Problem
The obsession of Marshall Gordon, one of four members of the design team for a large chair manufacturing corporation, with the creation of comfortable seating dated to a childhood back injury and a lifetime of pain. Like someone fighting to save the world, Marshall brought passion and a creative intensity to design meetings as if each drawing and each design tweak would change civilization as we knew it. Marshall seemed to thrive on 70-hour work weeks, although as a salaried manager, he received no overtime pay. This obsession with chairs, pain and gravity, and one-upping the competition has made Marshall a valuable employee and earned him a reputation in the industry for creative design.
But the Marshall Plan comes at a price. Over the 15 years he has worked with the company, five as leader of the design group, there has been a constant turnover within the design group as frustrated workers leave the company to "get away from Marshall." "Anything you could learn from this brilliant and dedicated man is destroyed by his cold, calculating attitude," says a fellow team member, John Craddock. Marshall presents a continuing challenge to company management, having both incredible positive and negative influence on the culture. While his contributions to design and profits far exceed those of other employees, his negative effect on the culture and his team's creativity and morale results in the loss of talented people and a climate of suspicion and discontent. Craddock and Leslie Warren, other talented members of the design team, have approached the management with their own ultimatum: Do something about Marshall or we resign.
• If you were a top leader, how would you respond to the ultimatum? Be specific. Explain why.