MGT 6000

Bobs Meltdown
Case Analysis
Erica Huffman

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Executive Summary
In this case, the CEO of Concord Machines, Jay Nguyen, is dealing with an emotional
altercation between his best manager, Bob, and newest hire, Annette. The situation has a neutral
witness, Paula, and has involved HR director, Nathan. The altercation was a result of a memo
that Annette emailed to Bob asking for some of his resources to be used in her knowledge
management initiative. Bob, after already having a bad week, personally as well as with work,
and feeling the pressures of the entire company on his back had too many emotions built up and
this was the last straw. The company promotes respect and teamwork as some of its core
values and this incident went against both. The problems that Jay faces lie both in short-run and
long-run. He must alleviate the immediate tensions between all involved, change the culture of
the company and tweak his leadership style.
Statement of the Problem
In the case of Bobs Meltdown, there are several problems that Jay must face as the
CEO of Concord Machines. First, in the short term, he is given the not-so-easy task of alleviating
the emotions of all employees involved in the altercation in order to reduce workplace tension
and restore a peaceful workplace environment, as well as devising a proper response. In the longterm, he is challenged with creating a culture more conducive the companys core value of
respect. The incident described in the case is a direct contradiction to the companys stated
culture and has the potential to negatively impact all of the companys employees attitudes.
Lastly, he must reevaluate himself as a leader and examine how he could have been more
proactive in preventing such an outburst to occur. Before attempting to come up with solutions to
these problems, the root causes must be determined.

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Analysis of the Problem
There are a collection of things that led to the altercation. The main issue, however, is the
lack of culture and communication at Concord Machines. The companys core value of respect
does not translate into the actual culture of the company. Respect involves understanding each
other and communication. Annette stated that there is no cross-unit teaming, while Paula
mentioned that Bob is the only manager that would even consider getting to know his employees.
This presents issues with cross divisional communication and hierarchical communication. There
is little if any communication between the divisions that make up the company. Annette and Bob
are both guilty of this. Neither of them attempted to get to know each other and their operations
and missions. If they had done so, they may have been able to respect each others roles in the
company. If the culture is to promote respect, communication is crucial to doing so. The poor
communication down the line from top management also created a culture that contradicts the
companys values. The misunderstanding between Annette and Jay regarding her proposal is a
clear example of this. Likewise, the uncertainty of Annettes purpose in the company by fellow
employees is a direct result of poor clarification from top management. In addition to
communication, top management failed to lead the company in a way that promoted positivity.
With better leadership by Jay, Bob may have felt more valued and less stressed. If he had
felt this way, he likely would not have had so much stress built up that led to his meltdown. The
whole situation could have been avoided. Additionally, Jay was not proactive in creating an
atmosphere that was positive. There are many leadership tactics that Jay can employ to create an
atmosphere that would prevent anger in the workplace. In result, Jay must decide immediately
how to handle the situation. And also, he must decide how he can make long term changes to
prevent such a situation from happening in the future.

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Recommended Solution
In order to decide on a proper response to Bobs outburst, Jay must sit down with both
Bob and Annette individually. Because Bob is a valued employee and is committed to the
company, Jay should show his gratitude for Bobs efforts. He must listen to Bobs explanation of
why he was angry and express sympathy for his family situation as well as his feelings about his
stressful workload. In order to create positivity in Bobs attitude going forward, Jay should
reassure Bob of his skill as a manager and reinforce confidence in Bob (Yukl). If he feels more
confident, he will not only be more positive but he will also have more incentive to think
innovatively. In addition, through emotional contagion, Bobs positivity may be transferred to
other workers (Ashkanasy). Lastly, Jay needs to express concern for the amount of pressure on
Bob and propose that he delegate some of his tasks to other team members. While Bobs
confidence should be built, Jay should still be clear that another violent meltdown in the
workplace will not be permitted. After Jay has understood Bobs side of the story, he should
speak with Annette. He needs to express that he is sorry for Bobs actions and that her sense of
safety is important to him. He then needs to explain his fault in Bobs actions. This may allow
Annette to better understand what Bob was dealing with as well as explain the situation. Jay
should express his continued support with her initiatives however because he does believe
innovation will be important for the company.
After a day passes and Bob and Annette have time to cool down, Jay should facilitate a
meeting between the three of them where they can discuss the problem and how to come up with
a solution that works for everyone. During this meeting, Jay needs to clarify Annettes role with
the company and why innovation will benefit, not only Bob, but the whole company. In addition,
Annette needs to be informed of the reality of the companys operations and the pressures that
Bobs division is under. They should then be asked to evaluate their needs and decide if they are

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realistic. Through this exercise, Annette will likely realize that her request may not be feasible.
However, if Bob is receptive to Annettes innovative efforts, he may compromise some time or
resources to help her project. If a win-win situation can be resolved, the focus should
immediately switch to that of optimism and positivity so that all parties can move on (Pfeiffer). If
an agreement cannot be made between the two of them, it is up to Jay to decide where his
resources would be better used for the time being. By tackling the issue right away and being
sensitive to everyones feelings, Jay can smooth over the tension and hopefully come up with a
solution that makes everyone leave satisfied.
After reflection on the incident, Jay should realize that the culture of the company needs
to be altered in order to prevent such high emotions in the workplace, but to also provide an
opportunity for successful innovative practices. If the culture is not changed, he is setting
Annette up for failure. Though this will take time, it will benefit the company in the long run. In
order to prevent such misunderstandings in the future, there needs to be more open lines of
communication. Bobs workers respond well to his personable approach to managing and the rest
of the company should follow. Emotions in the workplace are not be ignored or discouraged.
This creates the bottled-up effect that caused Bobs meltdown. Emotions are the key to employee
attitudes (Barsade and Gibson). Jay must create an open climate where employees feel safe to
express their concerns (Yukl). In order to create this climate, there must be better
communication. He should create cross-divisional teams that communicate with each other about
their roles and their projects. This would get the company to act as one team rather than multiple
smaller divisional teams. Another communication upgrade that needs to be made is through top
management. This is especially important when new initiatives are brought in. needs to know
what Annettes purpose is for the company. If Jay had clarified who she was, why she was there,

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and how she could help, Bob may have been less angry at the memo. It is important to get
everyone on board before introducing large undertakings such as knowledge management (Yukl).
A pro-communication culture going forward, would benefit both the company and its employees.
Furthermore, if Jay believes that innovation would benefit the company, he must create a
climate that promotes new ideas and is open to change. Annette, an outsider coming in, described
the company as set in its ways. Innovative efforts will not benefit the company if the culture
does not promote it. Once communication is structured into the companys culture, it will be a lot
more conducive to innovation. A change-oriented culture involves clear direction as to why
knowledge is important, and the ability to share ideas between diverse people. Jay should
encourage the experts in each division to share their ideas. It could lead to new innovative
strategies. Lastly, the company must create opportunities for employees to gain knowledge
internally and externally through research projects, experimentation and networking. Employees
must feel safe to experiment with their ideas and be free of punishment if they fail (Yukl).
Lastly, Jay needs to modify his leadership style. Through his actions, he can be proactive
in preventing negative emotions in the workplace. Because emotions can be transferred from one
individual to another, he needs to display positivity through confidence, hope, optimism,
happiness and emotional intelligence (Luthans). He also needs to figure out what his people are
motivated by. By individualizing his rewards to employees he can motivate more effectively.
Money is not what motivates everyone (Wyld). Praise, social components, and responsibility can
all be motivators for employees. He needs to get to know his employees better so that he can lead
them more effectively. Concord Machines would benefit greatly from a culture of innovation and
an effective leader.
Sources

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Barsade, S.G. & Gibson, D.E. (2007 February). Why does affect matter in organizations?
Academy of Management Perspectives, Volume 21, Number 1, p.36.
Luthans, F. (2002 February) Positive Organizational Behavior: developing and managing
psychological strengths. The Academy of Management Executive, Volume 16, Number 1, p. 57.
Ashkansky, N.M. & Daus, C.S. (2002 February) Emotions in the workplace: The new challenge
for managers. The Academy of Management Executive The Academy of Management
Executive, Volume 16, Number one, p. 76.
Wyld, D.C. (2011 February). Does more money buy more happiness on the job? Academy of
Management Perspectives, Volume 25, Issue 1, p. 101.
Yukl, G. (2012 Novemeber). Effective Leadership behavior: What we know and what questions
need more attention. Academy of Management Perspectives, Volume 26, Issue 4, p. 66.
Pfeiffer J. (Winter 2011). Workplace anger: Its all the rage. Employment Relations Today
(Wiley), Volume 37, Number 4, p.45-52.