Rebranding the Leper Colony: Challenges of Changing Culture and Managing Difficult People

Abstract

Anika, a new manager, is confronted by a dysfunctional organizational culture characterized by employee disrespect, insubordination, and low performance. Her charge is to “to turn the place around”. The case takes place in a service organization, a testing range run by the US Department of Defense. The staff is a combination of federal and contract employees who test clients’ high-tech systems in a sometimes dangerous, desert environment.

In addition, there are three vignettes that give a portrait of dysfunctional individual behaviors. Frequently, the response students want to make is “I'd just fire the guy.” Unfortunately, it is not so simple.

Citation

Kipple, A., Anderson, J.S., Dustman, J. and Williams, S.K. (2010), "Rebranding the Leper Colony: Challenges of Changing Culture and Managing Difficult People", , Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/TCJ-06-2010-B002