Reference no: EM133024709

MNGT1001 Introduction to Management - Newcastle Business School

SECTION A: SCENARIO DILEMMA

SCENARIO DILEMMAS

A1 SCENARIO ONE

Marketing Starrs is a small but highly successful marketing firm with a growing national and international clientele. The firm is owned and managed by its founders, the Starr sisters, Serena and Olive. Serena was an outstanding marketing graduate and Olive, an equally outstanding graduate in HRM and accounting. Part of the sisters' success lies in their recruitment strategy and firm structure. The sisters have only ever recruited the brightest marketing graduates with a strong achievement motivation. The sisters designed the firm around ‘client teams' that are highly autonomous and effective but also competitive. The internal competition among the teams creates greater team cohesiveness which is further strengthened by monthly performance bonuses paid to the team with the highest sales revenue. The team members work hard, socialise together, and are fiercely loyal to their team. However, Olive Starr has begun to notice that the inter-team competition had developed to a point where overt conflicts were appearing, culminating in a recent physical fight between two teams at a firm social function. Olive spoke to Serena about the problem and they agreed it was time to do something to stop the conflict. They have sought the advice of your consultancy on what should be done.

A2 SCENARIO TWO
The Starr sisters, the owners of Starr Marketing, have taken your advice and rotated team members in order to reduce the displacement of firm goals with team goals. However, the advent of COVID meant that the over 100 staff had to work from home. Some liked this and once the lock-down was lifted, the sisters decided to allow staff the flexibility to either work from home or come into the office. Because of the disruption to team communication and hence team creativity, at a time when the new teams were in the early stages of team formation, the sisters decided to adopt Workplace by Facebook to encourage creative ideas and feedback among the teams. Workplace by Facebook was introduced and after three months, the Starr sisters undertook a quick evaluation of communication trends on the Platform. Most messages were from team leaders and the feedback was predominately via likes and dislikes. Not only did the likes far outweigh the dislikes, but the majority of written feedback was from team leaders rather than team members. The Starr sisters, Serena and Olive were worried by this response. They have requested your team's advice on whether they should persist with Workplace for Facebook or try something else to stimulate creativity throughout the whole organisation.

A3 SCENARIO THREE
Serena wants to stand down after 20 years as the CEO of Marketing Starrs. She experienced a severe dose of COVID and has not fully recovered. Although both Serena and Olive were the founders of the firm, Serena has been the head and the public face of Marketing Starrs while Olive has been her Deputy and attended to operational matters. There are two or three current employees who might be suitable to succeed Serena, but the sisters are worried that promoting internally may cause power struggles and conflict. There is potential for conflict between Olive and the new CEO, between the new CEO and employees, as well as a concern that employees may defer unnecessarily to Olive. There is also the risk that clients may go elsewhere if Serena leaves. Another option would be to advertise externally and appoint a completely new person. Although there is no rush to make the decision, the sisters have called on your consultancy team for advice.

A4 SCENARIO FOUR
Under the leadership of the new CEO, Jason Lee, Marketing Starrs has expanded its business with the purchase of Dodgy Digi, a small marketing firm specialised in digital marketing and social media. Because expertise in digital marketing was lacking in Marketing Starrs, the take- over of Dodgy Digi made sense in terms of expanding and complementing the skills and services of Marketing Starrs. Dodgy Digi employs 20 creative staff and three administrators. Its owner and CEO resigned immediately after the purchase by Marketing Starrs. Although Dodgy Digi is highly creative both in design and technology, its administration has not been well managed, so in the purchase of Dodgy Digi, Marketing Starrs has taken on the debts and outstanding fees owed to Dodgy Digi. Under the control of Olive Starr, the administration of Marketing Starrs is a major strength of the firm and so Olive and Jason feel confident they can manage Dodgy Digi out of its problems to become financially successful. The problem that worries them most is whether they should incorporate Dodgy Digi into Marketing Starrs or leave it as a separate entity. They can see merits and demerits for both options but cannot decide and so request your team's advice.

A5 SCENARIO FIVE

Following the takeover of Dodgy Digi and the decision to assimilate it into Marketing Starrs, the senior management of Marketing Starrs, Jason Lee and Olive Starr, are encountering resistance from the staff of both Dodgy Digi and Marketing Starrs. Before the merger, the two firms had distinctly different structures and cultures. Marketing Starrs was and remains structured around account teams responsible for specific client accounts and each team is composed solely of marketing professionals and designers. The Marketing Starrs' administration staff (accountants, receptionist, and clerical staff) work as a team of its own quite separate from the account teams. Prior to the merger, the Dodgy Digi employees worked collaboratively in a flat structure, sharing ideas across clients while the administrative staff worked closely with the creative staff. There were no team-based structures nor divisions between types of employees at Dodgy Digi. Since the merger, the Dodgy Digi administrative staff now work exclusively with the administrative staff of Marketing Starrs and the creatives were divided up and assigned to Marketing Starrs' various account teams. The administrative staff of Dodgy Digi find it difficult to work exclusively with administrative staff from Marketing Starrs because they, the Dodgy Digi administrators, are accustomed to working with the creatives as part of a single inclusive team. The creatives at Dodgy Digi are also unhappy because they are used to working individually or in informal teams so that being assigned to the Marketing Starrs' account teams isolates them from their creative colleagues on whom they depended for ideas. The Marketing Starrs employees are equally uncomfortable with the changes as they are not sure how to best use the Dodgy Digi creatives. Overall staff morale, effectiveness and efficiency are falling, Jason and Olive decide to call on your team's advice to improve the culture of the merged firm.

A6 SCENARIO SIX
Because Marketing Starrs' clients were increasingly asking for general management advice, the CEO, Jason Lee, and his deputy, Olive Starr, decided to employ you and three other experienced management consultants to form the management consultancy team for Marketing Starrs. To accommodate this new direction, as well as the integration of Dodgy Digi, the name of the firm has changed to Marketing, Management, and Digital Services (MMADS). Among the first clients for the new management team, was a large national superstore chain, Big X. Big X is experiencing problems with employee theft to the extent that it is endemic across all its stores. Employees, especially cashiers appear to be passing goods to friends by using tricks such as by-passing the scanner to avoid the bar code and/or passing two items at a time but only charging for one. Apart from the cost incurred through theft, when an employee is caught and fired for theft, further costs arise in employing and training new staff. Although Big X employs supervisors, the supervisors have multiple tasks to accomplish in addition to monitoring employees. In trying to resolve the problem, Big X executives, led by Lee Cam, are considering two options: employ more supervisors; or install electronic surveillance equipment. However, before they decide, they request advice from your team on how to control employee theft.

A7 SCENARIO SEVEN

MMDS has been engaged by a high-end clothing manufacturer and retailer, Y&Z, to revise its image and marketing plan. The clothes are designed in Paris, Milan and Sydney and made in Bangladesh. Increasingly, the outcry against the exploitation of Bangladeshi garment workers has led to calls on consumers to stop purchasing those Western labels accused of exploiting workers in the global supply chain. Several high-profile non-government organisations, such as Clean Clothes, Oxfam, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), are leading international campaigns that name and shame clothing brands for their roles in exploiting garment workers. Y&Z is very sensitive to these campaigns, and, although not yet named, it feels it will only be a matter of time. Y&Z has asked MMDS to design a new image that is exclusive and ‘sustainable'. While the CEO of MMDS, Jason Lee, is comfortable with marketing, he has some ethical concerns about the genuineness of Y&Z's corporate social responsibility and the extent to which Y&Z is willing to commit to socially responsible actions. In particular, he worries that the social responsibility policies and actions taken by Y&Z are more symbolic than substantial. Jason does not want MMDS to be associated with unethical marketing. He seeks advice from your MMDA management consultancy team on what he can advise Y&Z to ensure it behaves in a socially responsible manner.

SECTION B: PROPOSITIONS

PROPOSITIONS
B1. Conflict and cooperation are opportunities for learning.

B2. Personality positively affects decision-making style.
B3. The use of technology can produce better communication at work.

B4. Everyone needs a leader but not necessarily a manager.
B5. Gen Z (born in 1997-2012) are a major force for organisational change.

Attachment:- Introduction to Management.rar