A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products

Case Analysis[A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products]

CASE ANALYSISA Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care ProductsPresented By:Nishant SinghBarison GhoshShreyansh JainDeepak Bokaria

Summary: Alex is the youngest product manager in the Toiletries division of Landon Care Products, Inc. Alex worked as an accounting executive earlier but joined Landon care as he wanted to be in charge of his own creation rather than acting as an agent. Landon Care Products, Inc. was acquired by Avant Garde, a multibillion dollar European beauty company to get the market share of the United States. Alex Sander has been selected to reformulate a stale AvantGarde skin care product and launch it as Nourish in the US market. Avant Garde had allocated $25 million to fast track the project and appointed Alex because of his track record of rebranding of two nationally known skin care products and ability to create waves in the organization. Personality traits of Alex:Strengths Weakness

Takes initiativeNarcissist

Committed to workNo work-life balance

Fast learnerArrogant

Inquisitive.Does not praise others often

Faces challenges straight onshort tempered

Creative and relentlessQuite controlling gets into excruciating details

360 Degree Feedback process For personal and performance reviewthis process has been initiated by Landon Care as per the instruction of Avant Garde. Alex has received his review and is skeptical about the value of the process and feedback.Issues Identified: Channelizing Alexs talent in a manner which will ensure Sams product group success. Training Alex as an individual which will help him take leadership role in the organization effectively. Understand if 360 degree feedback process is effective and if also some changes can be made to make it more effective.Analysis: Effectiveness of 360feedback360feedbacks mean taking the feedback not only from superiors but also from subordinates. Employees can develop their week areas by 360 feedbacks. But there are different paradoxes inthis system. One of this is it is easier to get the feedback but at the same time it is difficult to implement it. And when peers appraisal matters the most it help the least.

Alexs talented but difficult personalityIts very difficult to manage Alex who is talented employee. She is productive to the organization but at the same time she works according her norms and principles. She is not good leader. So company can gain a lot from her talent but also can lose some subordinate working.

Training Alex as an individual Alex has both strengths and weaknesses, but her weakness primarily revolves around Relationship management problem. While she is extremely sharp and hard-working, he appears to lack innate leadership skills needed to manage people. Alex is low onemotional intelligence and doesntcare about others feelings. Alex is pushy, commanding and does not trust people readily. Alex does not value the feedback process and comments provided by his supervisors, peers, and direct reports. This will make it very difficult for Sam to coach and guide Alex. Alex isnt sure of his long-term fit with the organization. Sam has an additional interest in Alexs success because he had hired Alex. If Alex fails, it will certainly reflect negatively on Sam and how he is viewed by Senior Management. Alexs positive feedback and results indicate that he is extremely talented. The question, and challenge for Sam, is how to get the most out of Alexs talent while coaching him through his weaknesses before he loses his entire team.

Probable Solutions: Recreational Activities:Alex seems to be in a state of complete mental chaos. He thinks about work, work and work alone. She is a perfectionist, no doubt, but then he must distinguish between his work life and personal life. We do not know much about his personal life but as one of his co-workers commented, he has no work-life balance. He needs to go for some recreational activity like meditation or travel. By doing so, he will reduce his stress by an enormous amount and as a result, will stop troubling his subordinates to a certain extent. Alex will get a break from the monotonous and stressing work environment. Merits:a. Alex will become more and more mentally calm and serene.b. He will be able to handle pressure without taking excessive stress. c. His mind will be refreshed and will feel happier, thereby communicating effectively with other employees. Demerits:a. Alex might not take the meditation classes seriously.b. Furthermore, Alex might take the whole point of going for meditation classes in a wrong way, because already he is extremely aggressive.c. This might be very expensive to the employers.

Taking up a Communication Course: Sam Glass, Alexs boss, should arrange for proper business communication classes for him. It is important that Alex learn to establish a cheerful formal rapport with everyone in the organization. Though he has been considered as very entertaining by one of his colleagues, the general notion is that Alex is very arrogant and cares very little about other people and their opinions. Merits:a. A communication course would emphasize to him the importance of human mental make-up in the communication process. This would help him change his attitude towards others.b. There are very less chances of misunderstandings occurring afterwards. Hence, Alex wouldnt have to repeat the same thing again and again to an employee, which is one of the primary ways by which he gets irritated easily.

Using Myers-Briggs Conceptual framework It can help to perform a kind of gap analysis of groups basic psychological orientations. It would result in an improvement in the skills associated with her dominant preferences. It will assist the 360 degree review processConclusion:The Best Possible Solution should be to keep Alex in the business; he can take the initiative to provide on regular basis classes for such recreational activities helping him to reduce his stress and be relaxed. Along with this the Myers-Briggs conceptual framework is to be used.Presented ByNishant Singh, Barison Ghosh, Shreyansh Jain and Deepak Bokaria