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Group 3 - Case Study 2 - Jensen Shoes - Final
Group 3 - Case Study 2 - Jensen Shoes - Final
Group 3 - Case Study 2 - Jensen Shoes - Final
Jensen Shoes
By:
Mustafa Rokerya (140301011)
Narendra
Kumar
Singh
(140301012)
Pavan
Narayan
Roy (140301014)
Praveen
Sathyanarayan
(140301016)
Shishir
Kumar
Sinha
(140301018)
Case Summary:
Jensen Shoes, a trendesetter and the leading marketer in the US of
high-quality athletic and casual footwear for children and adults, was
established in 1953 by its founder Kenneth Jensen who was fond of
saying "At Jensen Shoes we value our employees as much as our
products." . Over the years, the company was plagued with issues
pertaining to sensitivity to employee. This case delves into one such
instance where two sides of a set of events, one perceived by a
strategic product manager, Jane Kravitz, and the other by one of her
staff, Lyndon Brooks , and how those events led to a conflict between
the two are furnished.
The context for the case is as follows: Prior to the start of year 2004,
the management identified that the company had been having steady
growth in sale of athletic and chilgren's wear shoes over the previous
decade but was lagging behind in sales of casual wear. The flat sales
growth in casual wear necessitated the need of the company to
diversify product lines and strengthen long-term industry viability.
Thus in January 2004, the company's executive management asked
Sally Briggs, VP of Marketing, to define opportunities for new markets
and new products. Briggs, in turn, assigned Chuck Taylor, Director of
Strategic Marketing, to develop a major marketing strategy within the
span of 6 months so as to report the same in time for the annual
board of director's meeting. To develop the plan, Taylor had assigned
the responsibility to three Strategic Product Managers. Kyle Hudson
for athletic shoes, Robert Murphy for children's shoes and finally Jane
Kravitz who handled the marketing plan for several vertical markets in
casual wear such as African American, Latino, Mature, College, Preteens, Men and Women. Kravitz had three staffs in turn, Lyndon
Brooks who was assigned to Latino and African American markets,
Larry Bunton for College and Men's markets and Cheryl Abbott for Preteen and Women's markets.
First side of the case : Having concerns about Brooks willingness to
complete the comprehensive marketing plan for the Latino and
African American markets, Kravitz approached Patty Russel, an HR
professional, to discuss her concerns.
Case Analysis:
Before the first staff meeting with Jane, Brooks felt that she seemed
like a decent person with a good track record and after the meeting,
Jane laid out the timeline for the proposal and delegated the
individual strategic objectives.
(Later Assumptions)
2. Jane seemed as a micro-manager: Instead of batting for Brooks
with Chuck as Brooks had expected her to, she sent him a memo
Brooks liked her and during the one-on-one meeting, Brook was given
an opportunity to raise his concerns to Jane and moreover, she
empathized with him and even offered to help him find a new job. In
addition,
2. Jane seemed supportive: Brooks appreciated Kravitz' s support after
she gave him some information about how the company was already
Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad
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using recycled materials in shoes and she also shared contacts and
ideas about how to get going, when Brooks shared to her his liking to
work in an environmental project.
3. Jane's helping mentality: Though Brooks thought of Jane as an
to Chuck, Brook's peers, Briggs and the EVP for a good job done in the
environment research assigned to Brooks by EVP, Brooks believed
that Kravitz was going a little overboard recognizing him.
(Later Assumptions)
5. Jane's seemed to show an unpredictable behavior: Initially
Brooks when Kravitz rant about his San Diego trip though everyone in
office built comp time into a business trip. Besides this the fact that it
wouldn't have cost any extra lodging expense to the company made
the repeated ranting more unreasonable to him.
7. Jane's seemed to be distrustful of Brooks: It seemed to Brooks
Jane seemed a bit aggressive in her approach when she dragged out
his past performance reviews and then told him about finding it hard
for her to find a new job for him in the company. He felt the same
before too when she sent him a contract after negotiating on s.o's .
Brooks assumption about Kravitzs motivation:
Motivation is directly proportional to performance given the right
environment and the ability and therefore if an employee is not
motivated then performance will suffer (P=M+A+E).
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Page 5 of 10
breathing down her neck and thus this pressure and fear of failure
was a motivation for her to show him that she could handle situations
thrown at her.
2. To prove her worth as a supervisor : She had mentioned to
Brooks that Chuck was insisting to get things done. She was driven to
prove her worth as a supervisor to Chuck.
(Later Assumptions)
2. Brooks seemed someone who liked to work alone and
Brooks was evasive and not forth coming about his true intentions
when it came to his trade show visit in San Diego. He, according to
Kravitz, was planning to combine business tri with a personal trip but
did not make his intentions transparent to her.
6. Brooks seemed to have an irresponsibile attitude: Kravtiz felt
that Brooks was passing on the blame, not owning up to his
responsibilities and excusing himself from his duties just by saying
that he had earlier on intimated Kravitz about his career intentions
and had shared that two s.o's are a big load on top of the special
project.
7. Brooks seemed unreasonable: Kravitz felt that Brooks seemed
was hoping that the special project assigned by EVP would develop
into something more that could get him back into track and get
appreciated and recognized along with it. To help Brooks with this,
Kravitz even shared the accomplishments memo to Chuck and other
colleagues.
3. Have the best of both- mix business with personal things:
Recommendations:
Q3) What Brooks and Kravitz have had to do differently to
have shown her trust in Brooks skill and abilities and she could have
shown more interest in his professional growth. Brooks on his part,
needed to come out of his disappointment with the earlier project and
should have focussed on task at hand . He should have taken the Sos
assigned to him by Kravitz as a new initiative. Instead of using lack of
experience of African American market as an excuse he should have
taken it as a challenge to work in an unexplored territory.
Based on the observed behaviour of Brooks, we strongly recommend
he should be provided a training on teamwork. As for Jane Kravitz and
Chuck Taylor, they seemed to be lacking effective managerial and
leadership skills. If their subordinates are demotivated and lacking in
their work, then they needs encouragement and motivation. So we
remmend training in Managerial and Leadership skills for Chuck and
Kravitz.
Q4) What were the perceptual biases in the case and how
Jane on her part wanted best for Brooks but she herself was unsure
how to align his deliveries with his performance. As per the case, she
asked Ron Johnson, Director of Distribution to consider Brooks for an
opening in his team. But Ron reminded her that Brooks background is
marketing. When she told Brooks that it was hard to find a new job for
him, he did not take it too well. Brooks started assuming that he was
being stereotyped and as a result he was not able to give his hundred
percent to the organisation.
Key concepts:
Motivational Theory
Leadership Style
Communication
Process Perspectives
Expectations
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