Temperamental Talent Case Study

This case focuses on David Sokol, an executive who has made a “name” for himself in recent years within the energy industries. After becoming recognized as a successful “turnaround” agent for troubled companies, Sokol was hired in 1992 to serve as the chief operating officer of JWP, Inc., a large, New York-based conglomerate. At the time, JWP had an impressive history of sustained profits and revenue growth that was being threatened by the company’s far-flung operations and unwieldy organizational structure. Unknown to Sokol, JWP’s impressive operating results over the prior few years had been embellished by the company’s

The industry is in the sinking market as sales are declining for the last two years. Gilcrist must avoid re-establishing the company in a sinking market, but to make innovation and change. She should invest her marketing budget into the power boat segment of the industry and expand the company or even move the company to a different location. The challenge for Gilcrist will be to stimulate employee creativity and tolerance for change due to her new directorship as president.

In the story “The Trouble with Talent: Are We Born Smart or Do We Get Smart?” by Kathy Seal explains the difference between Asian children and American children’s work ethic. Kathy explains the school systems in china work differently due to the fact that America has the idea that children are born with a set I.Q. while Asians believe that your intelligence is determined by hard work. The author of this story’s purpose is to persuade the reader by proving her thesis that intelligence is gained through hard work. She does this by using a multitude of valid evidence, having a strong thesis, and connecting with the reader though reader oriented language. The pattern of this essay is clearly a compare and contrast because the author looks at the difference between how Asian and American children are taught. She makes a strong point using the compare and contrast method by providing the reader with valid information on the American and Asian sides to point out that being smart happens though hard work and determination. Seal organizes this compare and contrast by making a point to point analysis of Asian and American culture.

Jack Emmons, CEO of Voici Brands realizes that his company is in trouble and a change needs to take place before it is too late in order for the company to succeed and not go out of business. Jack has to address the issues at hand. Jack needs to take a thorough look at the company before deciding what changes need to be implemented. He needs to get his unit managers and board members involved in the process. Before doing this, Jack must approach the unit managers that are suffering the most, review the situation, the impacts that it is having on the unit and then figure out how to deal with the problem. He must

Jack Early was recently hired to be one of the higher-level managers. Jack had completed his M.B.A at one of the more well-known universities, and applied his knowledge and training, that he gained in school, to his work at Rockmont. He made such a good impression in a relatively short period of time, that he received many commendations and an early salary adjustment.

The understanding of the goal to be envisioned at Seagram moving forward is to become, remain, and develop an outside reputation as the top beverage company with 15% growth each year (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). The vision must effectively be passed to the 200 senior managers to make it a shared goal to be given and embraced company wide. The hope is that the top managed beverage company will be efficient and customer-centered, recognizing employees, while not micro-managing. The old model, based on decades old vision, needs to be replaced with a quasi-tried vision that has helped Seagram remain as one of the top, well-known companies. The new vision has seen success and is moving the company alongvtowards being the top managed beverage company. There are yet and still steps that will provide some right now actions that may help Seagram reach this goal of being the top managed company in the near future.

Upon review of the information provided, it is clear that a vision set forth by Upper management, President and CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr. had not been implemented and there is much work that needs to be completed to fulfill his legacy. Bronfman’s statement was clear and concise with a vision to be sought after no matter the cost. His vision, according to Jick & Peiperl, 2011 is for Seagram’s to be the “best managed beverage company” (p. 255). Bronfman had an idea/image of how he wanted Seagram’s to be viewed by the world and its employees. His vision offered a baseline for all employees to follow which in turn offers a one company initiative. Offering this baseline for the corporation leaves no chance for deviation from the cause. This company with deep roots in diversity and was losing ground due to changes in the new ideas of sobriety, increases in taxes on liquor, the 1990s recession, increased government regulation and social criticism (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). To define this project is to give direction and purpose to Bronfman’s word by backing them with actual progress towards his vision. This vision for Seagram’s is to not be confused with the need of the newly acquired MCA Corporation. This company should have its own visions and values.

The Yellowtail Marine, Inc. case combines corporate and industry data with an "in-basket" exercise. It focuses attention on the difficulties of Robyn Gilcrist – the newly appointed President – to efficiently managing the company’s daily operations while at the same time developing a corporate strategy. Robyn Gilcrist has taken over as CEO a few days after the death of Olaf Gunerson, Yellowtail’s founder and former owner. Therefore, there was no proper hand-over for Gilcrist.

The Yellowtail Marine, Inc. case combines corporate and industry data with an "in-basket" exercise. It focuses attention on the difficulties of Robyn Gilcrist – the newly appointed President – to efficiently managing the company’s daily operations while at the same time developing a corporate strategy. Robyn Gilcrist has taken over as CEO a few days after the death of Olaf Gunerson, Yellowtail’s founder and former owner. Therefore, there was no proper hand-over for Gilcrist.

MEJRI, Mohamed, and Daniel DE WOLF. 2013. "Crisis Management: Lessons Learnt From The BP Deepwater Horizon Spill Oil". Business Management And Strategy 4 (2): 67. doi:10.5296/bms.v4i2.4950.

Here, Ken Lay also had casted shadow of misplaced and broken loyalties. Decisions were made without considering their duties to their stakeholders especially the employees.

The first object Bob Lazier undertook as the new CEO of Lazier Industries, was to implement a strategic plan that focused on introducing several new products which could be cross-sold to LI’s existing customer base. As a strong believer in the company and it’s potential to broaden its offerings Bob was looking to leverage the strong relationships built with its clients to sell additional lines of components. However, since being placed as the new CEO, a lot of organizational

There are several weaknesses in the process that Carter used for decision making. Perhaps the most severe of them all was the lack of sight with respect to the strategy of the Webster Industries. The financials for the company clearly show that by October 1975 the company was probably recovering from the downturn. If that was indeed the case, Carter should requested an adjustment to the anchoring bias of 15% downsizing target and examined the list of criteria that Stevens’ laid out in the light of sustained growth. Healthy growth requires people who are competent in their current job as well as people with potential. Consequently the group should have

AN INTERVIEW WITH TOM CHAPMAN 92602 RAVI VENKATESAN STRATEGIC SOURC1NG: TO MAKE OR NOT TO MAKE 92610 AMAR BHIDE BOOTSTRAP FINANCE: THE ART OF START-UPS 92601 WILLIAM G. PAGONIS THE WORK OF THE LEADER 92607 LAWRENCE R. ROTHSTEIN HBR CASE STUDY THE CASE OF THE TEMPERAMENTAL TALENT 92608 DAVID H. FREEDMAN IN QUESTION IS MANAGEMENT STILL

Sambian Partners is an architecture and engineering firm which believes in promoting an environment where the firm’s designers, engineers and client account managers collaborate to deliver top notch designs. The CEO believes Sambian Partners offer a good environment for its people to work and treat people right. The case describes how Sambian is facing a situation where its top talent is quitting. The CEO is surprised by these departures and is working with the firm’s human resource head to get to the root cause of these departures. The management wants to fix the root cause to stop this exodus.