Jensen Shoes Case Study Solution

Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitz's Story
In the case study, "Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitz's Story," the main character Jane Kravitz, strategic
product manager, and Lyndon Brookes, a member of Jensen Shoes' team, a popular manufacturer
and marketer of casual, athletic and children's shoes, are assigned to new positions and to each
other at the beginning of the story. Jensen Shoes is an American company for adults and children
that specializes in athletic and casual shoes. They respect their workers as much as their clients,
and a hallmark of the culture of Jensen shoes was their sensitivity to employee problems, both
work and personal. The business, which was the leading marketer in the United States, enjoyed a
highly profitable role. As the leading marketer in the US, the company held a highly profitable
role up to 2003. But sales began flattening, and in view of long-term sustainability, the situation
emerged where they had to diversify their product lines.
Chuck Taylor is the Director of Strategic Marketing and Jane Kravitz's boss. Jane Kravitz is one of
3 Strategic Product Managers and Lyndon Brooke's boss. Lyndon was assigned to work on Jane's
team, and was given two strategic objectives to complete. In addition to two strategic objectives,
Lyndon was assigned a third project on environmental issues in the same time frame. Lyndon had
been in a management position when he worked with Chuck Taylor before but he had not fully
completed his strategic objectives for the time being. When he was transferred to Jane Kravitz's
team, he was no longer in a direct management position. Lyndon’s previous and current
assignment were to cover the African American and Latino markets but the problem was that
Lyndon attempted to take a week off to fly to the West Coast and attend a two-day trade show
while also staying with his brother. Lyndon informed Kravitz that he would not complete both
strategic objectives. Both Lyndon and Kravitz agreed that he would be responsible for only one
strategic objective, they signed a contract to record that agreement.
Jane Kravitz and Lyndon Brooks have come into a situation with different reasons and
expectations. Brooks felt that he was being excluded from line management and that this clashed
with his plans to move forward within the company. At the same time, Kravitz also wanted to be
a good manager and show that as a woman she is a strong leader who can deliver results and
inspire her team to achieve their mission at hand. One of the reasons that contributed to the
dispute between Lyndon and Jane was the lack of a proper goal setting. One of the main factors
in the achievement of favorable outcomes is to set the correct goals for subordinates. For Jane,
delivering results was the main concern, and she had the stereotyped perception that men were
better managers, she wanted to show that women could be equally competent, and she could
succeed in the management position she was given. This made have unrealistic expectations
from Lyndon. While his colleagues had to work on one strategic activity, Lyndon was given the
responsibility to work on two strategic operations while working on an additional study on
customer purchasing patterns for a particular environmental initiative. Moreover, Lyndon was
also stereotyped to be able to better understand the requirements of the African American market
well given his ethnicity even though he had no experience in the market requirements. In
essence, Lyndon had two supervisors, and the goals and objectives were not well established
enough to allow him to work. Chuck expected Lyndon to fail while Kravitz had initially
expected Lyndon to succeed. In addition, Taylor's unfavorable evaluation of him to Kravitz, even
after doing a satisfactory job of reporting customer purchasing patterns, led Lyndon to fail.
The key issue in the case of Jenson Shoes: Jane Kravitz's story is that Jane's warped view of
Lyndon Brooks led her to handle him ineffectively. Specifically, disregarding Chuck’s negative
perception of Lyndon, Jane opts to give Lyndon the “benefit of the doubt”, attributing his
incompetent behavior to external causes. This in turn, influences her management decisions;
instead of using her authority to demand the required output from Lyndon, she makes special
allowances for him in hopes that he will realize the potential she originally perceives him to
possess. In addition, she escalates her engagement by sticking to her original way of coping with
Lyndon even though it does not succeed. By taking time to evaluate the situation, she would
understand that her solution was inadequate. The level of communication missing here is the right
input on Lyndon's actions and achievements. Lyndon has received mixed reviews from his
colleagues. Rather than offering a positive affirmation for his success, Chuck said that everyone
could have done the project. Similarly, Jane may have given him feedback on his bad behavior, but
she's always praising Lyndon by taking him out for lunch and throwing him a birthday party.
In conclusion, management must be pragmatic about allocating jobs to workers in order to
change the situation, and Jane Kravitz must be brave enough not to take the role if she found it
very impractical and impossible to complete. Often, so much self-esteem may also prove to be
counter-intuitive. Although throwing birthday parties is good, constant encouragement can be
more motivating by intrinsic incentives. If positive reinforcement fails to perform, testing should
be performed with constructive reinforcement. The fear of losing a job will increase the
possibility of a behavior that is desirable. Last but not least, to encourage Lyndon to view
himself as an asset to the organization, not just in terms of his job success, but also as a team
member, Jane could cultivate team building practices involving high involvement. This gives
Lyndon a chance to develop in the organization internally, and Jane gets the desired performance
from him.

Jensen Shoes Case Study Solution

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Jensen Shoes Case Study Solution

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Jensen Shoes Case Study Solution

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitz's Story

emerged where they had to diversify their product lines.

strategic objective, they signed a contract to record that agreement.

responsibility to work on two strategic operations while working on an additional study on

In conclusion, management must be pragmatic about allocating jobs to workers in order to

counter-intuitive. Although throwing birthday parties is good, constant encouragement can be

You might also like