Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak Essay Example

Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak Paper Wolfgang Keller graduated from Harvard Business School at the age of 34 and soon after experienced instantaneous business success in the food manufacturing industry. Keller, drawn to turn around opportunities departed the food manufacturing industry for Konigsbrau brewing. Keller accepted the role of managing director of Konigsbrau subsidiary in the Ukraine. Keller applied his hands on style of management, which brought earning success to the suffering subsidiary. Keller seemed to be on the successful pathway only to realize he had not yet developed leadership skills that would facilitate his relationship with Dmitri Brodsky. Brodsky, the commercial director presented a management style polar opposite to that of Keller. Keller, driven to continued success views Brodsky as the last hurdle to complete success at the Konigsbrau subsidiary. Keller, desirous of attention by the firm’s Vorstand for his business success now finds himself noticed by the Vorstand for his inability to solidify his leadership skills. Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-TAK (A) Case Analysis The black cloud following Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau is a product of insufficient time to develop leadership skills. Keller rapidly moved into a general manager role six months’ postgraduate school and experienced swift and lasting success over the next two years. Enter Dmitri Brodsky commercial director for the Konigsbrau subsidiary who represents the rain falling from Keller’s black cloud. Brodsky, 10 years elder to Keller is talented in his ability to design a sales team and provide a well-orchestrated flow of information. We will write a custom essay sample on Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Unfortunately, Brodsky does not possess the same angst as Keller when presented with a complex customer problem. Brodsky’s leadership suffers from his lack of personal contact with subordinates’ and unwillingness to develop personal relationships with Konigsbrau’s lifeblood, the distributers. Keller’s approach to leadership is developing personal relationships with subordinates while fostering his micromanagement style of leadership. Throughout the case study, two notable issues come to light: 1) Keller’s lack of effective leadership and 2) Keller’s need to identify a dysfunctional team. Jack Welch stated, Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence (2005, p. 63). Keller obviously missed opportunities to apply this leadership rule in working with Brodsky. Missed opportunities evidenced by the explosive exchanges during Brodsky’s evaluations. These explosive exchanges happened not one year but two years running. In Winning, Jack Welch states, â€Å"Too often managers think that people development occurs once a year in the performance reviews† (2005, p. 6). Had Keller taken occasion to evaluate Brodsky’s performance on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis the evaluation presentation would not have been a surprise to Brodsky. Brodsky’s attempt to discuss a pending lawsuit against Konigsbrau presented by a distributer with no success represents the last opportunity lost we will discuss. Keller, leaving Brodsky in the dark took it upon himself to discuss the lawsuit with the disgruntled distributer. Keller was successful in his discussion but failed again as a leader. Welch states, Self-confidence energizes, and it gives your people the courage to stretch, take risks, and achieve beyond their dreams. It is the fuel of winning teams (2005, p. 66). Had Keller taken the time to apply the first rule of leadership, Keller’s success as a leader would have been elevated and Brodsky, feeling energized and confident would have been willing to investigate the leadership style of Keller moving forward. Keller’s second issue surrounds his inability to identify a dysfunctional team. In the book The FIVE Dysfunctions of a TEAM, Lencioni mentions the first dysfunction is absence of trust (2002, p. 88). To be clear Lencioni describes trust as confidence among members that their peer’s intentions are good, and there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. He goes on to discuss the importance of vulnerability with each other in a group (2002, p. 195). In review of the case study it is obvious Keller has never exhibited trust toward Brodsky and equally so in the reverse. As the leader, Keller’s duty first to Konigsbrau and second to Brodsky is to build a team that can function in the face of adversity. There is no mention throughout the case study where Keller has completed a soul-searching exercise into how Brodsky’s team viewed their leaders’ style. Interestingly enough Keller did experience a meeting where the team depicted Keller’s micromanagement style in a special organizational chart. Keller ignorantly placed this loud message as to the dislike of his style on his office wall. Keller also does not take one moment to recognize that Brodsky’s failures are a direct correlation to Keller’s failure. Keller does receive a letter from his supervisor that solidifies this oncept. In a letter from Dr. Hanspeter Haussler it states that Haussler doubts Keller’s ability to work as a team. With the confirmation from Haussler Keller remains oblivious to his failure. Moving forward Keller must acknowledge his role in Brodsky’s perceived failure far beyond stating he acknowledges being in the weeds of management while attempting to lead a comp any. Keller must devote time to Brodsky one-on-one and further assist, coach, and mentor Brodsky while assisting in his team development. Keller must acknowledge Brodsky’s beliefs as Brodsky must acknowledge Keller’s; this exercise is building trust between one another. Keller must, as Welch states make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it (2005, p. 67). Keller must fully layout his business plan to Brodsky. Keller must include Brodsky’s team in this exercise. If Brodsky had one success in the study it was the impressive work completed working on the budget process. Keller acknowledged this only internally, missing an opportunity to build self-confidence and acknowledge Brodsky’s ability to be successful. Finally, Brodsky must make the decision that he is willing to apply himself to all the same rigorous changes Keller faces as well. To date, in all fairness to Keller, Dmitri Brodsky has not brought any solutions to the table. In the end both Keller and Brodsky must exhibit emotional intelligence that will allow complete success. References Lencioni, P. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002), San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass Publishers Welch, J. and Welch, S. Winning (2005), New York, NY: HarpersCollins Publishers Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak Essay Example Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak Essay Individual Case Analysis Assignment II: â€Å"Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-TAK† MGT 400- Monday 6-8:45 Chelsea Glovis a. What is your assessment of Brodsky’s performance? Please be specific. In my opinion, I believe that Brodsky is one of those individuals who is so intelligent his personality and social interactions suffer. Keller and Brodsky have very different approaches to problems, in addition to being different nationalities, this creates many of the problems that they face. Keller looks at problems and goes above and beyond to try and solve them, whereas Brodsky attacks problems with the textbook methodology (analytical) that is not always the best approach, and isn’t sure how to do anything else. For instance, half of their distributers were not attending the annual distributors’ meeting. Brodsky was already gone for the weekend and unreachable at home. Keller and his staff spent the majority of their weekend personally inviting the distributors, jumping through hoops to ensure they felt appreciated by meeting them at airports or railroad stations. After all of their hard work, the attendance was more than doubled, which was critical for the businesses success. Lastly, Brodsky was dealing with a distributor who he had written off as bad debt of 87,000 euro. Keller was encouraging him to meet with the customer and demand the money. Brodsky resisted at first, then finally called the customer and concluded that nothing could be done. Meanwhile Keller took matters into his own hands and drove to meet with the distributor in person and was able to get a check for the whole amount. We will write a custom essay sample on Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-Tak specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It seems to me that Brodsky is making the least effort in regards to personal relations, while at the same time thoroughly completing the tasks he was assigned for sales and marketing purposes. Brodsky is failing to see the larger picture and taking into consideration how relationships directly affect business cohesiveness. I think that he may feel threatened by Keller seeing his recent success and feels that since he is older he knows what is best for the company, although that is clearly not the case. Seeing that Brodsky is so analytical by nature, it provided reasoning behind the way he looked at the tasks at hand. I think that Brodsky could have made a much greater effort in resolving problems with distributors/customers, implementing his sales plan, developing a decent relationship with others, and acting as a manager not just an employee. It is crucial for employees below managers to feel comfortable discussing their thoughts and ideas, not scared and nervous. Brodsky does the least amount of work that meets minimum expectations on most areas of work and tasks that are assigned to him. For example, there was a very serious distributors lawsuit filed by one of the firm’s largest distributors that Brodsky was in charge of handling. In dealing with this issue, Brodsky sent a sales representative to work out the problem. Only after the sales representative failed did Brodsky make an effort to personally contact the distributor. Following their discussion, Brodsky determined that the distributors position was unchangeable. Keller knew this would be a huge deficit to the company if they lost this customer and arranged to have a seat next to them on the plane to work things out. After the plane ride the distributor agreed to drop the suit completely, if Brodsky had made more of an effort initially he could have been much more successful. While he does come up with new innovative methods for increasing sales and completing very thorough analysis, he doesn’t work within a realistic deadline. It is imperative to the success of the company to work in a timely manner so that sales can have a quick turnaround and begin to grow. Managers should be motivating to their employees to work hard and do their best, whereas Brodsky hardly communicates with his subordinates and coworkers thus diminishing any chance whatsoever for good, working relationships to be formed. In order to grow as an individual Brodsky needs to use this constructive criticism and feedback to heart instead of arguing each critique, making excuses and blaming others. b. How effective has Keller been as a coach to Brodsky? Why? Could you have done better? Why and How? I feel the Keller has done almost everything he can think of to try and alleviate the current situation with Brodsky. I think that the two men have such differing approaches in solving problems; a lot of tension is created in the office as well as one on one. The majority of the time, Keller takes problems into his own hands and tries to solve them, I would like to have seen him ask Brodsky to go above and beyond. Such as, arranging seats next to a distributor to discuss the lawsuit, personally invite distributors to the convention, and make a home visit to demand payment from a client. While Keller did allow Brodsky to make an effort, I feel that he could have been more successful if he provided Brodsky with ideas to solve these problems. Because Brodsky is so analytical, it is hard for him to think outside of the box. He is so used to strictly going by the rules and regulations he thinks once he has done those methods there is nothing else he can do. Keller needs to take into consideration Brodsky’s personality, problem solving skills, and relationships with others and in the end he will realize why Brodsky is the way he is. He continues to feel like he is never good enough because of the constant negative feedback that he is given. In my opinion critical feedback should be backed with the same amount of positive feedback as to ensure employees don’t feel inadequate and not valued. In some aspects, Keller and Brodsky share similar personality traits. It is a challenge for both of them to see others perspectives and personalities differences. They are both problem solvers; however attack their problems differently. In my opinion Keller has done all he can think of to help motivate Brodsky and for that I think he has been mostly effective. On the other hand, I wish he would understand their differences and realize why Brodsky does things the way he does. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I could do a better job; I would just approach the situation much differently. I have a way of providing critical feedback intermixed with positive feedback, as well as a course of action to fix the problem all in the same sentence. On top of the feedback, I would also include peer feedback as well as voice the concerns that other employees have expressed. I feel it is necessary to break down the feedback and explain why it is important and beneficial to fix these problems and how it will affect the business as a whole. I feel that this would be beneficial to Brodsky so he can take these specific steps to get better and learn from his shortcomings. Also, I would be more understanding of the way Brodsky operates as a whole and determine the best way to help him start to think outside the box to solve problems. I would also provide definite deadlines for tasks that he is assigned to in order to avoid missing deadlines, taking too long, and falling even more behind. I would give him words of advice and encouragement to make him feel appreciated and determined. Instead of immediately taking matters into my own hands as Keller did, I would allow Brodsky the opportunity to use my methods of completing tasks that were tough situations (i. . telling him to make a house call to discuss getting a payment check from a soon to be bankrupt company). Lastly, I would outline specific goals to accomplish for the next few months or until the next review to motivate him, as well as discuss company procedures that must be followed. These procedures would include mannerisms at work (open communication, proper etiquette, a minimum number of social outings that must be attended, etc. ) With clearly established rules, goals and courses of action, there is little room for him to argue his side. c. What are the underlying causes of Brodsky’s performance problems? What actions should Keller take upon returning to Kiev? Be specific. The majority of Brodsky’s performance problems have to do with two different personalities, traits, management styles, ethnicity, and outlook. Keller is a very hands-on, action-oriented guy who takes matters into his own hands when they are not completed exactly as he would have done it. Although he is very personable and loves to share a lot of his personal life with co-workers he has a difficult time putting himself in others’ shoes. Brodsky on the other hand is a very analytical introvert who completes tasks by the tried and true textbook approaches. He has a hard time thinking outside of the box when it comes to personal interactions and relating with others, in addition he doesn’t like to spend a lot of time bonding with co-workers and keeps the vast majority of his personal life to himself. These two completely different, night and day personalities are bound to clash and create bumps in the road that cause discrepancies. On top of all of that, I think that Keller is so concerned with making sure Brodsky understands where he needs improvement that he forgets to provide positive feedback with a plan of action that Brodsky can follow. In addition, their differences in age and methods to solving problems are completely contradicting as well, especially when Brodsky has shared little information about the way he operates. Brodsky has a hard time taking Keller’s feedback because he doesn’t understand what he did wrong and what he was supposed to do instead. Brodsky is very thorough and will take his time to ensure a task is completed to the best of his ability, while Keller is action oriented and wants to see fast results. Brodsky addresses co-workers in a formal demeanor with a distant management style and minimal personal life sharing, which damaged his overall management style. All in all, their overall management styles were to blame for clashing so drastically. I believe if Keller and Brodsky shared the same viewpoints on management styles and approaching tasks Brodsky’s performance report would have very high reviews. Keller should have clearly established due dates for tasks so as to avoid problems with Brodsky taking too long to complete them, explain what business etiquette the company promotes, provide well-defined expectations, goals, and methods to accomplish, and try to see the world from a different light. He must understand that not every individual functions on the same level, manages and accomplishes tasks in the same manner, and remember how different each person is in this world. Developing a friendlier relationship with Brodsky would make it easier for Keller to share how he feels and hopefully he will be able to provide feedback more than just during a performance review. d. What are the implications for Keller’s own development as a leader? Although Keller has had great success at such a young age thus far in his life, he still has a lot of room to grow as a leader. A great leader needs to be sympathetic with their employees and co-workers and do whatever they can to help them grow as individuals and flourish in the world of business. He must remember that each individual is different and not everyone manages with the same style. These differences are what creates diversity in teams and allows for innovative ideas and thorough discussions. Having faith in your employees is a huge part in being a successful manager. When at first they don’t succeed, provide insight, thoughts, ideas, solutions, etc. to continue to show them how to think outside the box. Keller is so concerned with fast results and finishing tasks on his own that he doesn’t give his employees the chance to learn from his methods. In his mind he is being the best leader he can be, meanwhile Brodsky is under the impression that he is being the best employee he can be. Both of them need to reevaluate their situations and how to work more cohesively together with such differing styles and traits. It is imperative that Keller works on giving positive as well as critical feedback, a defined set of goals and deadlines, an action plan to fix areas where his subordinates aren’t performing up to par, and provide constant feedback so his employees don’t go sixth months thinking they are doing an incredible job when in reality he thinks they are slacking.

Great response essay writing tips

Great response essay writing tips Response essay Writing a response essay may be rather interesting. The most important is to know how to produce it in the right way. A characteristic feature of such type of paper is expressing your opinion about the debated matter. For this reason, students do not experience great difficulties with preparing this work. However, it may just seem to them. You should realize that there are some rules which you should follow to write an essay of top quality. In this way, you will indeed avoid problems with preparing it. Sometimes, students do not pay meticulous attention to writing a summary and response essay. The point is that they consider it very easy. As a result, they face some problems which they cannot solve quickly. Do you want to know how to succeed in doing this assignment? All you need to do is to understand how to construct your paper properly. How to Write a Response Essay Do you know how to write a response essay? It is common for students to ask questions like, â€Å"What is a response essay?† This article should clear things up for you. In a nutshell, a response essay – also known as a reaction essay – involves watching a movie/video clip or reading text such as a book, poem or article and then discussing how it makes you feel. Of course, as you express your opinion you will need to provide evidence to support your arguments. As you examine the medium, you should consider the following questions: In general, what is your reaction to the medium? Does the author or creator of the content succeed in carrying out their objectives? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the video/literature? As you reflect, what are the takeaways of carrying out this response essay? Now that you have a general idea about how to write a response essay, let us discuss the process in more detail.Tips for Starting a Response Essay You have been assigned to watch a movie or read an article/book and then discuss the emotions that it evokes using sound logic and critical thinking skills. If you do not know how to write a response essay, you could easily confuse it for a book review or comprehension exercise. But a response essay is an entirely different type of task, as will be explained. There is no universal approach to writing a response essay, although your instructor might ask you to focus on specific aspects of the text or answer a list of questions as part of your response. As you go about this task, you are encouraged to express your opinions and even incorporate personal knowledge, especially if events in the narrative remind you of experiences in your own life that are applicable. However, you must ensure that the essay is coherent and logically structured, not merely a stream of consciousness. This means it needs to include an introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs containing your arguments, and a conclusion that wraps everything up nicely. Since the main point of the response essay is to discuss how the text or video is applicable to your own life, you must ensure that the topics addressed in the piece are, in fact, intertwined with your personal experiences. One of the challenging things about writing a response paper is that you must find inspiration in the given text or video, whether or not you enjoyed it. You must also be sincere in your response, as superficial or forced observations will be abundantly apparent. Useful Tips on Writing a Response Essay Express your viewpoint on the issue. What is your opinion about the read work? Did you like it? Are you ready to take the author’s position? If you disagree with the ideas discussed by the author, you need to explain why. What do you feel after reading the chosen story? If you answer these questions, you will know how to move one and write an exclusive paper. Make a plan It should be admitted that this type of paper differs from other works. Nevertheless, you still need to make a coherent structure and right response essay format. Therefore, your piece of writing should include at least three parts. They are an introductory section, summary of the read literature sources, and your point of view about it. By the way, your opinion about the analyzed work is a thesis statement of your paper. Research methods When producing a personal response essay, you will mainly discuss the author’s ideas and present your viewpoint on it. The most efficient approach is to illustrate the difference between your opinion and that of the author. Thus, you should analyze the author’s position. Then, explain why your point of view differs from that of the author’s. Defend your position You should provide powerful arguments to support your opinion. Does the author cover all points of the story? Are the descriptions vivid? Note that you should present illustrative examples to develop each idea of your critical response essay. Edit your paper This is the last, but very important step you should take to complete your response essay. It is necessary to edit your work. You may ask your friend to look through the paper and tell if it is easy to read. Different Types of Response Essays As noted, while virtually all response essays include the same objectives – namely discussing how you feel about a text and using personal examples to support your arguments – your approach will depend on the guidelines that your instructor provides. Here are some ways in which you might be asked to express your opinion: Discussing the concepts in the video or text and whether you agree or disagree with the information Discussing thoughts presented in the medium and relating the directly to your own personal experiences with the matter Relating the information from one text or video with other text/video that you have read/viewed Assessing how the medium tries to influence the audience and discussing whether the creator/author is effective in carrying it out. As you write a response essay, you will want to identify and draw strong parallels between the work being analyzed and your own personal experiences. However, you should be highly specific in your writing. For instance, it is not enough to discuss the narrative’s broad theme of redemption or perseverance. Instead, you should use actual quotes or summarize scenes/paragraphs that support your arguments. For this reason, you should first read the text or view the video all the way through, taking notes in the process and generating ideas about how you can apply the situations and concepts to your life. Response Essay Structure As you read/view the medium, always keep in mind that it was created for a purpose. It could be that the author or filmmaker is trying to make a point. They might be arguing for a certain position. They might support certain values or beliefs. When you write the response paper, it is essential that you both inform the reader about the creator’s intentions in writing the book or making the movie. This demonstrates that you have not only read the book or watched the movie, but have also given the content a lot of thought. Having done this, it is now time to start writing your paper. Introduction The response paper is exactly like almost every type of essay in that it begins with an introduction and well-defined thesis statement. Like almost every type of essay in that it begins with an introduction and well-defined thesis statement. The introduction should be brief and while it gives the reader a preview about what to expect, you do not want to reveal too much. After all, that is what the next part of the paper will achieve. Here are the three objectives of the intro: To capture the reader’s attention To provide some background about the topic being addressed in the story To present your thesis Body The body contains the meat of the paper. In a conventional essay, this consists of three paragraphs, each one devoted to a single argument that is tied back to the thesis. Your evaluation and analysis should be clear and well thought out. While your paper needs to be academic, it does not have to be dry. You are welcome to employ a few literary techniques as you make your points including through onomatopoeia, metaphors, similes, assonance, and any other methods that will make the response essay more interesting and emotional. Conclusion No essay is complete without a proper conclusion. A lot of students make the mistake of merely summarizing what they have written and leave it at that. But this part of the paper involves much more than that. You want your essay to leave a lasting impression on the reader. To achieve this, you should discuss why your response essay was important and how it make a contribution to discourse. Give the Response Essay a Try If you lack experience with writing response essays, it might seem like a daunting task. But the key is to practice, hone your writing and evaluating skills, and be patient. Nobody becomes a talented writer overnight. Furthermore, your professor is not going to expect you to have the abilities of a Pulitzer Prize recipient. So try your best and eventually you will get the hang of it! Response Essay (Love Is a Fallacy) Max Shulmans examples of fallacies presented in his short story can push the readers to various conclusions. One can decide that the story is anti-man, another that it is anti-woman. Anyway, the structure of the story together with its interesting twist in the end brings a deep message that makes the readers broaden their minds. To my mind, numerous details are used to prove that people and their deeds are often misjudged as well the story that could seem anti-woman, in reality, is not, and its perception as such is just another fallacy. To begin with, one should pay attention to the representation of women in the story. The author depicts the character of Polly Epsy as a girl, who excited the emotions. She was beautiful and gracious, but unworthy of the smart and serious Shulman, was superior to her in many ways. With regard to the fact that the author represented a beautiful woman as very unintelligent, the representation of females in Love Is a Fallacy can be defined as biased and disrespectful. At the same time, it is essential to pay attention that, from the beginning of the essay, the readers can understand that the author is not only anti-women. He is anti-everyone for he considered himself better that others in all ways. The main character that reflects Shulmans views is arrogant, self-absorbed, perspicacious, acute, and astute, but also emotional type, unstable, impressionable. In such a way, one can see that the author is not set against some specific group defined by gender or other criteria. His prejudice root from his views of the others as inferior beings, not from gender. Moreover, the irony that Shulman was wrong and that Polly appeared to be more intelligent than he thought and outsmarted him is another evidence of the fact that considering the short story as anti-women as very superficial. Therefore, the story can be defined as equally anti-man and anti-woman or for everyone and against the stereotypes. Emphasizing that fallacies are the ways to hide the human intelligence, but also reveal it is a way to make people think more deeply and be unbiased in their judgments.