All Cases For
Management Fundamentals Concepts, Applications, and Skill Development 10 th Edition Chapter 1-15
Case Notes Chapter 1: Management and Its History Case 1.1 Citizens Trust Bank—Then and Now 1. What types of resources does Cynthia Day control as the president and CEO of Citizens Trust Bank? Cynthia Day controls human, financial, physical, informational, and performance resources at Citizens Trust Bank. Some examples of the resources that Day has acquired and/or manages on behalf of her institution include the following.
Human resources: Day served as vice president and chief operating officer of Citizens Federal Savings Bank of Birmingham, where she was likely involved in the recruitment, development, and succession of talented individuals. She now controls the human resources of Citizens Trust Bank.
Financial resources: Citizens Trust Bank has assets of $429 million, with deposits exceeding $373 million.
Physical resources: Citizens Trust Bank has a strong physical presence in the community and is known for its focus on values, social and economic justice, and providing access to funds for minorities and others.
Informational resources: Day is a certified public accountant, who started her accounting career with global consulting firm KPMG as an audit manager and has audited financial institutions and insurance companies.
Performance: Citizens Trust Bank has a history of providing financial access to women and ethnic/racial minorities and has advocated for social and economic equality for those in the community.
2. In what ways does Day’s visionary leadership style advance the long-term mission of Citizens Trust Bank? Day demonstrates her focus on the future by influencing success at a financial, relational, and partnership level. She inspires those associated with the bank to advance financial opportunities and social equity for women and ethnic/racial minorities while providing consistent returns for the bank. Day is able to influence others‘ futures through her relationships and the examples she shares with others and by investing time and resources with those who represent the future of the bank and the community. The continuing partnerships with employees, customers, businesses, and the community are evidence of Day‘s future-focused values and decisions. 3. What types of management skills mentioned above likely contributed to Citizens Trust Bank’s ability to survive and thrive for more than 100 years? Technical, interpersonal, and decision-making skills contributed to Citizens Trust Bank‘s ability to survive and thrive for more than 100 years. Some examples of each skill areas related to Day‘s management include the following:
Technical skills: Day uses her experience as a Certified Professional Accountant and auditor to recognize opportunities to advance economic access for the community while providing strong returns for Citizens Trust Bank.
Interpersonal skills: Day provides leadership and mentorship to those within the bank and the community at large.
Decision-making skills: Day recognizes individuals at Citizens Trust Bank who make sacrifices for the institution and makes decisions that provide growth and professional development for employees and community members.
4. In your opinion, how might the contingency theory of management apply to a 100year-old organization like Citizens Trust Bank? The contingency theory of management suggests that there is no one ―optimal‖ management style and that leaders need to adapt their approaches to planning, organizing, leading, and controlling based on employee motivation and ability. Day credits the success of Citizens Trust Bank on its ability to adapt and be fiscally responsible. The case
states that Citizens Trust Bank‘s long-term goal is ―advancing social justice and social equality through the bank‘s activities.‖ Each generation brings with it varied financial, social, and economic expectations and contexts, which are critical to understanding how individuals and organizations use, save, invest, and borrow money. The bank‘s 100-year plus history has demonstrated that the institution‘s management approaches have adapted to society‘s demands and made the bank a strong community institution. 5. Financial conservatism involves careful planning regarding the use of resources. How does this skill fit into the four functions of management? Operating in a manner that represents ―financial conservatism‖ means that a manager needs to take moderate risks that provide stable returns for the company. In the financial sector, this requires decision-making that involves understanding the short-term and longterm returns to the organization. Examples of these decisions include:
Planning: Managers plan for future risks by ensuring that the individuals and opportunities they invest in will provide returns that are at least equal to what was invested.
Organizing: Managers organize their teams and resources around opportunities that will provide good returns, including hiring and mentoring individuals who have value beyond the tasks they perform.
Leading: Managers lead teams by helping them envision a future that is strong and full of potential, which includes role modeling decision-making that represents moderate risk and provides for financial stability for generations to come.
Controlling: Managers control outcomes by measuring the actual outcomes against the expected returns to ensure that the decision-making originally enacted provides for the future outcomes that grow the firm and benefit the lives of employees and the greater community.
6. Day received technical training in her early years as an audit manager and bank manager that arguably strengthen her capabilities as a top-level manager. How might Day’s insights into the day-to-day operations of the bank strengthen her ability to lead and manage the bank?
Day‘s experiences likely provide insights about the day-to-day operations of the bank that strengthen her ability to lead and manage:
Planning: Day‘s experience in accounting and auditing likely help her identify high-return opportunities to invest in individuals and businesses in the community.
Organizing: Day‘s experience with auditing financial institutions and insurance companies likely help her identify issues that can constrain sound financial decision-making, such as the desire to overestimate the value of an investment.
Leading: Day‘s experience as a vice president and chief operating officer at Citizens Federal Savings Bank of Birmingham likely helps her adapt her management style and visionary leadership based on employee motivation and ability.
Controlling: Day‘s successful role in growing Citizens Federal Savings Bank of Birmingham‘s assets and developing her employees likely helps her see patterns in performance to anticipate and even measure the results of decision-making, mentoring, and partnership growth in the community.
Case 1.2 LG 1. LG has a reputation as a high-performing organization. From your perspective, how might LG’s focus on customer-value creation and people-oriented management contribute to its ability to win in the markets it competes in? The influence of customer-value creation and people-oriented management means that a company emphasizes the following characteristics and actions: ―customer first, deliver substantive value, innovation-driven creation, self-managed, creative employees, respect others, develop skills and abilities in all employees, reward based on performance.‖ Examples of these actions include the following:
Customer first: Koo Bon-moo pushed to have LG adopt English as its company language to make communication with customers all over the world easier and more convenient, especially for the customers in the United States and Europe
where English is widely spoken. Koo Bon-moo pushed for this even though it was in stark contrast to the firm‘s Korean culture.
Deliver substantive value: The company started as a low-quality, low-cost provider of personal care products and became a global electronics and consumer products business to provide high-value items that emphasizes Koo Bon-moo‘s philosophy of fairness and equity in every purchase.
Innovation-driven creation: Koo Bon-moo worked to change the reputation of LG in the 1990s. The goal was to remake the company into a customer-focused firm that produced goods known for their high quality, innovation, and sleek design to add value to the lives of each buyer.
2. How might Koo Bon-moo’s experiences working first as an employee of the firm and then as a middle manager of the firm at an office outside of Korea have contributed to his ability to perform well as a top manager of the organization? Koo Bon-moo‘s overarching philosophy is based on ―jeong-do‖ or ―right path‖ management, which emphasizes ―integrity, equal opportunities and fair treatment, and fair competition.‖ His start as an employee provided firsthand opportunities for him to understand the importance of employee motivation and ability in tasks and building relationships, which likely helped him adjust his management style as a senior leader. Learning the business from the ―ground-up‖ allowed Koo Bon-moo to see the importance of individual performance and team cohesiveness and the value of innovative ideas from those who are closest to production and service. 3. Koo Bon-moo studied business in the United States before returning to Korea to join his family’s conglomerate. Later, as Koo launched an initiative to revamp the company’s identity and culture, he adopted English as LG’s corporate language, requiring many LG employees to study English, in order to strengthen LG’s global operations. In your opinion, how does this decision reflect the planning and leading functions of management? How might such a move have enhanced the company’s recruitment abilities? Koo Bon-moo‘s focus on English as the LG business language likely informed his planning, leading, and overall recruitment: