Jensen Case Study

Facts Jensen Shoes is a company that specializes In athletic and casual shoes for adults and children. Chuck Taylor, the Director of Strategic Marketing, Is assigned to develop a marketing strategy to strengthen the company’s long-term viability. Jane Gravity is one of three Strategic Product Managers working under Chuck. She is responsible for developing the marketing plan for casual wear. Lyndon Twitched joined Jensen Shoes as the manager of the Special Promotions group.

HIS team failed to complete all of their strategic objectives. Chuck transferred Lyndon to work under Anne Gravity. Chuck told Jane negative things about Lyndon. Lyndon is responsible for developing a marketing plan for the African American and Latino markets – the same ethnic groups he was assigned to work on In his previous project. The executive vice president assigned Twitched to work on a special environmental project along with his two strategic objectives.

Twitched is worried that he will not be able to complete all tender AT Nils agelessness.

Jane tells ml to Touch on ten special project Tort ten time being. Jane praises Twitches work on the environmental project, while Chuck only gives him negative feedback. Chuck informs Jane of the urgency of the completion of Lyndon strategic objectives. Jane becomes more curt and task-oriented when dealing with Twitched.

Twitched feels let down by Jane and does not understand the change in her behavior, which was previously supportive and friendly. Twitched informed Gravity that he would not complete both strategic objectives.

Gravity agreed that he would be responsible for only one strategic objective – the Latino markets – even though she preferred for him to work on the African American markets. Jane gave Lyndon a contract, which outlined the terms of their agreement regarding his ark. As a result, Twitched felt betrayed and that Jane did not trust him. Issues 1 .

Expectations 2. Leadership 3. Boss Management 4. Performance Management Expectations A manager’s role is to set clear, positive expectations for his subordinate.

However, in this case, senior management, Chuck Taylor, and Jane Gravity fails to fulfill this aspect of their management role.

The lack of clear priorities and expectations lead Lyndon to perform poorly and to have bad relationships with his bosses. Solutions Benefits Drawbacks Solution A: The managers along the whole chain of command need to constantly communicate tit one another and set positive expectations for Twitched. 1 . Twitched will have a clear set of priorities and expectations to fulfill 2. Work objectives are likely to be met 3.

Twitched will produce a higher standard of work 1.

Time Consuming 2. Delay of work progress Solution B: Each manager should focus on communicating their own expectations clearly 1 . The goals are clear to ten squadrons e 2. Achieve some results 3. Time efficient manner of coaching subordinates on the company 1. High pressure 2.

Two sets of goals, which leads to a confusion of priorities Solution C: Micromanage the subordinate 1 . Close interaction between managers and subordinate 2. Open communication about expectations 1 . Managers undermine subordinates’ ideas and contributions. . Time consuming The solution that would help Jensen Shoes the most with their unclear expectations problem is Solution A.

It is very important for the people who are involved in managing Lyndon – senior management, Chuck, and Jane – to constantly communicate and update each other about their plan and work objectives for Lyndon, to consistently provide Lyndon with positive feedback and to set high expectations for him. Lyndon was assigned multiple tasks from his various managers – the executive vice president (EVE), Chuck and Jane.

The EVE assigned him a special project on environmental buying trends while Chuck and Jane assigned him to work on a marketing plan for the African American and Latino vertical markets. With multiple instructions from various managers ranking on different levels it is confusing and difficult to know which task to prioritize over the other. It is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that the employee has a clear set of priorities, and that he understands what the desired results are for each task.

The EVE is at fault for not informing the other managers about his goals and plan for Lyndon.

Chuck and Jane are also at fault because, after they heard about the special project from Lyndon, they should have taken responsibility to approach the EVE to discuss the importance of the special project versus that of the tasks that they had assigned to Lyndon. If they had communicated with one another they would have been able to come to a mutual agreement regarding which tasks Lyndon should prioritize. As a result, Lyndon would have had absolute clarity about the importance of each task and he would feel a desire to accomplish them.

Also, with all of the managers on the same page and with the shared knowledge of one another’s goals, Lyndon would not have been incorrectly condemned for being behind on working on his strategic objectives.

The absence of this incorrect condemnation would remove some of the resentment Lyndon has towards his bosses. According to the “self-fulfilling prophecy’, subordinates will generally rise to the level of performance that their superiors set Tort teen. I Norte, a Key Doctor In aqualung cleared results Is setting high, positive expectation for subordinates.

Unfortunately, Lyndon bosses were unsuccessful in doing this. Chuck conveyed his low expectations for Lyndon multiple times throughout the case, setting him up for failure from the beginning.

Although Jane chose to give Twitched the benefit of the doubt at first, Chucks negative opinions influenced her to also have low expectations of Lyndon. As managers, it is Chuck and Cane’s Job to deal with Lyndon in a positive manner. They should utilize any opportunity available to them to provide Twitched with positive feedback when he deserves it and to show him that they expect great things from him.

If Twitched feels that his bosses think highly of him and appreciate his work, he will put the maximum effort into his work and push himself to live up to their high expectations. The drawbacks of Solution A lays in the fact that it is very time consuming for managers to consistently communicate and update one another about their work objectives and goals. Since managers are usually swamped with work, it is difficult to arrange a time that all they can have an organized meeting.

If managers do not find the time to communicate with one another, it can delay the subordinate from beginning to work on his assignments, thereby stalling the entire work progress. However, the advantages of waiting for the managers to communicate with each there outweighs the drawbacks because it will result in a clear set of priorities and expectations for the employee to live up to, which ultimately results in a better standard of work. Leadership The ability to build relationships, motivate people, and influence desired outcomes is key to being a successful leader.

Chuck Taylor failed to exhibit the skills necessary to be an effective leader. His poor leadership led to a bad relationship with his subordinate, Lyndon, and made it difficult for him to attain his work objectives. In addition, Cane’s outbursts of poor leadership also hurt her relationship with Lyndon.

Develop a leadership- training program for all of the managers in the company 1. Improve leadership skills 2. Greater relationship between managers and subordinates 3. Work objectives will be accomplished 1. Time consuming 2. Costly Listen to subordinates concerns and input 1 Staleness openness Ana strength subordinate 2.

Subordinate feels valued news ten relations D teen ten manager Ana e 3. Subordinate will have a greater desire to do assigned tasks 1. Diminishes hierarchy 2. Time-consuming 3. May be ineffective Be an SSL leader the whole time: be direct and demanding 1 .

Work objectives will be accomplished 2. Reinforces hierarchy 1. Fear is the driving factor 2. Breeds tension between manager and subordinate 3. Subordinate feels further demoted The most effective solution for the leadership issue would be for Jensen Shoes to develop a leadership-training program for all of the managers in the company.

The proper training can teach managers how to be more effective in identifying situations where a leadership style different from their own is needed.

It will also provide managers with an understanding of the traits that make up a successful leader, such as being trustworthy, honest and able to motivate employees to do their work. If Chuck and Jane attend such a training program they can internalize the knowledge to determine which traits they must work on in order to become better leaders. The first problem with Chucks leadership is that he his words and actions were inconsistent, which diminished Lyndon trust in him.

For example, before Lyndon was hired to work at Jensen Shoes, Chuck gave him the impression that he would be able to take part in deciding which target populations to focus on for the Special Promotions project. However, upon being hired, Lyndon discovered that Chuck didn’t utilize his input.

If Chuck attended the leadership training he would have learned of the importance of building a relationship of trust and honesty with his employees and could have altered the way he started off his relationship with Lyndon. The capacity for Lyndon to trust Chuck is essential to his ability to perform at his best.

So, if Chuck learned to be a more reliable leader it would ultimately elicit better work performance from Lyndon. Another reason Chuck was a poor leader is because he was unsuccessful in motivating Lyndon to do his work. The program would teach snuck Tanat one AT ten Deluges motivators Tort employees Is recognition Tort tenet good ark and encouragement along the way. Even though Lyndon did not complete the strategic objectives of his first assignment, the ones he did do were of great quality.

Additionally, the work Lyndon did on the environmental project was also good – even Jane praised it.

However, Chuck failed to provide Lyndon with even an iota of positive reinforcement for any of the work he did. Chuck chose to only focus on the negative aspects of Lyndon work, which led him to feel like he failed and to lose his confidence in his working abilities. Chucks lack of recognition and encouragement to Lyndon hurt their relationship even more. A common issue to both Chuck and Jane is their inability to delegate well.

The leadership program would teach them that the key to delegation is identifying the strengths of your subordinates and capitalizing on them.

It is also important to find out what each team member enjoys doing the most; in most instances, if the subordinate is fond of the task he will put more thought and effort into his work. Lyndon first assignment was to work on the African American and Latino markets, a task he did not enjoy and was not confident he could do well. Even though he expressed his concern about working on his assigned market to Chuck, Chuck did not assign him a new market. As a result, Lyndon was not able to complete his strategic objectives.

Jane later made the same mistake as Chuck; she assigned Lyndon to work on the same target markets, which led to the beginning of the existing conflict between Lyndon and herself.

The program would teach Chuck and Jane to be better listeners, to mind heed to the concerns their employees present to them, and to delegate tasks based on each subordinates individual strengths. Becoming an effective and successful leader is an ongoing process, not a one-time thing. It takes time to learn and practice leadership skills until you can impolitely internalize them.

Therefore, one leadership-training session will not improve the manager’s leadership skills. For true improvement to take place, Jensen Shoes must implement the program into their company and have all the managers regularly attend training sessions. The drawbacks of doing this is that it is costly to hire a team of leadership and managing consultants and it is time consuming.

However, the benefits that the program will give all of Jensen Shoes’ employees are worth the money as well as the time. Boss Management An employee is not personally responsible for success in his or her career, rather it is he manager he/she works under.

In this case study of Sense’s marketing team, Lyndon Twitched displays poor boss management. He is so concerned with his own career and how he will move up the corporate ladder to the extent that he ignores the assignments given to him from his boss, Jane Gravity. Jane is the manager who will evaluate his performance and give him a review. She is not going to evaluate the work he wishes to perform, rather she will Judge him based on what she needs him to complete in order for her to complete the team’s overall goals.

Just as Jane allocates work to Lyndon, Chuck also gives Jane a goal.

With Lyndon slacking on his work it makes it difficult for Jane to achieve her goal, which in turn makes her look bad. This only hurts Lyndon and causes Jane to view him in a negative light. Lyndon needs to improve on his boss management by concentrating on the tasks Jane assigns him. Once he makes Jane look good he will be rewarded with praising evaluations Ana Improve Nils position In Jensen, Just as en sealers. Lyndon should reevaluate his concerns in a typical workday.

He will concentrate on Cane’s needs as opposed to what he thinks is best for his own career. 1. It is proven

Lyndon is bright and can deliver great work when giving an effort. Once his priorities are in line with Jane they will both benefit. 2.

Jane will receive quality work from Lyndon and receive recognition for a Job well done from her own managers. 3. In turn, Lyndon will receive praise from Jane and possibly a promotion as he made her look good 1. Lyndon may be incapable of seeing past his own needs. Consequently, he will continue to fuss about his assignments and give Jane a hard time. 2.

In the case that Lyndon does not improve, it will waste a lot of time that could have been spent developing an alternate employee. 3.

Jane may miss her deadline on her S. O. ‘s or deliver subpart work.

Solution B: Jane can prepare regular performance reviews for Lyndon so he can better evaluate his work. 1. With regular evaluations Lyndon will be up to date with his performance. 2. He will be able to better identify his strengths and weaknesses. 3.

Jane will have Justification in the case that she is forced to fire Lyndon. 1. This can result in a huge waste of time in the event that Lyndon does not improve. 2. Some people are unable to see past their own thoughts; Lyndon may be one of those people. If he is, his goals will never be aligned with Cane’s.

Solution C: Jane and Lyndon could spend more personal time with one another, allowing Lyndon to learn from Jane. 1. If the two spend more time with one another Lyndon might naturally repetition his objectives with Cane’s objectives. 2. Lyndon will learn to be sufficient on his own without the need of reprimand from Jane. 1.

It will take a lot of time for Lyndon to learn these techniques naturally. 2. Jane needs good performance now in order to be able to deliver her project on time. She cannot afford to wait for Lyndon to become a team player. T Is Lyndon responsibility to ensure Tanat en Is stressful In ten workplace.

It snouts not be Cane’s, Chucks, Match’s, or any other person’s responsibility to teach Lyndon how to work.

If he cannot complete his work and deliver it with quality, he will be fired. First, Lyndon needs to reevaluate his priorities. Lyndon is too caught up in his own success and doing projects that will be most beneficial for him. He seems to forget that Jensen Shoes hired him for the things he can do for the company, not vice versa. Regardless of what he thinks is best for him, his career, or even the company, he needs to focus on what is best for his boss, Jane.

Jane received the position she did cause of her exceptional skills and her ability to fulfill the company’s goals.

While it is her responsibility to guide her team, it is Lyndon responsibility to execute the duties assigned to him to the best of his abilities. Lyndon needs to realize that the work he does for Jane is mutually beneficial for the company as well as for him. In reality, the only way for Lyndon to succeed is by aligning his priorities to those of Jane. By satisfying Cane’s objectives, he is actually fulfilling the company’s objectives. In turn, the higher management will recognize Jane for her good work, which will lead

Jane to recognize Lyndon for his good work too.

By making sure his priorities match Cane’s priorities, Lyndon is ultimately putting himself in the best light possible, which could lead too raise or a promotion. Lyndon needs to hold regular discussions with Jane. In these conversations Lyndon should make a note of her goals and all the work that needs to get done to achieve these goals. Once he unveils this information he must pick the tasks he knows he can best complete and execute them with outstanding performance. One discussion is not enough with Jane. The market is constantly changing and with it so are goals and priorities.

Lyndon must stay up to date with Jane, to ensure they are on the same page at all times. Performance Management It is understandable that people make, environments change, and funding can dwindle. All these aspects may lead to an under performance on an assigned task or failure to meet deadlines. In Lyndon case, he has failed to complete his work assigned to him way too many times. Jane should have noticed this and checked up on Lyndon performance regularly. Instead, she left Lyndon to work on his own only to find out three months down the road that Lyndon will not be able to complete the work assigned to him.

Solutions

Require weekly status reports. 1 . Jane will remain up to date with the work that Lyndon completed each week. 2. Jane will have the ability to tend to problems as soon as they arise, as opposed to being hit by a big problem in the end. 3.

This will cover Jane in the case of a default. She has the proof of the reports to show Lyndon should have been up to date. 1. This can be time consuming; it will take time away from Jane to perform the work she needs to get done. 2.

If Lyndon does slack off, time will have to be taken to assist him in getting back on track. 3. Lyndon may not be truthful in his reports in an attempt to sake him look better.

Solution B: Jane can fire Lyndon and seek a new employee. 1. Firing Lyndon will get him out of Cane’s hair.

2. If she hires an A employee she will save a lot of time and not have to worry about their performance. 1 . Hiring a new employee takes time and effort, which she does not have to spare. 2. Jane might end up with an employee that is the same or even worse than Lyndon.

3. Even if she hires an A employee a lot of time will have been wasted during the process. Solution C: Jane can give Lyndon the strategic objective (S. O. ) he wants to do and assign the other to an alternate team member. This will result in quality work from Lyndon by giving him work he is excited about.

2. Better performance on the alternate S. O. Since if Lyndon was the one to complete it, his heart would not be into it. 1. Assigning the work elsewhere will tamper the amount of time the employee had to work on his S.

O. Originally. 2. This would not send the right signal to Lyndon – that if he complains enough he would get his way. Lyndon is at fault for not completing his assigned work because of his poor personalization of responsibilities.

It is not Cane’s Job to baby-sit her employees by regularly checking on their progress.

However, Lyndon already has a reputation of underperforming so in order to protect her own reputation, Jane should regularly be checking up on which work Lyndon completed. Jane should have mandated reports on what Lyndon completed each week to make sure he meets his deadline, which would allow Jane to meet her own deadline. Instead, she left Lyndon in the hopes that he would surprise her by completing the work, only to be left with disappointment. Lyndon slacked and there is no way he will meet his deadline. Now, it is Cane’s reputation that is at stake because she will likely be late in her proposal.

Even IT seen does meet near anemone, ten quality AT ten work seen leavers wall De poor and inadequate. Jane should require weekly performance reports from Lyndon. In these reports, Lyndon should lay out the work he must complete each week in order to meet his deadlines with each assignment. Lyndon must list the tasks he did not complete on time, the reason he did not complete them, and his plan for making up the lost time. In order to save her own time, Jane can have another employee read the reports and ask him to present them to her when a red flag appears.

If there is nothing wrong here is no need to waste Cane’s time.

However, if there is an issue Jane can step in and correct it when it first appears, rather than wait until the issue develops into something that she cannot fix – like Lyndon last minute declaration that he cannot complete both strategic objectives that were assigned to him. These reports will allow Jane to protect her reputation. If Lyndon claims he is keeping up on his work but really is not, Jane can present these reports to her boss to show Lyndon deception. If Lyndon is not keeping up with his work, Jane can use the reports as a justification to fire him.