INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT INDORE

CRITICAL READING & ANALYTICAL WRITING

Case Analysis

Under Mentorship of Dr. Bhargav Nimmagadda

“What a Star - What a Jerk”

By:
Rajdeep Singh | 2020IPM101
Mihir Kumar | 2024PGP242
Sanchita Suman | 2024PGPH023
Divyansh Anjan | 2024PGP143
Apurva Patidar |2024PGP074

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Table of Contents

● Acknowledgement Page 3

● Relevant Facts - Situation Analysis Page 4

● Problem Statement

● Alternatives

● Criterion for Evaluation

● Evaluation of Alternatives

● Recommendation

● Action Plan & Implementation Plan

● Contingency

● Exhibits

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank our professor, Dr. Bhargav Nimmagadda, who shared with us his
valuable experience and gave us an insight into conducting a case analysis for the
Coursework Critical Reading & Analytical Writing to solve a human-resource related issue at
Workplace.
We would also like to thank PGPO & Institute for their continuous support throughout the
Coursework.

Disclaimer: ChatGPT has been used in various parts to proof-read the grammatical & language
inconsistencies, and to align the structure of the document. No other usage of AI has been done

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Situation Analysis

The case, what a star - what a jerk presents us with a dialogue written between the protagonist
Jane Epstien and her trusted aide Rick Lazarus. Jane has recently joined a new organization
called TechniCo and tells Rick about her colleagues, especially Andy Zimmerman, who she
defines as a ‘star’ but a person with a difficult personality.
Following is a more detailed analysis of all the characters:

Jane Epstien: Jane has recently joined as a team lead at TechniCo and believes she has
inherited a good team with strong performers and most of them having a nice personality.
She is tasked with handling the personality of Andy Zinnerman as she believes he is affecting
the team morale although she thinks that people issues are distracting her from her real job.

Andy Zimmerman: Andy is the most skilled member of the team, he can easily find issues
inside a plan and is also good with numbers as mentioned by one of the other team leads to
Jane. He acts professionally at work and expects other team members and AA to meet his
standards.
He also exhibits behavior such as talking to team members in a condescending manner and
disregarding team inputs which undermines collaboration.

Rick Lazarus: Rick is the person who Jane confides in regarding the Andy Zimmerman issue,
he has more of a diplomatic approach to the problem as he supports Andy’s behavior but also
nudges Jane to talk to Andy so as to improve the team morale.

Jack : Jack is defined as a shy person by Jane, the incident between him and Andy where Andy
pointed out all the flaws in his thinking ( which were correct) in a manner which made him
squirm that motivated Jane to talk to Andy about his behavior in the team.

Caroline: Caroline is defined as a pragmatic person with a nice personality by Jane. Although
she had gone through a divorce she used to pull her weight. She is trusted by everybody and
has a huge social capital in the organization. She was also used to handling the “Zimmerrman”
situation. People used to confide in her whenever they dealt with Andy and she used to calm
them down. Andy also approached Caroline when he wanted to vent and Caroline used to talk
to him. Despite this she also becomes a victim of Andy’s personality which motivated Jane to
talk with Andy one on one.

Organizational Setting : Jane mentions that there is a little too “nicey-nice” environment in the
organization and there is a lack of hierarchy which translates to tolerating barely average people
if they are well liked.

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Team Dynamics: There is a negative impact of Andy’s behavior on team dynamics, due to
Andy’ s behavior people are scared of working with him and uncomfortable sharing ideas which
is hindering collaboration.

Problem Statement:

The problem statement is summarized well in the last line of Case: I feel like I am between a
rock (the lousy effect he has on the group) and a hard place (his stellar performance). If Andy
were a normal employee, he could have been penalized/relieved from his services. But he was
one of the most delivering person in the team, along with a provider of many insightful ideas. At
the same time, he was not open to amending changes in his Personality and his toxic
tendencies were growing with time. As his manager, Jane had to moderate both of his quirks, so
that the team could function effectively as a whole.

Hence, the problem statement was that How could Jane address the toxic behavior of a
high-performance employee who is resistant to change (Andy) without having to relieve
them from Job?

Alternatives:

1. Regular Personality Coaching with identified Deliverables: External coaching agents

might be hired who can aid Andy to understand the impact of his behaviour on the Team.
They can specifically guide Andy as to how his actions hinder collaboration. The coach
can also assist him in improving upon emotional intelligence and/or interpersonal
skills
2. Behavioural Improvement Plan with Measureable goals: Specific KPIs, like level of
respect people feel or the level of trust people have in collaborative outcome, can be
used to assess the results of any behavioural improvement plan.This plan of action can
be executed using anonymous peer feedback & 360 Degree reviews.
3. Linking Behavioral Traits to Career Outcomes: Creating a streamlined company-wide
policy of career progression that rewards certain identifiable traits as more ideal than
others, while delivering a certain outcome. These reward points can be assessed at a
meeting-level, project-level or can be completely outcome dependent, and can be
based off of feedback from externally-hired auditors each month, who regularly
supervise over team meetings and discussions.

Criteria for Evaluation:

● Impact on Team Morale (45/100)

The foremost criteria to evaluate the alternatives is the impact that they make on the
morale of the team members. As the actions of Andy’s behavior are directly affecting the

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 team members morale and motivation. This criterion takes into account how alternatives
influence the sense of belonging, motivation, and psychological safety. Accounting for
team morale is important because team morale impacts the long-term performance of
the team; thus, it has the highest weight of 40.
● Retention (35/100)
Along with the long-term impact of the alternative, it is imperative to assess its effect on
Andy’s performance and contribution to the team after implementation of the alternative.
This becomes important because Andy is a top-performing member of the team, and any
loss in his performance could negatively impact the team's overall results.
● Sustainability (20/100)
The alternative which will be implemented would set a precedent for such situations in
future thus it becomes important that it aligns with the expectations associated with the
work environment that Jane wants to maintain. Inconsistency in managing similar
situations leads to dissatisfaction among employees which makes it important that
alternatives are sustainable in the long term.

Evaluation of Alternatives

Regular Personality Behavioural Link Behavioral

Coaching with Improvement Plan Traits to career
identified deliverable with measurable goals outcomes

Evaluation Weight
Criteria

Impact on 45 +1 0 +1
Team Morale

Retention 35 0 +1 +1

Sustainability 20 +1 0 +1

65 35 100

● Personality Coaching with identified deliverable:

○ Impact on team morale:
■ The change will have a positive impact on team morale. Team will feel
that the company is ready to invest in the behavioral well-being of
employees leading to stronger psychic safety in the organization.
○ Retention:
■ It has potential to improve collaboration skills of Mr. Zimmerman and
make him more effective by developing his emotional quotient which
could help in retaining his performance. This will create a safe working

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 place for other members and make the workplace better. If Mr.
Zimmerman refutes the changes he can show the disengagement with
other employees and will harm the workplace harmony.
○ Sustainability:
■ The method will be a highly sustainable one as it helps drive long lasting
interpersonal based behavioral change. It can also set a precedent for the
rest of the employees. It will also help inculcate the soft-skills into the
workplace culture, fostering workplace harmony

● Behavioural Improvement Plan with measurable goals:

○ Impact on team morale
■ If the plan leads to a better environment in the team with collaboration
and boosted team morale then it is good. But if the metrics are overly
focused on metrics it may incur negative impact. The key lies on how well
the process is executed.
○ Retention
■ As the measurable goals are tied to improvement, Mr. Zimmerman might
feel motivated to inculcate the learnings and remain a good performer.
The issues related to behavior might diminish once he senses a direct link
to his career success.
○ Sustainability
■ The behavioral plans are a temporary solution and may not be received
well by other employees. However, continuous review and feedback
mechanisms can lead to a sustainable culture. But ensuring consistency
in execution may be challenging

● Link behavioral traits to career outcomes:

○ Impact on team morale
■ Linking people skills to career outcomes may motivate Mr. Zimmerman to
adopt positive behavior. It can also foster a healthy competitive
environment if the process is transparent and fair.
○ Retention
■ By aligning career advancement with behavioral traits, Mr. Zimmerman
may be motivated to enhance his behavior to secure a good career. It can
help with retention as a clear connection between behavior and career
progression can be established leading stronger engagement amongst
peers
○ Sustainability
■ Approach can be sustainable if it is instigated into the workplace culture.
With passage of time it can shift the broader organizational culture to
accommodate emotional intelligence. But the process must be fair for
effective long-term success.

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Recommendation
Recommendation: Linking Behavioral Traits to Career outcomes & Targets

Considering the analysis, the most efficient and feasible solution how to cope with the ailment of
Andy Zimmerman in a way that his very high performance will not be lost is linking behavioral
traits oriented towards the performance outcomes. This approach promotes the unity of
individual performance in the teamwork with the organizational expectations and targets,
contribution for the effective teamwork, integration and promotion of the team culture in the long
run.

That is why all the psychologists recomend to suspend all hooligan activities and consequences
of violent behavior of the team members until there is a time when such actions are necessary.
This also means that good management will be rewarded with promotion. This encourages
children in a positive slew to modify and regulate their behavioral problems owing to the
possessive aspect for climbing the job ladder. The interdependence of this process is obvious –
the interrelation between the goals and the behavior of management is stressed, as is the use
of specialized good behavior and the ongoing employment of children.

Furthermore, this creates a new standard for the wider organizational market, galloping
egregiously into the 21st century, which, quite curiously, does not regard output as the only
basis for scoring a goal. Gradually, it will help change the focus of the organization for the
emotional intelligence part along with the technical intelligence, hence making sure of the short
and long term benefits for the team performance and the overall health of the organization.

Action Plan

1. Determine the essential behavioral concerns

Essential Change: Identify the specific behaviors of Andy that impede team collaboration, such
as his condescending tone and disregard for team input. Document these behaviors.

Change agent: Jane Epstein will serve as the team's leader in this endeavor. She possesses a
well-developed comprehension of organizational expectations and team dynamics.

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2. Implement Regular Personality Coaching

Essential Change:Andy should be enrolled in personality coaching sessions emphasizing

emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills to enable him to see how his activities affect the
team.

Change agent:An external coach with expertise in behavior change and team dynamics.

Capabilities:The coach has the abilities and ability to give focused feedback, which will assist
Andy in developing the soft skills required for better team engagement.

3. Create a behavioral improvement plan with measurable goals.

Essential Change:Define explicit behavioral KPIs related to team morale, trust, and respect to
monitor advancement. This may include peer evaluations and comprehensive 360-degree
assessments.

Change agent:Jane will establish and oversee these objectives, using feedback from HR to
guarantee equity and impartiality.

Capabilities:Jane's managerial position enables her to make these changes efficiently, while HR
offers supplementary assistance to ensure consistency and responsibility.

4. Correlate Conduct with Professional Advancement

Essential Change:Incorporate behavioral standards into performance assessments, explicitly

indicating that teamwork and emotional intelligence are esteemed alongside technical
proficiency.

Change agent:HR and Jane may change rules to represent these expectations for the company
overall.

Capabilities:Both have the power to change assessment standards and underline the need of
interpersonal abilities for professional growth.

5. Regular Check-ins and Feedback Sessions

Essential Change:Arrange for frequent feedback meetings with Andy and the group to go over
progress and deal with any new problems as soon as they arise.

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Change agent:Jane, with support from HR.

Capabilities:Jane’s ongoing presence in the team allows her to facilitate these sessions
effectively, fostering open communication and trust.

6. Track team morale and make necessary adjustments to plans.

Essential Change:Assess the effect of Andy's adjustments on team morale via casual
discussions and anonymous questionnaires.

Change agent:With Jane's help, HR will supervise this procedure.

Capabilities:Because of their objectivity, HR is able to get candid input and make objective
changes as needed.

7. Sustainability Planning

Essential Change:Make this method the norm for handling interpersonal conflicts and
encourage a culture that values both technical and emotional intelligence.

Change agent:Leadership team and HR.

Capabilities:They possess the authority to establish and exemplify these norms, facilitating
sustained behavioral improvement inside the company.

Contingency Plan

If Andy’s behaviour does not improve significantly within six months, a formal warning can be
issued, followed by a reassessment of his role and he could be reassigned to a position with
less team interaction if necessary.

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