個案總覽

The management team must determine how to get the buy-in of the majority of its employees to ensure the success of the SAP (Systems, Applications and Products) project. The implementation of SAP would cause enterprise-wide change, replacing the current sales and distribution, human resources, finance/IS and materials management legacy systems. It would radically redefine how people, processes and technology would come together to drive the company's strategy.

The managing director of health services company is becoming increasingly concerned about the state of leadership at the company's subsidiary. The source of the concern was the president of a wholly-owned subsidiary who had been instrumental in ensuring the very successful launch of the operation during its start-up. Since then, however, the president's behaviour had become increasingly problematic, to the point where he has become very disruptive to the operation. Therefore, it is necessary to craft a leadership development plan for him, or else face the unpleasant task of having to terminate him.

The recently appointed human resource director must consider his next step in promoting the much needed restructuring of the companies they have acquired. In particular, he must consider whether a change process can be managed from outside the organization targeted for change.

The new manager of the network installation coordination section had just met with her management team for the first time. The meeting did not go well as it appeared to have no direction, purpose, or resolutions. The new manager's successful history of process improvement management had prompted her move into the new position. She needed to mould the existing group into a functional team with common goals, objectives and purpose as quickly as possible. In order to accomplish this goal she must determine the factors leading to effective performance and to develop a course of action.

The new general manager at a real estate organization needs to devise several action plans to resolve areas in need of change. After spending only one month on the job, she concluded that some changes were badly needed; however, she also knew that initiating any changes would prove to be a considerable challenge. Therefore, she needed to devise these plans while maintaining positive relations with the employees.

The managing director's approach to team based selling, was not being received as well as he expected. It seemed that top executives, members of his Management Operating Committee, were suggesting stopping his changes before they got out of hand. He found himself starting to have doubts about what he was doing.

The president and general manager are reviewing a pay for performance system. The president needs to determine whether or not these systems were properly designed to ensure that they are producing higher quality product at progressively lower costs. If not, he needs to consider how he might suggest that these and other systems be changed in order to achieve cost and quality objectives.

The area manager of the bank had just informed the manager of customer service at one of the branches that one of her subordinates had filed a formal complaint about her with the National Committee for Employee Concerns. The employee claimed that the manager was impeding her personal and professional development. This complaint followed a long period of open conflicts between the two, and the area manager felt that keeping the complaint confidential was less important than informing the manager about this serious and possibly unfounded allegation.

The managing director and operations director of the manufacturing arm of a joint venture were experiencing severe difficulties. Transferred three years ago, they shared management responsibilities with other expatriates. The workforce was predominately locals. The performance of the company was not meeting expectations of either of the joint venture partners, a problem especially acute for the managing director, whose father was chairman of the partner's holding company. Problems included high turnover, changing roles with the recent departure of a firm originally in a 3-way partnership, intercultural communications and general confusions as to what to do.

The general manager faces a difficult decision whether to sell the family business to a publicly listed company with the needed resources and experience to bring the firm to the next level of success. Complicated by complex family relations, including the death of his uncle who ran an Indonesian subsidiary and his father's departure to attend to the large losses from this business, he wonders what the best course of action is. Not the least of his concerns is the increased importance of mainland China business to his Hong Kong company and the problematic nature of some of these activities. In addition, he has a personal ambition to practice law, after suspending these interests for several years to serve the family's needs. (A supplement to this case under the same name, case 9A98F003, addresses a number of social and emotional complexities.)

An employee has completed nearly one year in her first full time job and faces a decision about a pay increase offered by her headquarters office. A native of North America working in Hong Kong for an Italian fashion house, she unexpectedly assumed responsibilities well beyond her original contract. In addition, both cost of living and inflation in Hong Kong have exceeded her projections. She is concerned that the raise is insufficient for the circumstances and is wondering what to do. (A sequel to this case is available, titled Maria Mancini - Expatriate Compensation (B), case 9A98G008.)

Because of several factors, the employee decided that the raise offered by her company's director of operations was inadequate (see Maria Mancini - Expatriate Compensation (A), case 9A98G007). She had not had an answer to her carefully worded fax, nor to subsequent calls made by her from Hong Kong. Advised by the director's assistant to contact the Human Resources Director, she met personally with him while she was in Italy two weeks later. He surprised her by readily agreeing to her request for a larger raise, but despite this, she had received neither the confirmation letter nor the pay increase. Her work visa renewal requiring a formal contract was due soon and she was concerned about what to do.

The firm's chairman has announced a corporate goal of increasing revenues from $38 billion to $380 billion between 1995 and 2005. Most of this increase is expected to come from new international sales. As a consequence, the firm must add an estimated 1,400 new global leaders to its management ranks. The chairman and his team must determine what these new global leaders should look like and how to develop them.

A bank supervisor must contend with various personnel problems, specifically highlighting individuals- both subordinates and superiors. his immediate supervisor said that the new group was supposed to be great, his new position fun. In the view of his boss' boss, the group had major problems. He soon discovered that he had more problems than he had anticipated. How was he to deal with a dysfunctional group when his superiors disagreed about whether or not there were problems and were also personally antagonistic.

The general manager of a beverage company must decide what to do about the declining performance of its' Vietnam-based operation. Employees seem unmotivated and lackadaisical about their work and these same workers blame the weather for the poor results.

Management is faced with a broad range of opposition and criticism after closing the telemarketing operation. Labor organizations force legal proceedings, the primary telecommunications workers union in Mexico demands action under the Labor Side Agreement of the North American Free Trade Agreement and, ultimately, a court ruling demands that the company rehire and compensate employees displaced by the closure of the operation. This case was written to accompany Sprint - La Conexion Familiar (A), case 9A97C001.

Management must decide what action to take with a small telemarketing operation that is about to vote on union representation. If employees vote in favor of a union, the operation would become the first business unit to be represented by a union. Closure of the plant is an option to be considered. The mostly Hispanic workforce becomes an additional consideration in the (B) case, 9A97C002.

A residence manager at a College, is faced with deciding what disciplinary measures should be taken when a majority of male residence assistants storm out of a mandatory training session. In reviewing the series of events that transpired since the beginning of her employment at the College, other problems have become apparent, including leadership, communication, structure of the organization, management of change and employee training issues. The manager must resolve these problems and come up with a plan to restore harmony within the Residence Assistants committee at the College.

The residence manager is left wondering what to do next as a training session resumes following the storming out incident. This short continuation of Elmdale College (A) provides further information on the incident described in the (A) case.

The owners of the company were concerned with the rapid rate of growth facing their company. The company had revenues of $6.3 million and employed 30 highly skilled workers. These numbers were expected to double or triple in the next couple of years. To determine how well the company was structured to achieve its future goals, they hired a consultant he had worked with successfully in the past. The consultant's major role was to make recommendations as to the appropriate organizational design (culture, people, layers of management and administrative systems) in the event that the company grew from 30 to 60 or even 120 employees. Among other issues, questions regarding compensation were surfacing, and the owners wanted to address these questions as soon as possible.