Case Study

On a Mission for Sumsong Dominic, Mia, Peter, Stephano, and Felix have been working on a joint project for only a week, but they feel like they have great chemistry. The CEO of the company that they work at, a medium-sized marketing firm specializing in marketing campaigns called ICC, gave them a big project to work on. One of the company's biggest clients, Sumsong, is preparing to launch their new smartphone: Universe X. The marketing firm ICC was tasked with the development of a commercial promoting this new phone. It is vital that this project succeeds due to financial issues, brought on by the pandemic, the firm currently finds itself struggling with.

For the CEO of ICC, it wasnt even a question who he wanted to work on this project. Dominic, Mia, Peter, Stephano and Felix are all bright, talented, creative individuals. More important, the CEO knew that these employees got on very well and shared similar important character traits. They all worked for the company for about the same amount of time, they are sociable, friendly, extroverted, and young. This meant that they knew exactly what Sumsongs target audience, millennials like them, wanted.

To make sure the team could work as efficiently as possible top management at ICC gave them as much autonomy as possible. With this freedom the team had full control over the project from start to finish. They can come up with their own ideas, hire everyone needed to film the commercial, choose the location, and present the commercial to the client when it is done. Sumsong has already been notified of what the plan is and have been assured by the CEO of ICC that the project is in good hands with the team.

Felix always thought of himself as a natural leader. So, when the team finally met up to talk about the advertisement, he immediately took the head seat at the table and told the group his idea for the commercial. "Hey guys, Ive been thinking a lot recently about how we should make this ad and I think I have a fantastic idea. I know the client really well and I think they want us to do something unique and new, something that grabs peoples attention." Felix said.

The next few minutes were spent with Felix explaining his idea and the other group members listening closely. Felixs idea comprised of a college student who was seen as a bit of a "loser" by the other students at the college. This student tries to get a date but gets turned down every time. After a particularly bad attempt where a female rejects him and her friends ridicule him, he takes out his phone to call someone. After seeing that it is the new Sumsong: Universe X, the girls gasp and the commercial cuts to him walking down a corridor with the same group of females surrounding him.

When Felix was done explaining his idea, he put his hands behind his head and grinned widely while leaning back in his chair. "So, what do you guys think? Fantastic idea right!?" he asked.

The other group members looked at each other uncertainly. "Uhh... I dont know if this is what our client is going for." Mia said, "But I think its a good start!" she quickly added after seeing the heat in Felixs gaze. "I think we should flesh it out a little bit more. Our client is very proud of this new phone. It is years ahead of its time and is as much an incredible feat of human innovation as it is a product. Im just unsure if this is the image Sumsong wants for the Universe X." She paused. "But maybe youre right and we need something different."

Conner did not look happy and asked the other group members, "What do the rest of you think?" Peter responded, "I think its a fantastic idea Felix!" "I think we can definitely work with this idea Felix." Stephano said. With a big smile on his face Felix exclaimed "Im really happy you guys see it my way. What about you Dominic? Everyone else seems to love the idea!"

Dominic took a deep breath and had to think for a moment. He had his own idea, and as he worked with Sumsong on multiple occasions and probably knows the company the best out of all of his team members, wasnt sure about Felixs idea. Dominic imagined something more sophisticated, such as following a top managers day and all of the ways the phone makes that managers life easier.

However, feeling the tension in the air growing, Felixs reddening face and penetrating gaze, Dominic reluctantly agreed, "Yeah sure, sounds good."

"Im so glad you think so." Felix said smiling widely. "Lets get to work right away. I want to get this commercial to the client as quickly as possible!"

So, for the next month the team worked hard on the ad. The feeling of camaraderie strengthened, and everyone got along. Once everyone was on board with Felixs idea everyone felt confident that the ad would be extremely successful and the client would be very pleased. As the feeling of security increased, the ad became racier. The girls in the ad were dressed very provocatively and the location set in a run-down bar with everyone drinking. There were some protests along the way from other team members, but in the end everyone decided to stop complaining to keep group morale high.

"I am very pleased Felix. The ad was finished in half the time we gave you to do it in." said the CEO of ICC. "This is a very important contract Felix. I trust that everything went according to plan and the ad came out well?"

Felix gave the CEO a grin, "Of course, it came out much better than we thought! There were no disagreements at all and we worked really well and hard together."

Finally, the day when came and the team were sitting nervously at the Sumsong headquarters with the CEO of ICC. After a short period of time, the top management of Sumsong walked into the room with professional attire on. After a short greeting, Felix and his team began with the presentation with Felix leading the group. Felix assure Sumsongs managers that the advert came out very well and that the idea for the ad came to the group almost instantly and approved by everyone. Felix then dimmed the lights, pressed play, and showed the ad they have been working on.

Almost immediately the team could tell that none of the managers of Sumsong or their own CEO. The clients raised an eyebrow and looked at each other and the CEO of ICC shifted in his seat nervously. After what seemed like years the commercial was finally over, and the lights turned back on. Everyone sat in an awkward silence and the clients began to speak among each other.

"That was... interesting." One of the clients finally said.

Felix quickly tried to explain that they wanted the ad to be "out of the box," and that for this reason, the audience of the ad would easily remember. Furthermore, he tried explaining that millennials want things that they think will make them more popular.

"Well, I dont think we will give an audience the opportunity to look at this commercial." One of the clients bluntly stated. She then turned to the CEO of ICC: "This is not at all what we wanted for our commercial. It doesnt fit the reputation of our company or the product, and would most likely hurt the modern and luxurious image we wanted to create for our product. Since you told us that this is your most competent team, my colleagues and I dont think we can work with your company anymore. We appreciate the time it took to finish the project, but we will most likely hire another agency to film our commercial." With that, she and her colleagues left the room.

After a long lecturing from their CEO, the team was disbanded. A month later, Dominic was sitting at home watching television when the commercial break came on. It followed a successful businessman through his day using the Universe X to do alot of his tasks and just help him with his day-to-day life. He then saw that the advert was created by ICCs biggest competitor. Dominic shook his head and vowed to always speak up in the future if he had an idea or didnt agree with the direction a project he was working on was going.

Questions (Explain answers as much as you can)

1. Critically assess the factors that contributed to the poor performance of the ICC team by applying theoretical concepts that you learned in the course. As a manager, argue in favor of 4 or 5 techniques or practices to help the team perform better. To strengthen your response, refer to the frameworks and theories that you learned in the course and contextualize details contained in the case. 2. Critically assess Felix's leadership style by applying frameworks and theories that you learned in the course. Examine why you think his style was effective or ineffective. In which situations might Felix be a more, or less, effective leader? Finally, compare Felix's leadership style to your own.

Note: Please provide references with your answer