A DAY in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products

Group C1

Problem Statement: The issue facing Sam Glass is to effectively channelize Alex's competencies and talents along with improving his Leadership skills to ensure success of the company.

SWOT Strengths Perfectionist Ability to work for long hours Self-driven Multi-tasker Quick learner Ability to grasp details quickly Ready to take initiative Has deep product knowledge

Weakness Narcissist Does not delegate work efficiently High Temper issues Does not praise others work Arrogant- tries to outperform everyone else

Opportunities Using the 360-degree feedback the higher management can groom Alex Sanders to become a better leader. If not selected as a leader Alex could work in the field sales which is one of his areas of interest

Threats Alex being arrogant could leave the company because of the 360 degrees evaluation and start off his own venture. This would hit the company as they are kind of banking on him for launch of Nourish products in the US market.

If Alex continues his current attitude at work then there is a possibility that his team losses the patience and stops accepting him as their leader. This could lead to inefficiency at work.

PEST-C

Political: Landon Care Products provides a lot of autonomy at work. This was the reason why Alex joined this company. There is no power mongering by the managers in this company. No other political factors which have an implication on the case.

Economical: The compensation provided by the company is fair. Alex does not get motivated by money as much as by his measure of success on the job. There has also been a lot of money riding on the new product Nourish which is to be launched early this year. Social: Alexs inability to treat his co-workers with respect has been a cause for concern in the company. The feedback system also highlights this flaw in Alexs leadership style. He is seen as a Narcissist among his subordinates.

Technological: This is a cosmetics product company which has been recently acquired by Avant-Garde, a multibillion-dollar European company. As such, there are no technological implications in the case.

Cultural: It has been mentioned in the case that Alex does not want to include cultural diversity in the teams. He does not seem to appreciate the differences arising out of cultural contexts. It is mentioned in the feedback that Alex does not see the value in diversity of approaches and attitudes. Factors affecting the problem:

Acquisition of Landon by Avant-Garde Stress of launching a new product Leadership qualities of Alex

Alexs character Alex work/life balance 360 Performance review Relationship management problem Working management problem

Critical Factors Leadership qualities of Alex

Alex is not a good motivator or a good leader. Alex believes that being pushy and commanding is the only way to get the job done. He does not know how to get work done through other people. He comes up with an answer without involving the team. To be a good leader you must motivate your team to excel instead of doing everything to yourself. His peers respect him but do not see him as a leader. 360 degree performance review

360 degree performance review has been implemented for the first time in the company and as such it is still a learning process for the organisation as a whole. The process needs to be fine-tuned and its results cannot be taken seriously as of now. Alex was given a comprehensive feedback from all sides. Most of the feedback was known to him. The feedback system could be improved to give Alex important insights into his own behaviour, by revealing his bling spots and grey areas. Relationship management problem

Alex embarrassed Garrison, a 20-year veteran of the company regarding the output of the work allotted to her. Alex ruffles peoples feelings. He does not take others feelings into consideration when making decisions and delegating assignments He does not know how to treat people by giving them some respect. He gets ticked off easily and due to his short temper people are getting frustrated. He considers that temper is an effective management tool.

Working management problem

Alex shows a great commitment and dedication towards his work and he expects the same

from them. He allots the work to the team but does not trust them that they know how to perform tasks they have been performing for a while and they do not need to be told every single step.

Theory: Alex is a very talented and competent employee for Landon Care Products. His boss Sam Glass knew he would create waves when he joined the company but he did not have a plan of action to deal with it. Even though he was very talented, Alexs critical shortcoming was in being a leader. As a Product manager, he was supposed to take the team along in his product launch program but was unable to do so. He was unable to delegate work properly or trust his team to do the job. He wants to control every minute detail of his subordinates work that it makes them uncomfortable and hostile. Organisational Behaviour points out a Leadership Theory to help understand Alexs problem and a possible solution for it.

As pointed out in the feedback, Alex is an efficient task master. He can get things done from his subordinates by fear and putting stress on them. He needs to be more accommodating towards his team and at the same time, not compromising on the productivity. According to the Theory of Managerial Grid by Blake and Mouton, there are four quadrants of a managerial grid. Alex is seen to be in the Task Management Grid as seen from the above diagram. To be an able leader, he would need to move to the Team Management

Grid,wherein he would accomplish work through committed people.

Possible Courses of Action

1) Make a self-analysis test with psychologist Pros: Alex will do a self-analysis test himself so he will know the areas where he can improve. Cons: Alex may think that this self-Analysis is waste of time.

2) Use Alex talents as a regular team member Pros: Allot tasks to Alex as the regular team member is allotted and remove his leader position. He does not need to divide the project work among others or motivate them. Now the employees will not get frustrated, as Alex does not tell them what to do in every single step. Cons: Alex may feel unhappy with this kind of allocation and treating him as a regular team member and may leave the company.

3) Leadership workshops Pros: Make Alex attend some leadership trainings workshops so that he will learn how to delegate the work and motivate people, how to understand his team members feelings, how to give a feedback without hurting them, how to treat other people etc., Cons: Alex may refuse to take the leadership lectures as he thinks that being pushy and commanding is the only way to get the job done.

Our Suggestion: Alex Sandler is highly talented but difficult personality. He works tirelessly with great commitment and dedication to achieve goal. Problem is he overdoes his work and expects the same standard to be followed. Sam cannot loose such individuals in organization. His personality shortcoming can be managed by arranging workshops on leadership and team management. This will not only help him to manage his soft skills and create positive work environment around him but will also open door for his promotion to leadership role. . The

companys success would also be assured in the long run with Alex being a leader. References: http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/FIS/Courses/lis1230/ManagerialGrid.html