Jensen Shoes, is a well established (1943) footwear marketing company, with a reputation for employee welfare.

The company has enjoyed a highly profitable position for many years but due to static sales growth in the casual wear division, executive management decided to develop a major marketing strategy over the next six months. The strategy is to define opportunities for new markets and new products and to report in time for the annual board of directors meeting. The executive management charged Sally Briggs with developing this strategy, she then in turn assigned Chuck Taylor the project. Taylor set about the project by reorganising his group and establishing three Strategic Product Managers Kyle Hudson, Robert Murphy and Jane Kravitz. Each was assigned a market to develop. Jane Kravitz was assigned casual wear and her strategic performance objectives (s.o.s) included marketing plans for several vertical markets: AfricanAmerican, Latino, Mature College, Pre-teens, Men and Women. Jane Kravitz divided her s.o.s between Larry Bunton, Cheryl Abbott and Lyndon Twitchell. This assignment examines the conflict between a manager (Jane Kravitz) and an employee (Lyndon Twitchell), both of whom are responsible for preparing a comprehensive marketing plan for the Latino and African-American markets, as part of the overall marketing strategy for the casual footwear market. FACTS: LyndonTwitchell (employee) has been in management in Jenson Shoes for over four years and prior to the reorganisation worked directly with Chuck Taylor, foe the ethnic market in the Special Promotions division. His fist assignment was fraught with difficulties due to the inexperience of the team. Twitchell and his team failed to complete their s.o. At a meeting with Chuck Taylor, Twitchell learns he is to work for Jane Kravitz and will not be bringing his team with him, but rather will be working as part of her team. After this meeting Twitchell feels he has received little or no feedback from Taylor and also that he is being singled out for failing to achieve his s.o. as no other manager has lost their team for failing to achieve their s.o.s, to the point that he feels he has been demoted. Twitchell welcomes the opportunity to work with Jane Kravitz and her team and to prove himself in another area. Following a meeting with Kravitz, Twitchell is very disappointed to have been assigned to ethnic (Latino and African-American) markets again. He also feels that as he has a Special Environmental Project to do for the Executive Vice President (assigned prior to the re-organisation), that he will not have enough time to complete his three s.o.s and tells Kravitz so. Twitchell is confused with the feedback he receives for the Environmental Project, as Kravitz praises him and Taylor is critical of him. Following the meeting with Taylor, at which Twitchell receives some very negative feedback, he decides that he must get out from Taylors Strategic Marketing division as Taylor is always going to stereotype him for ethnic markets. Jane Kravitz (the manager) is well respected with twelve years experience as a manager. She is excited about the re-organisation and considers it important to further develop her career. She is happy to have this new team working for her, and thinks that it is the perfect mix for the assignment given. She prides herself on being sensitive to the needs of a diverse workforce. Chuck Taylor picks her new team for her and Lyndon Twitchell is placed on her team. After assessing each of her team members at meetings she assigns each team member the two s.o.s she thinks to be most suitable for them. Kravitzs first meetings with Twitchell go very well. However, following his assignment to the ethnic vertical markets Twitchell starts to raise concerns about time frames for his Special Environmental Project as well as the two s.o.s she has given him. Kravitz helps Twitchell with his Special project and when it is completed is highly impressed. She goes overboard with praise, however Taylor is less than happy with all the time spent on the special project and is concerned with the remaining time for the two s.o.s that concern him. When Kravitz raises these concerns with Twitchell she is met with vague responses and a lack of concern for the ever-nearing deadline. The working relationship between Kravitz and Twitchell deteriorates considerably when Twitchell suggests a weeklong trip away but Kravitz cannot see any benefits given the lack of time left before

the deadline. Kravitz is so concerned with Brookss performance on the two s.o.s that she finally agrees to take one from him in the hopes that he will do the one s.o. properly. However she is now demanding written updates and is documenting his progress. She even has tried to get him a job in another division within the company. The conflict between Brooks and Kravitz has resulted in a failure to complete the two s.o.s that they were working on. There is also an extremely demoralised and de-motivated employee and a manager that is at her wits end, resulting in performance documentation that can be used as part of disciplinary procedures and could lead to termination of employment. CONCLUSIONS: 1) The complete lack of communication between all levels of management. 2) The need for motivation. 3) The importance of the psychological contract. 4) The behaviour of individuals is important to team success. 1) Right from the start it is clear that there is a breakdown in communication within the organisation as at no point was there round table talks between Chuck Taylor, Jane Kravitz and her team to discuss the project and its place in the overall strategy and how if s.o.s are not met how they would impact on the division overall. While the feedback that Kavitz gave for the special environmental project was very positive and she wanted to reinforce anything that I considered positive the feedback from Taylor to Brooks over this special project could only have been negative as Taylor was only interested in the s.o.s that affected the overall strategy anyone could have done that project, What I want to know is how hes doing on his s.o.s. Feedback if non-judgemental can be motivating, while criticism can only have a de-motivating effect as it shows the employee how they and their work is perceived by the organisation they work for. The negative feedback that Brooks received was one of the main reasons for wanting out of Chuck Taylors division. Good communication is essential for success, always check the facts prior to engaging in a project. In this situation if it had been communicated to Brooks that the Marketing strategy was a priority and that the special project could be left until after the marketing strategy deadline then a lot of the conflict over time constraints may have been eliminated. 2) Motivation is directly proportional to performance as long as there is the right environment and there is ability and so if an employee is not motivated then performance will suffer (P=M+A+E). It is quite clear that the marketing division of Jenson Shoes does not have a motivating environment i.e. negative feedback from Taylor to Brooks anyone could have done that project, a poor racial culture at a senior level e.g. Chuck Taylors comment the brothers are never happy and a lack of management support from Taylor to Kravitz and from Kravitz to Brooks I was going to have to work much harder to get Lyndon up to speed in Chucks estimation. Ability is a huge part to performance and if the ability is lacking this will affect performance and may have a de-motivating effect on the employee. Lyndon Brooks has experience as the ethnic market promotions manager, though it should be noted that he failed to complete his s.o. in that position too, he has also previously been a Market Research manager for five years albeit with a different company with vastly different products. This new assignment may have stretched his abilities even though they were in ethnic markets and by adding on the special environmental project, Brooks could not cope and became de-motivated at the lack of his ability. If we look at Brooks from the ERG theory developed by Alderfer there are a number factors missing and so motivation suffers. Growth Needs are missing as he has been moved horizontally to another ethnic project. Relatedness Needs are missing as he has lost responsibility for his team and has been placed into another team. If motivating factors are missing then employee motivation must suffer. 3) The psychological contract that Lyndon Brooks formed with Jensen Shoes upon joining the organisation was one of high expectations. He would provide performance and ability i.e. complete his projects on time and the company would provide the right environment and motivation i.e. remuneration, career development and security ( the WIIFM).

As a psychological contract is not a legally binding written contract with well-defined terms and conditions, the chances are at some point one or other or both parties may find themselves unhappy. In this case study, Brooks sees his placement into ethnic marketing as a racial placement I couldnt help thinking that I was being relegated to a stereotype, and so starts to doubt the ability of the company to advance his career in the manner he was expecting. He at this point starts to withdraw fro his side of the psychological contract by shirking his responsibilities by asking for less work and his loyalty to the company is now in question as he seeks to take time off during a critical phase of the marketing strategy to look for jobs elsewhere I also wanted to check out some job leads outside of the company. 4) The way in which people behave towards each other has a huge impact upon the success of a working relationship. Using Transactional analysis we see that when Brooks first joined Jensen Shoes he had an Innovative child ego state i.e. he was generating ideas, coming up with creative solutions and had an open mind During my interviews, Chuck and I had talked and I had suggested some ideas. However, due to the breakdown n the relationship between Brooks and Kravitz he moves into the Sulky child ego state i.e. he feels like he is the victim I cant count on anyone in this place. At the same time that Brooks is altering his ego state the same happens to Kravitz as she moves from a Nurturing Parent ego state i.e. being supportive and non-judgemental I knew how to cajole, nurture, beg and direct, whatever it took to get the job done, to a Critical Parent ego state i.e. obsessed with rules, authoritarian and divisive I wrote up an agreement and we both signed it. RECOMMENDATIONS: 1) Communication must be improved. It would be highly beneficial for all stakeholders in the Strategic Marketing plan to have regular round table discussions. These meetings should brief all parties as to where they are in terms of their final goals and what they should do to go about reaching the final goal. The meetings should also outline the consequences of failing to reach targets and goals, so as everyone involved knows what is important to this project. 2) Motivation must be improved, the feedback from all line managers was not directed using the + + method of delivery. Negative feedback given a critical fashion will have a de-motivating effect. It is not always possible to sugar coat criticism but it is necessary to make an employee feel that they have self worth by giving positive feedback whenever justified. 3) I would strongly recommend that Chuck Taylor be sent on a managerial course, as his behaviour, motivational skills and communication skills are all seriously lacking. He also has racial issues, and this aspect of his personality, whist it cannot be changed must be brought to his attention so he can stop behaving in this way and also to the attention of his superiors before a lawsuit is brought against him on the grounds of racial discrimination.