A Day in the Life of Alex Sander

Case Study Analysis

360° Performance Feedback

By
Nur Mohammad Arif
 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander 2
Case Study Analysis

Synopsis of the Case (Summary)

This case is about a talented product manager of Landon Care Products, Inc. Alex sander is new
in Landon though she has proved herself in a very short period of time and her talent is attractive
to the management, but problem arises when other employees were not feel comfortable by
working with her. Sander’s intolerant style of behavior becomes a sophisticated issue for the
management. This situation is presented by 360° performance review process. Sander works in
the toiletries Division of Landon Care a product which has been recently acquired by a European
beauty company. As after the acquisition organization needs the team work among the
employees so Alex was working with a multinational product development team. Sanders
interaction with peers & direct reports in the case show a picture of tough, inflexible high
achiever who uses temper as management tool. At the end of the day, Sander’s supervisor Sam
Glass provides her a 360° performance feedback review which was used for the first time in
Landon. Sam Glass wanted that Sander will analyze those reviews and find out her pros and
cons, as Mr. Sam glass has a very personal interest in keeping Sander at the organization, though
Alex Sander stood with her own values, and treated the 360° feedback process as an unnecessary
thing.

Analysis of the Case

The case is about different critical points of managing peoples in any challenging organization,
while 360° performance feedback is heart of this case. The analytical discussion is given below
with short description.

Recent Acquisition & Adoption of 360° for the first time:

It is mentioned in the case that Landon had been acquired by Avanti-Grade, a multibillion-dollar
European beauty company. In the acquisition period the most important thing that should be
followed is team work among the employees. That requirement is also mentioned in the case.
Under the new setup of Landon management launched 360° for the first time, where feedback
will come from every level of the organization not only from the supervisor. In the very
beginning we saw that Alex Sander the production manager of Landon as well as the star
performer was not happy with this. She titled it as unnecessary thing.

360° Performance Feedback:

The tension of managing intolerant super performer Alex Sander is presented against the
backdrop of a 360° review process. After acquisition this 360° Performance feedback was used
for the very first time in Landon. But it seems like there is confusion among the employees
regarding the purpose of this process, they do not know is it for employee development or
performance appraisal. Hence it seems like they did not perfectly follow the 360° feedback cycle,
that’s why the confusion arises.
 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander 3
Case Study Analysis

Alex Sander – The Super Employee of Landon:

 Job Designation – Product manager. Requires working with multinational product

development team.
 Educational Qualification – MBA degree from distinctive educational institute MIT, and
BA in Economics.
 Achievement: Successfully rebranded two national skin care products.
 Personality Traits – Talented, aggressive, instant decision maker etc. Alex has every
types of traits what an over achieving employee requires to have. But Alex liked to use
temper as management tool. She does not care about others feelings, rather used to being
pushy and commanding to get the job done. She has leadership potentials, her peers also
respect her but they do not want her as a leader.

Alex & Management:

Mr. Sam Glass was the product group super visor of Alex Sander’s division at Landon. He had a
very high personal interest in keeping Sander at the company, but he was not feeling comfort to
manage this star performer. Apparently as a star performer Sander was trying to influence over
the strategic decisions. But Glass informed Sander that at this age of job Sander cannot just do
this. She might performing very good now, but someday she need to depend on others, she need
to know how to get work done through other people. That’s why Mr. Sam Glass suggests her to
review the 360° feedback carefully and understand in what way organization wants Alex Sander.

360° Performance Feedback Review of Alex Sander:

In Exhibit 3 of the case the review of Sander is given. This feedback covers the Downward
Comments, Upward Comments, and Colleague Comments & Also Self-Evaluation. This part of
the case contains two sections, they are –

 Greatest Strengths – This section covers comments about Sander’s strength. It seems like
she has pretty much potentials. She achieved very good comments from every
anonymous persons of different level as well self evaluation.
 Areas Needing Further Development – It is actually the weakness of Alex Sander if we
say in typical way. In this section we can see the impact of having Alex in the company.
Many of the persons who involved in feedback did not put their comment. The other
comments she had get was not worth to feel proud of having a star performer like Alex
Sander. In the self evaluation part, she agreed that she do not suffer fools gladly and she
thinks that it is kind of strength that she has.

Our Opinions about the Managing Overachieving Personality:

 Organization Survey – At first we think Sam Glass should calculate the benefits &
problems the Landon is having from the Sander, and then taking the proper initiative.
 Appreciate about the Team Work – As Sander required to do the team work but her
involvement with the team was not fulfilling the expectation. Alex Sander should be
consulted about the proper way to work in a team and leading them.
 Networking – Apparently Landon was benefitted from Sander’s performance, and her
aggressiveness was only for the improvement of her company. So if she is not get
 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander 4
Case Study Analysis

feedback in proper way then it could make her de-motivate. So she needs to get
continuous structured feedback from the management.
 Consultation – Though in the case we saw Sander’s super visor tried to consult her by
showing some logics. But she did not care much. So if organization really needs this
employee they may involve psychology experts to consult Alex Sanders.

Questions & Answers

Q. 1: What behaviors by Alex are having the greatest impact on the 360° data provided by her
co-workers, which of these behaviors are positive and which are negative?
Answer:
Alex’s behaviors which are having greatest impact on the 360° data provided by her co-workers
are mainly focused on her aggressiveness, multitasking, forceful behavior, workaholicness,
arrogance etc. The positive and negative behaviors are given below in table.
Level of Co-workers Positive Behavior Negative behavior
 Aggressive.
 No involvement with
 Ready to take any
team.
Downward Comments challenge.
 Lack in leadership skill.
 Quick decision maker.
 Quick reaction.
 Entrepreneurship.
 Committed to the given
task.  Burn out possibility.
 Multitasking capability.  Does not praise others.
Upward Comments
 Self-confident.  Do not trust on other’s
 Take initiative. potential.

 Give credit when it
requires.
 Arrogant.
 Appreciate to do the
 Do not care about other’s
good work.
Colleague Comments feelings.
 Willingness to be a
 Lack of interpersonal
mentor.
communication skills.
 Creative.
 Attractive personality.

Q. 2: What does the 360° data tell us about Alex’s likely career success? If you were Sam
Glass, would you invest more time in helping Sander progress at Landon?
Answer:
The 360° data that was collected from the comments provided by her co-workers telling us that
as an employee Alex has strong ability to achieve success in her career, but not for the long run.
 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander 5
Case Study Analysis

She may be able to do each and every work which is assigned. It is also found that she do not
believe much on others capability to do any task, rather she like to do everything by herself. So
there is no doubt that promotions and salary increase will not stop, but her co-workers may not
happy to see her as a leader in future until she learn to motivate others to get the job done.
If I was her super visor Sam Glass definitely I would spent more time in helping Alex Sander’s
progress at Landon, because –

 Problem is in her behavior, not in the work.

 Not every employee does not have instant decision making capability, what Alex has.
 She does not fear to take challenges.
 Alex is committed to the job; whatever she is doing she is doing for the organization.
 Alex has the creativity to do any kind of job with success.
 To her colleagues she is not only a short tempered and aggressive employee but also
entertaining and interesting too.
 Landon is already benefitted by Alex, so as a supervisor I will not wish to lose my super
performer, though she needs some more investment to develop her behavior.
Q. 3: Do women managers have different options available to them now than in earlier
generations? What are the advantages & disadvantages of Sander’s tough guy approach?
Answer:
Women began to develop more opportunities when they moved into the paid workplace,
primarily thought of as a male domain. In the 20th century women aimed to be treated like the
equals of their male counterparts. But the working women at that time and now are having
different options. The women managers have different options available now like in the case
Alex Sander the star performer of Landon who was facing some conflicts with supervisor for her
workplace behavior. Alex realize that she have to options she can stay in the Large organization
like Landon, and can do the given managerial task, where she cannot influence over the strategic
decisions or she may start a new small company of her own where she will get freedom to say.
This kinds of options was not available to the women managers in the earlier generations,
because at that time the job opportunities were few if they do not committed then it would very
difficult to involve in another job.
In this brief case Alex Sander is presented as tough guy approach, this approach is also seen in
the real world too. The advantages & disadvantages of this tough guy approach is given below.
Advantages Disadvantages
 Increase self confidence  Possibility to burn out
 Ready to take challenge  Increase the possibility of failure
 Forcing others to do job well done  Co-workers will not feel comfort to work
 Less time wasting with
 Makes things happen  Less efficiency in team work
 Decrease the chance of leadership
 A Day in the Life of Alex Sander 6
Case Study Analysis

Q. 4: How well would you do working with a person like Alex as a teammate? As a boss? As a
direct report?
Answer:
Working with Alex as a teammate –
If I was the team mate of Alex I think I would not feel comfort to do work with her. Team work
needs each and everyone’s involvement and contribution to do any job well done. But Alex is
not that much supportive and she do not believe in other’s potential. May be Alex has the
capability to do the whole task by herself but involvement of all make things more easy, more
structured and informative.
As the Boss of Alex –
As a boss of Alex I would be very happy to have a super performer in my organization. She
proved herself while she was given a challenge to launch two new products in US market. I
might wish to have every employee will work like Alex. On the other hand the conflict for the
behavior of Alex made the work place uncomfortable to her co-workers. It would be a
concerning fact for me. At that time I would invest some more time to fix out this situation and
count her as the most potential employee of my organization.
Alex as a Direct Report –
It is very good to have a boss like Alex who is aggressive, do not afraid to take initiative, and
quick decision maker. But I am afraid that I would work with fear not normally. Alex likes to
push others and do not care about other’s emotion. Last but not the least, the most concerning
thing is that, Alex use her temper as management tool while as a leader need to motivate others
to get the job well done.