Novartis Brazil is an operating unit of Novartis, which is a major developer and provider of products to protect and improve health. Patrice Zagamé became the president of Novartis Brazil in 2002. When he arrived, Zagamé found a company with poor financial performance for two consecu- tive years and losing market share following four consecutive layoff rounds. Employee morale was low. There was a topdown culture with employees showing low accountability for the overall results. Also, the members of the leadership team were not accustomed to challenging each other.

Zagamé contends that “team-based decisions [have]

better quality.” His leadership style is to openly challenge proposed decisions and encourage the expression of different opinions. When any employee disagrees with his perspective, Zagameé’s natural inclination is a willingness to understand.

So, he asks the employee to explain his or her opinion. In team meetings, he brings a topic up for discussion and waits for members to express their perspectives before closing the topic. Even when he needs to give an order, Zagamé makes sure to first listen to the employee and then use a tone of voice that is respectful but, at the same time, firm. As a leader, he models an invitation to “speak up.”

With the head of human resources, Ney Suva, Zagamé

started a number of initiatives to develop a program called Speak Up. They started by working with the leadership team members. Zagamé requested that he and Suva prediscuss an issue with each other before bringing a proposal to the executive team meeting, fostering horizontal debate. Zagamé also emphasized that it was the responsibility of each member of the leadership team to model the culture expected in his or her functional area. Toenable that behavior, the team focused on the leadership style of each member and identified what that person had to modify to leverage the whole process.......................

Questions 

1. What team dysfunctions appeared to exist at Novartis Brazil when Patrice Zagam arrived as the president?

2. What norms appeared to exist upon Zagam's arrival and what norms did he work on changing and adding?

3. Why is Zagam an effective team leader?

4.How was member diversity valued by Patrice Zagam and Ney Suva, the head of human resources?