個案總覽

On June 21, 2019, the human resources director at Renaissance Packaging and Manufacturing Ltd., in Nagpur, India, was feeling a considerable amount of stress. As the presiding officer of the company's internal complaints committee, she was tasked with handling a sexual harassment complaint filed by the company's chief engineer at the plant. In her complaint, the chief engineer accused the production manager, her superior, of sexual harassment. The internal complaints committee had to make an unbiased decision based on the specific details provided in the complaint. However, the human resources director worried that the situation raised underlying cultural issues at the plant, including a lack of awareness and sensitivity regarding interactions among male and female employees. How could the internal complaints committee resolve the complaint without creating hostility between the two co-workers and other employees? What kinds of organizational changes could help the company address sexual harassment in the workplace? What could the human resources director do to promote a positive and welcoming attitude toward female employees at the plant, especially women in leadership positions?

In July 2017, with a proven track record in power distribution in Delhi and Mumbai, Tata Power Co Limited incorporated a new organization called TP Ajmer Distribution Limited using the distribution franchise model in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. The new company was created in partnership with the state government company Ajmer Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited as a strategic partner. One year later, the management team had to overcome various challenges including recruitment from diverse private and public sources, a limited competent talent pool, a lack of administrative and technology infrastructure, many first-time managers, a scattered team concept, a silos working style, a low level of work experience, and a dated distribution network. To ensure a successful transition, the new company had to streamline business processes and establish an organizational culture of safety, excellence, quality, and ethics consistent with the Tata name. The company had to decide whether to adopt the organizational culture of its parent company, create and entirely new culture, or customize its own culture based on Tata Power principles.

Ment.io was a software platform that used proprietary data analytics technology to help organizations make informed and transparent decisions based on team input. Ment was born out of founder Joab Rosenberg's frustration that, while organizations collected ever increasing amounts of data, the information gathering process did not capture human insights, which he viewed as critical to the use of the data. In early 2020, Rosenberg felt that the company he had started five years ago was taking off, but he wondered how to manage the team's limited engineering resources to help Ment stand out in a crowded software market. Should the company improve Ment's user interface, develop new features, or focus on its innovative algorithm?

Bertha Ansah had come a long way from selling confectionaries to her school classmates to owning and leading her own transportation services company. Her journey included a career in nursing, retail in arts and crafts, a stint selling generators, public health activities, and since 1999, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Pergah Transportation Limited. As the owner of a transportation company, Ansah was breaking the mold in Ghana. While it was common and expected for Ghanaian women to work, their work was largely limited to defined roles in small, often informal enterprises, primarily in agriculture or caring occupations-not transportation. Ansah was, as she described it, "always looking for something new to do." It was exactly that restlessness that had landed her in the middle of her current dilemma. In 2008, Ansah supported John Atta Mills in his campaign to become the president of Ghana. Mills was elected and envisioned great changes for Ghana's working class, especially small business owners. One of those key changes involved giving new life to Ghana's Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (Masloc)-a job Mills wanted Ansah to take on. Mills became president in 2009 and the position of CEO Masloc was vacant, so he needed to fill it to meet his electoral promises. Could Ansah give up her private business to provide the public service the president wanted for their country? It was Sunday and Ansah was still not any closer to an answer that was needed by Monday morning.

This case showcases the deliberations of co-founder, Erin Kelly, CEO of Ottawa, Ontario based artificial intelligence (AI) driven market research start-up, Advanced Symbolics Inc. (ASI), along with her co-founder, Kenton White. Kelly and White must decide whether their vision for the firm's culture is the right decision for their growing firm seeking to disrupt the market. Having felt excluded in the technology industry as a female employee by the industry's cultural norms which did not support workforce diversity but rather "bro culture," Kelly and White's vision was to develop a culture of workforce diversity at ASI. They have repeatedly been told by industry experts that their cultural vision - where employees' diverse needs are accommodated - will not work. Tech experts argue that it is too difficult to manage a highly diverse group of employees, and that in order to attract top tech talent, start-ups like ASI need to offer the kind of "fun" environment that tech workers expect - precisely the kind that had made Kelly feel excluded. Experts warn Kelly and White that if they pursue their cultural vision, ASI will be disadvantaged in the tech talent wars - a huge problem for a fast-growing firm with the need for rare skills. Should Kelly and White stick to their vision, or should they heed the experts' advice to make their firm attractive by offering the kind of "fun" culture expected within the industry? Their personal preferences aside, which is the better cultural direction for their firm's long-term business success? Finally, as the firm grows by adding satellite offices and remote workers, how can they develop a plan to achieve a culture that is adaptive for their promising firm?

In 2017, Dr. Gordon Morewood, chair of anesthesiology at Temple University Health System (Temple Health) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, faced a rapidly changing health care environment. Responsible for training anesthesiology residents and for all anesthesiology patient care across Temple Health's system, Morewood faced rising expectations for improving patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, and financial performance. Communication in health care had long operated in silos, and Morewood knew that significant changes in medical education and a shift toward cross-functional communication in health care were needed. A digital real-time performance feedback application (app) could help with the change process by building a growth feedback culture. The app could also use people analytics to identify the skills, knowledge, and experience most critical to the institution and assess competency development across the organization. The tool could help Morewood achieve the changes needed to meet the expectations in health care. Should he launch the app across the health system? If so, how would he introduce the new feedback culture and its use?

Supplement to case W20203

On January 8, 2017, Ronald Huggins, plant manager at AEL Mining Services Limited (AEL), needed to come up with innovative ways to keep his employees motivated. This need was driven by the downward trend of the local mining market. In 2011 and 2012, AEL had rolled out a major retrenchment, leaving employees with low morale and motivation, which in turn had affected performance levels. It became apparent that plant performance needed to ramp up. This was particularly important given the company's strategic plans to expand internationally and focus 80 per cent of its business, rather than the current 20 per cent, on the international mining market.

Karabo Morule is the managing director of Old Mutual Ltd. Personal Finance in South Africa. In June 26, 2018, she is leading a team through the company's process of organizational change. The dilemma she faces is how to retain the heritage of a shared values-based culture, while also modernizing and strengthening it to express a new customer-led approach with the focal point in Africa. Old Mutual Ltd. is the largest financial services provider in Africa, and it is attempting to retain certain aspects of its culture, such as its core values of respect, integrity, and accountability, while changing other aspects of its culture to include being a champion of the customer, the power of diversity and inclusion, and trust, all amidst the major transition of its primary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as a Pan-African organization. The case documents the organizational change process, demonstrating culture and women in leadership as critical levers of a successful change process.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Middle East Airlines (MEA) had to decide whether the airline should fly over Syria during the armed conflict. All other airlines in the Middle East had decided not to fly over Syria either because they did not want to show their support for the Syrian government or because they believed it was too dangerous. Yet, these airlines did not have as much to lose as MEA because, unlike them, 50 per cent of this airline's flights flew over that country. It was estimated that MEA could lose US$50 million if it did not fly over Syria. What should the CEO do?

In November 2016, the secretary of Mannarkkad Rural Service Co-operative Bank Ltd. (MCB) based in Kerala, India, learned that the prime minister of India had announced that large-denomination currency notes would be invalid as of midnight November 8. This demonetization move was to eradicate unaccounted for "black money" from the nation. Co-operative banks like MCB were excluded from the purview of India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, and as a primary agricultural credit society providing short-term credit to rural borrowers, MCB stood out from similar institutions by providing best-in-class banking services and constantly innovating to meet its vision of providing "the pleasure of personal banking" to its customers. MCB was the only bank in India to provide 24/7, 365-day banking operations through its overnight counter, and through a series of innovations, it had successfully pushed the boundaries of a rural co-operative bank to provide maximum convenience to its customers. The secretary of MCB now had to make some critical decisions: How should MCB handle the demonetization crisis with its existing and potential customers? Should MCB keep its overnight counter open? Should the secretary alert the bank's micro-ATM agents? Would MCB's parent bank provide funds? How could he address these concerns in a way that would maintain the goodwill MCB had built up among its customers over the past 27 years?