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The case highlights the challenges encountered by Laura Williams, founder and owner of Williams HR Law, a firm based in Toronto, Ontario, providing a full range of legal services on labour, employment law, and human resources (HR) matters. Demand for the firm's services grew exponentially in 2020 following the tragic death of George Floyd and due to the ongoing workplace challenges encountered during the global pandemic. Williams faced decisions regarding the best and most sustainable ways to address increasing demand. She had solidified her reputation in the marketplace as an "advocate-of-choice" and was mindful of ensuring that her growth decisions did not negatively affect her brand or impact the organizational culture she had proudly developed. She was committed to ensuring that her growth aligned with her purpose-to provide best-in-class legal support that enabled clients to make informed decision-making and diffuse workplace issues before they escalated.

Michel Default, Director of Michelin China's Personnel Department, had been responsible for leading Michelin China, a company that manufactures and sells tires, to transform its personnel function since 2017. The ongoing transformation aimed to optimize the company's personnel function to align with both the outside business environment and the needs of the internal employees, with one goal of better helping manage people's careers at Michelin. In addition to the unavoidable resistance, Michel received an email in 2019 from a key account manager seeking an unexpected promotion. The manager also hinted at possibly quitting if he did not get a convincing reply, for the new practice implemented in Michelin China required him to do additional work. Michel would not want to see the company lose the key account manager, especially when Michelin's turnover rate was increasing. Knowing that he had to achieve the right balance between employee satisfaction and company situation, Michel faced a great challenge in his own career in China.

The case describes the start-up and evolution of UK-based digital bank Starling. Founded in 2014, Starling offered personal and business accounts, and lending products, promising a better customer-service experience, faster approvals and a more digital-friendly approach than traditional banks. By 2022, a European expansion was underway, along with plans to provide the bank's proprietary technology as software-as-a-service outside Europe and prepare for an IPO. The case analyses the leadership style of Starling's founder and highly atypical leader, Anne Boden, and the corporate culture established under her leadership.

Set in April 2021, the case study traces the process of amalgamation of the Union Bank of India (UBI) with the erstwhile Andhra Bank (e-AB) and Corporation Bank (e-CB) following the announcement by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Government of India (GoI), on August 30, 2019. With the Amalgamation Effective Date set as April 1, 2020, Rajkiran Rai G., the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UBI, who oversaw the amalgamation project was faced with formidable challenges. The banks had distinctive cultures and values. While UBI was pan-national, the employee and customer compositions of the e-AB and e-CB reflected their regional dominance. The case documents how Rai and his team successfully integrated people, products, policies, cultures, technology, and customers within a stringent and short timeline. It describes the sustained efforts to unify employees under a common identity and align them toward the shared vision of becoming the best in the industry. The case provides an overview of the differentiated measures undertaken by Rai and his team to engage the different stakeholders, the governance structure for decision making and implementation, comprehensive measures to ensure transparency through communication and access to resources, meticulous planning, delegation, monitoring, and course corrections in the face of obstacles. One year after the AED, the financial performance of UBI testified to the success of the amalgamation. However, Rai had to foster a customer-centric and performance-oriented culture at UBI. He had to fortify the bank's future prospects by institutionalizing the learnings from the transformation. As the bank embraced digital transformation more frequent changes were imminent. Rai had to tackle the challenge of building an agile, mission-driven, and learning-oriented organization.

Set in August 2019, this case describes the efforts of L. V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) to implement an initiative to improve the well-being of its employees by addressing their needs holistically. LVPEI is one of the leading medical institutions in India and the world in eye care treatment and research. As part of its mission to treat its patients well and provide excellent eye care services, LVPEI also sought to treat its employees well and provide them with a work setting that enabled them to thrive. This focus on employee well-being led LVPEI's Chairman, Dr. G. N. Rao, and Vice-Chairman, Dr. G. Chandra Sekhar, to invite Ram Nidumolu, co-author of the case study (referred to as "the consultant" in the case for the purposes of objectivity), to identify areas of improvement and implement initiatives to enhance employee well-being. The initiative described in this case study began in August 2018 and was completed a year later. The initiative was built around a new approach to employee well-being called "beingful work". Beingful work theory, developed by Nidumolu and his associates, posits that employee well-being is influenced by the extent to which the workplace fulfills the needs of the employee's "whole self" or being. These holistic needs include material, psychological, social, ecological, and moral/spiritual needs that employees bring to their work. The more the organization cultivates a work setting that fulfills these needs, the more meaningful work becomes for employees, making them more engaged with their work. Meaningful and engaging work, in turn, promotes the holistic well-being of employees because of the positive energy it creates. The case describes three phases of implementation of beingful work at LVPEI, of which the third phase-scaling up-is proving to be the most challenging.

This case is about the transformation of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan (AAUM), one of the major organizations in its field. It begins with the CEO, Steve Grafton, pondering whether the all-inclusive project was totally successful. AAUM's transformation began in early 2015, when the organization was doing very well by then-current standards, yet the world was rapidly changing from a digital and social standpoint. The case summarily proceeds through specifics of the transformation on into 2021, including the period in which U.S. racial and social divides were sharpened by the death of George Floyd. The primary dilemma for students to address: Is the organization now fully relevant and is the transformation complete? The case-which is entirely factual, based on original research-applies to the needs and success opportunities of a great range of organizations, nonprofit and for-profit, because it presents dilemmas about relevant organizational transformation.

This case is part of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. To see other material in the GVV curriculum, please visit http://store.darden.virginia.edu/giving-voice-to-values. Anni Anderson is the founder and CEO of Selah, a software and application company that aims to support users with everyday communication. Selah is a relatively young start-up that saw explosive customer-acquisition growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much to Anderson's disappointment, Selah experiences a ransomware attack on the eve of closing its largest-ever round of funding from venture capitalists. As Anderson surveys her executive team in an emergency meeting, it becomes clear that the ransomware attack jeopardizes Selah's standing not only among users but also among investors. Additionally, Anderson must communicate with Selah's staff and board of directors, not to mention regulators, industry partners, and the media. In the A case, Anderson's challenge is to organize and communicate her company's response vis-à-vis the cyberattack. In the B case, we read a synopsis of effective responses that have actually been deployed in such situations. This case set addresses cybersecurity through the lens of one manager's experience, paying particular attention to how she communicates with a broad array of stakeholders about the incident and company response. The case serves the educational interests of those aiming to train managers in areas such as crisis communication, risk management, and voicing values in matters of organizational decision-making.

This case is part of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. To see other material in the GVV curriculum, please visit http://store.darden.virginia.edu/giving-voice-to-values. Anni Anderson is the founder and CEO of Selah, a software and application company that aims to support users with everyday communication. Selah is a relatively young start-up that saw explosive customer-acquisition growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much to Anderson's disappointment, Selah experiences a ransomware attack on the eve of closing its largest-ever round of funding from venture capitalists. As Anderson surveys her executive team in an emergency meeting, it becomes clear that the ransomware attack jeopardizes Selah's standing not only among users but also among investors. Additionally, Anderson must communicate with Selah's staff and board of directors, not to mention regulators, industry partners, and the media. In the A case, Anderson's challenge is to organize and communicate her company's response vis-à-vis the cyberattack. In the B case, we read a synopsis of effective responses that have actually been deployed in such situations. This case set addresses cybersecurity through the lens of one manager's experience, paying particular attention to how she communicates with a broad array of stakeholders about the incident and company response. The case serves the educational interests of those aiming to train managers in areas such as crisis communication, risk management, and voicing values in matters of organizational decision-making.

This case looks at the business and cultural transformation at Microsoft under CEO Satya Nadella, who took over in 2014 when the company had fallen prey to political infighting and the dominance of Windows over all else. The Microsoft veteran drove change from the top, inspiring others with the rallying cry "mobile-first and cloud-first", and inviting a mindfulness teacher to facilitate meetings of the senior leadership team. Open, honest and humble, he toured the company and its customers' offices worldwide, listening and gathering insights. Insisting that new products and services could only be developed if the offering was unique, he unleashed a culture change where staff began to embrace innovation. The case ends in October 2017, amidst glowing reports of progress under Nadella, who personally achieved 145% on the company's 'Culture and Organisational Leadership'goals. Yet there was still work to do - issues such as developing talent, reducing US-centricity, and shrinking the bureaucracy. Could the transformation be capsized by hidden icebergs? Would Microsoft stay on course with organisational learning and innovation once he was no longer at the helm?

This field-based case follows the fictionalized Elisa Stallings, the manager of CandyCo's Aviation Dispatch group (Dispatch) which manages the aviation assets for the international company. Students learn about the positive leadership style of Stallings, who believed in empowering employees and having frank, respectful conversations with her staff. Stallings's leadership approach and focus on improving efficiency seem to initially work well as she encounters challenges related to Dispatch's culture and processes. Her successful track record leads to greater opportunities and challenges, however, when Stallings's boss asks her to take control of two other functions in CandyCo: Meeting Planning and Travel Services. Stallings could see the synergies among the three groups she was now managing and believed she could make great changes if she got the teams to work together, but personnel issues kept popping up. One of her employees had a temper problem, another was insubordinate, and a third was a talented worker who seemed unhappy in his role. Stallings had to decide how best to handle these three employees, but she also needed to balance three full groups of people if she wanted to create a cohesive team with a healthy workplace culture. Every puzzle piece had to fit together correctly, and the whole puzzle had to fit the CandyCo organization. This case offers the chance for rich discussions around leadership, managing change, and cross-team collaboration in the context of corporate aviation. It offers role-playing opportunities for students.

Dr. Timnit Gebru-a leading artificial intelligence (AI) computer scientist and co-lead of Google's Ethical AI team-was messaging with one of her colleagues when she saw the words: "Did you resign?? Megan sent an email saying that she accepted your resignation." Heart rate spiking, Gebru was shocked to find that her company account had been cut off. She scrolled through her personal inbox to find an email stating that the company could not agree to the conditions she had stipulated about a research paper critiquing large language models and also expressing disapproval of a message she had sent to an internal listserv about halting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts without accountability. Therefore, Google was accepting Gebru's "resignation," effective immediately. Gebru who hadn't submitted a formal resignation realized she had been fired. Gebru had been concerned that large language models were racing ahead with little appraisal of their potential risks and debiasing strategies. Her ousting sent shockwaves through the AI and tech community. Thousands of people signed a petition against what they characterized as unprecedented research censorship. Nine members of congress would write the CEO of the company-Sundar Pichai-questioning his commitment to Ethical AI. The outspoken Gebru's experience raises fundamental questions about countering AI bias. Could tech companies lead the way with in-house AI ethics research? Should that type of work reside with more objective actors outside of companies? On the other hand, shouldn't those who best understand the technology at play be the ones to investigate the bias or ethical challenges that might creep up? The answers to these questions remain central to the exponentially growing AI domain that companies have to consider.

A new study reveals a silver lining: This syndrome may actually make you more likable.

Resignations are at an all-time high, and companies desperate to fill vacancies are trying everything from pay raises to trendy perks. But those interventions are falling short, because the real problem, as the author explains, is that so many jobs are stressful, meaningless, and unlovable. Buckingham's data on what keeps employees engaged (from his work at ADP Research Institute) suggests that companies should change their approach to performance management to take advantage of each employee's unique skills and passions. That necessitates three mindset shifts: viewing employees as the key stakeholders in the organization; moving away from standardization in performance management tools; and trusting employees to accomplish their performance goals the way they see fit. No company today is yet the full "Love + Work" organization that Buckingham describes, but lululemon, Walmart, Amazon, McKinsey, and Cisco are among those that have begun to embrace some of its characteristics and have seen improvements in both retention and overall performance.

As a Black man with three decades of experience in the corporate world, the author has a deep understanding of how to conceive and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion agendas from the top down. Following the 2020 murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, he was approached by numerous executives who wanted to act to combat systemic racism and sought his advice on how to proceed. So White and his daughter Krista wrote the book "Anti-Racist Leadership" to share what he has learned. In this article, adapted from the book, White provides guidance for getting started. Leaders should listen to and learn from colleagues across the organization, enlist senior executives in the cause, audit the culture, and document what their companies are already doing to foster diversity and inclusion. They should then establish benchmarks for measuring progress, build "action learning teams" to spearhead the effort, and develop and communicate an overall plan. As the world goes into economic recovery mode, leaders have a brief window in which to reimagine their approach to the workforce. This article can help them seize the opportunity and bring fully inclusive cultures to the organizations they run.

Despite substantial regulatory reform following the 2008 financial crisis, financial firms are still suffering from fraud and other forms of ethical misconduct. As a result, they have collectively paid out more than $400 billion in fines over the past 12 years. A 2019 Harvard Business School study found that among a sample of Fortune 500 companies, more than two instances of internally substantiated misconduct occur each week, on average. It's becoming increasingly clear that the traditional approach to financial regulation--imposing formal rules and investing in a strong compliance function to ensure that institutions, managers, and employees comply with those rules--cannot protect firms against excessive risk-taking and financial misconduct. The authors of this article draw on their experience advising some of Europe's largest financial institutions to present an alternative approach to compliance that is based on the principles and discoveries of behavioral psychology. It involves understanding the contextual drivers of human behaviors and introducing small changes, or "nudges," to eliminate misconduct at the source.

The CEO of a Toronto-based toy company is trying to decide whom to hire for a critical position in its Asia division. He has two strong candidates: a Chinese-American woman with little on-the-ground experience in Asia, and a white Texas-born man who has spent his entire career in Hong Kong and is fluent in Mandarin. The company's board expects the CEO to prioritize diversity. This fictional case study by David S. Lee features expert commentary by Daisy Auger-Dominguez and Yuting Wang.

A look at some new books exploring the topic of immigration, including " 8 Billion and Counting," by Jennifer D. Sciubba; "The Immigrant Superpower," by Tim Kane; "One Quarter of the Nation," by Nancy Foner; "Streets of Gold," by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan; and "Crossing Borders," by Ali Noorani.

The CEO of a Toronto-based toy company is trying to decide whom to hire for a critical position in its Asia division. He has two strong candidates: a Chinese-American woman with little on-the-ground experience in Asia, and a white Texas-born man who has spent his entire career in Greater China and is fluent in Mandarin. The company's board expects the CEO to prioritize diversity. This fictional case study by David S. Lee features expert commentary by Daisy Auger-Dominguez and Yuting Wang.

The CEO of a Toronto-based toy company is trying to decide whom to hire for a critical position in its Asia division. He has two strong candidates: a Chinese-American woman with little on-the-ground experience in Asia, and a white Texas-born man who has spent his entire career in Hong Kong and is fluent in Mandarin. The company's board expects the CEO to prioritize diversity. This fictional case study by David S. Lee features expert commentary by Daisy Auger-Dominguez and Yuting Wang.

"Gender Equality in Business: 100 Years of Progress?" traces the history of women in management from the early 20th to early 21st century through analysis of Harvard Business Review's coverage of women and gender. The case identifies six distinct phases in the evolution of women's opportunities and barriers as well as attitudes toward professional women. It explores when and how concepts like equal pay for equal work, sexual harassment, female leadership, and the 'mommy track' influenced organizational approaches to hiring and promoting women. Ultimately, it accounts for tremendous progress made in women's status in the workplace but notes that gender parity has not yet been achieved. What will it take for gender gaps to close as the 21st century continues?