...E. GREINER ELIZABETH COLLINS A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 5:25 A.M. Sweat dripped onto the handlebars of Alex Sander’s StairMaster. Sander was half an hour into a cardiovascular workout, while carrying on a conversation in the fitness center of the downtown condominium complex with a neighbor who was climbing steadily on his own StairMaster. At 32, Alex was the newest, and youngest, product manager in the Toiletries Division of Landon Care Products, Inc., a cosmetics products company headquartered in Connecticut. In just over one year with Landon, Alex had successfully rebranded two national skin care products. In January 2007, Landon had been acquired by Avant-Garde, a multibillion-dollar European beauty company. Alex: I’m getting my first 360° performance review today from my boss, Sam Glass. But I don’t have the time to waste on this exercise. I need every second to focus on my new Nourish product launch, the most challenging marketing assignment I’ve had so far. Avant-Garde sees Landon as their ticket to market share in the United States. But everyone in Landon’s Marketing Department is being 360’d this month, since the vice president of Avant-Garde’s Consumer Products Division started pushing for them. Neighbor: I’ve heard of 360’s, but the biotechnology firm where I work sticks to a traditional review system. How do they actually play out? Alex: It’s basically a feedback tool. You get input from supervisors...
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... | | |Final Exam | | |A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: | | |Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products | | | | Prepared June 14, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. BRIEF SUMMARY - 1 - II. TOP TWO OR THREE ISSUES/PROBLEMS IN THE CASE - 2 - A. Alex Sander’s lack of Emotional Intelligence is alienating the product staff. - 2 - B. Develop Alex’s potential talents to insure success for the product group and for Alex individually. - 4 - III. Alternative Solutions to problems in which I have identified. - 6 - A. Solution for Alex Sander’s lack of Emotional Intelligence is alienating the product staff. - 6 - B. Solution developing Alex’s potential talents to insure success for the product group and...
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...E. GREINER ELIZABETH COLLINS A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products 5:25 A.M. Sweat dripped onto the handlebars of Alex Sander’s StairMaster. Sander was half an hour into a cardiovascular workout, while carrying on a conversation in the fitness center of the downtown condominium complex with a neighbor who was climbing steadily on his own StairMaster. At 32, Alex was the newest, and youngest, product manager in the Toiletries Division of Landon Care Products, Inc., a cosmetics products company headquartered in Connecticut. In just over one year with Landon, Alex had successfully rebranded two national skin care products. In January 2007, Landon had been acquired by Avant-Garde, a multibillion-dollar European beauty company. Alex: I’m getting my first 360° performance review today from my boss, Sam Glass. But I don’t have the time to waste on this exercise. I need every second to focus on my new Nourish product launch, the most challenging marketing assignment I’ve had so far. Avant-Garde sees Landon as their ticket to market share in the United States. But everyone in Landon’s Marketing Department is being 360’d this month, since the vice president of Avant-Garde’s Consumer Products Division started pushing for them. Neighbor: I’ve heard of 360’s, but the biotechnology firm where I work sticks to a traditional review system. How do they actually play out? Alex: It’s basically a feedback tool. You get input from supervisors...
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...SITUATION Alex Sander is a young and promising product manager in the Toiletries Division of Landon Care Products Inc. Over the past year, he has successfully rebranded two of Landon’s skin care products in the United States. Alex has created a winning enviornment at the Toiletries Division by applying very high standards to everyone, and often pushing his staff to the limits. A recent 360 degree review has revealed that Alex’s strong drive to succeed has come at a cost, as his staff are highly disenchanted by his iron-fisted ways. (Alex has since discounted the importance of the these findings.) Sam Glass, Alex’s direct manager, is one of the three Product Group supervisors and is coordinating the 360 degree Performance/Feedback Review discussion with Alex. As part of the 360 process comments have been recorded from selected individuals higher and lower in the organizational hierarchy that the individual receiving the feedback. Sam is scheduled to have a discussion with Alex on his 360 process comments and has indicated a contradiction with the results and Alex’s self-assessment. ANALYSIS Alex Sander is described by his staff as a successful, but overly-critical, narcissistic, demanding and inconsiderate micro-manager. These attributes fit the Harvard Business Review Guide to Office Politics’ (Dillon 2013, p. 15) description of a “Control-Freak Boss”. With reference to the Guide, it must be understood that Alex is behaving in this manner not because he is evil. Firstly...
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...Situation Alex Sander talented product manager of Landon Care Products, Inc. is new in Landon though she has proved herself in a very short period of time and her talent is attractive to the management, but problem arises with peers and co-workers. Namely it shown in Alex’s style managing projects and team. Alex demonstrated very aggressive and intolerant managing style what bring constraint within team he leads. This situation is clearly described on 360° performance review process. After acquisition Landon Care Product by Avant-Garde European multi-billionaire beauty company, stakeholder-owner decided to review efficiency and internal work cycle by initiating 360° performance review process. Mentioned tools is commonly is a feedback system and will allow to top management evaluate management and low level employees performance. More widely it will show gaps on management system and whole relationship within team. Alex’s manager Sam Glass provides her a 360° performance feedback review which was used for the first time in Landon. Sam Glass wanted that Sander will analyse those reviews and find out her strong and weak sides. Sam Glass has a very personal interest in keeping Sander at the organization, though Alex Sander stood with her own values, and treated the 360° feedback process as an unnecessary thing. ProblemS Based on 360° performance review system, I have summarized major positive and negative feedback and will try to expand problem. Level of Colleagues | Positive...
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...Case Analysis Module One: Promising Manager that Won’t Get Out of His Own Way MBA 6200 Situation Analysis: Based on the reading, Alex Sander appears on one hand to be a driven and energetic manager. He appears to be the kind of employee that upper management would want to have in place for results oriented progress. Strengths and weaknesses (combined as these traits can be good or bad depending on the environment and situation) * Alex is a focused individual * Not afraid to take larger than normal risks for the result of a bigger payout/success for himself and the company. * Committed to doing whatever is needed to succeed in the task. * Very self-confident * Has the ability to multitask and to ensure that the project is on task and will be completed within the allotted time frame if not earlier. Unfortunately, not all is good about having Alex as the product manager. There are opportunities for success within the team and relative teams but the abruptness with which Alex directs and communicates can be felt throughout the material. Even his immediate supervisor has reservations about him in the position. Opportunities and threats * Team is willing to assist him in the product rollout * Alex has no work life balance * Arrogance is interfering with how the team responds to him and feels about their role and position on the team. * Lack of people skills shows the inability for him to motivate and guide his team; he is taking on...
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...Mathew Hale September 17, 2012 MGMT 770 Alex Sander Case Analysis The case of Alex Sander is the epitome of an organizational behavior issue within a successful organization. It addresses issues of a young, motivated and extremely intelligent Product Manager at a large skin care company within the US. Alex Sander has always had the entrepreneurial spirit and his resume certainly backs that up. Along with his broad degrees of education from highly accredited universities, he has a diverse range of entrepreneurial experience and an aspect cultural diversity. The main issue of this case is how to effectively deal with, and cater to, an employee who is outstanding in terms of work performance, but lacks the traits of an effective leader, mentor and team manager. Alex Sander, according to the case, is viewed as an egotistical and narcissistic go-getter who stops at no end to get things done. While these traits were originally intriguing to the company as it was mentioned in the case that he was offered the position knowing he would “make waves” and scurry things up, it now poses a great concern within the company’s culture, how they would like to function and how they would like their departments to be ran. Discernibly, employee turnover, satisfaction and retention are key focal points of any organization. They want certified employees in specific places who will enable the business to run efficiently and act in the best interest of the company. This makes things difficult when...
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...Alex Sander’s Organizational Behavior Review Alex Sander is the project manager at Landon Care Products, Inc. Alex is smart. Alex is self-driven. Alex is an asset to his company in that he makes intelligent decisions, faces challenges straight on, and confidently makes things happen while getting things done. In over just one year at Landon, Alex rebranded two national skin care products. Sam Glass, Alex’s supervisor, expected Alex to cause waves within the work place when he hired him, due to his aggressive personality. This is exactly what happened. What Sam failed to predict when he hired Alex a year ago, was the extent to which Alex would cause waves among co-workers. A recent 360( review conducted at Landon justifies Alex’s disregard for co-worker’s feelings. And while this performance review is the issue Glass wishes to address, Alex has recently voiced an interest in moving further up in the company to a higher, more influential position. Alex sees himself as a leader. The problem is that while his co-workers respect him, they do not see him as a team leader. In order to help Alex become a leader, Glass needs to help Alex address this critical issue. And because of Alex’s personality, this will not be easy. Alex’s personality needs to be briefly addressed to help clarify the reasons behind the problem he is having at work. Alex has the personality characteristic of Machiavellianism, which according to Robbins and Judge, this means that he is pragmatic...
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...A Day in Life of Alex Slander Problem Statement To identify method in which Sam Glass can effectively implement 360 degree feedback system and utilize it in developing the leadership attributes in Alex Sander. PESTCL Analysis Political: External trade unions can create havoc over employees working for long hours and denied holidays by Alex Economic: Avant-Garde’s skin care products division is aiming at achieving major US market share by launching the product “Nourish” by acquiring the company Landon Care Products Technological: With the advent of new technological interfaces people are able to communicate with the virtual teams across several countries and are able to receive work related feedback. Cultural – The acquisition of an American company, Landon by a European company Avant-Garde created some differences in the work culture of Landon. American employees have to work with their European colleagues, where the cultural differences were high as well. SWOT Analysis SWOT of Alex Sander Strengths | Opportunities | * High commitment to work * Entrepreneurial abilities * Excellent decision making skills * Multitasking * Open to learning opportunities * Good product/market knowledge * Is willing to mentor * Inquisitive/curious * Successfully rebranded two national skin care products- confidence and experience * Relentless * Generous and acknowledges good performance * Proactive | * To get into broader planning areas in Landon * Develop...
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...A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ALEX SANDER: DRIVING IN THE FAST LANE AT LANDON CARE PRODUCTS CASE ANALYSIS PROBLEM STATEMENT: What course of action Sam Glass should take in order to channel Alex’s talent which can progress team work serving success group including Alex personally, besides suggesting any modifications in 360ᴼ feedback process. PEST ANALYSIS: There exists no significant external factors to be analyzed, except: Economical factor: Avant-Grade a multi-billion-dollar European company trying to have a market share in United States Cultural factors: the timing and culture of work may differ because of European and American cultural differences Social factors: ALEX SANDER: Positive aspects-(strengthening factors): * Rebranded two skin care products in past successfully for Landon company. * Works hard and forces team to produce the same kind of work. * Ready to accept any kind of challenging works that he face and committed to his job. * Willing to master any job that he is doing or going to do. Negative aspects – (weakening factors): * Does not care about the appraisal system in the company. * Does not value relations with the peers. * Lack of socializing skills. * Does not respect emotions and rude to employees. * Get incensed easily. Areas of improvement: * Chance of mentoring the staff in a positive way in existing company and produce the best fit team * Choose another firm where...
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...helping Sander progress at Landon? The 360 degree data draws a “good vs. evil” portrait of Alex. He is a sort of incarnation of House, MD, a main character of a famous TV series: he is a high performer, but he has a lack of ability to work well with others. Narcissism, Machiavellianism and arrogance are three important negative traits of his personality emerge from the data and from the case. Alex’s Napoleonic temper negatively affects his work environment causing nervous and distressed co-workers without seeing anything wrong with this situation as long as the job gets done. Therefore his co-workers respect him, but they do not see him as a team leader. If I were Glass, I would invest more time in helping Alex progress in Landon. First, I would read and analyze his 360 performance review with him because there are plenty of comments on Alex that should open his eyes to his arrogance. Since he is a narcissist, it would be hard to get Alex admit his weakness, but he definitely needs a wakeup call to let him fully understand and take seriously this issue. If he wants to be a well rounded leader, he absolutely needs to understand how his attitude affects others emotions and work performance. For this reason I would implement a reward system that takes into account also his ability to evaluate co-workers contributions, not just economic or financial goals. I would suggest Alex to go to counseling to help him relate to others, and workshops on performance reviews to teach...
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...ROLES OF MANAGEMENT IN AN ORGANIZATION 1 The Most Important Concept in the Role of Management in an Organization T. Wright Holy Family University ROLES OF MANAGEMENT IN AN ORGANIZATION 2 Abstract In reading the three assigned articles/case study “Managing Your Boss”, “When a new manager stumbles, Who’s at fault?”, and “A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the fast lane at Landon Care Products” and looking back on some of my own work experiences I have realized that there are many key concepts in the roles of management in an organization. But there are a few key concepts in particular that I believe are the most important in the role of management in an organization. In this paper you will read about things that stuck out to me from the three articles and some of my personal work experiences that relate to messages the authors are trying to portray in these articles which include actions that I notice managers, employees, bosses, and myself take where I work every day and my opinions on how things could be done differently for the good of the company. I hope you enjoy reading this paper and also learn something along the way as well. Keywords: concepts, experiences ROLES OF MANAGEMENT IN AN ORGANIZATION 3 I thought this week’s readings were very interesting. Each reading provided different concepts in the role of management in an organization. The concept that I believe is the most important in the role of management in an organization...
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...For the exclusive use of V. THANGAMANI KEL158 Revised May 8, 2009 MARK JEFFERY A&D High Tech (B): Managing Scope Change After successfully planning and organizing the A&D High Tech online store project, project manager Chris Johnson was promoted to vice president of e-business. Eric Robertson returned from his leave and assumed the position he had left as the project manager for the online store. In late summer 2003, Johnson began hearing whispers from his colleagues that the project was in trouble. On August 20, CIO Matt Webb frantically approached Johnson in his office. He had just fired Robertson and wanted Johnson to serve as the interim project manager. For more than three months, Robertson had told Webb that the project was on track, but suddenly he changed course and told Webb that he “guessed” it would be at least one month late and that costs would overrun by more than 20 percent. This was hardly acceptable, since it was imperative that the project be completed in time for the holiday shopping season. The project had strategic importance to the company and was integral to its holiday promotion strategy. Webb explained to Johnson that there was an additional challenge: the vice president of marketing wanted to create “promotional bundles” for the holiday season. Promotional bundles are a collection of items bundled together and sold at a lower cost than if the items were purchased individually. A&D’s trial promotions with some retailers had shown...
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...INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT UDAIPUR Post Graduate Program in Management, 2012-2014 Written Analysis and Communication 1 Rogers cable: First Time Right Program WAC Assignment 1: Case Analysis Submitted to Prof. Gita Chaudhuri Submitted by Santosh Meena Roll No-122085 Section B On 21 July 2012 Letter of Memorandum To, Andrews Piderit, Director Process Engineering Warren Barbour, Director Process Engineering From: Alex Sander, Executive Assistant Date: 21 July 2012 Subject: Report on the recommendations for the First Time Right Program A rise in the large number of redundant truck calls have been reported following a decrease in the customer satisfaction levels. Investigations have come up with many issues pertaining to inefficient field service technicians, lack of inventory, tools. The main aim is to install the products right at the very first place to avoid a significant financial wastage for rework revisits. Introduction of feedback system, Inventory Management System, Training programs and First Time Right program. Effective management of inventory, tools, trainings and First Time Right (FTR) program will have to be taken into account. These are to be implemented in a systematic way without much delay. Words: 106 Content Page: Situation Analysis …………………………………………………… The problem / Objective……………………………………………...
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...KEL156 MARK JEFFERY A&D High Tech (A): Managing Projects for Success In his twelve years as a technology project manager at A&D High Tech, Chris Johnson had a strong track record of delivering projects on time and on budget. His techniques for project planning, estimating, and scheduling had become best practices at the St. Louis-based computer products company. He had just led a project team that successfully revamped the supply chain systems in less than eighteen months. He was especially proud since many observers had doubted that the project could be completed on time. As part of the strategic initiatives set forth by its CEO and founder, Ted Walter, A&D was to be second to none in utilizing technology to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs. The supply chain project therefore received notable attention in the boardroom and with its competitors. Time and again, Johnson was asked to tackle difficult assignments that were critical to the company’s growth and profits. He had already been mentioned as the successor to the vice president of e-business, Chuck Gagler, pending his retirement. (See Exhibit 1 for the A&D High Tech organizational chart.) In early May 2003 Johnson received an urgent message from the company’s CIO, Matt Webb. Webb asked Johnson to join him for a meeting with A&D’s senior managers to discuss taking over the company’s online store project. Johnson realized that up to that point the company’s top brass had virtually ignored...
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