CASE ANALYSIS

Presented By:
Nishant Singh
Barison Ghosh
Shreyansh Jain
Deepak Bokaria

[A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane

at Landon Care Products]

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 initiative

Narcissist

Committed to work

No work-life balance

Fast learner

Arrogant

Inquisitive.

Does not praise others often

Faces challenges straight on

short tempered
Quite controlling gets into excruciating
details

Creative and relentless

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 360 feedback

Presented NISHANT SINGH, BARISON GHOSH, SHREYANSH JAIN AND DEEPAK

By BOKARIA

[A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane

at Landon Care Products]
360 feedbacks 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 personality

Its 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 on emotional intelligence and doesnt care 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

Presented NISHANT SINGH, BARISON GHOSH, SHREYANSH JAIN AND DEEPAK

By BOKARIA

[A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane

at Landon Care Products]
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 makeup 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
process

Conclusion:
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 NISHANT SINGH, BARISON GHOSH, SHREYANSH JAIN AND DEEPAK

By BOKARIA