Case Study #1: The Kobayashi Maru' Players: Name Position Alex CEO Jamie VP, R&D Chris Dept. Manager Pat Staff Tracy Staff Rene Staff Stacy Staff Leslie Patient Personality Calm, logical, and customer-oriented. Things must make sense above all else. Always gives others benefit of doubt. Controlling and confrontational. Seen as an icon and "always right" by the staff because of tenure and advanced degree. Extremely passive-aggressive. Extremely narcissistic, rigid, and hostile to others. Manipulative and passive-aggressive. Very loyal to Pat. Very controlling and loyal to Pat. Not customer-oriented. Passionate, logical and action-oriented. Things must make sense above all else. Has a Ph.D., and is retired from original career. Very friendly. General Background Information: Acme Incorporated is a medical/science laboratory that has been in business for more than 35 years. Originally started by three people, it is considered home to more than 150 employees, and is a predominant fixture in the community. However, in 1999 the CEO was terminated because of financial mismanagement. From 1999 to 2003, two additional CEOs were hired and terminated by the Board of Directors. In 2003, an interim CEO, Alex, was hired; however, Alex was not given the appropriate authority to match the level of accountability. Upon Alex's arrival, Acme had depleted most of its cash reserves, was operating in a negative cash-flow position, the tensions between Board and Staff were at an all-time high, and the number of projects in operation far exceeded the organization's capacity to deliver on those projects. One of Alex's first tasks was to develop a business plan for the Lost Leader project, which was started in 1990 as a small, one-person side project that had grown to 35 full and part-time employees by 2003. Unfortunately, by 2003 the Lost Leader project was consuming too much cash without generating adequate revenues, and Acme's Board of Directors wanted immediate corrective actions taken. After some initial reviews, Alex discovered that (1) the Lost Leader project offered a unique sales and marketing opportunity for Acme because no other organization in the region offered a similar program, and (2) no one in the organization knew the actual costs of running the program. During the next few weeks, Alex worked very closely with Jamie, Chris, Pat, Tracy, and Stacy to create a 3-year business plan that would make the Lost Leader project (1) cash neutral, (2) capitalize on the program's unique marketing opportunities, and (3) make public education a key element of Acme. The program was presented to, and approved by, Acme's board, which felt it was a good match with the company's mission. The first phase of the approved plan involved building a small patient-care facility that would be the focal-point of many future business initiatives. The vast majority of the funding came from local donors and businesses that believed in the Lost Leader project. After construction, the new facility opened to an excited community and a large media event. Within a short period, patients arrived. One special patient, Leslie, arrived in May 2004. Stacy, a part-time employee, and Leslie developed an immediate friendship. Situation: As an outgrowth of their friendship, Stacy began conducting extensive amounts of research into Leslie's condition (Stacy has a Ph.D. and is highly qualified to conduct research). During the business plan creation process, Alex spoke with Stacy several times, because Alex wanted to find ways to capitalize on sharing - and publicizing Acme's name within academic and scientific communities. Naturally, Stacy was pleased at being able to conduct more research and share the information with others. In December 2004, Chris went on vacation and left Pat in charge. Being the holiday season, Stacy gave Leslie a gift that was well received. However, Pat was infuriated by this action, and proceeded to remove the gift from Leslie's room, chastised Stacy for inappropriate behavior, and prohibited Stacy from interacting with Leslie. Stacy - being a logical person who had retired from corporate America - questioned Pat to better understand the reasoning behind the reprimand, but Pat merely responded by stating, "This is the way it is, and I'm in charge". Not willing to accept Pat's answer, Stacy discussed the event with the department manager, Chris, and Jamie. The end result was Stacy being yelled at by Jamie for causing problems and not following rules. When Stacy asked to see the rules, they were never presented. Additionally, Chris indicated that Stacy did not have the appropriate certifications to interact with Leslie. Stacy responded by telling Chris that the appropriate certification documents had been signed by Chris, and that Chris was to have submitted the papers to the appropriate governance body. Chris told Stacy that the sign- off was for "another certification", then walked away from the conversation. Neither Jamie nor Chris informed Alex of the situation, but ultimately, Stacy approached Alex to discuss the matter in privacy. Stacy requested that the situation be settled, and that interactions with Leslie be allowed to resume. After interviews were conducted with the appropriate staff members, Alex determined that Pat's December orders were not warranted, and preventing Stacy from interacting with Leslie benefited no one. Furthermore, Alex's review of the staff certification process revealed significant errors and risks to the organization; therefore, Alex demanded immediate corrective actions be taken, better documentation created, and complete transparency be made available to all Acme staff members. On January 15, 2005, Alex held a meeting with Jamie, Pat, Chris, and Stacy to settle the matter. Alex asked that a copy of all information pertaining to (1) current laws and (2) Chris' and Pat's certifications/licenses be kept in the executive offices and be available for review by senior staff. Alex also informed everyone that Stacy was to be allowed to resume interacting with and researching Leslie's condition. Although Jamie, Chris, and Pat agreed to the orders at the January 15th meeting, they ultimately ignored everything. Around this time, Chris' staff begins to reduce the overall quality of care given at the new facility. When confronted by Alex, Chris and Pat indicate they never agreed with the new business plan, and that Alex would need to hire additional personnel. Between January 16th and March 31st, Alex held six more meetings with Jamie, Chris, and Pat to understand why problems were not being resolved in an appropriate and timely manner according to the directions provided. Following each meeting, a detailed memo was drafted and distributed by Alex to review all points discussed, clearly define the expected outcomes, and establish due dates. In every case, Jamie, Chris, and Pat agreed to what had been discussed in front of Alex, then ignored all tasks and due dates. Furthermore, Jamie, Chris, and Pat began talking about the situation with other employees, which caused significant tensions between staff and senior management. Not only did Chris and Pat ignore Alex's orders to allow Stacy to interact with Leslie, but they decided that Rene should review Stacy's interaction skills to determine if future interactions would be allowed. When Stacy learned of the new barrier, Alex was immediately informed, who in turn confronted Chris and Pat about not following orders. Chris and Pat cannot understand why Alex will not accept their new "review-of-Stacy" idea, and were outraged at Alex's lack of support. Additionally, Jamie confronted Alex and stated that Alex's role is to support the decisions made by Acme's senior management. Alex did not believe Pat's accusations about Stacy, and decided to independently monitor Stacy's interactions with Leslie. As expected, Alex never found any evidence whatsoever to support Pat's claims, and actually discovered evidence to the contrary. When Alex confronted Jamie, Chris, and Pat about the findings, Alex learns that Jamie, Chris, nor Pat have ever actually watched Stacy interact with Leslie. In other words, they fabricated all the stories about Stacy's behavior and incompetence. In mid-March, Tracy suddenly walked into Alex's office, placed a tape-recorder on the conference table to record the conversation, and accused Stacy of harassment. Tracy demanded to know why after four years of following all the rules, no special privileges had been granted or promotions offered? Tracy also demanded to know when Stacy would be terminated and Pat's authority reinstated. Alex informed Tracy that Pat's authority had never been revoked, but that several tasks were not completed by Jamie, Chris, and Pat per Alex's instructions. Tracy indicated that Alex's tasks would not be necessary if Stacy were terminated. Outside of Alex's office, Tracy continued to promote hostility towards Stacy. At the end of March, Alex finally received all the legal documents requested on January 15th. After carefully reviewing them, Alex noticed a significant discrepancy Pat had been working under false pretenses and did not have a current certification. In fact, Pat had not submit the annual dues and renewal paperwork for the current year until February 1st-after the aforementioned January 15th meeting when Alex was informed all licenses were current. Alex immediately confronted Jamie, Chris, and Pat about the latest findings, and two days later, Alex was given a Cease-and-Desist order by Pat. Pat indicated that since Alex did not have any certifications, job orders could not be issued. Jamie immediately indicated that the entire situation was Alex's fault for not supporting the decision to remove Stacy. Lastly, many staff members began expressing their opinions to Alex, and indicated that Jamie's wishes should be final (because of tenure). Unbeknownst to Alex and the senior staff, Pat had started a blog on a personal website, and had been posting negative comments about Alex and Stacy. After receiving the Cease-and-Desist order, Alex contacted the governing body that oversees the certification/licensing process to better understand Acme's options. Alex finally learned about recent changes in the laws - which neither Chris nor Pat informed anyone about and that a lack of a recognized and licensed individual on staff would result in the immediate removal of all patients and the closing of the Lost Leader project. All of Chris and Pat's staff were sub-licensed under Chris' master license; therefore, without Chris' support, the project would be doomed. Unfortunately, Acme's cash flow position limits Alex's options, since the company cannot afford to hire someone new at a higher salary, nor can Acme afford to relocate someone from another area.