Case description:
Samzzara is a leading regional consulting firm in HR and Recruiting Management. As a basis for its managerial
decisions, the Executive Board of Samzzara relies on financial and controlling reports which are being put
together on a monthly basis by the team of Veronica Grant. To a large extent, those reports are currently still
produced by manually collecting the financial and controlling data throughout the entire organization. It is
apparent that this approach is not up-to-date anymore. The Board of Samzzara therefore assigns Veronica to
present a solution on how to change to an IT-supported, automated information system in order to improve
decision-making. The presentation will be due in the next board meeting which takes place in two weeks.
Veronica, who is known in the company for her hard-working attitude and her direct and independent
management style, is not pleased at all about the short-term notice of this assignment since the ongoing tasks
are very pressuring and cannot be dropped just like that. After a meeting with her superior manager David Rock,
both conclude that this task shall be delegated to Richard Madden who joined the company three months ago.
Richard graduated two years ago with a degree in accounting and has been working as a junior controller at a
competitor since then. When hiring Richard, Veronica made clear to him that – due to the heavy workload at
Samzzara – he would have to be a self-starter without much onboarding support and pick up the work quickly.
Richard seemed to agree with her philosophy: “No problem, Veronica. I am self-reliant and like to work on my own
anyway”. Richard was employed at Samzzara even though he was not Veronica’s first choice. She would have
preferred a candidate with a strong background in both controlling and IT, but she was unfortunately unable to
pay the salary for feasible candidates.
The next morning, Veronica calls Richard into her office to tell him about the project and the deadline. During the
meeting she emphasizes that her door is always open if he needs her help. Richard seems honored to get this job.
He asks her about the expectations and some specific details needed to complete the job. “It’s a simple report
with a project plan, just go for it. Unless you have any bigger questions, I need to prepare for another meeting
now”, Veronica replies. In the following days, Veronica sees Richard in the office once in a while. He passes by her
office on two occasions. In a first meeting two days after being given the assignment, Richard asks her again about
what she is looking for in the report. Based on this meeting, Richard prepares a detailed outline, which Veronica
approves with a rather vague feedback. In a second meeting at the end of the week, he asks her for some general
guidance and for support on many of the specifics of the project. Veronica is rather puzzled about Richard’s
questions, asking herself why he didn’t investigate about those specifics on his own. She has to cut the meeting
short in order to attend another appointment. After the second meeting, there is no further contact among them.
By the middle of the following week, Richard submits the report to Veronica, dropping it off to her desk at 5pm on
his way home. When looking through the report, Veronica sees that formally all is correct, but the presented
solution is completely wrong and useless. With a trembling voice, she calls David Rock: “Richard has messed it all
up. We need to redo the report completely from scratch. Why didn’t he come in and check things out with me to
make sure that he was doing the job right, especially after our first meeting? It was really so simple, and I took
such a long time to explain it to him!”
Your Task:
First, analyze this case by identifying in general the main problems and issues here. As a guideline for your
analysis, you can refer to the functions, roles and tasks of management. Second, in a more specific way, provide
recommendations on how Veronica should have led and supervised Richard on this project. Refer to suitable
leader-ship theories and leadership styles which can support your argumentation. Third, explain how Veronica
should communicate to Richard that his work is completely faulty. Refer to appropriate communication theories
and methods to underline your suggestions.
