Problem Statement: After working at Modern Lighting Industries (MLI) for a short time Jamie Turner is confronted with differences between the president, Pat Cardullo, and himself. Jamie is concerned that the relationship between he and Pat has grown to be unpredictable and frustrating, which is causing much uncertainty. Analysis: 1. It may be that the hierarchy in the organization struggle with conflict management. While working at his first job out of college Jamie’s boss had taught him that a cardinal rule when handling subordinates: “Praise in public, censure in private. Jamie had notices after a few months at MLI that Pat treated other employees more volatile and unpredictable. More often in meetings Cardullo was using profanity and raising his voice. Jamie felt that Pat’s behavior was extreme and unnecessary. He was starting to have concerns that the manner in which Cardul
...lo was managing were turning out to be destructive. Another conflict that came about was when Juanita Swenson brought Jamie Turner a spreadsheet which showed some cash flow concerns.
When they approached Julie Chin about the situation she gave an explanation and stated that the cash flow of MLI is strong. Unsatisfied with the explanation, Turner went to Cardullo and they all had a meeting that afternoon. Pat could not see the problem and disregarded the matter as unimportant. This incident diminished the relationship between Julie and Jamie. These types of conflict situations are discussed in the article “Too Hot to Handle? How to Manage Relationship Conflict” (Edmondson and Smith, 2006).
They describe the difference between task conflict and relationship conflict. While the conflicts within MLI start off as task conflicts, they tend to eventually become relationship
conflicts. MLI meetings tend to debate the hot topics regularly with the same points being repeated. After a while the discussions start becoming more personal, it is at this point when Cardullo displays a more aggressive and frustrating characteristics. These emotions constrict the flow of progress and can have negative impacts. Pat has primarily displayed these characteristics at various times.
One example is when he insisted that Ernie Dennis change the layout of the warehouse so he could get a better idea of what was in inventory. When Cardullo was told that the change would be less efficient and that the computer system was capable of getting accurate information he became furious at Dennis and demanded the change. Another incident occurred when some sensitive information leaked. Pat had accused Jamie that it had to be one of his team members regardless of not having any evidence to support his accusation.
Turner had mentioned the situation at a staff meeting. After it was brought up Cardullo abruptly left the meeting and slammed the door. These types of incidents tend to create ““organizational faultlines” – interfaces in a firm where tensions build and eruptions occur causing potential damage. ” The search advisor that had introduced Jamie to MLI had informed him that Julie Chin and Pat Cardullo had a strong working relationship. After Julie felt threatened by Juanita and Jamie it was apparent that there were some organizational faultlines. . It may be that there are generational differences between Pat and Jamie. It is Jamie’s assumption that Pat is in his mid-fifties. Pat has worked his way up the corporate ladder within the Triple S organization. Cardullo was the
only high-level executive to handle the acquisition of Modern Lighting Industries, which was probably the reason that he was the president of MLI. Jamie is only 32 years old and had just recently completed his MBA. He also has not been in his position with the organization nearly as long as Pat Cardullo has been.
As discussed in the article “What Are They Thinking” there are many differences in how each generation interprets and reacts to experiences. Being a part of the Boomer Generation, Pat displays characteristics that fall in line with the article. Boomers are very competitive and strive for individual recognitions and achievements. Pat comes across to Jamie as denying reality, ignoring unpleasant truths, not leading the company, while glorifying his accomplishments. While Jamie displays characteristics of the Generation X in his behaviors.
He tends to network in a larger group throughout the organization. Jamie also handles issues more relaxed and choice orientated. Pat portrays Jamie as a typical Generation X with what he perceives as disloyal, disconnected, and an unwillingness to accept responsibility or challenges. 3. It may be that there were different psychological contracts between Jaime and Pat. In the beginning Jamie Turner had gotten the strong impression that Pat Cardullo was intending on having Jamie take over as president of MLI in the next few years.
During the interview process Cardullo had stated that he was only at MLI until the organization could find a young, aggressive, intelligent manager could be found to take over for him. Pat had given Jamie the impression that he would be a likely candidate. After six months of being with MLI Turner started observing how the relationship
between him and Pat had gone sour. Jamie also noticed the autonomy had declined severely and felt his chances of advancement had diminished. The article “Note on Managing the Psychological Contract” describes the expectations of a person and the company as portrayed by the management.
Each party has its own set of expectations for the other in the relationship in terms of giving and receiving. While Pat Cardullo never specifically said the Jamie Turner would be hired on as the Vice President of the Marketing/Sales Division for anywhere from 12-24 months before being promoted to the President of Modern Lighting Industries, Jamie felt that Pat had strongly implicated that this was the intended plan. Now that the relationship between Jamie and Pat has started going sour Jamie is feeling that the promotion is not likely to happen. 4.
It may be that there are competing commitments. Pat is spending half of his week in San Diego and the other half in Chicago. It has been suggested by suggested by Alan Oliver, as well as Jamie Turner, on separate occasions that Pat focus entirely on one location. The competing commitment could be between the success Pat has had in San Diego is different than his situation in Chicago. Jamie could be experiencing his own competing commitments as well. Turner states that after presenting the business plan to COO Arthur Lipsky he was concerned about having to perform.
While the idea of one day perhaps being the president of MLI was intriguing to Jamie, the pressure of being a peer instead of a subordinate to Pat could be causing a competing commitment. The article “The Real Reason People Won’t Change”
discusses that people tend to unwittingly apply efforts to resist change. Pat has had success and having things go his way, being in control, and has a higher standard of expectations. Turner had sensed that Pat sees other employees as either competent or not and had a distrust for those he found incompetent.
Pat is assuming that these employees are going to fail if he does not step. Jamie states that the relationship between him and Pat has diminished over the past six months. Turner has also shown concern for the pressure that comes with having to perform at higher levels within the organization and he is worried that he may not have what it takes to be successful. The more success that Jamie has generated the more tension between him and Pat. Jamie may be concerned with losing his support from Pat by moving from a mentee to a peer position. 5.
It may be that are diversity differences between Jaime Turner and Pat Cardullo. Pat had the belief that each manager should run their own area with minimal assistance from other departments. He also stated that there should be good communication between the top executive teams as well as management by objectives. Jamie took a slightly different approach than Pat. He communicated with all employees well. In doing so Jamie found out that he and Bill Cook had a lot of things in common. He recruited Bill Cook, from a reluctant Julie Chin, as a product manager.
The diversity between each manager can be seen throughout the article. Their differences can be explained by their paradigms from the article “Making Differences Matter. ” Pat Cardullo displays
more of an assimilation paradigm. The company hires a diversity of employees, but each person is intended to focus only on their specific duties. Jamie shows that he is more of an integration paradigm by his eliminating of hierarchy within departments. Recommendations: •The company should start to implement new strategies for conducting meeting. Focus on team building activities. ?Internal team building by creating focus groups of differing personalities to force communication. ?Have an annual company luncheon with assigned seating to give other department personnel an opportunity to socialize throughout the organization. ?External team building activities, such as a Base Camp Training Facility that require teamwork and communication of various ideas to solve challenges. •Have each manager present ideas to generate more growth for the organization. Jamie and Pat should communicate the expectations that each has and re-evaluate each of their psychological contracts. •Allow for employee suggestions, anonymous if preferred, to help improve the company. •Implement random feedback from various employees in the company on the management. •Have each person examine the feedback from other employees and evaluate if the assumptions are accurate. •Discuss with the CEO, Alan Oliver, about Pat Cardullo focusing his efforts entirely in San Diego or Chicago. •Involve other departments that might not normally be included on projects.
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