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Procter & Gamble is a major player in the global hair care industry. In a practice common to many companies facing fierce competition in a lucrative market, Procter & Gamble hired a competitive intelligence contractor to monitor the activities of a rival company. As a result, Procter & Gamble acquired valuable information on the competitor. While legal counsel confirmed that the information was not gained through illegal activities, senior executives acknowledge that Procter & Gamble's own core values may have been compromised.

Teck Cominco is an integrated natural resource group with activities in mining, smelting and refining ores. A number of complaints of ill health by contract workers at one of the plants lead to medical tests. The test results revealed elevated levels of thallium. Concerned about employee safety, plant management immediately shut down the operation until it was safe for workers. The operations manager must plan how he will handle the media over the next few weeks.

Emotional intelligence can be misunderstood and misrepresented. But the bottom line is that the manager who can think about emotions accurately and clearly may often be better able to anticipate, cope with, and effectively manage change.

Managed properly, knowledge can become an organization's competitive advantage. Effective knowledge management, however, can occur only after an organization has established a knowing culture. Creating that culture, and promoting the organizational learning to sustain it, must become priorities for today's business leaders. These authors describe how leaders can create and sustain that knowing culture.

In this interview, the author of Emotional Intelligence, one of the most influential books on organizational behaviour, discusses what he calls primal leadership, the emotional dimension of leadership. A leader's primal task is an emotional one, to articulate a message that resonates with their followers' emotional reality and so moves people in a positive direction.

Heroic leaders are always conspicuous and sometimes successful. However, more often successful but always inconspicuous are quiet leaders. In this article, the author profiles the quiet leader and the leadership style that he embodies. Based on his recently published book, Leading Quietly, this article discusses and defines a leadership style that is deliberate and circumspect, ethical and considerate - and successful, particularly in today's complex business environment. The author also has very sound advice for managers who must make tough choices under intense pressure.

When it comes to communicating effectively, leaders must not only be mindful that less is more but that strategy trumps tactics. These co-authors, professors and communications consultants, argue that leaders are more than willing to communicate, but that they too often approach the task on a tactical rather than strategic level. Moreover, these same leaders may use every medium and format available, but they rarely co-ordinate their use and deploy them selectively. Four steps taken - assessing the context, crafting the strategy, implementing the strategy and provoking the dialogue - will enable leaders to deliver messages that are clear, effective and achieve their goals.

The director of development at a large law firm and two other members of a selection committee will be interviewing three candidates for an articling position at the firm. The director must decide what questions to ask of the three law students applying, keeping in mind what questions she could not ask of the candidates. Through role play, students are given the opportunity to develop interview questions and interview the candidates.

This note provides background information on legal issues in employment selection and retention. Presented are some of the restrictions that are placed on how employers conduct the recruitment process. The human rights legislation that governs the entire employment process is introduced. In addition, the issues of reasonable and bona fide job requirements, medical testing in pre-employment and current employment situations are discussed. Issues that interviewers need to be aware of to avoid discrimination during the hiring process are also highlighted.

Blinds To Go is a manufacturer and retailer of customized window coverings. The company has been steadily expanding the number of stores across North America. The vice chairman is concerned with the lack of staff in some of these newly expanded stores. With plans of an initial public offering within the next two years, senior management must determine what changes need to be made to the recruitment strategy and how to develop staff that will help them achieve the company's growth objectives.

NES is one of Germany's largest industrial manufacturing groups. The company wants to set up a holding company to facilitate its manufacturing activities in China. They have authorized representatives in their Beijing office to draw up the holding company application and to negotiate with the Chinese government for terms of this agreement. In order to maximize their chances of having their application accepted, the NES team in Beijing hires a government affairs coordinator who is a native Chinese and whose professional background has familiarized her with Chinese ways of doing business. NES's government affairs coordinator finds herself in a difficult position when she proposes that gifts should be given to government officials in order to establish a working relationship that will better NES's chance of having its application approved. This method of doing business is quite common in China. The other members of the NES team are shocked at what would be considered bribery and a criminal offence in their country. The coordinator must find a practical way to bridge the gap between working within accepted business practices in China and respecting her employers' code of business ethics. The complementary (B) case (9B01C030) gives a brief summary of the eventual solution to this problem.

This supplement to NES China: Business Ethics (A) (product 9B01C029) provides a brief summary of the eventual solution to this problem.

Pembina Pipeline Corporation transports light crude oil and natural gas liquids in western Canada. The president of the company is abruptly awakened one night by a phone call from his operations manager. He is informed that one of Pembina's pipelines has burst and is spilling thousands of barrels of crude oil into a nearby river. Emergency crews have responded to the disaster but more help is needed. The president has to decide how the best way to handle this situation with the media and plan a strategy for the company in containing the spill.

Dynamic Engine Inc. is one of 12 divisions of the automotive parts maker North American Auto Parts. With guidance from the parent company, Dynamic Engine has well-established human resources policies, training programs and employee assistance programs that are available to all employees. The materials and purchasing manager must deal with the poor attendance of an employee whose performance until recently was considered above average. He discusses the issue with the employee and believes the problem has been resolved. Shortly after this conversation, he discovers that the absenteeism problem with this employee is still occurring, and now must determine what his next step is to resolve this issue.

As a family man and the president of a small consulting company, Bruce Cruickshank has a lot of hats to wear. Bruce is passionate about his business and enjoys his work, but the pressures of balancing professional life and family life are beginning to take a physical and mental toll. Bruce has a plan in mind for streamlining and expanding his business, but, as it is, he already feels pressed for time to get things accomplished at the office. His assistant is just as busy with her own duties, and it's difficult to make the time to find, hire and train a new employee. At home, Bruce's wife wishes they could spend more time together. As well, Bruce is a devoted father, and being with his children is important to him. The challenges involved in successfully combining his professional life with his family life and leisure time are uppermost in Bruce's thoughts, and he wants to find a healthier balance for the future.

A Canadian couple working as volunteers in a human resource centre in Jamaica meet with the centre's principal to discuss their concerns about the general disorganization and lack of motivation at the inner-city community centre's remedial summer school. The principal asks for recommendations to improve the experience for both teachers and students and to address the problems of absenteeism and tardiness.

The assistant product manager at a large packaged goods firm does not receive the promotion she was expecting following her first year of employment. Simultaneously, she receives a call from an executive search firm offering her the potential to move to a competing company. She must decide whether to investigate moving or to stay with her current employer. The importance of managing upwards and the pros and cons of executive search firms are highlighted.

The newly promoted director of sales and marketing at CXP, a publishing company, has just inherited an employee conduct issue. In her previous position she became aware that a sales representative was having sexual relations with the company's clients, but the company's president was dealing with the issue. In her new role she discovers that issue still persists and this employee now reports to her. She realizes that this was a 'hot issue' and needed to determine the best way to handle the situation. There was more to consider than just dealing with the employee, there was the company's relationship with their clients and she did not want to put this in jeopardy.

The director of sales and marketing at CXP Publishing discusses with the marketing director how she is going to handle a difficult employee conduct issue, that of a sales representative who is sexually involved with some customers. Her approach to resolving the situation was going to take time, until another incident occurred, when she realized that she would have quickly change her plans. This is a supplement to the CXP Publishing Inc. (A) case (product number 9B01C004).

To resolve an employee conduct issue, an employee engaging in sexual relations with customers, the director of sales and marketing at a small advertising firm coaches the employee to develop a more professional image. Using discussion and reinforcing positive behavior, the employee and the company both benefit. This is supplement to the (A) case, (product number 9B01C004) and (B) case, (product number 9B01C005).