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The specific teaching and learning objectives are as follows: to help students manage virtual communication in cross-cultural settings and developing the trust in virtual teams. To have them assess their effectiveness in the virtual collaboration process. To design the strategies to combat the challenges involved in working collaboratively on a common computing platform.

Higher education institutions in India are facing intense criticism for failing to impart employability skills to the students. Despite being one of the largest education systems in the world, Indian universities are not listed in the rankings of best international universities. It is grappling with the challenges of adopting the right teaching methodologies that foster deep learning, which may lead to sustainability in higher education. To gain relevancy, the higher education institutions must discover the ways to transit from the knowledge-intensive to skill-intensive institutions. By introducing a virtual collaborative professional project for international business students, Professor Bose proposed a small step of moving from a rote teacher-centric to more hands-on, student-centric teaching methodology. While virtual projects are a common and successful way of enhancing cross-cultural competence in students, Professor Bose is unsure how receptive Indian students will be with this methodology. He visualizes many challenges related to the execution of the project and is worried whether he will be successful in achieving his goal of skill-based knowledge creation. While systems and institutions of higher education in India struggle to address the pressures created by globalization, Professor Bose knew that the one-size-may not fit all. “Flexible pedagogy” and personalizing the methods to suit the requirements of a majority of the students was the way forward. However, he needs to know if the faculty and students will be open to change.

This case is immediately valuable for the students and faculty who are the part of the courses such as “International Business” in which the global leadership challenges, managing virtual communication in cross-cultural settings and developing the trust in virtual teams are main features of the curriculum. The case could also be used effectively in the seminars conducted for the managers working in international organizations and managing the tasks in virtual teams located globally.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 5 International Business.

An employee&s husband made violent threats to the store manager of a Las Vegas shop specializing in skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products of an international company. The manager wanted the employee terminated. The employee confessed that her husband also threatened her. The employee's personnel file contained no performance problems, but the store manager admitted that she had kept a separate file with such documentation. The Executive Director and the Director of Human Resource Management wondered what they should do.

The present case study would help readers to understand paternalistic leadership behavior with its underlying theory. Readers would be able to appreciate the nature of experiences employees may have while working with a paternalistic leader high on authoritarianism. This case study would motivate readers to work out appropriate strategies for working under paternalistic bosses. The teaching note sensitizes readers about the complicated relationship between paternalistic leadership and culture.

Pyramid Globe Management Institute (PGMI) is struggling to generate revenue. PGMI founder, Tugmanshu Lakhani, has to find out new sources of revenue to keep the institute functioning. He constitutes a team of three professors for starting a new academic program with a foreign university. The initial success of the team brings favor from the founder but jealousy from the colleagues reeling under job threat. High authoritarianism and interference of the founder create a problematic situation for the three professors. When the new program starts showing promising results, the founder gets apprehensive about whether the new course may hurt the enrolment in the flagship program of the institute. The authoritarian and erratic behavior of the founder had a demotivating effect on the team working for the new program. Some team members resign under pressure while three professors stay to ensure the launch of the program. The professors have to resolve the conflict between their commitment toward PGMI in a troubled time and a career uncertainty if they continue working for it. Anticipating no change in the behavior of the founder and an uncertain future with PGMI, three professors quit after the start of the new program. The founder may continue losing committed employees if he is unable to balance his authoritarianism with benevolence and moral behavior. It will create more problems for PGMI in the future.

This case can be used in organizational behavior, leadership and team-building courses in the regular Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. The case can further be used in the executive development program, especially for analyzing the leadership problem in higher education organizations.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 7: Management science.

This case is designed to introduce students to organization culture and how employees are being affected by it. They should have some familiarity with organizational behavior (OB) issues, especially in relating to work culture. They need to be familiar with the related theories and models in organization behavior and development. More particularly, the learning objectives using this case are as follows. By using this case, the students should be able: to understand the real-life workplace scenario where fellow colleagues, like Catherine, can act bossy; to understand the problems because of communication barriers at the workplace. to be exposed on the concept of leadership style and organizational culture; and to understand the necessity of a leader’s interference in handling a chaotic situation in the organization.

This case illustrates the challenge faced by a young entrepreneur with regard to handling workplace chaos among employees. It highlights the importance of having a smooth communication flow and work culture in the organization. SWM was a swimming center in Southeast Asia founded by Ayyub, a young entrepreneur, in July 2014. Over two years, in 2016, SWM had designed different ranges of swimming programs for children and adults. The company’s culture gave employees freedom and flexibility to work. During 2015, the company’s growth was fast, thus encouraging Ayyub to recruit new staff to handle business operations. But hiring new staff caused problems among employees. On September 2016, Ayyub received numerous complaints from employees about a particular senior staff named Catherine with regard to her quarrelsome attitude and bossy behavior toward other junior employees. As a consequence, four employees left within a one-year period, and Ayyub started to receive complaints almost every week. However, because as Catherine was Ayyub’s friend and she was loyal to the company and technical skills, Ayyub fervently wanted to retain Catherine. Nevertheless, he was in dilemma how to fix this workplace miscommunication to maintain the harmony and peace in the organization. He was planning to open a new branch at Southeast Asia on February 2017, during Chinese New Year. He wanted to solve this problem before he starts his new branch. Taking into consideration the whole situation, Ayyub is now contemplating whether to conduct one-to-one meetings with Catherine on a continuous basis to train her with communication and leadership skills, isolate her in a department with less interaction with other staff, transfer her to the new branch or fire her.

The case target audience is for MBA students, particularly for OB and HR classes. Students/participants are challenged to identify the major issue in the case and help decision maker to make decision.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 7: Management Science.

Judy was a high-performing professional manager who was with her company for 15 years and was a manager for six. She was a confident, positive, and happy person but recently lost her confidence in herself and her abilities. She dreaded going to work because she never knew what she would face from her boss, Dennis. Dennis was a brilliant man who was recently promoted to Senior V.P. He was condescending, and he humiliated people in public. Complaints to the CEO and a harassment claim produced no results. Dennis did the CEO's dirty work and served a role needed in a fast-paced and profit-driven corporate culture. Judy enrolled in an MBA program to build her resume and her self-confidence. She faced a critical juncture in her career. Should she quit, transfer, complain to HR, or confront Dennis?

The learning objectives are intended to stimulate the students’ comprehension of the various challenges faced by Indian startups in the digital ecosystem. With the changing working dynamics in organizations around the globe, managers are expected to explore unconventional business models to facilitate operational growth. The case study is a valuable resource for graduate students to enhance and evolve their critical thinking and solution-oriented skills as forthcoming managers of digital businesses. Students should be able to analyze the case, respond to the questions and evaluate the consequences of workplace flexibility, moonlighting and its applicability in an organizational context. With the Indian Government introducing schemes such as the Digital India initiative and Startup India, it is predicted that numerous startups will opt for digital business standards and a remote work approach. The case bridges classroom theories and a real-life digital company to help students connect with emerging market scenarios.

During the digital era, India witnessed a shift in companies’ work culture, which amplified when COVID-19 hit the country. Organizations started to work remotely and experienced the numerous benefits it brought. The comfort of working from home was greater for digital businesses whose significant operations could be performed online. However, is it really that productive for digital companies to telecommute? The case illustrates how a digital company, Career Pandit, formed in 2018, unfurls and expands its business and further highlights the challenges the pandemic raised concerning people management. In addition to the discussion, the purpose of the case is to determine the implication of workplace flexibility and moonlighting and how Indian startups cope with the uncertain future challenges it brings.

Under graduate and postgraduate students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Data for the case came from public sources, including legal proceedings, court filings and Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The authors perused hundreds of court documents and identified 28 that were most relevant to this case. The authors also used press interviews with the women highlighted in the case. The authors have no relationship with the company and no one from the company has reviewed the information presented in this case. As the case is drawn from sworn legal testimonies, interviews and related documents in the public domain, the authors did not have to seek approval for publication.

Pinterest touted itself as “the nicest place on the Internet.” It had an almost 80% female user base and purported to have an inclusive culture that embraced diversity. However, in June 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, two former female employees of color violated their non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to publicly accuse Pinterest of racial and gender discrimination. In August 2020, Pinterest’s former Chief Operating Officer, Francoise Brougher, filed a lawsuit charging the company with gender discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination, and authored a public blog post titled, The Pinterest Paradox: Cupcakes and Toxicity, detailing her own experience with the company’s discriminatory culture. Three days later 236 of Pinterest’s 2,545 employees staged a virtual walkout and 445 employees signed a petition in an attempt to change Pinterest’s policies and culture. The case provides a brief overview of Pinterest, including its mission, values and organizational culture, and details several incidents and complaints by female and minority employees. The case questions whether employee complaints are a relatively narrow issue involving disgruntled former employees who did not fit at the organization or a much broader issue involving discrimination and managerial neglect in creating and maintaining a nondiscriminatory, inclusive culture. Students are encouraged to evaluate the situation in which Co-Founder, Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Ben Silbermann finds himself, evaluate the actions taken and decide if Silbermann should take any additional actions to address the discrimination claims and ensure a positive culture for all employees.

This case is appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate level courses in organizational behavior, human resource management and business law or any course where discrimination and workplace culture are discussed.

This case describes the journey of Karson as he transitions from female to male. Throughout his life, Karson experiences a great deal of anxiety trying to reconcile his identity with the expectations of society. The anxiety inherent in this situation is described in order to get the reader to more fully empathize with the issues faced by transgender individuals. The case then focuses on issues specific to the workplace as Karson begins his career with a counseling agency and experiences several instances of discriminatory behavior.

This teaching case covers aspects of leadership development, strategy, change management, organisational behaviour, and people management. The case explores the following themes:

• Workplace transformation and culture: the challenges and opportunities of remote/hybrid work in large government enterprises and maintaining the culture when moving remote

• Leadership and change: the different perspectives that a leader can take into consideration when leading the business during turbulent and uncertain times and managing the change process in large organisations

• Strategic decision-making: the application of analytical skills by senior management when making strategic decisions in a business

Workplace transformation and culture: the challenges and opportunities of remote/hybrid work in large government enterprises and maintaining the culture when moving remote

Leadership and change: the different perspectives that a leader can take into consideration when leading the business during turbulent and uncertain times and managing the change process in large organisations

Strategic decision-making: the application of analytical skills by senior management when making strategic decisions in a business

The primary audience for this teaching case is management education programmes including: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip), specialist Masters in Management, and certain Executive Education programmes.

This case deals with a public-sector entity that collects taxation revenue for the South African government. In 2020, the operations of this public entity are severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The mandatory shift of the workforce from in-office to a remote work-from-home set-up, results in the entity switching to a hybrid work model in order to achieve its goals as an essential service. Protagonist Dr Zanele Twazi, executive head of the public entity's research department, is tasked by the commissioner to conduct a review on the hybrid work model. As the commissioner is also in the process of reviving the organisational culture to regain public trust following multiple corruption scandals, the pandemic adds to this pressure. Dr Twazi must share employee feedback on the remote work option. Meanwhile, the leadership team has to decide if the work model will serve this public entity in achieving its strategy, and from an organisational culture viewpoint, if it is the best fit for the future.

The key learnings from this case include the following:

• Organisational work model: A suitable work model is dependent on the organisational mandate as well as its culture.

• Culture and organisational goals: An organisational work model additionally impacts the future sustainability of the organisation and its ability to achieve its short- and long-term goals.

• Change management framework: For teams to effectively adapt to a hybrid work model, managers have to be empowered to lead and be able to facilitate the change.

Organisational work model: A suitable work model is dependent on the organisational mandate as well as its culture.

Culture and organisational goals: An organisational work model additionally impacts the future sustainability of the organisation and its ability to achieve its short- and long-term goals.

Change management framework: For teams to effectively adapt to a hybrid work model, managers have to be empowered to lead and be able to facilitate the change.