Free Essay

Jensen Shoes: Lyndon Brooks’ Story

In:

Submitted By hithot3210
Words 1028
Pages 5
Analysis for Case 2
Jensen Shoes: Lyndon Brooks’ Story

Are self-evaluations being hurt?

Yes. This case gives us indications that Lyndon had negative core self-evaluations which are explained below:
a. Self-esteem: Although not happy with this first assignment he decided to take it up so that it helped him broaden his background and move up in job roles by showing credibility. But he could not complete all his assignments in time. He was later told by Chuck that he would be moved to Strategic Product Marketing and would be reporting to Jane Kravitz as part of reorganizing. Lyndon took this change as the effect of his under-performance and had a feeling of being demoted. This looked like it hit his self-esteem as it gave him feeling of failing in his work and now he had to report to Jane while he himself was in line management before.

b. Self-efficacy: In his first project he did believe in his capabilities to take on the project, but when he could not complete it, his work was not well appreciated by Chuck and was also moved to another project. This demotivated him and let him down. He thought he had failed. When he was again assigned the same market in his 2nd project he thought he will fail again in this project and his lack of knowledge of this market will add into the issue. He now did not have confidence in his capabilities and wanted to remain in his comfort zone of line management.

c. Locus of control: He seems to display external locus of control as he believed the kind of work and targets given to him by Chuck and Jane were not realistic and lied outside his knowledge area which is not going his way and now does not know who to trust. He kind of felt helpless.
This negatively impacted his overall performance in the company. He wasn’t confident enough of taking up and successfully completing the new assignment for the same target region of African American market. He kept refraining himself from beginning the work and pursued negotiating with Jane on reducing work or extending deadline. Further, he felt powerless around Jane and Chuck as he felt the performance feedback and assignments he received did not help him reaching his goals and could not do much about it apart from looking out options outside the company.

Are attribution errors present?

a. Fundamental Attribution Error: When Jane bluntly asks Lyndon about completing the strategic objectives before deadlines, it is then that Lyndon realizes that Jane might have been under more pressure than he expected.
Her bluntness comes as a revelation to Lyndon which shows that Lyndon underestimated the kind of pressure Jane was under from her bosses and saw her reluctance to everything he suggested as an outcome of her personal unwillingness.
If not for this fundamental attribution error, Lyndon would have started working on the project and then with some part of project completed, would have asked Jane for deadline extension so then even Jane would have had something to report to her bosses.

b. Self-Serving Bias: Lyndon listed budget cuts, inexperienced staff and rigid management for the failure in achieving strategic objectives while working for special promotions. On the other hand, when he somewhat succeeds in environmental project, there is not even the slightest mention by him of any other co-worker or help from management. He mentions Jane’s helping gesture but at the same time doesn’t forget to mention of her resources as of no importance. He acknowledges his work and use of his own resources while working on the project.
If Lyndon would have acknowledged and identified his shortcomings while working on the special promotions project instead of blaming the external factors, he would have surely felt more confident about working on his next project which covered the same demographics.

c. Hindsight Bias: Before even starting the project, Lyndon identified budget cuts and inexperienced staff as the reasons that could steer special promotions project into the troubled waters. His reluctance to work in African American and Latino markets along with his inexperience can be cited as the main reasons which translated into pre-existing doubts about the project which ultimately lead to him failing to meet the strategic objectives.
If Lyndon would have been confident about the success of special promotions project then he would have worked hard in accordance with the goal of making the project successful and thus would have made the optimum use of the resources available.

Are perceptual distortions playing a role?

Yes. These are explained as follows:
a. Selective perception: Based on what Lyndon had heard about Jensen Shoes being committed towards employee development and building diverse work force, he joined the company thinking he’d rise to top rungs and do a job in his area of interest. However, his interests were least taken care of and was assigned projects and role in which he had no past experience and interest. He ultimately thought of looking out for options.
b. Self-fulfilling prophecy: When Lyndon raised his concerns in first project, Chuck did not give any attention to it. Later, when Chuck told him he as he did not complete his S.O.’s, he needed to understand their products and also had issues with handling staff, he felt that he had been failed. To add to it he felt he was demoted when assigned to new project. This negatively impacted his self-efficacy. When assigned new project of two S.O.’s he kept delaying the start as he was low on confidence and ultimately ended up not doing the African American market S.O.
c. Halo effect: Jane had had a good track record over the years. This prompted Lyndon to assume her to be a reasonable and a decent person and thus he believed she would understand his aspirations and issues unlike Chuck and will thus help him out in improving his current situation.
If Lyndon would have tried to know more about Jane through co-workers and other acquaintances, he would have steered their discussions accordingly.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Jensen Shoes: Lyndon Brooks’ Story

...Analysis for Case Jensen Shoes: Lyndon Brooks’ Story Are self-evaluations being hurt? Yes. This case gives us indications that Lyndon had negative core self-evaluations which are explained below: a. Self-esteem: Although not happy with this first assignment he decided to take it up so that it helped him broaden his background and move up in job roles by showing credibility. But he could not complete all his assignments in time. He was later told by Chuck that he would be moved to Strategic Product Marketing and would be reporting to Jane Kravitz as part of reorganizing. Lyndon took this change as the effect of his under-performance and had a feeling of being demoted. This looked like it hit his self-esteem as it gave him feeling of failing in his work and now he had to report to Jane while he himself was in line management before. b. Self-efficacy: In his first project he did believe in his capabilities to take on the project, but when he could not complete it, his work was not well appreciated by Chuck and was also moved to another project. This demotivated him and let him down. He thought he had failed. When he was again assigned the same market in his 2nd project he thought he will fail again in this project and his lack of knowledge of this market will add into the issue. He now did not have confidence in his capabilities and wanted to remain in his comfort zone of line management. c. Locus of control: He seems to display external locus of control as he believed...

Words: 1027 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Case Analysis of Jenson Shoes

...A Case analysis of Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitz’s Story Mary C Gentile Pamela J Maus Harvard Business School PGP – I, BATCH 2014-16 SECTION - 7 GROUP - AL2 1. | 14S710 | Ms. Apoorva Agarwal | 2. | 14S714 | Mr. Gaurav Bansal | 3. | 14S729 | Mr. Raghunandan Balasubramanian | 4. | 14S747 | Mr. Sriman Kumar Pradhan | 5. | 14S748 | Ms. Subhasree Dantuluri | T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal Case Analysis of Jenson Shoes: Jane Kravitz’s Story Problem Statement In what ways can Jane Kravitz further persuade Lyndon Brooks to work in favor of completing his Strategic Performance objectives, in a restricted timeline, to achieve better evaluation incentives and bonuses for both of them? Reasons 1. Lyndon Brooks wasn’t assigned a job role of his choice, viz. a managing staff role. This led him to be less enthusiastic on current assignments. 2. Jane Kravitz didn’t work on the negative feedback she had received about Lyndon from the employees previously associated with him, which allowed Lyndon’s focus to deviate from the company’s objectives. 3. Lyndon was additionally assigned a project on environment consumer buying trends over his Latino and African American market study indirectly by the Executive Vice President on an urgent basis. 4. In spite of Jane’s continual support and necessary interventions in order to keep up with the timeline to fulfill the s.o’s, Lyndon continued to be indifferent towards his job role. 5. Jane was...

Words: 591 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Jensen Shoes: Kravitzsjane

...Case Study: Jensen Shoes: KravitzsJane This paper is about analyzing the case of “Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitzs”, and it focuses on one very important thing that almost all essays that are done on this Case Study fail to mention. The case “Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitzs” has one specific thing, which is stating that the story was told from memory by Jane Kravitz. This is very important information and because of this, we can assume that the story may not be 100 percent accurate, and may also contain a slight bias since we are only given Jane’s perspective. As will be pointed out in the following section, each individual’s perception will have a major influence on the attitudes and behaviors exhibited throughout this case. The problem begins when Chuck Taylor, who is the Director of Strategic Marketing, provides negative information to Jane about one of her new staff members Lyndon Brooks by stating that he had not received very good performance reviews over the last three years that he had been with the company. Despite the fact Jane had worked with Lyndon in the past claiming that he was a very charming African-American businessman who had a way about him that suggested he could be a star if given the right situation and motivation, Chuck’s negative comments about Lyndon influence her thought process regarding Lyndon stability to perform well and meet expectations. This corresponds to the social information processing model; in which ³people adopt attitudes and behaviors in...

Words: 307 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Jensen Shoes : Jane Kravitz Story

...Case Facts Jensen shoes established in 1953 was a leading manufacturer of high quality athletic shoes and casual footwear. They valued their employees as much as their customers and sensitivity to employee issues both work and personal was a hallmark of Jensen shoes culture. Being the leading marketer in the United States the company enjoyed a highly profitable position which they held on till 2003. Sales had begun to flatten and the situation arose where they had to diversify their product lines in view of long term viability. Organisational Structure Problem statement Jane Kravitz and Lyndon brooks came into a situation with different motivations and perceptions. Brooks felt that he was being demoted by being taken off the line management and this interfered with his plans of advancing within the company. While, Kravitz also wanted to be a successful manager and prove that as a woman she is a strong leader who can deliver results and motivate her team to complete their task at hand. Reasons One of the reasons which led to the disagreement between Lyndon and Jane was because of the lack of proper goal setting. One of the key factors in acquiring desirable results is setting the right expectations for subordinates. For Jane delivering results was the biggest concern and she had the stereotyped belief that men are better managers, she wanted to prove that women can be equally capable and she can excel in the management role given to her. This made her expect a lot from...

Words: 1156 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Jensen Shoe Case

...Study 1- Jenson Shoes The story begins with an African-American man named Lyndon Brooks, an employee at Jensen Shoes. Recent trends have identified a shortcoming in the company’s casual wear department. Brooks is therefore reassigned under the leadership of Jane Kravitz, much to his dismay. Several strategic objectives are formed to handle this shortcoming. Of these, two of the strategic objectives were assigned to Brooks, the Latino and African American markets. He was given a four month period to complete both objectives. According to a report pertaining to Brooks’ thoughts and impressions, he felt as if both the time allotted and the quality of manpower assigned to these two tasks were unreasonably lacking. Therefore the completion of both strategic objectives within the given timeframe to Brooks was infeasible. After several heated discussions between Brooks and Kravitz, Jane agreed to reassign the African-American strategic objective leaving only the Latino vertical markets to Brooks. Identifying the problem: Brooks vs. Jensen Shoes An important aspect to remember is that this case may contain a slight bias due to the fact that it is represented through merely Brooks’ perspective. Lyndon Brooks, a well educated Sociology graduate, is assigned to work under Jane Kravitz, manager of casual wear at Jenson Shoes. We see from analyzing the given report that Brooks had expressed disdain from the beginning. Initially assigned as a “Product Promotions Manager,” Brooks had already...

Words: 1982 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Jenson Shoes

...Jensen Shoes Case The main obstacle that Jane Kravitz faced in this case is that one of the staff members she was responsible for supervising, Lyndon Brooks did not carry out the tasks he was assigned. Brooks was responsible for developing a marketing strategy for the African American and Latino population. As the deadline was approaching Kravitz was not seeing any progress from Brooks. Brooks also told Kravitz that he wanted to go to a trade show and take the week off after that as well to stay with his brother. This was one of the many issues that Kravitz faced with Brooks who did not take his given deadline seriously. Kravitz decided to offer Brooks her assistance with the project but Brooks replied by saying that he had never wanted to be in this position. This was another issue in this case that Kravitz had to face and was responsible for. Kravitz later approached Brooks and made it very clear that now was not the time for him to slack off. Brooks kept on resisting but they finally came to an agreement that he would do only one of the projects. This is an additional issue in this case because Kravitz shouldn’t have had to give Brooks that option. By doing this Brooks also added extra work for Kravitz to do on top of all the work that she already had been assigned previously which frustrated her even more. In order to keep Brooks motivated Kravitz threw him a birthday party, hoping it would inspire him to meet his deadline. Kravitz  checked in with Brooks and asked him...

Words: 1540 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

500 Extraordinary Islands

...500 extraordinary islands G R E E N L A N D Beaufort Sea Baffin Bay vi Da i tra sS t a nm De it Stra rk Hudson Bay Gulf of Alaska Vancouver Portland C A N A D A Calgary Winnipeg Newfoundland Quebec Minneapolis UNITED STATES San Francisco Los Angeles San Diego Phoenix Dallas Ottawa Montreal ChicagoDetroitToronto Boston New York OF AMERICA Philadelphia Washington DC St. Louis Atlanta New Orleans Houston Monterrey NORTH AT L A N T I C OCEAN MEXICO Guadalajara Mexico City Gulf of Mexico Miami Havana CUBA GUATEMALA HONDURAS b e a n Sea EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA Managua BAHAMAS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC JAMAICA San Juan HAITI BELIZE C a r PUERTO RICO ib TRINIDAD & Caracas N TOBAGO A COSTA RICA IA M PANAMA VENEZUELA UYANRINA H GU C U G Medellín A PAC I F I C OCEAN Galapagos Islands COLOMBIA ECUADOR Bogotá Cali S FR EN Belém Recife Lima BR A Z I L PERU La Paz Brasélia Salvador Belo Horizonte Rio de Janeiro ~ Sao Paulo BOLIVIA PARAGUAY CHILE Cordoba Santiago Pôrto Alegre URUGUAY Montevideo Buenos Aires ARGENTINA FALKLAND/MALVINAS ISLANDS South Georgia extraordinary islands 1st Edition 500 By Julie Duchaine, Holly Hughes, Alexis Lipsitz Flippin, and Sylvie Murphy Contents Chapter 1 Beachcomber Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Aquatic Playgrounds 2 Island Hopping the Turks & Caicos: Barefoot Luxury 12 Life’s a Beach 14 Unvarnished & Unspoiled 21 Sailing...

Words: 249855 - Pages: 1000