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Ostensibly the case is about an employee resigning from the organization due to lack of support, job clarity, and information about reporting structure. It addresses issues of socialization process, performance appraisal, and communication issue between colleagues in a consulting organization. The case serves as medium for diagnosis and action planning around integration of new employees into the organization, effective performance appraisal, and resolving communication barriers.

The primary topics, in this case, align well with social processes relative to communication and decision-making, and with individual processes relative to fairness in the workplace.

The case was developed from secondary sources. The secondary sources included news reports, and university sources (i.e. e-mails, announcements, reports, town hall meetings). This descriptive case has been classroom tested in an undergraduate organizational behavior course.

On September 10, 2020, the president of Bowie State University, Dr Aminta H. Breaux, announced that the university needed to “take a number of steps, including a temporary salary reduction plan, to close the FY21 funding gap and position the university for continued budget challenges” (Exhibit 1) triggered by the economic impact of COVID-19 on the state of Maryland. Some of the faculty members’ reactions to this announcement included shock and disappointment. Reflecting on what led to the state appropriation reductions, why would faculty members be shocked by President Breaux’s announcement of temporary salary reductions? Did President Breaux make the right decision, and was it communicated appropriately?

This descriptive case is most appropriate for undergraduate level organizational behavior courses.

Enterprise, Strategy.

This case study is about a used car retailer in an African country, specifically Ghana. Lessons drawn from the case could be applied in societies which are highly socialised; not individualistic.

Ghana is one of the first African countries to be hooked up to the internet. However, there has been a very slow uptake of “traditional” e-commerce applications due to a number of critical factors including a legal framework, and electronic payment system. Despite these challenges, some firms are making strides to use the power of the internet to enhance their operations. For example, the case firm uses social relationships to sell its first stock of cars and to re-design its website. Other findings and lessons from this case could be applied to similar contexts.

An understanding of how society influences business operations, especially in an African or Ghanaian context. Learners can also draw lessons that could be applicable to enhancing and growing the e-commerce capabilities of offline firms.

Teaching notes.

Rachel Banning was assigned a new role in HR with the responsibility to update recruitment and orientation systems to meet the rapidly growing demand for manpower at McCune Contracting, an oilfield services provider in Alberta, Canada. McCune’s industry peers were competing to attract the same skilled employees, within a relatively small talent pool. The HR team was only a few short weeks away from the upcoming peak “turnaround season” when they would be expected to recruit and deploy 500 new temporary workers for their clients’ sites. Banning knew she had to take immediate actions to fix as many of the systems issues as possible and to eventually set the team up with a more permanent solution for systems integration.

The authors had access to McCune Contracting to complete field research for this case.

The case is designed for business students at both graduate and undergraduate levels. The case can be used in operations management courses to discuss the topic of process analysis and operations strategy or in management information system courses as a comprehensive case study for use at the end of the course. The case might particularly appeal to students who have worked in human resources management areas or the service industry.

Theoretical underpinnings include a process view of organizational performance, internal supplier and internal customer orientation, performance improvement, information systems integration and value chain analysis.

Information Technology Security.

The case adds value for management students at all levels, as well as for practitioners. Work experience is not a requirement, as the case will expose some of the fundamental concepts pertaining to the scenario described. Assignment questions are designed from the perspective of teaching this case to a business student audience. The case could certainly be adjusted to fit the needs of students in more technical disciplines.

Set in October 2008, the case begins with the dilemmas facing Mr Ramanuj as he and his team from E-Infra Solutions prepared to address the damages caused by a major virus attach at OrangeInc headquarter at Bangalore, India. The virus attack destroyed all the important organizational documents residing on the computer systems and brought its business to a standstill. The catastrophe indicated the need for a comprehensive information technology (IT) security solution which was earlier overlooked by OrangeInc's management.

To teach the basic concepts of information security, in particular malware, and its impact on the business. To introduce the concepts and the importance of security awareness program. To teach the importance of IT infrastructure technology, process and procedures.

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

The case primarily revolves around the establishment, alignment and maintenance of expectations within a work environment. Specifically, the case focuses on the challenges that were created by the expectations that Kofi Nyarkoh had of his employee, Kwame Owusu, and the expectations that Kwame in turn formed based on the process surrounding his employment relationship with Kofi. The case is intended to help students assess a business situation and define the perceptions and expectations of stakeholders; assess the impact of differences in perceptions and expectations on the attitudes, behaviors and motivation in the workplace and develop appropriate recommendations.

The case was written based on a combination of field and telephone interviews and other communication between one of the authors and Kofi.

The case presents the story of Rococo LLC's founder and one of his key employees. Both men were originally from Ghana. They met in the USA through a mutual friend, and Kofi hired him to work on a client site for Rococo LLC despite Kwame's insufficient work experience.

This case is intended for students of organizational behavior, human resource management and management both at advanced undergraduate and graduate levels.

Desai, a College Student, faced a job search dilemma. Desai applied for two internships – one with a company known for a good culture, Strategic Carrier Logistics (SCL), the other with Thijs Marketing, a company in an industry more familiar and desirable to Desai. After a number of recruitment interactions with both companies, Desai received an offer from SCL and was given two days to decide. Unsure whether Thijs Marketing would make an offer, Desai considered accepting the offer from SCL, but reneging if Thijs eventually offered a job.

The case was developed from primary sources, where “Desai’s” first-hand experience in searching for a job provides the true account of the events noted in the case. The names and demographic information for individuals were changed.

This case study is appropriate for graduate and undergraduate courses in organizational behavior (i.e. decision-making), human resources management (i.e. employee recruitment), and business ethics (i.e. ethical decision-making).

Pebble Technology Corporation (Pebble) was an early entrant into the smartwatch industry. Pebble’s Founder, Eric Migicovsky, began thinking about creating a smartwatch in 2008 while still an undergraduate engineering student. After selling about 1,500 prototype watches, he was accepted into Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator business start-up program. Finding it difficult to attract investors, Migicovsky launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised a record-breaking $10.27m on Kickstarter. The case concludes shortly after Apple’s unveiling of its soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. The case provides an opportunity to evaluate Pebble’s various strategic options at the time of Apple’s announcement.

The authors observed over 30 h of video and audio recordings of speeches, interviews and other events involving Pebble’s founder, other Pebble executives, investors and competitors. These recordings are all publicly available. Whenever possible, the authors also reviewed the Twitter feeds, Facebook sites and personal websites of Pebble’s top executives over time. Similarly, the authors followed Pebble’s official website, corporate blog and Kickstarter campaign websites. The authors also drew from numerous media reports. Due to the public nature of the data, no company release is provided nor has any information been disguised in any way.

The case is designed for both undergraduate and graduate students for courses in strategic management.

David Walker, a senior attorney in a busy white-shoe law practice is involved in an in-office dispute between his administrative assistant and a respected colleague. He had spent numerous hours listening to both sides tell their stories and has no answers. How was he ever going to help two people he valued greatly work out a compromise between their extremely polar positions? The case provides opportunities to explore the sources of interpersonal conflict, causes of escalation, and ways of diffusing and resolving it.

Marketing, e-marketing, strategy.

Suited for final-year undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing strategy, strategic sales management, e-marketing and internet businesses.

This case follows the evolution of Mech Technologies and Website Portals Division within the company. CEO of the company who was also heading the division was grappling an unprofitable venture. A dilemma of competitors offering free services while his portals were devoid of matching revenue stream added to his woes as he was strategizing a turnaround. Readers get an insightful review of the industry, key competitors as well as emerging challenges.

Developing marketing strategy for a small organization in an emerging market. Learning about evolution and challenges faced by internet businesses in developing economies.

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