Contemporary Management: Case of Deronde International

The paper discusses the conflicts and misunderstandings between the newly recruited SVP and the other members of the board of Deronde International. It elaborates the reasons behind the conflicts and recommends suitable strategies to overcome them. Along with that, the paper is able to discuss the required management competencies for the 21st century Leader-manager in VUCA world.

Running head: CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT
Contemporary Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary:
The paper is focused in elaborating a case of the Deronde International. The concerned
organization was observed to promote one of their most efficient employee named as Yang
Jianguo as the senior vice president (SVP). The paper discusses the conflicts among the
newly recruited SVP and the other members of the board of the organization. The paper also
elaborates the reasons behind the conflicts and recommends suitable strategies to overcome
them. Along with that, the paper is able to discuss the required management competencies for
the 21st century Leader-manager in VUCA world.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Overview:...................................................................................................................................4
Misunderstanding and conflicts:................................................................................................4
Choices of the market:...........................................................................................................4
Choices of the research processes:.........................................................................................5
Selection of the Spokesperson:..............................................................................................6
Reasons behind the conflict:......................................................................................................7
Cultural Difference:...............................................................................................................7
Value Dimensions:.................................................................................................................8
Power Distance:.................................................................................................................8
Individualism:....................................................................................................................8
Uncertainty Avoidance:.....................................................................................................9
Recommendations:.....................................................................................................................9
Management Competencies for the 21st century Leader-manager in VUCA world:...............10
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................11
References:...............................................................................................................................12

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Introduction:
The modern business market is highly competitive and the competition among the
various organizations is increasing in significant manner due to the entry of the considerable
number of new competitors into the market. The global perfume industry is also affected by
the significant amount of competition. One of the major reason behind the emergence of such
business competition is the significant impact of the globalisation (Intriligator, 2017). The
global market opportunities in the perfume industry is a significantly triggering factor for the
multinational organizations. Apart from this, the organizations are also feeling the possibility
of having a rapid growth with their operations in the emerging markets. With the possibility
of having a significant growth in the mentioned industry, the issues of the cross cultural
management is a major challenge for the management of the organizations as well. It is
observed that the multinational perfume organizations are significantly facing the problem
with managing the culture of the organizations. The cultural differences is not the only hurdle
for the management of the modern organizations as the visible differences in the various
aspects of the value dimensions between the host country for the organizations and the
employees’ native country has great significance as well (Jones, 2013).
The paper is focused in specifying one event of Deronde International recruiting Yang
Jianguo as the senior vice president of the global product development. The case portrays
significant amount of conflict among the newly recruited SVP and the other members of the
management in the sections like the selection of the spokesperson, choices of the market and
Choices of the research processes. Apart from this, the paper provides the reasons behind the
conflicts and the recommendations to Yang for solving the above mentioned conflicts. Along
with this, the paper describes management competencies for the 21st century leader-manager
in VUCA world of business.

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Overview:
Deronde International is a multinational perfume manufacturer which was having its
base in the country, France. The organization had its business spread almost to every corner
of the world.Apart from this, the organization was in need to identify the regions which will
have the potential to generate significant amount of growth for the organization. The CEO of
the organization Alain Deronde was able to consider the emerging markets as the main target
of the organization. In order to effectively manage the strive towards the modified objective
of the organization, the CEO promoted Yang from the post of the country manager of China
to the senior vice president of the global development of the organization. Under such
condition, the organization was facing significant amount of issues due to the improper
integration of the other employees of France with the new Senior Vice President (SVP) of the
organization.
Misunderstanding and conflicts:
The general misunderstanding that was present in the case was in between Yang and
the Paris workforce of the mentioned organization. The case generally observed three
different instances of conflict among the above mentioned two parties. The conflicts were
choices of the market, choices of the research process and the selection of the spokesperson.
The conflicts were observed to be among Yang Jianguo and global management of the
organization specifically Yves.
Choices of the market:
The organization was significantly focused in the identification of the markets that
will be able to guarantee considerable amount of revenue for the organization. The senior
level management of the organization was able to identify the emerging markets as their main
objective and that identification was backed by the selection of Yang as the senior vice

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president of the organization. Yang being the selected one as the senior vice president of the
organization was generally focused in the emerging markets. As Yang was the country
manager for China, his market analysis was observed to be influenced by the Chinese
perspectives in significant manner. He was observed to have significant amount of focus on
the Chinese market during his days in the country but eve after his promotion to the role of
the senior vice president, his decision making was significantly affected by his previous
experiences. On the other hand, being in the post of the senior vice president of the global
development, he was not expected to have decisions which were influenced by his past
experience of China as the country manager. In the post of SVP, Yang was expected to
consider the overall statistics of the organization rather than having Chinese preferences
(Hogan & Coote, 2014). This had the potential to cause detrimental effects in the approach of
Yang towards the effective leading of the organization.
Choices of the research processes:
The organization under the leadership of Yang as the senior vice president was able to
observe mysterious ways of the market analysis. Yang was seen to conduct market research
on the preferences of the customers of the perfume in a significantly ineffective way. Yang
was more inclined towards a selection process where the preferences of one or two individual
was getting more hype than overall statistics and financial statements. Yang was observed to
select his niece who was a young business school graduate at a high-tech firm in the junior
management position as the probable representative of the target market of Deronde. Further
to it, Yang was observed to ask his niece about what she and her friends search in a perfume
and was trying to align the products in accordance to that. This was a significantly faulty
approach according to the senior level management and the board of the organization as they
believed that Yang could have produced more focus on the financial data and the statements
in terms of conducting the market research (Bolman & Deal, 2017). This was a major reason

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behind the conflict that was created among the senior level management and the newly
recruited senior vice president.
Apart from that, Yang was feeling that few members of the senior level management
or the board of the organization was not having the desired amount of faith on him. With the
exchange of the eagerness from Antoine to Alain regarding the closing of the partnership
with the pursuing dermatologist, the case became significantly visible for Yang to have the
doubts.
Selection of the Spokesperson:
The selection of the spokesperson for the organization was a major concern for the
organization as it needed a significantly influential face. This was significantly needed from
the part of the organization as the brand awareness among the targeted customers is a major
point of concern for it. Influential personalities will be able to help the organization to reach
the desired position in terms of branding of the products in the regions where they are
considerably unknown and has a limited business. Yang had the idea to introduce a Chinese
hurdler who represented the country at the biggest stage of the sporting events that is the
Olympics in the form of Liu Xiang. But that was significantly criticised by the other members
of the meeting as they considered that the decisions of Yang in post of the senior vice
president was still having reflections of the decisions and the assessments of him being in the
post of the country manager of China (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin, 2013). Yves, one of the
highly influential member of the meeting, opposed him with the query that whether people
outside China knows him or will know him. Yves was prompt in reminding Yang that it was
true that China is a significantly attractive market place for them but majority of their
customers are outsiders of the third world countries as well.

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Yang was significantly concerned with the possibility of the acquisitions of the labs
that were doing great researches for the men and he also recommended one to the board
members and along with that Yang came up with the idea of introducing sporting celebrities
of different nations for the brand awareness in their own country for example Yuvraj Singh
for India or any Brazilian footballer for Brazil. But this was significantly opposed by the
board of the organization and yet for another time Yves expressed doubts on it with the point
that the organization is in need to make sure that the organizations, it will be acquiring must
also have significant market for Deronde. In that case the newly recruited SVP’s plan lacks
important information.
Reasons behind the conflict:
The reasons behind the conflict or the misunderstandings between Yang and the other
members of the senior level management was generally the cultural difference and the
variation in the different aspects of the value dimensions.
Cultural Difference:
The case is a notable example of the differences in the corporate culture of the two
units established in two different nations of an organization. In China, the corporate culture is
like the boss will have the power of decision and everyone in the organization is expected to
accept that instead of interfering in the job of the boss. In France, that is significantly
different, as the people inside the organization has much more freedom to comment or
provide inputs on the decision of the boss. The acceptance of Yang as the senior vice
president is also a significantly controversial as the French people along with his probable
counterpart for the post of the senior vice president were observed to oppose him in a
significant manner (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). Along with that, the amount of help that
were required for Yang from the existing workforce at France was absent.

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Value Dimensions:
Both the countries, China and France had significant amount of variations in the in the
value dimension aspects like power distance, individualism and uncertainty avoidance. This
was a major reason behind the generation of the conflicts among the mentioned parties as the
leadership of Yang had a reflection of these aspects.
Power Distance:
China is a society which accepts the inequality among the people and in
organizational context, there is a visible levels of the employees which allows the superior to
take the decision. The power structure is so established that the managers’ decisions are
expected to be accepted by all the employees and the authorities have the power to influence
the individuals. On the other hand, the organizations in France has a comparatively less
powerful superior and subordinate formations and in the mentioned country, the formal
discussions regarding the decision making were always appreciated. Having said that the
organizations in France are also observed to have the one or two stages of hierarchical
organizational structure and the access to the higher authority is limited but that is
comparatively less strict than China (Matusitz & Musambira, 2013).
Individualism:
With a significantly low score in the individualism section, Chinese society is notable
example of a collectivist society. The collective or group considerations is significant in the
Chinese organizations. The employee commitment of the nation is significantly low but the
trust and commitment towards the other employees is observed to be high. On the other hand
the French society was significantly scoring high in the individualism aspects and that was a
significant difference that Yang had to manage in the organization (LeFebvre & Franke,
2013). Yang who was in the post of the country manager of China for so long, was subjected
to a society which was highly collectivist, but in France, he was subjected to the people of a

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society which is significantly individualistic. Hence he faced considerable amount of conflict
generated from this.
Uncertainty Avoidance:
The Chinese society scores considerably low in the uncertainty avoidance aspect and
the major reason behind that is the significant quality of adaptability of the people. The
Chinese people are capable of managing situations which are favourable for them and it is
also observed that the risk element associated in such cases are significantly high. On the
other hand, France is a society which scores high in the mentioned aspect and the people are
observed to dislike surprises (Kong, 2013). They want everything to be well structured and
decorated. The bearable risk element for the mentioned nation is significantly less. Yang was
also observed to recommend some plan which was merely entertained by the French
management as they wanted to avoid the risk element.
Recommendations:
In order to lead a team which is having multinational representation, the first job of a
leader is to make sure that the impact of the cultural difference is minimized as much as
possible. This will help in effective implementation of the organizational activities. Along
with that, Yang was needed to gain some basic qualities as a leader like the proper
assessment of the market researches. The assessment of the financial details or the review of
the statistics of previous years was much needed in terms of evaluation of the market trends
or the preferences of the customers. Yang was significantly wrong in ignoring these steps and
following individual preferences for assessing the customer trends. Apart from this, the major
recommendation for Yang in the context of Deronde International will be to eliminate the
issues with the CEO of the organization and request him for a face to face conversation so
that the planning for the revival of the organization and achieving the desired growth get

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easy. Yang was facing the absence of trust of the employees and the management of the
organization. Under such situation, Yang is possibly one win away from establishing himself
as one of the major global leader. Yang needs to find quick success for the organization so
that he be able to achieve the faith and the trust of his superiors and subordinates.
Management Competencies for the 21st century Leader-manager in VUCA
world:
In the 21st century VUCA world, the managers are in need to increase the self-
awareness of them towards the market and the organization. The increased capability of them
in achieving the market insights have the potential to help the managers in their usual
operations. The managers need to increase the emotional intelligence, self-management and
the emotions of the other members of the organization in order to increase the organizational
effectiveness. The management of the employees is a significant responsibility of the
managers and in that case they are in need to make sure that they be able to understand the
emotions of the employees. Along with this, the managers of the modern century must make
sure that they increase their skills in the talent acquisition. The managers’ capability in asking
critical questions to the employees is much needed for the acquisition of the efficient
employees (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). The operations of the modern organizations are
observed to increase in a significant manner and under such conditions the recruitment of the
employees hold great significance. This is the main reason behind the need of a manager who
has the capability of selecting the best talents for his or her company. Apart from that, the
managers must have the required skills in the management of the performances of the
employees. In this case, the manager’s capability of extracting the best out of the employees
is significant in achieving the organizational objectives. Along with this, the employee
engagement is a massive concern for the modern day organizations where the managers must

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make sure that they be able to come up with strategies which will able to reduce the job stress
and dissatisfaction of the employees.
The modern day organizations are observed to face considerable amount of issues in
cases of the employee motivation (van der Wal, 2017). This includes the capability of the
mangers to properly hear the concerns of their employees. The managers need to take the
responsibility of conducting the required sessions where they can hear the issues and
problems that the employees that they are facing in the organization in conducting their usual
operations. The managers are the ones who need to generate proper compensation and
rewarding policies for the employees which will be able to motivate them financially and
non-financially.
At the end, the managers are basically liable for the operations like the recruitment
and management of the employees’ performances. Along with this, they are the responsible
ones for making sure that the employees do not feel any sort of demotivation in operating in
the organization. Hence they are in need to have the capabilities like the talent acquisition,
performance management and motivating the employees.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, the modern perfume industry is observed to have an increased
amount of competition among its competitors. The case is significant in specifying the
detrimental impact of the varied corporate culture of the different societies. This also
elaborates the faulty operations of Yang being the senior Vice president of the organization.
It was observed that Yang was in search of a quick win which will make sure that the people
and the employees of the organization recognizes him as a global leader. Along with that, it
is also seen that the cultural differences of the employees of the organization is having a
major obstacle in increasing the organizational effectiveness which is barring the modern

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organizations of every industry from the achievement of their desired growth. The variation
in the value dimension aspects has the capability to influence the people or the employees of
the organizations in different manner. The view of a case of one employee belonging to a
certain country can differ from the employees of other country. Along with that, the
preferences of the power dimension is also instrumental in the formation of the difference
among various employees of different countries. Hence the influence of these aspects are
significant.

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References:
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Bennett, N., & Lemoine, G. J. (2014). What a difference a word makes: Understanding
threats to performance in a VUCA world. Business Horizons, 57(3), 311-317.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Büschgens, T., Bausch, A., & Balkin, D. B. (2013). Organizational culture and innovation: A
meta‐analytic review. Journal of product innovation management, 30(4), 763-781.
Hogan, S. J., & Coote, L. V. (2014). Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A
test of Schein's model. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1609-1621.
Intriligator, M. (2017). Globalisation of the World Economy: Potential Benefits and Costs
and a Net Assessment. In Economics of Globalisation (pp. 85-94). Routledge.
Jones, G. R. (2013). Organizational theory, design, and change. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson,.
Kong, D. T. (2013). Examining a climatoeconomic contextualization of generalized social
trust mediated by uncertainty avoidance. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology,
44(4), 574-588.
LeFebvre, R., & Franke, V. (2013). Culture matters: Individualism vs. collectivism in conflict
decision-making. Societies, 3(1), 128-146.

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Matusitz, J., & Musambira, G. (2013). Power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and
technology: analyzing Hofstede's dimensions and human development indicators.
Journal of Technology in Human Services, 31(1), 42-60.
van der Wal, Z. (2017). The 21st century public manager. Macmillan International Higher
Education.

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Bibliography:
hofstede-insights.com (2018). Home - Hofstede Insights. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/