of their star golfers began to leave for the rival LIV Golf League. The PGA Tour was the dominant tour for professional golfers from around the world. But some PGA Tour professionals were critical of player compensation, including digital media rights, appearance fees, and guaranteed pay. However, the LIV Golf League was backed by Saudi Arabian funding, leading to calls of sportswashing. Should the PGA Tour change its business model to secure the players’ confidence? Could the PGA Tour innovate to keep up with the guaranteed money and earning potential offered by their new competitor? How should the PGA Tour address its stakeholders? -
Breaking the Silence: Creating an Inclusive Home for International Students
This case has been written for use in undergraduate- and graduate-level modules pertaining to equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Particularly, it can be introduced in organizational behaviour, leadership, and communication courses. It is recommended that this case be taught early in the course or program.<br><br>This case involves international students’ experiences while studying at Canadian universities. The case is written to discuss the unique challenges international students face when entering a new country to study and intends to start the dialogue between domestic and international students to ensure that all students feel included in the cultures they are exposed to. This case will encourage students to be mindful of non-inclusive actions and behaviours (unintentional or otherwise) and their consequences, and then provide appropriate communication strategies and starting solutions to make students feel welcome and heard. -
VCayr: Managing Sexual Harassment (Graphic Novel Version) - Extended Teaching Note
Extended teaching note for product W32395. -
VCayr: Managing Sexual Harassment - Extended Teaching Note
Extended Teaching Note for product 9B21C019. -
Origo Commodities: An Agonizing Decision
Origo Commodities Indian Pvt. Ltd. (Origo) had grown to achieve revenue of US$40 million in just a decade, making it one of the leading players in India’s agricultural commodity sector. The co-founders had explored various avenues to accelerate growth but had repeatedly encountered employees’ discomfort with implementing technology. By 2020, with emerging competition, growing investor interest, and the movement of government processes to online platforms, they needed to take tough decisions now to grow further. Would restructuring the organization and hiring technology-proficient replacements be their only option? Since the employees had been with Origo since its inception, replacing them would be an agonizing decision. The founders had to decide what to do and how to do it before their investors’ meeting in four weeks. -
CCS Logistics: Culture Change Driving Accountability and Responsibility
The case features Ina Botha, executive director for South Africa-based Commercial Cold Storage and Logistics (CCS Logistics), critically reflecting on the lessons learned during her tenure leading the organization. Botha initiated and led a three-and-a-half-year culture change journey, which helped improve accountability and results. Now that she was considering a larger role within the organization’s parent company, Oceana Group, she reflected on whether the new culture had been embedded within CCS Logistics and if it would be sustainable in a new era under different leadership. What should she recommend the incoming joint executive directors of the business continue to do or do differently to ensure the new culture supported the business in achieving its strategic objectives? -
Global Consulting Company: Changing Career Progression Expectations
In March of 2021, the management consulting division of Global Consulting Company Canada was preparing to hold its biannual performance review call for consulting analysts hired in September 2019. The analysts had been unable to complete their traditional two-year rotational development program, which meant that no promotion would normally be recommended on this call. However, extraordinary circumstances caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 made two analysts from this class stand out above the rest. The senior manager of the two high performers was planning to challenge the firm’s strict requirements for promoting analysts. She wanted to keep her two high-performing analysts motivated and to fast-track their careers. Her presentation at the upcoming performance review call would be a key factor in the firm’s decision. -
Siyuan Energy and the Frequent Departure of Executives
The president of Siyuan Energy (Siyuan) faced the long-standing problem of a very high rate of top management turnover. By 2019, Siyuan had grown to five hundred employees and ¥170 million in revenue; however, over the past decade, the turnover rate of executives had grown dramatically. Few of the externally hired executives lasted even a year, and now a number of long-time internal executives were also leaving. Morale was declining at the same time that the company was facing growing competition. Action was required to address the problem, but analysis was first needed to understand whether such high turnover was due to systems or leadership, or both. -
Xoxoday: Solving the Conundrum of Gamification and Well-Being
Nreach Online Services Private Limited (doing business as Xoxoday) is a technology company that builds digital infrastructure for rewarding employees, customers, and partners through perks, incentives, and disbursement payouts. Incorporated in 2018, it has grown at a scorching pace; in just a little over three years, it has acquired more than one thousand clients that leverage their technology infrastructure to run rewards programs for about two million end-users. Xoxoday has built a sizable suite of reward, recognition, and motivation products for three target segments: (1) corporate workforces, (2) customers and channel partners, and (3) sales teams. The product lines for these three client groups are called Empuls, Plum, and Compass, respectively.<br><br>Employee well-being, both physical and emotional, has been a challenge for Xoxoday’s Empuls (corporate workforce) clients. These challenges have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Another issue apparently catalyzed by the pandemic—and with which corporate employers were grappling, given that most of their workforce had been working remotely since 2020—was that of attrition. Xoxoday’s Empuls clients are looking for novel solutions to stem the tide of what is now famously called the “Great Resignation.” Should Xoxoday implement gamification as a strategic solution to encourage well-being behaviours among the workforce of its corporate clients and to arrest attrition? Why and how could Xoxoday demonstrate responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) while deploying gamification as a strategic solution for addressing the two key human resources management (HRM) challenges of employee well-being and attrition? How can trust pose a potential challenge to the implementation of AI-based HRM solutions? Which approach to business model innovation should Xoxoday adopt while offering such solutions? -
Team Building Across Diversity
The case highlights the challenges encountered by a corporate life and health insurance leader while dealing with an underperforming employee, Tina Smith, in 2016 in Toronto, Ontario. It provides an overview of the process involved in performance management, including steps associated with exiting an employee from an organization. The protagonist in this case, Alexandra Thorn, also encountered challenges in her working relationship with Smith. Thorn was a lesbian and was open about this fact with her team and clients. Smith felt that in sharing information about her sexuality, Thorn jeopardized her business relationship with their clients; consequently, Smith suggested that Thorn not accompany her to meetings with clients in their Southwestern Ontario region, which included a large, traditional farming community. During a client meeting, Thorn witnessed Smith displaying inappropriate behaviour that stemmed from Smith’s implicit bias and discomfort with diversity. After Thorn reported her concerns to the company’s human resources (HR) partner, however, she was informed that the incident did not warrant intervention. As a values-based leader aligned with the organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity, Thorn had to consider how to proceed. -
Employee Advocate or Company Custodian: Choosing Sides in a Sexual Harassment Case
In October 2019, the director of human resources at SMP India Design Centre had a difficult situation to address. She had received a sexual harassment complaint against a senior team member from two female employees, both of whom were relatively new in the organization. Acting promptly based on the organization’s procedures manual and policies, the director initiated an enquiry. A detailed investigation found the accused guilty of gross misconduct. However, the surprising punishment handed down by the organization was only a warning letter. It seemed that taking any other action would go against the company’s best interests. The director of human resources felt torn between her responsibility to provide a safe and positive workplace for employees versus being a custodian of the corporate brand and public image. But how could she ensure a healthy working environment if the company ignored serious issues such as sexual harassment against its own employees? Should she fight the company’s ruling and provide her own advice to employees? Would her loyalty to the organization be questioned if she decided to support the two victims of sexual harassment?