Polaroid Case Study: Disruptive Innovation and Leadership Analysis

This case study examines the Polaroid Corporation, founded by Dr. Edwin Land, and explores its management principles, leadership styles, and innovative strategies. The analysis includes an assessment of Land's scientific management approach, his task-oriented leadership style, and the application of force field analysis for personal and organizational change. The study further investigates the company's challenges after Land's departure, proposing strategic recommendations such as product diversification and patent acquisition. The case concludes by highlighting Polaroid's focus strategy as its key competitive advantage, emphasizing its impact on the photography industry and the potential for future success through projects like the Impossible Project. The study also references academic sources to support its arguments.

Running head: POLAROID CASE STUDY
POLAROID CASE STUDY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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5.A. The Polaroid had included a scientific management approach. Land had included the
processes of innovation rigorously, into the system. The company was started with the
introduction of polarizer technology into all of the products imaginable. The CEO of the
company land, had done extensive researches in his laboratory of New York, in order to create
the artificial polarizer, and his innovation had changed the face of the camera, and based in his
innovation, a lot of other researches had been developed, like the camera paper by Kodak
(Kemp. 2013). Therefore, the organization had essentially included a scientific management
approach.
6.A. The management style of Land, fall in the category of Task Management, considering the
Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid. The task management type falls into the (9, 9) grid, and
refers to dictatorial type of leadership style. The leaders according to this particular type of grid,
are more oriented towards the management of the tasks, that is, the service or the product, and
follows the theory X of McGregor. According to this theory this type of leaders believe in work
efficiency and through the proper organization of work (Hakan, Kiliclar, and Yazicioglu. 2013).
Therefore, if the organizational conducts of land is considered, then it can be observed that he
used to follow the Task Management leadership approach, and had focused more on the end
product rather than managing the team.
7.A. Currently, considering the workplace I am involved into and the work that I am involved
with, there are certain factors that I would like to change in myself. Currently, our organization is
faced with a lot of challenges and the factors of stress have increased, therefore, I like to manage
the time as a driving force. And also, I would like to consider my commitments and my
responsibilities as my driving forces. However, I would like to address the factors of stresses and
the organizational challenges as the barriers to that.

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However, I believe that applying the force filed analysis will help me to address the change
factors in an effective way. The force filed analysis included a number of questions which will
enable me to concisely look at the change factors and therefore include the change management
system.
8.A. After the death of land, the company could not produce another leader who could have
led the organization, and could have included the change management system. Therefore, the
organization should have included a SMART approach in developing goals, and as the change
factor they should have included the factor the structural change of the organization, and
therefore, the specific goal which they should have included was that since, Land had burnt his
formulae and his notes, therefore, the organization should have include an approach of product
diversification, and getting a patent of their products, which would have provided them quite
some time, to think and decide about the product diversification.
9.A. Polaroid does have a future. The Impossible Project had been initiated with some of the
senior employees of the organization, who though that there is a foreseeable future of the
organization, and this understanding of them had made theme overcome the restraining factor of
funding. The print media and the photography industry still has a number of possibilities and a
number of opportunities, in the changes in the concepts and the technologies (Alves-Ferreira,
2019).
10.A. According to the case study, the most important competitive strategy that Polaroid had,
was the focus. Polaroid had brought into the world a concept of keeping memories which no one
could thought at that point of time, and based on that a number of other industries had changed
their strategies. Therefore, it was the focus and the outcome strategy that best explains the
strategy of Polaroid.

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References:
Alves-Ferreira, J., 2019. Parafictions: a Polaroid archaeology. Archaeology and Photography:
Time, Objectivity and Archive, p.96.
Hakan, K.O.C., Kiliclar, A. and Yazicioglu, I., 2013. The analyzing leadership styles of turkish
managers in the scope of the Blake and Mouton’s managerial grid. International Journal of
Business and Social Science, 4(11), pp.96-109.
Kemp, L.J., 2013. Modern to postmodern management: developments in scientific
management. Journal of Management History, 19(3), pp.345-361.