{"id":785,"date":"2015-12-25T20:45:11","date_gmt":"2015-12-25T09:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/casestudyhelp.com\/sample-questions\/?p=785"},"modified":"2018-01-25T17:08:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T06:08:42","slug":"management-case-study-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casestudyhelp.com\/sample-questions\/management-case-study-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Management Case Study Help"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0A Personal Struggle with the Definition of Success<\/span><\/h2>\n

Conversation with a successful investor\/partner in a private equity firm<\/p>\n

In my experience, conversations about ethics in business often ring false, especially in educational
\ncontexts. It\u2019s difficult to get to a real level of honesty.<\/p>\n

I see business leaders taking public stands on various values-based issues, like organizational diversity
\nor the treatment of employees or transparency or the refusal to take bribes. But most people, especially
\nearly in their careers, are not in a position to drive organizational changes.
\nThere is a big distinction between making the courageous and correct moral decision for oneself, and
\nbeing in a position to implement something systemic throughout the organization. And even making the
\n\u201cright\u201d moral decision for oneself can often feel like a career limiting move if the wider organization
\ndoesn\u2019t seem to value that choice.
\nIn order for the organization to change, someone at a senior level has to care about the issues. So people
\noften think to themselves, I will make compromises early in my career in order to make it up the ladder,
\nand then I will take action based on my values when I am in a powerful leadership position and can
\nreally make a difference. The problem with \u201cwaiting it out\u201d in this way is that all those compromises can
\nchange you. Generally if you behaved a certain way to get to your position – whether actively
\ninappropriate or passively looking the other way – that is who you are or who you have become (despite
\nwhatever personal narrative you have invented to justify your choices along the way).
\nWhen I have faced highly political behavior that conflicts with my own values, I have generally chosen
\nnot to play. Don\u2019t misunderstand; I\u2019m not an altar boy, and I have made my share of mistakes in treating
\npeers and team members badly or being dishonest in deal negotiations. But my best decisions about
\norganizational politics and mudslinging have not really felt like choices to me at all, because I\u2019m just
\nbeing who I am. It\u2019s important to realize that these choices do not necessarily lead to \u201cmovie endings;\u201d I
\nhave paid a price in career success and money (and honestly, the sacrifice hasn\u2019t always felt \u201cgood\u201d just
\nbecause I did the \u201cright\u201d thing). But as I said, there are some things I just was not willing to do.
\n1 This case was inspired by interviews and observations of actual experiences but names and other situational details have
\nbeen changed for confidentiality and teaching purposes.
\nThis material is part of the Giving Voice to Values curriculum collection (www.GivingVoiceToValues.org).
\nThe Aspen Institute was founding partner, along with the Yale School of Management, and incubator for Giving Voice to Values (GVV).<\/p>\n

Another thing I\u2019ve noticed is that, contrary to the aforementioned rationalization that \u201cI will be freer to
\nact on my values when I\u2019m more senior in the organization,\u201d the higher I\u2019ve gone in my career, the more
\nlimited and pressured I often feel with regard to my values. The competition gets tougher (because the
\npeople remaining in the game are less likely to have the most pristine values or integrity) and we all get
\nmore sophisticated about how to play and survive. Most importantly, the stakes get higher and there
\nseems to be more to lose \u2013 personally in terms of family responsibility and ego and financial success as
\nwell as professionally in terms of platform and position \u2013 all of which makes it harder to be courageous.
\nAnd I suspect people get better at marketing themselves the higher they go in an organization, so they
\ncan defend more types of behavior. Then when they finally rise high enough to run the show, they talk
\nabout values, but everyone knows the path they took, and they rarely make those values the cornerstone
\nof success for the next generation of employees.
\nI guess it\u2019s important to say that these generalizations may not be true in every company or industry and
\nalso that entrepreneurs may have more ability at an early age to make the right decision \u2013 but even these
\norganizations or entrepreneurs have to answer to investors or markets who don\u2019t really care about values
\nor at least don\u2019t make their investment decisions based on values.<\/p>\n

\"Hire<\/a><\/p>\n

An example:
\nA number of years ago, I built a new area of investments that eventually became an over $1 billion
\nportion of our $2 billion private equity fund. I was relatively young for the level of responsibility I held
\nand I found one of my new peers within the firm to be a highly successful, older and, in my view, rather
\ncynical partner. This partner\u2019s approach to colleagues as well as competitors was hostile and
\nmanipulative, and I figured that he would eventually blow himself up because of the enemies he made. I
\ntried to ignore him and stay out of his way, knowing that he probably saw me as a threat since I had
\nmade it to the same level at such a young age. I tried to help the guy when I could, thinking maybe I
\ncould generate good will by being a team player (or at least distinguish my behavior from his).
\nBut I was wrong about everything. Over time, this guy did not blow himself up (He was a talented
\ninvestor and a good manipulator, and his investment track record allowed him a free behavioral pass
\nfrom his superiors.) and he found ways to push my buttons and to call attention to any possible mistakes
\nI made. He made the environment intolerable for me. I found myself making angry speeches to the CEO
\nin the shower in the mornings, calling for him to rein in this partner. But in the end, I knew that
\neveryone already knew this guy was behaving badly and my complaints about him would not be news.
\nPeople just accepted the partner\u2019s bad behavior because he was talented. And the only way I could
\nchange the situation would be to fight at his level, using political tricks or slander to turn folks against
\nhim. I just didn\u2019t want to go there.
\nIt didn\u2019t even feel like a moral or values-based decision; it was just not who I was or the way I wanted to
\nlead my life. Eventually I left the firm and I lost a lot by doing so. Yes, my career has continued to be
\nsuccessful, but not as successful as his in the American definition of the term. I still look back at that
\nexperience with discomfort. If I had known what I know now, I would have left sooner because I was
\nangry and miserable for a long time. I just couldn\u2019t bring myself to believe that the situation couldn\u2019t
\nwork out differently. I just found it hard to accept that talented but bad people can, in fact, \u201cwin\u201d in such
\nsituations. Is that OK? I am still ambivalent about it. I don\u2019t think I would have admitted it at the time,
\nbut my decision to leave once I knew the situation wouldn\u2019t change was delayed somewhat by the high
\ncompensation \u2013 so I did allow myself to be bought up to a point.
\nThis material is part of the Giving Voice to Values curriculum collection (www.GivingVoiceToValues.org).
\nThe Aspen Institute was founding partner, along with the Yale School of Management, and incubator for Giving Voice to Values (GVV).
\nNow Funded by Babson College.
\nDo not alter or distribute without permission. \u00a9 Mary C. Gentile, 2010
\n3
\nSo you may ask: why am I still uncomfortable? Clearly I have continued to be successful in my career.
\nThat partner didn\u2019t ruin me and what\u2019s more, he didn\u2019t change me. I was true to myself, even if it took
\nsome time, and I didn\u2019t hurt anybody else. So what\u2019s the problem?
\nI\u2019d like to say I feel better because I took the high moral ground but in reality, it didn\u2019t feel like a choice.
\nIt would not have been \u201cme.\u201d So the question becomes, why doesn\u2019t being the kind of person who
\nbehaves fairly and with civility ensure success, given the requisite talent and hard work and
\ncommitment? Or, on the other hand, why doesn\u2019t bad behavior ensure failure?
\nI\u2019d like to be able to embrace the classical definitions of success, accepting that true success is not
\nnecessarily about \u201cwinning\u201d or financial success or always being recognized and rewarded. I\u2019d like to be
\nable to embrace the idea that true success is more an internal than external phenomenon. But these ideas
\noften seem overwhelmed by real world evidence: they contradict the lessons we learn and the messages
\nwe digest every day in school, the media, our communities, about how society measures success. It\u2019s
\ndifficult for your typical hard-charging, Type A individual to accept that it\u2019s OK to make career-limiting
\ndecisions in order to maintain one\u2019s values.
\nOn the other hand, I look at students and young managers today and am inspired by their instinctive
\ninterest in social entrepreneurship, socially responsible investing, and their desire to live balanced lives.
\nIt feels kind of schizophrenic: there is clearly a yearning for change by so many individuals, but it is
\nhard to create systemic change at a pace that will actually impact our own careers and lives.
\nFor me, I have begun to think that the only way to deal with the frustration and ambivalence of these
\napparently contradictory messages is to put the idea of success and achievement into the larger context
\nof meaning in one\u2019s entire life. Work success is not enough; it\u2019s just part of a person.
\nStill, it is important to be honest about my being able to make this choice. It is easier for someone who
\nhas made a lot of money \u2013 whether it is $5 or $10 million, or $100 million \u2013 to make these decisions to
\nredefine success than it is when you don\u2019t have the same level of security.
\nSo I have begun to take the very challenges that concerned me in my own career and to work with
\ncolleagues who share my views, to take the very market system we have studied and mastered in our
\ncareers and to consider ways to use its strengths to support values-based organizations. The question I
\nam working on now is: what kinds of changes may be necessary \u2013 at the systemic, organizational and
\npersonal levels \u2013 to support those who want to succeed in business and still be consistent with their
\nvalues? And how can I play a leadership role in supporting those changes? How can we make the
\nvalues-based<\/p>\n

What do you think of this speaker\u2019s view that \u201cThe problem with \u2018waiting it out\u2019 in this way is that<\/p>\n

all those compromises can change you.\u201d? Do you agree? What are the implications of this<\/p>\n

perspective for you?<\/p>\n

\uf0b7 What do you think of his view that \u201cThe higher I\u2019ve gone in my career, the more limited and<\/p>\n

pressured I often feel with regard to my values.\u201d? Do you agree? What are the implications of this<\/p>\n

perspective for you?<\/p>\n

\uf0b7 On the other hand, the speaker also describes how difficult it is for someone to be consistent with<\/p>\n

their values when they are not at the \u201ctop\u201d of their organizations. Nevertheless, he then goes on to<\/p>\n

describe how he still managed to do so. What do you make of this seeming contradiction? And what<\/p>\n

do you think enabled him to make the choices he has?<\/p>\n

\uf0b7 Why was it so difficult for the speaker to accept that someone can behave badly and still be<\/p>\n

rewarded within an organization?<\/p>\n

\uf0b7 How do you think the speaker defines success? Do you think his definition of success has changed<\/p>\n

over the course of his career?<\/p>\n

\uf0b7 The speaker explains that although he acted on his values, he does not want to pretend that there<\/p>\n

wasn\u2019t a price he paid for doing so. Why do you think it is important for him to acknowledge that?<\/p>\n

\uf0b7 Why do you think he is working on the venture he mentions at the end of his conversation? What has<\/p>\n

he learned? What is he still trying to work out?<\/p>\n

\uf0b7 What are the most important lessons that you personally can derive from the speaker\u2019s reflections?<\/p>\n

How will you define success?<\/p>\n

(Alternatively, do you react to the speaker\u2019s reflections by feeling positive and empowered? If so,<\/p>\n

how? Or do you react to his reflections by feeling a bit stymied in your efforts to voice and act on<\/p>\n

your values in the workplace? If so, what would it take for you to transform that response?)<\/p>\n

\uf0b7 And, finally, how would you respond to the questions the speaker poses at the end of his remarks?<\/p>\n

\"Hire<\/a><\/p>\n

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