Bad Blood on the Senior Team (HBR Case Study)
Added on 2022-03-22
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A summary of the case.
In the case study, Bad Blood on the Senior Team, two senior executives constantly generate
affective conflicts within the organization which put the company at risk. Ahmed, Head of Sales
and Damon the CFO are at loggerheads due to a personality clash. Ahmed prefers a relaxed
management style whereas Damon prefers a hands-on approach. Both are great in their work and
exceed expectations, but they are not willing to work together and put their ego aside. They are
constantly fighting, and their behavior become deeply disturbing. The CEO of the sports apparel
manufacturer has to figure out how to handle this ongoing conflict between them. Unfortunately,
that task won’t be easy knowing that this CEO, named Lance manages his team by applying an
unhealthy “laisser-faire” approach which allowed situations like this to get worse. The head of
sales, Ahmed Lund and the CFO, Damon Ewen have to work together by any means because
their constant fighting has started to affect the other teams within the organization. It has also
started to affect the success of the business as decisions cannot be made on business needs
involving the two executives. The CEO wants to bring a better working environment with
increased collaboration with the team, capital to reach their long-term goal. Several options came
out when he was talking with Nina Kelk, the company’s general counsel, who also oversaw
human resources. Those options include changing the company's compensation scheme to
encourage better collaboration, doing more team-building activities, firing the conflicting
executives or getting the executives coaching[ CITATION Bor19 \l 1033 ].
In the case study, Bad Blood on the Senior Team, two senior executives constantly generate
affective conflicts within the organization which put the company at risk. Ahmed, Head of Sales
and Damon the CFO are at loggerheads due to a personality clash. Ahmed prefers a relaxed
management style whereas Damon prefers a hands-on approach. Both are great in their work and
exceed expectations, but they are not willing to work together and put their ego aside. They are
constantly fighting, and their behavior become deeply disturbing. The CEO of the sports apparel
manufacturer has to figure out how to handle this ongoing conflict between them. Unfortunately,
that task won’t be easy knowing that this CEO, named Lance manages his team by applying an
unhealthy “laisser-faire” approach which allowed situations like this to get worse. The head of
sales, Ahmed Lund and the CFO, Damon Ewen have to work together by any means because
their constant fighting has started to affect the other teams within the organization. It has also
started to affect the success of the business as decisions cannot be made on business needs
involving the two executives. The CEO wants to bring a better working environment with
increased collaboration with the team, capital to reach their long-term goal. Several options came
out when he was talking with Nina Kelk, the company’s general counsel, who also oversaw
human resources. Those options include changing the company's compensation scheme to
encourage better collaboration, doing more team-building activities, firing the conflicting
executives or getting the executives coaching[ CITATION Bor19 \l 1033 ].
Theories, models, and explanations that may be used to explain and resolve the case.
According to [ CITATION Tyl17 \l 1033 ], the concept of micro organizational behavior
analyzes individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting. In this sense, at a micro
level, the first issue that can be pointed out and allow an ongoing conflict between employees is
that the CEO did not have an effective leadership approach to lead its team members. Laissez-
faire leaders, which was his management style approach, are often seen as uninvolved and
withdrawn, that can lead to a lack of cohesiveness within the group[ CITATION Les15 \l 1033 ].
In this method of leadership, the CEO doesn’t provide much direction; instead, decisions are
made by the two senior executives that don’t get along but need each other to perform in their
respective positions. Another point concerning the CEO is that rather than addressing the issue,
the CEO prefers avoiding the conflict and step back while tensions continue to spread. His
discomfort with conflict makes things worse and out of control. In fact, [ CITATION Reb18 \l
1033 ] define the avoiding style as uncooperative and unassertive. Leaders that use this style seek
to avoid conflict altogether by denying that it is there. They are prone to postponing any
decisions in which a conflict may arise. Conflict avoidance may be habitual to some people
because of personality traits such as the need for affiliation. However, conflict avoidance
becomes a problem when individuals avoid confronting important issues because of a dislike for
conflict or a perceived inability to handle the other party’s reactions.
According to [ CITATION Tyl17 \l 1033 ], the concept of micro organizational behavior
analyzes individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting. In this sense, at a micro
level, the first issue that can be pointed out and allow an ongoing conflict between employees is
that the CEO did not have an effective leadership approach to lead its team members. Laissez-
faire leaders, which was his management style approach, are often seen as uninvolved and
withdrawn, that can lead to a lack of cohesiveness within the group[ CITATION Les15 \l 1033 ].
In this method of leadership, the CEO doesn’t provide much direction; instead, decisions are
made by the two senior executives that don’t get along but need each other to perform in their
respective positions. Another point concerning the CEO is that rather than addressing the issue,
the CEO prefers avoiding the conflict and step back while tensions continue to spread. His
discomfort with conflict makes things worse and out of control. In fact, [ CITATION Reb18 \l
1033 ] define the avoiding style as uncooperative and unassertive. Leaders that use this style seek
to avoid conflict altogether by denying that it is there. They are prone to postponing any
decisions in which a conflict may arise. Conflict avoidance may be habitual to some people
because of personality traits such as the need for affiliation. However, conflict avoidance
becomes a problem when individuals avoid confronting important issues because of a dislike for
conflict or a perceived inability to handle the other party’s reactions.
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