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PART I: Read the following case study carefully and analyze it by answering the three Questions for Discussion in an integrated essay format

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PART I: Read the following case study carefully and analyze it by answering the three Questions for Discussion in an integrated essay format. (20 points) Please read the following case carefully and write an integrated essay (2-5 pages in length) based solely on the information provided in the case. You should not discuss this assignment with anyone - group collaboration is not permitted. Dennis Jackson couldn't understand what had gone wrong. Jackson, vice-president of marketing for Prodigy Electronics, had recently hired Tony Lombardo as marketing manager for the Robotic Controls D i v i si o n . This division was responsible for developing road-show presentations and marketing plans tailored to a great v a r i e t y of world markets. The marketing team members needed to have considerable creativity, as well as sensitivity and awareness of cultural differences and global issues, to do their jobs well. Accordingly, there was substantial ethnic diversity in the department: Seven of the marketing r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s were white, five were Asian, three were African-American, and two were Hispanic. Along with being specialists on the cultural differences of specific markets, most of the marketing representatives were fluent in at least two languages. Jackson had hired Lombardo because of his impressive track record as a manager. Jackson often played tennis with Lombardo's former boss, who described Lombardo with glowing praise and as a nice guy who got results. At his former job, Lombardo managed an assembly line at a watch factory and had been charged w i t h carrying out regular p e r f o r m a n c e appraisals and making salary and promotion decisions. Faced with a team of veteran employees who had apparently lost the desire to work, Lombardo had turned them around b y letting them make changes to the assembly line and giving them a say in how things were done. He also joined the group's softball team and was often invited to their regular parties after work and on weekends. Under Lombardo's management, productivity on Lombardo's line at the watch factory had increased dramatically. Jackson was sure he had hired a great leader, but he couldn’t understand why the performance of Tony Lombardo’s marketing team wasn't better. The team members were working, but their ideas lacked the kind of creative spark that Jackson had sought. He decided to speak with some of Lombardo's subordinates individually to get their perspective on Lombardo's management style. Jackson decided that he should speak to the more experienced employees first. He Called Chuck Pritchard, a white, 49-year-old m a n who had worked for Prodigy for seventeen years. "Tony is a great guy and a super manager," Pritchard assured Jackson. "Whenever I go to him for advice, he always turns my questions around and asks me what I would do. When something major is happening in my area, we work as a team to figure out what we should do. You can’t argue with the results. Sales in my area have gone up 20 percent since Tony joined the team." When Jackson spoke to Nancy B a rt el s , another w h i t e employee w h o had been with Prodigy for thirteen years, she was just as enthusiastic. "Last month my region had the highest s a l e s in the office, and Tony made a point of singling me out in our monthly strategy session. He told me he wished he had the authority to give me a raise or promotion. It made me feel really proud. I have more enthusiasm for my job than I’ve had in quite a while." Next, Jackson decided to speak t o Amanda Chan, a 35-year-old Chinese-American woman who had been with Prodigy for just over seven years. "I think Tony's very nice and everything, and I really don’t have any problems with him, personally. I like the fact that I have a say in how things are done. But, sometimes Tony doesn't think. Last month he praised SooAe at the strategy meeting. She was so embarrassed that she didn't come to work for over a week, and I got stuck covering both of our territories. Plus, he keeps telling her that he wants her to make important decisions. She lacks the experience needed to make the best decisions, and she’s terrified of making a mistake. I try to help, but l can’t afford to let my area slip, too." Jackson called SooAe Kim into his office. A 26-year-old Korean woman, SooAe had joined Prodigy less than a year earlier. Jackson found himself more confused t h a n ever as SooAe told him that she thought Mr. Lombardo wa s a very good manager. Jackson pressed her with Questions, but she had absolutely nothing negative to say about her boss. When asked about her absence earlier in the month, Ms. Kim lowered her head, apologized, and said it wouldn't happen a g a i n . Finally, Jackson shrugged his shoulders and said she could leave. Alone in his office, Jackson tried to make sense of what he had heard. He was sure Lombardo wasn't a racist. After all, he had praised SooAe, given her encouragement in a time when she was struggling, and was even giving her a chance to control her own destiny. He decided he had better speak with some of the other employees. "Do you think Tony is fair to everyone, regardless of race?" Jackson asked Lou Andrews, a 38-year-old African-American man who had been at Prodigy as long as he could remember. "Of course he is!" Andrews replied. "Tony treats everybody the same. Race doesn't make any difference to him. The guy goes out of his way to make sure that everyone makes decisions. If something does go wrong, he never gives anyone a hard time about it. He usually doesn't even mention it. Tony's a positive thinker. The best thing this company could do would be to give Tony a raise, or at least give him the authority to hire and fire people. Otherwise, things are great." Jackson was starting to think that there wasn’t a problem. He wondered if it was just a slowdown in the marketplace. However, he knew that other divisions w e r e soaring along. It didn't add up. He decided to speak to some of the younger workers, starting with Katie Langston, a 27-year-old AfricanAmerican woman who had joined the company after getting her BSBA six months earlier. "I think Tony means well," she said. "But I hope he knows what he's doing. I'm still learning the ropes around here. It's exciting to be given so much responsibility so early in my career, but I'm really not sure if I'm doing a good job. With this kind of work, rules and methods seem kind of vague. It's an art, trying to match robotic controls with the needs of customers i n some specific part of the world. I like the work, but I'm always worried t h a t I might be making some kind of huge mistake." Juan Delgado, a recent MBA who has just joined the company as the coordinator for the South American marketing strategy had somewhat similar concerns. "Sometimes [just wish somebody would tell me what to do,” he said. "In business school we learned how great it can be to let workers make decisions for them. Now that I'm in the real world, I don't think it's so great' Tony is always pushing me to make my own decisions. Maybe if I had more experience, I would like it. Right now, it's driving me crazy. Sometimes I think I’d be better off making m y strategy decisions by throwing darts at a dart board. I just Hope I'm doing a good job. I'll never find out from Tony. He's always chatting with the guys who have been around here for a while--brainstorming, he calls it. Anyway, I never get invited to join in. He must have something against me." Again, Jackson was confused. Perhaps Lombardo had trouble dealing with Hispanics? Next, he invited P e d r o Mantilla, a Mexican-American, into his office. I’ve been with this company for sixteen years," Mantilla began, looking Jackson straight in the eyes. "And I tell you, Tony Lombardo is the best manager I’ve ever had." "Now what?" Jackson thought to himself after Mantilla l e f t his office. He decided he had better interview the new marketing representatives, almost all of whom had been hired within the previous six months. Jackson was dumbfounded as, one after the other; the employees stated that they found Tony Lombardo to be a poor manager. They all mentioned t h a t he pushed t h e m to make their own decisions in spite of their inexperience, and most said they felt unsure about the level of their own performance. Tony likes to pretend that mistakes don't exist," one worker said. "He seems to think that if you don't talk about them, mistakes will just go away." Most of the other recently hired employees seemed to share this view as well. Dennis Jackson thanked the last worker for coming to his office, closed tl1e door, and tried to make sense out of everything he had heard. "It seems like the older workers-the few that we have-think that Tony is great," Jackson said to himself. "Meanwhile, the young people think he's terrible. I wonder why that's the case?'' "And what about the question of racial and ethnic differences?" Jackson thought. "What's going on here?" Questions for Discussion: 1. Are there problems with the kinds of leadership being displayed in this case? What? Why7 2. Compare what appears to have been Tony's success in his previous job with what you believe his level of success is at Prodigy. If you see a difference, what do you believe the basis of that difference to be? 3. If you were Jackson, what would YOU do? Write an analysis addressing all three questions in an integrated essay format. Papers should be 2-5 pages in length, typewritten, with 1” margins on all sides. PART I: Read the following case study carefully and analyze it by answering the three Questions for Discussion in an integrated essay format. (20 points) Please read the following case carefully and write an integrated essay (2-5 pages in length) based solely on the information provided in the case. You should not discuss this assignment with anyone - group collaboration is not permitted. Dennis Jackson couldn't understand what had gone wrong. Jackson, vice-president of marketing for Prodigy Electronics, had recently hired Tony Lombardo as marketing manager for the Robotic Controls D i v i si o n . This division was responsible for developing road-show presentations and marketing plans tailored to a great v a r i e t y of world markets. The marketing team members needed to have considerable creativity, as well as sensitivity and awareness of cultural differences and global issues, to do their jobs well. Accordingly, there was substantial ethnic diversity in the department: Seven of the marketing r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s were white, five were Asian, three were African-American, and two were Hispanic. Along with being specialists on the cultural differences of specific markets, most of the marketing representatives were fluent in at least two languages. Jackson had hired Lombardo because of his impressive track record as a manager. Jackson often played tennis with Lombardo's former boss, who described Lombardo with glowing praise and as a nice guy who got results. At his former job, Lombardo managed an assembly line at a watch factory and had been charged w i t h carrying out regular p e r f o r m a n c e appraisals and making salary and promotion decisions. Faced with a team of veteran employees who had apparently lost the desire to work, Lombardo had turned them around b y letting them make changes to the assembly line and giving them a say in how things were done. He also joined the group's softball team and was often invited to their regular parties after work and on weekends. Under Lombardo's management, productivity on Lombardo's line at the watch factory had increased dramatically. Jackson was sure he had hired a great leader, but he couldn’t understand why the performance of Tony Lombardo’s marketing team wasn't better. The team members were working, but their ideas lacked the kind of creative spark that Jackson had sought. He decided to speak with some of Lombardo's subordinates individually to get their perspective on Lombardo's management style. Jackson decided that he should speak to the more experienced employees first. He Called Chuck Pritchard, a white, 49-year-old m a n who had worked for Prodigy for seventeen years. "Tony is a great guy and a super manager," Pritchard assured Jackson. "Whenever I go to him for advice, he always turns my questions around and asks me what I would do. When something major is happening in my area, we work as a team to figure out what we should do. You can’t argue with the results. Sales in my area have gone up 20 percent since Tony joined the team." When Jackson spoke to Nancy B a rt el s , another w h i t e employee w h o had been with Prodigy for thirteen years, she was just as enthusiastic. "Last month my region had the highest s a l e s in the office, and Tony made a point of singling me out in our monthly strategy session. He told me he wished he had the authority to give me a raise or promotion. It made me feel really proud. I have more enthusiasm for my job than I’ve had in quite a while." Next, Jackson decided to speak t o Amanda Chan, a 35-year-old Chinese-American woman who had been with Prodigy for just over seven years. "I think Tony's very nice and everything, and I really don’t have any problems with him, personally. I like the fact that I have a say in how things are done. But, sometimes Tony doesn't think. Last month he praised SooAe at the strategy meeting. She was so embarrassed that she didn't come to work for over a week, and I got stuck covering both of our territories. Plus, he keeps telling her that he wants her to make important decisions. She lacks the experience needed to make the best decisions, and she’s terrified of making a mistake. I try to help, but l can’t afford to let my area slip, too." Jackson called SooAe Kim into his office. A 26-year-old Korean woman, SooAe had joined Prodigy less than a year earlier. Jackson found himself more confused t h a n ever as SooAe told him that she thought Mr. Lombardo wa s a very good manager. Jackson pressed her with Questions, but she had absolutely nothing negative to say about her boss. When asked about her absence earlier in the month, Ms. Kim lowered her head, apologized, and said it wouldn't happen a g a i n . Finally, Jackson shrugged his shoulders and said she could leave. Alone in his office, Jackson tried to make sense of what he had heard. He was sure Lombardo wasn't a racist. After all, he had praised SooAe, given her encouragement in a time when she was struggling, and was even giving her a chance to control her own destiny. He decided he had better speak with some of the other employees. "Do you think Tony is fair to everyone, regardless of race?" Jackson asked Lou Andrews, a 38-year-old African-American man who had been at Prodigy as long as he could remember. "Of course he is!" Andrews replied. "Tony treats everybody the same. Race doesn't make any difference to him. The guy goes out of his way to make sure that everyone makes decisions. If something does go wrong, he never gives anyone a hard time about it. He usually doesn't even mention it. Tony's a positive thinker. The best thing this company could do would be to give Tony a raise, or at least give him the authority to hire and fire people. Otherwise, things are great." Jackson was starting to think that there wasn’t a problem. He wondered if it was just a slowdown in the marketplace. However, he knew that other divisions w e r e soaring along. It didn't add up. He decided to speak to some of the younger workers, starting with Katie Langston, a 27-year-old AfricanAmerican woman who had joined the company after getting her BSBA six months earlier. "I think Tony means well," she said. "But I hope he knows what he's doing. I'm still learning the ropes around here. It's exciting to be given so much responsibility so early in my career, but I'm really not sure if I'm doing a good job. With this kind of work, rules and methods seem kind of vague. It's an art, trying to match robotic controls with the needs of customers i n some specific part of the world. I like the work, but I'm always worried t h a t I might be making some kind of huge mistake." Juan Delgado, a recent MBA who has just joined the company as the coordinator for the South American marketing strategy had somewhat similar concerns. "Sometimes [just wish somebody would tell me what to do,” he said. "In business school we learned how great it can be to let workers make decisions for them. Now that I'm in the real world, I don't think it's so great' Tony is always pushing me to make my own decisions. Maybe if I had more experience, I would like it. Right now, it's driving me crazy. Sometimes I think I’d be better off making m y strategy decisions by throwing darts at a dart board. I just Hope I'm doing a good job. I'll never find out from Tony. He's always chatting with the guys who have been around here for a while--brainstorming, he calls it. Anyway, I never get invited to join in. He must have something against me." Again, Jackson was confused. Perhaps Lombardo had trouble dealing with Hispanics? Next, he invited P e d r o Mantilla, a Mexican-American, into his office. I’ve been with this company for sixteen years," Mantilla began, looking Jackson straight in the eyes. "And I tell you, Tony Lombardo is the best manager I’ve ever had." "Now what?" Jackson thought to himself after Mantilla l e f t his office. He decided he had better interview the new marketing representatives, almost all of whom had been hired within the previous six months. Jackson was dumbfounded as, one after the other; the employees stated that they found Tony Lombardo to be a poor manager. They all mentioned t h a t he pushed t h e m to make their own decisions in spite of their inexperience, and most said they felt unsure about the level of their own performance. Tony likes to pretend that mistakes don't exist," one worker said. "He seems to think that if you don't talk about them, mistakes will just go away." Most of the other recently hired employees seemed to share this view as well. Dennis Jackson thanked the last worker for coming to his office, closed tl1e door, and tried to make sense out of everything he had heard. "It seems like the older workers-the few that we have-think that Tony is great," Jackson said to himself. "Meanwhile, the young people think he's terrible. I wonder why that's the case?'' "And what about the question of racial and ethnic differences?" Jackson thought. "What's going on here?" Questions for Discussion: 1. Are there problems with the kinds of leadership being displayed in this case? What? Why7 2. Compare what appears to have been Tony's success in his previous job with what you believe his level of success is at Prodigy. If you see a difference, what do you believe the basis of that difference to be? 3. If you were Jackson, what would YOU do? Write an analysis addressing all three questions in an integrated essay format. Papers should be 2-5 pages in length, typewritten, with 1” margins on all sides.