Case Study on

Jensen Shoes

Presented under Guidance of : Prof. Hardik Shah

By:
Mustafa Rokerya (140301011)
Narendra
Kumar
Singh
(140301012)
Pavan
Narayan
Roy (140301014)

CASE ANALYSIS - Jensen Shoes

Praveen
Sathyanarayan
(140301016)
Shishir
Kumar
Sinha
(140301018)

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CASE ANALYSIS - Jensen Shoes

Case Summary:
Jensen Shoes, a trendesetter and the leading marketer in the US of
high-quality athletic and casual footwear for children and adults, was
established in 1953 by its founder Kenneth Jensen who was fond of
saying "At Jensen Shoes we value our employees as much as our
products." . Over the years, the company was plagued with issues
pertaining to sensitivity to employee. This case delves into one such
instance where two sides of a set of events, one perceived by a
strategic product manager, Jane Kravitz, and the other by one of her
staff, Lyndon Brooks , and how those events led to a conflict between
the two are furnished.
The context for the case is as follows: Prior to the start of year 2004,
the management identified that the company had been having steady
growth in sale of athletic and chilgren's wear shoes over the previous
decade but was lagging behind in sales of casual wear. The flat sales
growth in casual wear necessitated the need of the company to
diversify product lines and strengthen long-term industry viability.
Thus in January 2004, the company's executive management asked
Sally Briggs, VP of Marketing, to define opportunities for new markets
and new products. Briggs, in turn, assigned Chuck Taylor, Director of
Strategic Marketing, to develop a major marketing strategy within the
span of 6 months so as to report the same in time for the annual
board of director's meeting. To develop the plan, Taylor had assigned
the responsibility to three Strategic Product Managers. Kyle Hudson
for athletic shoes, Robert Murphy for children's shoes and finally Jane
Kravitz who handled the marketing plan for several vertical markets in
casual wear such as African American, Latino, Mature, College, Preteens, Men and Women. Kravitz had three staffs in turn, Lyndon
Brooks who was assigned to Latino and African American markets,
Larry Bunton for College and Men's markets and Cheryl Abbott for Preteen and Women's markets.
First side of the case : Having concerns about Brooks willingness to
complete the comprehensive marketing plan for the Latino and
African American markets, Kravitz approached Patty Russel, an HR
professional, to discuss her concerns.

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CASE ANALYSIS - Jensen Shoes

Second side of the case : Fearing his career advancement

opportunities were being limited, Brooks, approached his mentor and
VP of Operations Mitch Lawson for a confidential career discussion to
discuss his problems.

Case Analysis:

Q1) What were Brooks assumptions about Kravitzs abilities,

attitude and motivations? On what were these assumptions

based?
Brooks assumption about Kravitzs abilities:
(Initial Assumptions)
1. Janes seemed to have an appreciable management style :

Before the first staff meeting with Jane, Brooks felt that she seemed
like a decent person with a good track record and after the meeting,
Jane laid out the timeline for the proposal and delegated the
individual strategic objectives.
(Later Assumptions)
2. Jane seemed as a micro-manager: Instead of batting for Brooks
with Chuck as Brooks had expected her to, she sent him a memo

requesting for the detailed proposal including goal statement,

resources, contacts, time line. Also she asked for periodic update on
the progress.
Brooks assumption about Kravitzs attitude:
(Initial Assumptions)
1. Jane seemed reasonable and decent person to work with :

Brooks liked her and during the one-on-one meeting, Brook was given
an opportunity to raise his concerns to Jane and moreover, she
empathized with him and even offered to help him find a new job. In
addition,
2. Jane seemed supportive: Brooks appreciated Kravitz' s support after

she gave him some information about how the company was already
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CASE ANALYSIS - Jensen Shoes

using recycled materials in shoes and she also shared contacts and
ideas about how to get going, when Brooks shared to her his liking to
work in an environmental project.
3. Jane's helping mentality: Though Brooks thought of Jane as an

ally and someone he could count on, he was somewhat

uncomfortable that she seemed so eager to help him find a new job.
Regardless of this feeling, he figured that Jane did this to motivate
him and he did feel motivated and encouraged to complete his
Strategic Objectives on schedule and to get back on track toward the
career he intended to.
4. Jane's over appreciative attitude : After Kravitz wrote a memo

to Chuck, Brook's peers, Briggs and the EVP for a good job done in the
environment research assigned to Brooks by EVP, Brooks believed
that Kravitz was going a little overboard recognizing him.
(Later Assumptions)
5. Jane's seemed to show an unpredictable behavior: Initially

Kravitz seemed so helping and supportive but when Brooks went to

her regarding some hands-on research he wanted to do by attending
a trade show in San Diego, Jane seemed uncharacteristically curt to
Brooks and she even referred the trip as a lark. With this Brooks found
Kravitz behavior to him difficult to predict.
6. Jane's seemed to be unreasonable: It seemed unreasonable to

Brooks when Kravitz rant about his San Diego trip though everyone in
office built comp time into a business trip. Besides this the fact that it
wouldn't have cost any extra lodging expense to the company made
the repeated ranting more unreasonable to him.
7. Jane's seemed to be distrustful of Brooks: It seemed to Brooks

that Kravitz distrusted him and questioned his integrity after he

received a "contract" from her outlining the terms of agreement that
the two had regarding splitting the work of strategic objectives of
Latino and African American markets.
8. Jane seemed to show an aggressive attitude: Brooks felt that

Jane seemed a bit aggressive in her approach when she dragged out
his past performance reviews and then told him about finding it hard
for her to find a new job for him in the company. He felt the same
before too when she sent him a contract after negotiating on s.o's .
Brooks assumption about Kravitzs motivation:
Motivation is directly proportional to performance given the right
environment and the ability and therefore if an employee is not
motivated then performance will suffer (P=M+A+E).
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CASE ANALYSIS - Jensen Shoes

1. Fear of failure: Jane had confided in Brooks that Chuck was

breathing down her neck and thus this pressure and fear of failure
was a motivation for her to show him that she could handle situations
thrown at her.
2. To prove her worth as a supervisor : She had mentioned to

Brooks that Chuck was insisting to get things done. She was driven to
prove her worth as a supervisor to Chuck.

Q2) What were Kravitzs assumptions about Brooks abilities,

attitude and motivations? On what were these assumptions

based?
Kravitzs assumption about Brooks abilities:
1. Very professional: Kravitz had worked with Brooks on a couple of

committees and found him to be very professional. Brooks completion

of the environment project on time and, in Kravitz's estimation, with
top quality only reaffirmed this ability of Brooks to Kravitz.
2. Ability to charm: Kravitz found Brooks to be a very charming
African-American businessman.
3. Have potential ability to excel: Kravitz felt that Brooks had a
way about him that suggested he could be a star if given the right
situation and motivation.
4. Diligent in his work : In addition to environment project being
something that Brooks had never done before, Kravitz was impressed
with how diligently Brooks took care of the special project by
spending time researching new materials and by taking advantage of
the resources Kravitz had suggested.
Kravitzs assumption about Brooks attitude:
(Initial Assumptions)
1. Open, Honest and Direct: In the very first conversation between
Kravitz and Brooks after he was assigned under her, he discussed
about his career aspiration. Kravitz was glad that he opened up
because it gave them the chance to get off to a good, direct and
honest start. He even came forth to Kravitz and raised a concern that
two s.o's might be an unrealistic assignement given his special
project handed to him by EVP.

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(Later Assumptions)
2. Brooks seemed someone who liked to work alone and

undependable : After the completion of special project by Brooks,

Kravitz felt that he was less communicative of his actions, moreover,
his interim reports were sketchy. Later when Kravitz would check in
on him to see the status of the Latino s.o, he would sort of indicate
that he had things under control without providing any details to
Kravitz. Even when he was asked for written updates, he would
provide them sparingly and whatever he provided seemed little to go
on for Kravitz, thereby creating all sorts of doubts in her mind about
his motivations to complete and making him seem undependable in
her eyes.
3. Unappreciative attitude : To help increase Brooks visibilty among

top management, Kravitz even shared his accomplishments on the

special project, through a memo to Chuck and other colleagues. But
to Kravitz's dismay, he was less than impressed and even replied to
her that "anyone could have done that project".
4. Brooks seemed a slacker : Kravtiz felt that Brooks seemed to

have a slacking off attitude when he came unprepared for his

proposal review. Instead of coming up with a well-developed
execution plan, as Kravitz had expected, he came with some
information about a trade show in San Diego that he wanted to
attend. Besides this, he requested for a week's time to attend the
show when Kravitz knew that the show was only for two days. Kravitz
felt that he was reluctant to do his work.
5. Brooks seemed evasive and not honest: Kravtiz felt that

Brooks was evasive and not forth coming about his true intentions
when it came to his trade show visit in San Diego. He, according to
Kravitz, was planning to combine business tri with a personal trip but
did not make his intentions transparent to her.
6. Brooks seemed to have an irresponsibile attitude: Kravtiz felt
that Brooks was passing on the blame, not owning up to his
responsibilities and excusing himself from his duties just by saying
that he had earlier on intimated Kravitz about his career intentions
and had shared that two s.o's are a big load on top of the special
project.
7. Brooks seemed unreasonable: Kravitz felt that Brooks seemed

to have an unreasonable attitude as he was not making any gains in

the one s.o that they have negotiated he'll do. Kravitz had to
constantly check in, remind, monitor his work progress and yet he is
keeping Kravitz at her wit's end by not completing the one thing he
had to do.

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CASE ANALYSIS - Jensen Shoes

Kravitzs assumption about Brooks motivation:

1. To be back up in the ladder: Brooks had conveyed to Kravitz in

their initial meeting that he wants to get back to managing a staff.

2. Wanting appreciation and recognition: As per Kravitz, Brooks

was hoping that the special project assigned by EVP would develop
into something more that could get him back into track and get
appreciated and recognized along with it. To help Brooks with this,
Kravitz even shared the accomplishments memo to Chuck and other
colleagues.
3. Have the best of both- mix business with personal things:

Kravitz inferred that Brooks wanted to combine business trip with a

personal trip and he therefore was motivated to not do a complete
execution plan as expected by her for his proposal review.

Recommendations:
Q3) What Brooks and Kravitz have had to do differently to

results in a more effective working relationship?

1. Open communication: Brooks and Kravitz should have been more

open in communicating with each other and effectively expressing

without hurting the other person. Brooks on his part should not have
expressed his displeasure so openly about joining Kravitzs team. On
Kravitzs part, it was possible that Brooks had been facing some
personal problem and she should have given it a thought. She also
felt there were some negative aspects of companys open door policy
and Brooks was becoming little too comfortable with some of them. In
such a case, she should have suggested policy changes to the
management.

2. Proper Feedback and recognition: No employee wants to exist

in a vacuum. Instead of monitoring Brooks and giving him small

tokens, Kravitz should have urged Chuck, Director of Strategic
marketing, to recognize and appreciate Brooks work on
environmental projects.He needed to be motivated for his effort and
criticized when required.
Proper allocation of tasks: Before assigning Brooks his
sos, Kravitz could have consulted him on whether he is comfortable
with African American markets as he lacked experience in those
markets. People work best when they know what is expected of them
and for this to happen, all inputs should have been given to Brooks
for him to successfully deliver the assignment.
3.

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CASE ANALYSIS - Jensen Shoes

4. Faith and confidence in each others ability: Kravitz should

have shown her trust in Brooks skill and abilities and she could have
shown more interest in his professional growth. Brooks on his part,
needed to come out of his disappointment with the earlier project and
should have focussed on task at hand . He should have taken the Sos
assigned to him by Kravitz as a new initiative. Instead of using lack of
experience of African American market as an excuse he should have
taken it as a challenge to work in an unexplored territory.
Based on the observed behaviour of Brooks, we strongly recommend
he should be provided a training on teamwork. As for Jane Kravitz and
Chuck Taylor, they seemed to be lacking effective managerial and
leadership skills. If their subordinates are demotivated and lacking in
their work, then they needs encouragement and motivation. So we
remmend training in Managerial and Leadership skills for Chuck and
Kravitz.
Q4) What were the perceptual biases in the case and how

such biases shaped the entire case?

Self fulfilling prophecies: Chuck Taylor had provided a negative
assessment on Brooks performance on his last three years in the
company to Jane Kravitz. Jane had earlier worked with Brooks and
knew that he was a professional and can perform exceptionally if
given the right situation and motivation but Chucks negative
comments influenced Janes outlook about Brooks and as a result she
did not think too highly of Brooks in terms of deliverables. She was
constantly monitoring his work.
1.

Stereotyped: Brooks might have felt that he was being

stereotyped by Jane. He was assigned African American markets as
part of his strategic performance objectives which were also a part of
his previous assignment. He lacked experience in those markets
and was not able to complete the assignment successfully. Clearly he
was not happy when he was assigned those markets again. And he
started believing that he is not considered an important clog in his
organisation. Janes constant micromanagement would have further
enhanced his view that he was not considered capable enough.
2.

Jane on her part wanted best for Brooks but she herself was unsure
how to align his deliveries with his performance. As per the case, she
asked Ron Johnson, Director of Distribution to consider Brooks for an
opening in his team. But Ron reminded her that Brooks background is
marketing. When she told Brooks that it was hard to find a new job for
him, he did not take it too well. Brooks started assuming that he was
being stereotyped and as a result he was not able to give his hundred
percent to the organisation.

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Key concepts:
Motivational Theory
Leadership Style
Communication
Process Perspectives
Expectations
Feedback

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