Silvio Napoli at Schindler India

This is the case study on “Managing like a man at SilkQueen?” by Kate Hutchings of Queensland University of Technology. Here we are given a character named Sally Dawson who works for SilkQueen, which is an Australian company. She is a well skilled manager who has a huge experience for working successfully in Asia.

What is your evaluation of MGI’s team processes? What were the root causes of the team’s process problems?

The working culture that was accepted in Hickling’s Associates also came as a shock as they were deemed unprofessional by Tony. Furthermore, Tony did not engage in much communication with his colleagues, as he did not approve of certain social behaviour portrayed by them. This was also partly attributed to Hickling’s disdain for employees’ discussion regarding work issues. Additionally, despite his good performance, Tony did not receive the amount of bonus that was assured to him by Hickling. Accumulatively, these problems led to the loss of motivation in Tony and his eventual resignation.

I do not believe Schindler made the right choice in assigning Silvio as the general manager of India. Silvio had little to no "real world" international experience. Silvio had much success in Sweden but there are several factors that limited his success in India. Silvio had high "warrior" and low "monk" attributes. Silvio was a task oriented individual. This management style is not well received in India. The General Manager needed to be a person that can change their behavior when dealing with different cultures. Before making their selection Schindler should have required Silvio to take a Global Mentality Test. This test would have told

3. What is your evaluation of the company’s internationalization strategy under Tony Massaro’s leadership? Is it likely to be more successful that the previous offshore initiatives? If so, why?

He had great plans for the company and wanted to turn it into a global giant. He applied his skills, and after some few years, the company had increased its capacity. Within five years in the industry, the company’s sales expanded from 3000 units to 12,000 freight cars by 1999. They also raised employees from only 600 to over 3,000 and the figure keeps on expanding. He aims at nothing else but just success. The company under his leadership have received so many performance-related awards, and its success stories have been awesome. Success has been witnessed, and they are still

McRae started with Iggy’s as a consultant less than a year prior to him deciding to bring in an organizational consultant when he failed to resolve his communication issues with the Ivanovics. This option itself was suspect and I personally would not have trusted McRae’s choice of consultant since I would have already felt some hesitation about McRae’s hiring competence that he had made thus far. The number one essential ingredient to all relationships is trust and although the Ivanovics perhaps gave that trust blindly to McRae, I feel that he not only abused his responsibility to them and their company, I feel that he did not return any faith.

2a. Steven failed to do several things as a Project Manager. He failed to deliver the product on time and within budget, as well as managing expectations. His failures were a result of poor planning, prompt or advance requesting of resources, and a failure to communicate with his team, management and the end user. Steve’s job as the PM is to monitor progress, ensure key stakeholders keep their people focused on the task and prevent delays, or if delays occur communicate those issues to management. Managing stake holders and keeping them focused on requirements and due dates goes a long way towards preventing problems. Steve seems to have failed at this.

Chris Perillo was offered to replace Michael Grant, who has resigned and gone to the competitor Universal Business Solutions, Inc. Previously, Perillo managed a group of 15 software developers, but now he is assigned with a bigger and more prestigious position; the Vice Presidency of Operations for Health and Financial Services. Chris needs to review all the material in the in-basket, as well as the voice mail and e-mail and prioritize the response to each item. Perillo must make good decisions in a good time manner in order to gain confidence from the President and CEO and also all his new subordinates. Each decision will directly affect his career, so as the future of the organization. The case presents a realistic situation

He was a good manager but not a leader as he was exceptional planner and controller but was unable to have a good relationship with the team members. All of us never felt motivated by him to work.

The case deals with two major transformational organisational changes that take place within a span of 5 years in Marconi PLC. The first change process was under the leadership of Lord Simpson who took over this large diversified conglomerate in 1996 when the company was in a mature phase, already in decline. The company was under performing, had a rigid structure, lacked a clear vision and the employees had become change averse and complacent. To recharge the company Lord Simpson lead a change process with a clear vision with a growth oriented strategy, acquisition and a cultural change process for the employees. To motivate the employers to embrace the cultural change he introduced an attractive stock option plan.

This case explores the roles of CEO Rudi Gassner and the 9-person executive committee in leading BMG International. BMG International is the international music subsidiary of Bertelsmann, a German company that is the second-largest media conglomerate in the world. In particular, the case describes a 1993 decision that Gassner and the executive committee must make about whether or not to change managers' business plans and bonus targets as a result of a newly negotiate reduced manufacturing cost. Some of the major and important issues discussed include: the complexities of managing and growing a large global business; the tensions between centralized corporate control and decentralized local management in a global organization; the impact

Wolfgang Keller is a 34 year old graduate of the Harvard Business School. After a fast moving career building a reputation for turning around failing businesses, Wolfgang Keller once again found himself facing the challenge of turning around a losing business. This time it was as managing director of the Ukrainian subsidy of the Konigsbrau Brewery. The company was experiencing €2.9 million per year with annual sales of €116 million, (Gabarro, 2008). Even though this was a bigger company that he was used to dealing with, he seemed to be well on his way to success after just three years. Sales had increased to €145 million and the company was finally turning a €7 million

They would continue to stay employed whether they did a good job or not, because these jobs helped pay for the government’s revenue. Exhibit 10 further proves this point where the marginal retention rate steadily increased from 1982 thru 1989. In addition, this new system allowed for corruption to take place. When looking at Exhibit 10, we can see how new management was added but this only added corruption, not profits, to the enterprises, further adding to the SOE deficit. The directors looked for their personal acquaintances to negotiate business deals, involving even local officials and used the low-quality items for the state and the high-quality items for dirty business. With so much corruption taking place, it was evident why the Management Responsibility System didn’t take off.

However, this way of managing does have some pitfalls. While prior to the outbreak, there were no issues, in an hypothetical world, there might have been arguments between the managers and Roberto resulting in a deadlock. This would have an adverse effect and would