A junior associate at a consulting firm is startled to realize that she may have accidentally sexually harassed a colleague during a passing conversation. She wonders if she was in the wrong and is left worried that her reputation and relationship with the person may be damaged. The case explores what to do when a workplace interaction goes awry, from both the victim and perpetrator perspective. The theoretical basis of the discussion relies on the importance of sense-making, perspective taking, interactional framing, and identity threat. Users of the case will learn techniques to reduce the likelihood of offending others, and how to respond effectively if offence is indeed taken.
Oscar & Oliver Brothers was founded in 2002 and faced numerous challenges, including the death of one of its co-founders and the impact of the Russia–Ukraine war. The company had, however, been resilient and had continued to grow during the war. Maria, Oscar, and Andrey, the three current co-owners of Oscar & Oliver Brothers, gathered in January 2024 for their annual strategic planning meeting. Maria was reluctant to pursue a strategy of internationalization due to the failure of a previous attempt the company had made to expand into Poland and because the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war was creating uncertainties in the region. She suggested diversifying and expanding locally instead. Oscar and Andrey advocated a cautious international expansion into Poland and the Czech Republic. Following a long debate, they were unable to reach a consensus and scheduled another meeting for June 2024.
The chief executive officer of PanoTech Solutions was troubled by the escalating mental health crisis among employees in the IT industry, including severe cases such as suicide attempts and self-harm. Internally, his staff had voiced concerns over stress, heavy workloads, and work–life balance, issues that were exacerbating high attrition rates and the loss of top talent. To address such challenges in a cultural environment where mental health stigma remained high and only a fraction of those needing mental health care sought help, PanoTech was exploring options such as AI counselling through Wysa, Mental Health First Aid India’s educational programs, and suicide prevention training from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience. The firm was particularly interested in the potential of AI but needed to establish measurable key performance indicators that could gauge the success of the chosen interventions. The challenge lay in assessing the solution’s costs and effectiveness, and adapting it to suit a predominantly remote workforce. PanoTech’s decision revolved around selecting a solution that effectively addressed mental health concerns while considering cultural sensitivities and measurable outcomes for employee well-being.
This case study explores the decision-making process for a firm considering entry into the low-carbon fuel production industry. We use a decision tree model to evaluate the alternatives to select the best alternative. It encompasses both quantitative analyses, including present value, net present value, and expected monetary value, and qualitative factors, such as supply management and location criteria impacting the decision. Students will learn to construct and implement decision tree models using MS Excel, perform sensitivity analysis with the Goal Seek tool, and critically evaluate alternatives, based on numerical rigour with qualitative insights for comprehensive strategic decision-making.
Following E-India Ltd.'s acquisition of THEPSU, a significant shift in organizational culture and dynamics ensued as E-India’s chief human resources officer sought to harmonize the existing HR teams with new approaches while leveraging their diverse backgrounds. The case discusses the challenges of a promising HR professional from a bureaucratic public sector environment in trying to adapt to a dynamic private sector setting in the face of internal competition and questionable practices which threatened team cohesion and merit-based progression. It addresses the need for meticulous management of cultural integration and personnel dynamics amid organizational upheaval.
Noah Joss had received a full-time job offer from Genesis Consulting, following his summer internship there. While a full-time offer had been his goal, Joss started to think critically about the compensation package and the working hours expected of him. Worried about making the wrong decision, Joss worked with his study group to come up with a compensation survey for those working in consulting that could be used as a reference point when deciding whether to accept the offers they had secured. After receiving a data set of survey responses from a consulting-focused media organization, Joss needed to analyze the data to inform his decision of whether to accept the offer, as well as to better understand the consulting sector’s compensation packages.
In August 2022, a senior sales executive at Dabur India Ltd. was facing mounting pressure to meet the company’s sales and distribution key performance indicators. He was responsible for urban retail expansion, as well as promoting new products in a territory where the company dominated the market. However, challenges such as retailer dissatisfaction and low sales were persisting due to expired products cluttering retailer shelves, among other issues. The senior sales executive was grappling to maintain sales efficiency and customer satisfaction, amid sales team governance setbacks. Key concerns included expired items on retail shelves, lack of in-store promotions, and competing sales forces becoming increasingly automated. The senior sales executive had to address these challenges to improve the territory’s performance and sales.
On New Year’s Eve of 2018, Amjad Dar, head of Brics Online, is considering alternatives going forward for operating Brics Online, a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce arm of Brics Pakistan (Brics). The main decision to be taken is whether Brics Online should be operated centrally (through a dedicated warehouse) or merged with stores to allow for decentralized operations. Centralized operations in the first year of Brics Online produced considerable losses due to various factors, including the lack of planning, follow-up, and resource capabilities. The managing director of Brics Pakistan, Yoso Manovo, has asked Dar to give his decision on a proposal put forward by two other experienced company personnel to decentralize Brics Online’s operations. Dar knows that his decision will impact the future of not only Brics as a retail organization but also Brics Online and its sustainability. Whatever decision Dar takes should ideally result in optimized operational costs while supporting future growth and expansion for the Brics Online venture.
The case presents three mini-cases on employment discrimination. In the first, “(Un)See the Seen," a project manager faced the dilemma of how to support a neurodivergent associate whose principal consultant opposes him. In the second, "License to Ageism—When the Old Play Games with the Young," a young project leader faced the dilemma of how to protect himself from a junior partner and a toxic culture in the firm. In the third, "Cold Shoulder Another Day—A(vo)iding Disability," an HR manager faced the dilemma of how to ensure a paraplegic intern continued his internship when his reporting officer did not support him.
In September 2023, Sarah Bell, the president and chief executive officer of Artisan Alley Donuts (Artisan Alley), was facing various operational challenges as she navigated the complexities of scaling up her business. Artisan Alley is an artisanal donut bakery in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Bell’s decision to increase donut production by 15 per cent (from 624 to 720 daily products) inadvertently led to late deliveries and inadequate inventory by opening time for the company’s two stores. With the limited shelf life of donuts (just one day), unsold items are discarded. This product waste increases the cost of goods sold. Recognizing the need to optimize production for profitability, Bell had several levers at her disposal. She could decouple processes, adjust the task schedule of bakers, incorporate work-in-process buffer inventory, or consider reducing batch sizes. Artisan Alley is also consistently selling out of donuts before closing time, so Bell is contemplating increasing production even further. She is wondering if a newsvendor model analysis might offer insights and solutions to address this challenge. Bell has only one day to determine the ideal production volume for next week.
The recently appointed placement officer at a prestigious business school in Bangalore, India, faced an unexpected challenge in the placement process involving a diligent second-year master of business administration student. The student's encounter with a leading restaurant aggregator during the final interview had taken an unexpected turn, leaving her feeling harassed. Disturbed by the student's experience, the placement officer began questioning the existing recruitment procedures, contemplating their alignment with evolving societal values. The student's experience underscored the intricate dynamics of modern recruitment, urging a reconsideration of established practices.
Prabhakar Hegde, plant head at Ashmilro Engineering Limited, a prominent player in the diesel generator industry, faced a critical challenge of addressing delayed product delivery that threatened the company’s competitiveness. Hegde recognized that this delay could hinder the organization’s plan to increase market share by 15 per cent within the next two years. In a competitive industry where timing was everything, the company was targeting to reduce its delivery lead time from six weeks to two weeks. The misalignment between the departments was coupled with challenges in the order-fulfilment process, parts shortages, performance measures, and long lead times. Hegde’s top priority was to find the root cause of the production problems and to recommend a comprehensive solution.
RésuNavi was a startup founded in Vancouver, Canada, that aimed to create a more efficient, equitable, and accessible job application system by using artificial intelligence (AI) to tailor jobseekers’ résumés to their ideal roles. The company faced challenges and strategic dilemmas including a volatile market, scaling impact while managing growth, balancing specialization and broad applicability, addressing privacy concerns, and differentiating itself from competing platforms like SkillSyncer and ChatGPT. This case study explores how RésuNavi adapted to change and prepared for growth while contending with the paradox that the company’s success would reduce the need for its services.
RA Group, a technology consulting firm, introduced changes in 2019 that were impacting the organization and its employees. Employees were dealing with the transition to a new office location and resulting changes to the company’s transportation services, the less private office configuration, a surge of new employees lacking proper supervision, and increased turnover. Employees encountered numerous organizational problems during the change process and were experiencing frustrations with the transition from the way things had been before the changes, leading to an identity crisis and resistance to the changes.
A life-changing event prompted marketing professional Stacey Thomas to leave her successful career in media and entertainment to join dynamic, fast-growing healthcare provider, OceanView Medical. Initially drawn to, and inspired by, the company’s mission and values, Thomas quickly discovered that the role for which she had been hired had expanded drastically in terms of responsibilities and challenges in the five weeks since her interview. The events that ensued became increasingly frustrating for Thomas, leaving her to decide whether to stay with the team she had built at OceanView Medical or to find a new job.
Rijul Jain, the operations supervisor at Grooves Distillery Records (Grooves), is trying to decide if and how to address capacity issues at this boutique vinyl record production facility after receiving a large contract that increased demand significantly. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the small business was started by Josephine “Fina” Leite and her wife, Theresa, to produce vinyl records of modern indie music for vinyl record enthusiasts. Jain must figure out where a bottleneck exists, balance Grooves' line of production workers, and increase production to meet demand.
In 2019, the director of the newly minted Digital Services Lab at JOB Co. found himself on the brink of a crucial meeting with the company's chief executive officer. The focal point of their impending discussion rested on the stagnation of progress in the Mentor 2.0 project—an initiative conceived to embody an agile paradigm in digital transformation, championed by an inventive Scrum team. Despite the project's noble intentions, the journey towards agility had proven to be riddled with formidable challenges for the team. The director, acutely aware that the destiny of Mentor 2.0 was intricately intertwined with the prosperity of the Lab, the linchpin of JOB Co.'s digital metamorphosis, grappled with the necessity of explaining the situation accurately. The imminent meeting stood as a decisive moment for him to carefully consider the most effective strategy. He understood that the future path of the Mentor 2.0 project held significant implications for the Lab—a pivotal force guiding JOB Co.'s digital evolution.
This case looks at the issues involved in planning the 2022 convocation (graduation) ceremony at the Delhi-based Trident Institute of Management and Entrepreneurial Studies (TIMES). The dean of academics, who was responsible for piloting the convocation, needed to be certain that the ceremony could be completed within a limited time to accommodate the schedule of the chief guest (the leader of a multinational conglomerate). The convocation had two parts: the award of medals and certificates to outstanding students and the conferring of degrees and diplomas on the other graduands. The challenge faced by the dean of academics was determining whether the graduands could walk across the stage, collect their medal and/or certificate, and pose for a photo within the stipulated time. The case looks at the convocation from a process perspective, whereby a mismatch between supply and demand can result in waiting times and may also mean that an inventory is needed. The problem in the case is suitable for analysis using Little's law, which states that the average inventory equals the average flow time multiplied by the average flow rate. This short case is concerned with various process parameters such as bottlenecks, capacity, loading, inventory, flow rate, throughput rate, takt time, and cycle time.
In early 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown periods, the marketing director of Anand Milk Union Limited (Amul) was in a virtual meeting with his marketing manager. The two men were discussing plans for a marketing campaign for the hotel, restaurant, and cafes (HoReCa) market segment to be run during the pandemic. The campaign was expected to target and engage the key stakeholders (or influencers) of the HoReCa segment—the chefs in the food service industry. Before the pandemic, Amul engaged with chefs mainly through personal relationships, based on individual in-person meetings. However, in context of the adversity caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person meetings were no longer feasible. The challenge for Amul was to build a scalable and executable marketing campaign that would engage chefs, the market’s key influencers.
In September 2022, the vice president of talent engagement at TBK Beverages met with the executive sponsor of a proposed mentoring program to discuss plans. A year earlier, employees had shared their dissatisfaction with the lack of access for under-recognized groups to executive-level mentorship and training, a dissatisfaction voiced in the context of rising awareness across the United States after the death of George Floyd. The vice president was reviewing survey data about mentorships and was responsible for developing an inclusive leadership mentoring program as part of the company’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives. What approach should the mentorship program take and what elements should it include?