A largeinsurance firm decided to restructure one area of its business. Two separate businesses were being joined into one larger umbrella organization. Each of the separate businesses had been previously headed by senior women, Sarah and Meghan. Both women had been with the firm for more than ten years, and they were both seen as highly competent leaders who had run successful businesses of their own. The two women knew each other but had never worked together. The firm felt that by joining the two groups and setting up one organization, the new, larger business unit could capitalize on the strengths of each leader and create strong, cross-client synergies. Sarah and Meghan accepted the co-leadership roles with some skepticism but were willing to go along with the firm's vision for work. As Sarah put it, "when the firm asks you to do something like this, it is tough to say no without giving it a try."

The way the firm's management launched this reorganization created difficult obstacles from the outset. The firm combined the two business units and announced the co-head structure just before Meghan left for a three-month maternity leave. Meghan knew that this was extremely bad timing but felt she had no choice in the matter. She was adopting a child, and although she had given the firm notice about the upcoming maternity leave, she was not able to provide a firm date until the adoption was approved. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that challenged both women (as well as their employees) as the new business unit was formed.

During the three-month period when Meghan was on leave, the two women tried to stay in contact with each other and to make joint decisions via phone and email. At first this worked, but Meghan became increasingly frustrated as she realized that things were inevitably moving aheadpaths in the new business park were being wornand she was simply not there day-to-day to contribute to the decisions and co-lead the organization. During this time, Meghan was also in contact with some of her former employees who told her that they felt Sarah was moving ahead with the planning without adequate input from their side of the business. Eventually Meghan simply stopped responding to Sarah's emails and calls. She felt that Sarah's activity was just skimming the surface and she did not want to appear to be going along with the decisions that were being made. Sarah realized that Meghan was becoming increasingly distant but wasn't exactly sure why. She felt she had no choice but to move forward leading the newly formed business. The result was that as the new business endeavor emerged, Sarah became the de facto day-to-day head of the organization for the first three months.

As Meghan'sleave drew to a close, Sarah became increasingly frustrated and worried about what was going to happen next. She went to the human resource department and told a senior representative that the newly formed business had gotten off to a bad start because the communication between Meghan and her was inadequate during Meghan's leave. She said she was afraid of how things were going to unfold when Meghan returned to the division; some of Meghan's prior employees had become defensive and divisive and were withholding their support for the new business endeavor.

Human resources contacted an external consultant to come in to help address the conflict between Sarah and Meghan.

Q3: Would you talk to upper management- those who had designed the reorganization- about how the business reorganization was implemented? If so, for what purpose?