Contemporary Management: Case Study Analysis and Discussion

This assignment presents an analysis of two case studies focused on contemporary management challenges. The first case, "In a World of Pay," explores a conflict between the head of HR and the head of marketing regarding the hiring of a marketing director and the associated salary expectations. The analysis provides advice to the HR head on negotiation strategies, considering competitor data, and developing a comprehensive salary structure. The second case, "Can a Strong Culture Be Too Strong," examines a conflict between the CEO and the head of HR concerning an initiative to encourage employee ideas. The analysis offers advice to the CEO on balancing emotional ties with financial considerations, leveraging former employees, and creating a suitable organizational culture. The assignment also discusses management competencies required for the 21st-century leader, including adaptability, clear vision, self-awareness, negotiation skills, and judgment. Finally, the assignment suggests structural forms, including hierarchical and network structures, for one of the companies to improve its operations.

Contemporary Management
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Table of Contents
Case discussion - In a world of Pay..............................................................................................................2
Conflicting values.....................................................................................................................................2
Advice to Renate Schmidt........................................................................................................................2
Management competencies....................................................................................................................2
Case discussion - Can a strong culture be too strong..................................................................................3
Conflicting values.....................................................................................................................................3
Advice to Sudhir Gupta............................................................................................................................3
Structural forms.......................................................................................................................................4

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Case discussion - In a world of Pay
Conflicting values
The conflict occured in the Typware Company between Renate Schmidt, the head of human
resources and Jürgen Mehr, the head of marketing. In the given case, the beliefs of both Renate
and Jürgen are different, which shows conflicting values within the company (Fryer, Milkovich,
Thinnes, Yaffe & Kokott, 2003). The conflict is related to the appointment of Anne Prevost, who
was the director of marketing in a software company. Anne was expecting the Typware
Company to offer her 224,000 pounds as payment. But Jürgen was against the offer, while
Renate eagerly wants to hire Anne as she was the best possible candidate for the company.
Renate argued with the head of the marketing department regarding Anne. She was consistently
explaining the superior performances of Anne, which would help the Typware company in the
future in getting success. But the amount of salary is too high, which would make the other
employees feel negative as they were with the company for a long time.
Advice to Renate Schmidt
I would advise Renate Schmidt to negotiate with the other party for resolving the conflicts. It is
advisable to focus on the main issue instead of focusing on the person with whom conflict took
place. She should consider the appointing of Anne Prevost temporarily. She would suggest the
company to make an attractive salary package for Anne so that she accepts the job and deliver
better outcomes for the firm. Renate should gather enough information or data about the
competitors as well as international hiring policies which help her in discovering a better way to
attract Anne without giving too much pay. She should develop a policy to make all understand
the necessity of employing a specialist and paying for expatriate support for the business, which
would help in resolving the conflict. It is difficult to find employees having specialist skills, and
thus, Renate requires to create an effective salary structure for all the employees. It is also
advisable to Renate to take necessary steps like develop a plan to negotiate with Jürgen to
resolve the conflict.
Management competencies
The given case highlighted some of the management competencies that are important for the 21st-
century leader and manager in the VUCA world. A leader or manager could be able to develop
an adaptive mindset, which means they need to be comfortable with the unclear conditions.

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Leaders or managers should have a clear vision for the future of the organization, which help in
driving decisions and judgments (Akhtar, Khan, Frynas, Tse & Rao‐Nicholson, 2018). They
should be self-organizing and self-aware, which helps in bringing about a crucial difference to
the team or organization. The given case study help the leader of the 21st century in constantly
clarifying the present condition of the organization as well as enable to communicate effectively
with other members of the firm. A leader could learn negotiation skills to resolve any kinds of
conflict that may occur between the employees in the future. A leader or manager of the
company should have the ability to judge anyone and give judgment on a particular thing. In
today’s world, leaders are required to collaborate persistently within as well as outside the
organization (Rodriguez & Rodriguez, 2015).
Case discussion - Can a strong culture be too strong
Conflicting values
In the particular case, the conflict arose between Indira, the head of the HR department, and
Sudhir, the CEO of Parivar Company regarding “People Support Idea.” The main aim of the
people is to support the idea to come up with fresh ideas for the success of the company. Indira
did not agree with that idea as she thought the idea would work or would not work. She thought
the idea as bad because she lacks strategic thinking skills. Sudhir wanted to run a good company,
and he thought the people support would act as an edge against the competitors such as Wipro or
Infosys (Garvin, Natarajan & Dowling, 2014).
Advice to Sudhir Gupta
It is advisable to Sudhir Gupta that he should not base the company on emotional ties as its
concern with the financial relationship. He requires to realize that the market of the job is hot and
people will move to other companies. Sudhir should develop a network of former employees,
which would help Parivar to grow and expand. As his vision is to give a humane as well as an
exceptional workplace to the employees, he should reinforce the people support the idea. It is
also required to make the people support to understand the things that make the employees of the
company happy. To resolve conflict, Sudhir should be able to understand the other party and
negotiate. He should also take into consideration the idea of the other party and think about that
which would help him in launching the proposed initiative. It is also advisable to Sudhir that

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having a family-like atmosphere within the workplace is not always drawing talent among
workers and thus, form different organizational culture for the staffs.
Structural forms
The two structural forms will be provided that suits the company, Parivar. One is the
Hierarchical structure, and the other is Network structure.
Hierarchical structural forms – It is the most widely used structural forms by the organization.
The employees in this structure are grouped as per the role, function, and religion (Chen, Glass
& McCartney, 2017). It is proposed to the CEO of Parivar to follow this structural forms so that
it would help the employees in getting a clear supervisor. Many employees perform different
functions in the organization, and thus, the company should develop a team as per their
functions. In many places, the employees are grouped according to the countries.
Figure: Hierarchical structure
(Source: Foss & Saebi, 2017)
Network structural forms – This organizational structural forms help the company in visualizing
the internal as well as external relationships between top-level management and managers of
various departments (Geissdoerfer, Bocken & Hultink, 2016). It is a more flexible structure than
the other. The network structure depends on both external and internal reliable partners and open

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communication. The CEO of Parivar could connect with all the staffs to maintain a strong
relationship with all. The main idea behind this structural forms is entirely based on social
networks, and it flows from top to bottom in decision-making.
Figure: Network Structure
(Source: Harinck & Druckman, 2017)

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References
Akhtar, P., Khan, Z., Frynas, J. G., Tse, Y. K., & Rao‐Nicholson, R. (2018). Essential micro‐
foundations for contemporary business operations: Top management tangible
competencies, relationship‐based business networks and environmental
sustainability. British Journal of Management, 29(1), 43-62.
Chen, S., Glass, D. H., & McCartney, M. (2017). Two-dimensional opinion dynamics in social
networks with conflicting beliefs. AI & SOCIETY, 1-10.
Foss, N. J., & Saebi, T. (2017). Fifteen years of research on business model innovation: how far
have we come, and where should we go?. Journal of Management, 43(1), 200-227.
Fryer, B., Milkovich, G. T., Thinnes, J. A., Yaffe, J., & Kokott, D. (2003). In a world of
pay. Harvard business review, 81(11), 31-42.
Garvin, D. A., Natarajan, G., & Dowling, D. (2014). Can a strong culture be too
strong?. Harvard business review, 92(1), 27.
Geissdoerfer, M., Bocken, N. M., & Hultink, E. J. (2016). Design thinking to enhance the
sustainable business modelling process–A workshop based on a value mapping
process. Journal of Cleaner Production, 135, 1218-1232.
Harinck, F., & Druckman, D. (2017). Do negotiation interventions matter? Resolving conflicting
interests and values. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 61(1), 29-55.
Rodriguez, A., & Rodriguez, Y. (2015). Metaphors for today’s leadership: VUCA world,
millennial and “Cloud Leaders”. Journal of Management Development, 34(7), 854-866.