Introduction is a trendsetter and leading marketer
IntroductionThis case is about difficulties that professionalsencounter in accomplishing certain company goals, further finding appropriatesolution and approach to their issues. Jansen Shoes is a trendsetter and leading marketer in theUSA of high – quality athletic and casual footwear for children and adults. Thecompany had stable profit however had decline in one segment (casual footwear),so the executive management assigned the Director of Strategic Marketing ChuckTaylor with directions to investigate and develop a major marketing strategywithin a short period of six months.Taylor established 3 Strategic Product Managers who willbe responsible for developing marketing plan, including strategies foradvertising, new product development, positioning, revitalizing existingproducts and penetration into international markets.
One of the StrategicProduct Managers is Jane Kravitz and she need to develop plan for casual wear.One of the 3 marketing professionals is Lyndon Brooks who need to develop marketingplan for vertical markets: Latino and African American which contains 3strategic performance objectivities, one environmental project. The fundamental issue in this case it that Jane Kravitzand Lyndon Brooks did not have the proper way of communication. Additional issuesare direct management style and stereotypes.
DiagnosisCommunication:LyndonBrooks also did not have enough time to complete his strategic performanceobjectivities. Stereotypes:Janeis making the same mistakes from the past that previous managers were doing,Lyndon was characterize in one group of people Black American with assumption that he knows this group of people. Janedefocused Lyndon from the rest of his objectives by saying “I suggest that weput African American and Latino markets”.Management styleBadmanagement Jane is constantly trying to please and motivate Lyndon withdifferent types of gestures instead of, to use her authority and to demandproper job finishing from Lyndon. The performance’s of Lyndon were poor andalso there are signs that he is irresponsible employee. – Wrong priority, the special project for environment wasgiven more priority instead of the s.
o.’s. With this decision they havejeopardize the whole project and performance of the whole team. This is becausethere was no alignment between the managers. Jane is the manager of the teamand Jane should decide which person should take the responsibility for thespecial project.
We have impression that Lyndon is privileged in comparisonwith the other team college’s. This can cause other issues in the future inJane’s team. SolutionsFor all problems that we found in this case we tried tofind solutions for them.1. Managementstyle- For us, management is one of the most creative arts, because of theability to change and improve human talents. On the other hand Organizationalbehavior is a connection between Management and Human talents, and it is about”what organizations can do for me” or “what can I do to change theorganization”.
In this particular case we are thinking that the management istrying to reorganized human talents and help them change their vision andperception. · Tryingto set common goal with Brooks – project must be done by the deadline period.· Janeis pushing Brooks harder for information because she is trying to motivate himand make him realize that they have a deadline. · Atthe end they need to make contract with mid-level manager and VC for some extratime that was given in process of the negotiation.2.
Stereotypes– We think that Jane assignes attributes to Brooks on basis of Chuck’s criticalthinking in this case but she still haven’t decided whether to trust that he is going to finish it. Also, we arethinking that Jane generalizes Brooks’ ability to finish s.o.s’ based on Chuckopinion. · Janebelieved in Brooks that he will finish the project on time even if Chuck thinksthat he is not compatible for this project · Evenif Jane knows that Brooks is just an ordinary professional she is trying tohelp him, and she believes that Brooks is going to finish s.o.
s’ 3. Communication– Competent theory for this section is going to be Pygmalion Effect becauseJane is trying to tell that the greater expectation that Brooks is providing aboutthe project and she is trying to make him a better performer. Also she istrying to be crystal clear when she is speaking about the needs for the projectto be done which makes her use Communicate Required Behaviors.· Tryingto understand Brooks – why traveling to San Diego is important for the project.· Tryingto set friends line communications, on other hand to motivate Brooks to finish s.o.
s’on time.· Janeneeds to talk with VC that Brooks thinks that in a short period of time he is not able to finish that extra project.· Aftermaking the same errors and mistakes on a line with professional employee Brooksneeds to inform mid level manager for the problem.
ConclusionThe fundamental issues that arise in the case of Jenson Shoes are lackof communication, stereotypes and direct management style. Jane shouldhave considered Lyndon`s behavior before jumping in to conclusions. In thissituation, Jane is committing a fundamentalattribution error—”the tendency to attribute others’ actions to internalcauses while largely ignoring external factors that also may have influencedbehavior – by assuming that Lyndon simply does not want to do his job with hiswish to go on trip to San Diego. The feedback that Lyndon is receiving from his superiors ismixed. For instance, Chuck was less than impressed saying “anyone could havedone that project rather than providing positivereinforcement for his accomplishment. On the other hand, Jane is constantlyrewarding Lyndon, despite the fact that his negative behavior calls for someform of punishment. This cancorrelate to power of expectations – Pygmalion effect, when bigger expectationfrom employees can lead directly to bigger accomplishment by their side.
Jane fails to accept that Lyndon’s behavior is internally caused as aresult of her anchor bias and overconfidence bias. Even though there areobvious signs of Lyndon being an irresponsible employee, she holds onto herfirst impression of him and does not change her style of management. Rather,considering herself to be a good manager and confident in her ability toaddress challenging situations, she maintains her initial easy-going approach.
Her decision to preserve her style of management can also be attributed to aconfirmation bias.While thefirst two solutions regarding the self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotypingwould be effective in combating their respective problems, it is clear that themost crucial underlying issue in this case is a lack of proper communication.Since open communication among these individuals would certainly bridge the gapbetween conflicting perspectives and curb any stereotypical thinking, we haveconcluded that the third solution regarding communication provides an excellentremedy to all three of the key problems listed.
