Italian Shoe Company
Case 1: The Italian Shoe Company
The Italian Shoe Company is a New York, family owned company now in its sixth generation. The company started in 1823 making shoes for men and women based on designs that were popular in the growing Italian community of New York. In the early years, it struggled to survive. But over the years, particularly from the start of the twentieth century, it has prospered. The sixth generation owner -Adamo Pedone- is a very wealthy person. Currently, the company produces over 30 different types of men and women shoes, mostly in the upper market segments (i.e. starting at $ 400 a pair). Rising sales revenues have brought in a lot of money to the company, which is steadily being invested into increasing numbers of specialized line personnel and managerial staff. Adamo, who is known as "Shoe Lord " by his employees, has finally added an HR specialist (you) to help with personnel and organizational behavior issues. He has asked you to help with what he feels is a problem of worker morale in the operations division. Mark Whitehall, VP of operations, has complained to Adamo that most of his workers have bad attitudes and don't seem to want to work. He says he's prepared to fire them all if they don't shape up. Mark has informed Adamo of his intentions, and believes he (Adamo) needs to "clean house" to show them who's boss. Besides, he thinks a lot of them have become complacent and don't care about quality. Mark also pays little attention to the mid-level managers' opinions stating that, "I'm ultimately responsible, so I'll make the decisions." Adamo knows that Mark can be heavy-handed in his management style and that he believes workers come to work either motivated or not. Mark has told him "there's nothing you can do to make them work if they don't want to." Knowing everything about shoes, but little about people, Adamo isn't sure whether it's the workers or Mark that's creating the problem. He wants to know that if it is Mark, can he be
The Italian Shoe Company is a New York, family owned company now in its sixth generation. The company started in 1823 making shoes for men and women based on designs that were popular in the growing Italian community of New York. In the early years, it struggled to survive. But over the years, particularly from the start of the twentieth century, it has prospered. The sixth generation owner -Adamo Pedone- is a very wealthy person. Currently, the company produces over 30 different types of men and women shoes, mostly in the upper market segments (i.e. starting at $ 400 a pair). Rising sales revenues have brought in a lot of money to the company, which is steadily being invested into increasing numbers of specialized line personnel and managerial staff. Adamo, who is known as "Shoe Lord " by his employees, has finally added an HR specialist (you) to help with personnel and organizational behavior issues. He has asked you to help with what he feels is a problem of worker morale in the operations division. Mark Whitehall, VP of operations, has complained to Adamo that most of his workers have bad attitudes and don't seem to want to work. He says he's prepared to fire them all if they don't shape up. Mark has informed Adamo of his intentions, and believes he (Adamo) needs to "clean house" to show them who's boss. Besides, he thinks a lot of them have become complacent and don't care about quality. Mark also pays little attention to the mid-level managers' opinions stating that, "I'm ultimately responsible, so I'll make the decisions." Adamo knows that Mark can be heavy-handed in his management style and that he believes workers come to work either motivated or not. Mark has told him "there's nothing you can do to make them work if they don't want to." Knowing everything about shoes, but little about people, Adamo isn't sure whether it's the workers or Mark that's creating the problem. He wants to know that if it is Mark, can he be