Larry Roach Human Relations Section B01 Chapter 7 Case Study

William D. Perez and Phillip H. Knight: Nike, Inc. Please read Chapter 7's Case Study on pages 259-260. Go to the Internet for more information on Nike and to update the information provided in this case study, do a name search on the Internet and visit www.nike.com. 1. Using transactional analysis, describe the implied nature of the interaction between Mr. Perez and Mr. Knight. What do you believe has led to these crossed transactions? The implied nature of the interaction between Mr. Perez and Mr. Knight seemed to be when Mr. Perez thought that the Nike company had already shown that it could dominate the high-end shoe and apparel scene, that it should try to develop a lower end Nike that would be able to be sold at lower end retailers, and hence make Nike shoes available at an affordable priced to accommodate all people that wanted to get their feet in a pair of Nike shoes. This angered the top-two executives of Nike which included Mr. Knight, and obviously Mr. Knight without seeing Mr. Perezs insight on the matter felt as others did, that he had cheapened the Nike Brand by lowering its standards when it came to pricing and who should be allowed to have Nike shoes. By this point anything that Mr. Perez was doing, or looking at was upsetting the two co-presidents. The cult personality traits of Mr. Knight and ego based company style, was what seemed to be unintentional by Mr. Perez came to be more than a personal issue between Mr. Knight and himself, but an issue of brand equity. Sure Nike was the best, most expensive and by controlling 90% of the market in shoe sales over $100, the egotistical Mr. Knight seemed thats all he was willing to focus on. I think Mr. Knight took the crossed transactions way out of context, and Mr. Perez was just doing what he felt was best for Nikes overall long term growth. I think Mr. Knight being strongly adaptive child in his ego state when he obviously said things that threatened Mr. Perezs Adult ego state. He was rational thinking of ways to make Nike and its brand look more in terms on long term rather than short term. If Mr. Knight would have seen this and actually not acted out of the realm of nobody is going sell my top notch shoes at low end prices. Not everyone gets to wear Nikes, and it was a force that he came down with that Mr. Perez smartly in my mind got out of the way of. I dont think he resigned due to lack of skill, and actual potential with Nike. Mr. Perez just didnt have the same nature or Ego of that of the founders and current co-presidents of the Nike Corporation. The
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obviously shocked by the response of Mr. Knight and resulted in the disappointment of Mr. Perez who thought he was performing his job to the best interests of Nike then to come to find he was actually insulting the founders and co-presidents of the company and ultimately led to his resignation.

2. Using the terms assertive, passive, and aggressive, describe the implied behaviors of Mr. Knight and Mr. Perez in their interactions. The implied behaviors of Mr. Knight and Mr. Perez seemed to be exact opposite. While it seems as though Mr. Perez was more assertive in his ways when it came to decisions he made, and obviously good natured thoughts and ideas that he put in motion to try and curb the trends Nike had amassed in its tenure as the one and only most desired, and expensive brand of shoe period, to making them more marketable to all classes of people so that all could wear the swoosh. He had long term goals written all over his ideas an insight. He also had great ideas that obviously didnt suit the egotistic, overly aggressive Mr. Knight who on a personal level evidently came at Mr. Perez, to where he was all involved when it came to doing his job but when it became personal, he used the avoidance technique because he avoided the conflict that was ensuing, and which he felt was a losing battle which in all context was a losing battle up against Mr. Knight. 3. What conflict management style is being exhibited in this case? The conflict management style that was used by both parties was obviously one that in mind showed an ugly side of Mr. Knight. Mr. Knight obviously didnt imply that he expected Nike to stay a brand that was highly touted for its expensive shoes, quality, and overall following they had amassed and making Nikes cheaper and more available to lower end customers, and retail stores, was a slap in his face, and he failed to let Mr. Perez who was obviously more goal oriented towards the long term, because due to economic hardships and the economy being the way it is, Nikes expensive line even though widely popular would be too high of priced for an average family to afford especially with middle class budgets and more than one child. He wanted to expand the sales in Europe as they had in America, which obviously like I believe it is an Ego driven company and they obviously have made it as far as they had and who is Mr. Perez to come in and decide to change the culture of Nike. I believe that Mr. Perez showed obvious Avoidance, and with this conflicts dont get solved. It maybe has led to conflict within Mr. Perezs self, due to the shock he had to be in when he was bettering the Nike Brand only to come to find out he was bettering it in a way that was unapproved of by Top executives. But overall I think his stake was taken care of by Nike in the issue and who was he to change the overall Mind set at Nike. He avoided confrontation after realizing his mistakes in the eyes of the top executives, whose management style was forcing in nature, which would wrap up the conflict in as little amount of time. They obviously somewhat cared
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for Mr. Perezs well-being, they gave him a huge severance and accommodated his needs by purchasing his house he had bought and the updates he had started doing so that he wasnt at a loss during his tenure and obvious misguided (top executives problem) direction he thought the Nike company was looking for, in the long term. It was exactly the opposite and that is why things ended the way they did, in order to bring Nike out of speculation of its turning of tides in the market of being the most expensive to the most affordable or easily obtained. I think that is what the Nike brand is about the Name, and quality of the shoe, it has to be expensive in order for people to want it! 4. How was the conflict resolved between Mr. Knight and Mr. Perez? How would you have resolved the conflict between Mr. Knight and Mr. Perez? The conflict was resolved by Mr. Perez avoiding showing why he was turning the company in the direction he was, which would have been in my eyes in the best interests of Nike, and its top executives. But the way he went about doing it was evidently a direct slap in the face. I think a collaborating style of conflict management would have created the win-win Nike needed to sustain long term growth even more with the ideas and thoughts of Mr. Perez. I hear he remains active in the Nike Company with his insights on things but I think it is merely speculation. If a collaborating conflict response was used I would have made sure that Mr. Knight was informed of the ideas and theories behind Mr. Perezs moves made, before he made the moves. If they would have put their heads together it would came out a lot better. If there was any personality indifferences, Mr. Knights ego took the cake. Basically, without the entire human-relations lingo these two needed to get on the same page! If they would have I think they could have been a great team in a collaborative sense and if Mr. Perez could have had more knowledge as to the direction that Mr. Knight and Nike evidently had in mind that Mr. Perez thought was not in the best interests and I believe if they would have hashed through this stuff they could have made Nike a better company in the short of time they were around than Nike has done in its whole lifespan. 5. What role does perception (Chapter 2), attitudes, and values (Chapter 3) play in this case? The roles that perception, attitudes, and values played in this case were in high contrast an actually made me think that Nike (my favorite brand) Full of themselves. I have a big ego, but its to a point. I dont let it push everyday common sense and ideas out the window. I think Nike was in for a rude awakening, but somehow it managed to overcome this and the child labor investigations that were found to be true against Nike. These findings brought to light the fact that Nike only wants the best athletes and the richest people wearing their product and that it isnt made for lower end people. To me its a luxury brand that is so touted in the community as this is the way it is, that everyone has a dream, and though we should all dream big, it may not ever
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come to light, but just a chance of touching that dream be in buying the shoes and all the equipment our role models use to make them the greatest, isnt affordable to all so they should just find another brand. I used to save up my allowance for a whole summer just to get a pair of 100 dollar Nike Shoes that Charles Barkley wore, but I never in school or during my sport filled days got a chance to wear a pair of the Nike Shoes that I dreamed of because literally we just couldnt afford it. But I did get enough to get the Reebok pump baseball glove and all my friends admired it. I took back all of my presents that year for my birthday just to get enough money to buy it! Values in the case hurt Nike, for the good of them in my eyes, yes its great you are the best shoes around, and most desired, that makes you a winner. What makes a person a winner is by making all he has affordable and enjoyable by all, and the values in this case stink, for everyone involved at Nike, and Im glad Mr. Perez resigned and got a large severance because he deserved it.

6. How might active listening (Chapter 5) have assisted Mr. Knight and Mr. Perez in understanding each others positions? Active listeners would have been able to present the facts, and the numbers and show that Mr. Perez had no intentions of harming the brand of Nike, by what the executives called cheap-branding Nike of its well-known quality highly sought after shoes, but by making it more affordable to compete in all cultural aspects of the market and also by being affordable for more people to have. It wasnt by cheapening the Nike brand it was by making the shoes more affordable for all by cutting back on the bells and whistles Nike was known for, and also making it evident that Nikes direction in a founder/president and company eye is that of being a quality product offered at the prices congruent with the same saying, Cost is Quality!

7. How is Mr. Knight, as Chair of the Board of Nike, bypassing the traditional chain of command (Chapter 6) at Nike? I heard now that Mr. Knight has left his position as CEO in order to keep his overall highest in stake job as chairman of the board at Nike. He is now the top shareholder at Nike and for a brand he co-founded it seems to be fitting but his choices as CEO seem to be in the best personal interests of himself his Ego and his brand, not the company Nike who helped make it all possible and actually put in the work to make the quality and design a brand of shoes that is desired by most and respected in the sports apparel community. Im sorry but I need to turn this in or I am afraid I will not turn this in on time. I would like to go into this
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matter further but due to my bad time management skills. I apologize for the punctuation, misspelled words, and run-on sentences. Chapter 7 Case Study is worth 35 points, and is due at the end of Week 4. Please submit completed assignment to the Dropbox titled Chapter 7: Case Study in either Rich Text Format (.rtf) or in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx).