Name

Question 1

Lisa Benton had had joined Houseworld as an assistant product manager, with the expectation of gaining hands-
on classical marketing training. She had done her due diligence regarding the company. However, her initial
period at the company left her feeling disappointed in her decision. Listed below are some of the reasons that
her initiation period and specifically her relationship with product manager Linton and associate product
manager Scoville was fractious –

1. Her first meeting with Linton was an unpleasant one. This was the primary point of friction. Linton
displayed perception bias towards Benton as she stereotyped Harvard MBA graduates being arrogant
and by saying she does not like them.
2. Although Linton spend some time explaining the expectations and demands of the job, she did not set
clear objectives for Benton and deferred the task to a later time, beyond 6 weeks from Benton’s joining
and did so only upon being prompted by Benton. This left Benton unclear on the structure of the team
as she received mixed messages regarding her responsibilities in her new role.
3. It is important that a new employee feel welcome in the company, is integrated into the team
culturally and equipped with the necessary know-how in the assigned role. Failure on the part of her
immediate reporting manager Linton led to a disconnect from the very beginning. Linton also did not
spend much time in her role as a product manager to ensure a positive initiation and culmination of
professional relationship between Benton and Scoville.
4. Upon meeting Scoville, he was also aggressive in his approach, making his dislike for Harvard MBA
graduates clear, thereby stereotyping Benton in the process as well. He also voiced his opinion about
how some product managers and associates were successful in Houseworld due to their politics and
people pleasing. This could be construed negatively with respect to the work culture at Houseworld
and could have added to Benton’s feelings of disappointment at working in such an environment.
Scoville also assigned her menial tasks such as copying and collecting artwork approvals which Benton
felt was counterproductive to her job role.
5. The group product manager Richard Clark who she had met during the recruitment process also did not
remember or greet her. This added to her feelings of negativity in the new environment.
Question 2

Write your answer for Part A here.

Trait Example supporting the answer

Extraversion– Extraversion -
Introversion
 Scoville had trouble with social interactions and did not get along too
well with his colleagues. His statements about having an aggressive, no-
nonsense style approach and no patience for office politics implies he is
an introvert.

 Scoville also had trouble getting work done from others and ended up
doing these himself or delegating it to Benton.

Sensing–Intuition Sensing -

 Scoville prefers to stick to his routine and not delve deeper into the
details. He displays this behaviour in his interactions with Benton,
telling her about the highly structured environment and rules that she
must adhere to. He also did not take the time to understand that
Benton may have her own timelines and wanted his work done
immediately without regard to Benton’s work (The Copying Episode).

 Scoville was also occasionally apologetic for his behaviour and would be
open to feedback and understanding what he can do better as a
coworker. He can be considered intuitive to a certain extent.

Thinking –
Thinking–Feeling
 Scoville preferred a no-nonsense approach. He did not take any interest
in the personal lives of his co-workers and preferred to stick to doing his
job.

 Other employees of Houseworld have also complained about his

 From Scoville’s general demeanour it can be gleaned that he is not too flexible
or adaptive. His dislike for the organisation’s decision to have MBA graduates for
entry- level position implies he is not adaptable to new ideas and prefers the
structure he has been following since being assigned under Linton.

The Myers-Briggs or MBTI test can help companies identify, attract and engage suitable candidates for various
positions by assisting in a deeper insight into the candidate potential and characteristics. It comprises of four
scales –

 Introversion-Extroversion
 Sensing-Intuition
 Thinking-Feeling
 Judging-Perceiving

Scoville is likely to score as ISTJ in the MTBI test. They work most comfortably alone and prefer their own space.
Benton can try to improve her relationship with Scoville in some of the following ways –

1. As a first step, Benton should make it clear what she expects of Scoville in a professional setting. She
need not beat around the bush or feel intimidated by Scoville and should ensure he understands her
expectations. Benton must be clear and confident in the fact that she reports to Linton and not Scoville.
2. It is important to address any conflicts with ISTJ’ personalities openly. Benton does not need to be
afraid of coming across as an aggressive MBA when asking for more work or discussing the nature of
work with Scoville. However, she must also not rely too much on Scoville and must set clear boundaries
with him as well.
3. Upon understanding Scoville’s own frustration at lack of promotion, Benton should try to speak to him
in terms of practicality, reminding him of his professional contributions to the team and company and
striking a more friendly balance to their professional relationship.
4. ISTJ’s being methodical workers, Benton can have meaningful professional conversations with him that
relate to the nature of the work as well as the company in general. Trying to make a personal
connection or small talk would not be useful.
Question 3

The Johari window is depicted below –

In the case of Lisa Benton, she felt that Linton had failed to recognize her core strengths. Benton, like Linton had
also been the first woman manager in her previous role at Right-Way, was sociable and described as
enthusiastic by her peers at Houseworld. Additionally, she believed herself to be analytical, intellectual, and
organised as an employee. Linton on the other hand thought her to be lacking in confidence and lacking
initiative.

As per the Johari window, this situation represents the hidden area or façade or masked window where parts of
one’s personality are known to the person (in this case Benton) but are not known to others.

Lisa also has an unknown area – her inability to address conflict and manage her relationship with her manager.

As per the Johari window, there are certain aspects of Benton’s personality that are known to her but not to
Linton. Linton described Benton as lacking initiative where, at her previous role at Right Way, she has been
described as having a “roll-up-your-sleeves” attitude and credited with the new non-merchandising services that
she had successfully introduced. Benton had also displayed initiative by getting to know the company
(Houseworld) swiftly and being able to get along with her peers well. Benton is also described as being “bubbly
and enthusiastic” by her coworkers at Houseworld which is a sign of confidence. Therefore, Benton can utilise
some of the following tactics to improve her relationship with Linton -

1. First, Benton should request Linton to define a clear set of objectives for her and ask for more hands-on
work, since it is Linton that she reports to and not Scoville.

2. Secondly, Benton should try to display her major strengths i.e., her analytical abilities, intellectual
capacity, and organisational abilities more clearly with her work and increase her visibility to Linton.
She can also show initiation by taking an interest in other projects.

3. Third, it is important that Benton have clear answers and speak up during her presentations and
meetings with the ad agency rather than deferring to Scoville. Benton must not assume that Linton also
expects her to be in a “learning mode” as was asked by Scoville.

4. 4. Benton must also not be afraid to come across as arrogant and must voice her opinions respectfully
so that her demeanour reflects confidence.
 5. These are some of the ways in which Benton can expand her open area and Linton can appreciate the
skills brought to the team by Benton.

Question 4

It is clear from the informal discussion between Linton and Benton that there is a conflict due to personality
between Benton and Linton that is hampering Benton’s ability to adequately perform as an employee. A conflict
due to personality arises when the personalities of two people in a group do not match, as was the case with
Benton and Scoville. Benton had made it clear to Linton that Scoville has been overbearing and patronizing with
her. Linton acknowledges this, by saying that Scoville’s management style is not ideal. However, it is Linton’s
responsibility as line manager to ensure that conflicts are addressed properly. Linton should have intervened as
a moderator and resolved such conflicts in an unbiased manner, which she failed to do. She also displayed bias
in favour of Scoville by pointing out that she never had any problems with him, and that Benton should also be
able to work with him effectively.

A performance review is an important and continuous process that helps employees get continuous feedback,
receive advice on how to improve performance and increases employee motivation. On the management front,
it is also useful to identify deficiencies and create a corrective plan and identify their team members’ training
and development needs.

As a manager, Linton should improve her feedback mechanism in the following ways –

1. A performance review must not be one-sided and is cyclic. There must be mutual expectation setting. It
is equally important to understand and acknowledge the challenges faced by the employee is a
supportive and unbiased manner. Rather than brushing aside the conflict between Benton and Scoville,
Linton should have tried to understand more about the reason for such a clash and address is in an
unbiased manner.

2. Linton should have phrased her feedback more appropriately. It is important to give feedback and
provide positive criticism in a conducive environment. Rather than calling Benton under-confident and
unassertive, Linton could have asked Benton to contribute more during ad agency meetings. She could
have also encouraged Benton to take on additional responsibility rather than declaring her to be
lacking in initiative.

3. Linton could also have taken more interest in what Benton had to say regarding her work and
understand from Benton the areas that require additional training or improvement. As a manager,
 Linton should ensure that the employees’ outputs are in sync with the organisation’s goals. Linton
should have come up with a plan that she could work on with Benton to address and review
performance as necessary.

4. It should have been Linton who had initiated the performance review in the first place rather than
Benton having to ask for a performance review. Linton’s cold response (“If you really want one, I’ll sit
down with you in a few days and give you a performance review.”) added to Benton’s feelings of
disconnect with her reporting manager. Performance management is a continuous process, where the
manager must set goals and objectives, observe performance, and then give feedback. This is most
successful when it is done frequently.

Question 5

1. Physical engagement – Physical and mental efforts put in by employees while doing their job.
2. Cognitive engagement – Understanding the company’s vision and strategies as well as the expectations
from employees on what to deliver to contribute towards meeting the goals
3. Emotional engagement – Based on the emotional relationship that employees feel with their employer.

In the case of Lisa Benton, strategies that are a mix of all these dimensions could have helped her feeling more
motivated to work in Houseworld. Broadly, employee motivation can be characterised as intrinsic motivation
and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when an employee is working on a task without any visible
external incentives.

When looking at the case of Lisa Benton, some of the following strategies, a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation, could contribute towards her feeling more motivated in her role.

1. As part of emotional engagement, is important for Benton to develop a trusting relationship with her
reporting manager. It was erroneous on Linton’s part to defend Scoville’s behavior towards Benton and
referring to him as one of her best friends and someone with a good heart. This created an unsure
environment for Benton as she felt Linton’s affiliation towards Scoville did not leave much room for
Benton to address her issues objectively with Linton. Linton should have cultivated a separate positive
relationship with Benton which was unbiased. Lisa also did not receive a warm welcome during her
initiation period, which also affected her emotional engagement in the team. Therefore, Linton should
have initiated a more hands-on approach with Benton so that a trusting relationship could form
between them, especially in the initial stages of her joining.
2. As part of cognitive engagement, Benton should have been given clearer instructions and information
relating to the company, and more specifically its visions and strategies. Linton had assigned Benton
the product of Pure & Fresh, an air freshener brand. She was not given any instructions on the
necessity of the product or how it is in line with the organisation’s strategies. This left Benton feeling
that Pure & Fresh was an unnecessary consumer product as she did not have the required knowledge
of what that product meant to the company and what the contributions could have been.
3. As part of physical engagement, although Benton had been given product literature on Pure & Fresh,
her inability to expend her physical and mental energy were impeded as Scoville and Linton rarely
 asked for her opinion in ad agency meetings. There was no effort on part of Scoville and Linton to treat
her as one of the brand team. Secondly, Scoville is often seen giving her menial tasks such as getting
artwork approvals and copying documents. This left Benton feeling disgruntled as she believed she had
a lot more to offer than run such errands. Therefore, Linton should have encouraged Benton to speak-
up during meetings and have well-defined objectives, a structured role, and maintained a consistent
reporting line with respect to her team, and this would keep Benton motivated.

Some other strategies, that are a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, that could have helped Benton feel
more motivated are –

1. Providing incentives (or rewards) to Benton.

It is important to understand what motivates an employee and match their needs to that of the organisation.

Question 6

Although difficult to determine owing to its subjectivity, simply put, ethics is understanding what is right and
what is wrong – I believe there has been a breach of ethics by Lisa's coworkers. Below are the reasons and
instances:

1. Linton referring to Scoville as one of her best friends and someone with a heart of gold. This shows a
clear bias in favour of Scoville and can be considered unethical both Benton and Scoville reported to
Linton. It is unethical on part of Linton to unfairly favour one employee over the other and defend
Scoville’s behaviour, especially since there was a common sentiment of discontentment towards
Scoville’s management style in the office.
2. Second, as Benton’s reporting manager, it was the professional duty of Linton to intervene as a
moderator between Scoville and Benton upon realising that there was a conflict. Instead, she brushed
aside the incident and stated that Benton should have no problem getting along with Scoville. Linton
did not make any efforts to properly integrate Benton into the team or be made to feel comfortable in
a new working environment.
3. Third, the bias towards MBAs as displayed by both Scoville and Linton is also unethical. Referring to
Benton as an “arrogant MBA” (by Scoville) and the statement made by Linton (“I’ve known some
Harvard MBAs and I don’t like them”) are stereotypical. This is unethical because Linton is directly
responsible for Benton’s performance evaluation and having a perception bias towards Benton could
affect her ability to evaluate Benton objectively and fairly.
4. It was also unethical of Scoville to treat Benton like his personal assistant and have her run errands for
him. Having her do copying work and get artwork approvals because Scoville did not necessarily get
along with others in the office is an improper use of resources as Benton had much more to contribute
as an employee. Scoville also made Benton feel uncomfortable in the workplace due to his demeanor
when taking her out for lunch and being overbearing and condescending towards her. Lack of
professional boundaries is also unethical.
5. Scoville told Benton that he expected her to follow many rules, but implied that he himself was
 above them and considered himself to be smarter and more competent than everyone else at the
office, therefore implying that he is superior than the rest of his coworkers. This is also an indication of
unethical behaviour.

These are some of the instances of unethical behaviour on part of Benton’s coworkers. As next steps, the team
must look for and choose alternative actions and test them and finally reflect on the outcome of such change.

Question 7

To determine whether it is wise for Benton to quit her job at Houseworld, we need to take a look at the
advantages and disadvantages of Benton continuing with her current job.

Advantages –

 Benton’s inability to address conflict and lack of connect with her manager helped her identify a blind
spot. By continuing to work in challenging circumstances and having identified these blind spots,
Benton can work on correcting them and improving her interpersonal skills.
 While the assignment of Pure & Fresh is a temporary job, Houseworld as a company had the largest
market share in many of its product groups. It also has a reputation of providing excellent marketing
training and comprised of many well-educated and professional employees. Working in a reputed
company could therefore be beneficial for Benton in the long run.
 Benton also had the opportunity to make Pure & Fresh a commercial success. Knowing that it was a
new product in which upper management had a keen interest could be considered a good opportunity
for Benton to prove herself as a valuable employee and increasing her chances of being promoted
quickly

4. Benton had already caught the attention of group product manager Jack Vernon who was impressed by
her sales data analyses. He also showed concern for her well-being and called her into his office to
understand if she was facing issues with Linton and Scoville.
5. Benton also got along with many fellow employees at Houseworld.

Disadvantages –

1. If Benton were to continue working at Houseworld, she would have to continue working with Scoville
for at least another 8 months. Given that the first year was vital for a first-year associate product
manager, Benton could miss out on getting the adequate training from her superiors.
2. According to her coworkers, there was a lack of upward mobility at Houseworld. In contrast to this,
Right-Away had offered her the position of director of marketing with the implication of being
promoted to VP in a few years. Right-Away also seemed like a better cultural fit for Benton.
3. Benton also received negative feedback from others that had worked under Scoville, with one
coworker mentioning that he needed to work double-time to compensate for the lack of proper
training.

In my opinion, Benton has more to gain by continuing in her role at Houseworld. The challenging situation at
Houseworld can be considered a valuable learning opportunity for Benton.

First, although she is to work closely with Scoville and Linton for the time being, it does not speak of the overall
work culture at Houseworld. She managed to get along well with many people which included Jack Vernon who
took an interest in her well-being as an employee.

Second, although Scoville did have a reputation as being erratic, he did apologise for his behaviour when Benton
addressed her issues with him and even explained his frustrations at his lack of being promoted. Benton can lay
down professional boundaries with Scoville and ask him to respect her as a fellow coworker.

Linton was also agreeable when asked to define clear objectives by Benton. Benton can therefore speak more
openly about her expectations at the current role and have an open line of communication with Linton. Linton
can also be given the benefit of the doubt as she is also new to her current role and Benton can work on a plan
for mutual expectation setting with Linton.

Benton also can display her skills in her assignment of Pure & Fresh. This will help her rise through the ranks as
she has already been commended for her work by Vernon and partially by Linton as well. She also has the
opportunity to be more vocal in meetings and increase her visibility, something that Linton identified, and
Benton can work on.

Although Right-Away does seem like a lucrative option for Benton, she is very early in her professional life and
new to Houseworld as well. Benton has a lot to learn by overcoming her challenges at Houseworld. Therefore, I
think it is better for Benton to spend stay in her current role and work towards her professional development.