JAMIE TURNER AT MLI, Inc.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the course

MANAGERIAL ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATION

Submitted to:

Prof. Apurv Nagpal

&

Mr. Suhair KK (AA)

Submitted on January 5, 2020 by:

SIDDHARTH TIKOO (ROLL NO. 19060)

PGP 2019-2021 | Section A

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, AHMEDABAD

Situation Analysis

Jamie Turner is the VP-Marketing/Sales at MLI. He joined the company recently after a short
stint at Lambowland.com and a much longer career of about five years at Wolf River Paper. His
primary motivations for joining MLI were the autonomy of the role, the freedom to make
significant decisions in the face of challenges, the career growth opportunities, and the charisma
of the president, Pat Cardullo.
He began his journey well, getting the confidence and backing for his ideas from Cardullo. He
also received more autonomy in the sense that in addition to being responsible for sales, he also
had to worry about control, budgeting, planning, and many other tasks. With higher autonomy
came higher expectations to turn around the business and secure higher margins.
His problems in the company can be traced back to a misunderstanding with the controller Julie
Chin when his subordinate Swenson brought him a report on cash-flow issues. Jamie took the
matter to Julie, but when her answer didn't satisfy him, he decided to take the case up with
Cardullo himself. We can deduce that Jamie's overreaction to this report might have been
influenced by the fact that his previous organization closed down due to cash-flow problems. It is
possible that factors unknown to him existed, which made MLI's cash-flow situation much more
secure than the numbers suggested. However, Julie Chin saw Jamie's well-meaning concern as a
challenge to her authority and an attempt to malign her reputation. Neither one of them tried to
understand the other's position or the differences in information available to them. They did not
attempt to resolve their disputes, instead choosing to respond to provocations in kind in an
increasingly ugly professional relationship. Jamie's differences with Julie also bled into his
relationship with Cardullo too. Julie had been on excellent terms with Cardullo due to their long
professional history. She was also a yes-man and, as such, well-liked by Cardullo.
Cardullo's vision for MLI is very different from Jamie's. Since he was the one to push Triple S
into acquiring MLI, it is his responsibility to justify the acquisition. As such, Cardullo took over
as President of MLI to turn around the business. The higher management of Triple S may be only
looking at margins or ROI in their MLI investment. Since margins are his KPI, Cardullo is
understandably obsessed with it, even going so far as to mandate a uniform 24% margin on every
product. On the other hand, Jamie is the sales VP and, as such, is worried about sales volumes
more. He is willing to sell products at low margins or even below breakeven only to realize
higher sales and edge out competitors. We can see that both of them are focusing on their
individual KPIs without looking at the bigger picture. This difference in focus is the primary
source of conflict between the two. We can deduce that Julie Chin is exacerbating this divide by
wholeheartedly agreeing with Cardullo and helping him calculate prices, which include a 24%
margin rather than providing an unbiased opinion.
Due to Cardullo's strong opinions, once he decides that Jamie is incompetent in understanding
his vision, he starts finding more and more faults with him. When reports of information leak
emerge, he blames it on Jamie's team without any proof. When Jamie points out that sending
Kelly away for a day to Kansas, Cardullo assumes that Jamie is trying to usurp the decision
making power from him. When Jamie comes up with a plan to boost flagging sales, Cardullo
shoots it down because he can realize higher margins on generators from alternate sources.
Cardullo even takes away pricing from Jamie, which results in sales falling disastrously low. The
differences between Jamie and Cardullo are taking MLI towards an early grave. 
 
What could have been done differently?
 
Both Jamie and Cardullo failed to understand the other's perspective. Jamie did not attempt to
understand Cardullo's motivations behind pushing for margins. Had he realized this, they could
have worked together to adopt a middle path that led to a balance between volumes and margins.
Moreover, Jamie should have realized the power Julie Chin held due to her long working history
with Cardullo. After his initial misunderstanding, he should have attempted to repair his relations
with her. His problems might not have exacerbated as much if he had resolved their conflict
sooner. 
Cardullo's attitude of 'my way or the highway' is also not conducive to solving the conflict.
Despite repeated warnings by Jamie, he decides to push through initiative, which he thinks will
benefit MLI. His obsession with margins and desire to look good in front of his peers and
superiors at Triple S have him pushing a relentless agenda for margins. He does not attempt to
understand the underlying issues of market competition, differences in demand, and the cost of
holding up inventory. Using just one metric to base all his decisions is hurting not only him but
MLI too.
Moreover, he has surrounded himself with sycophants and yes-men like Julie Chin that not only
support but also enable his wrong decisions. The figures after his decision to implement uniform
margins across categories make it evident that Jamie was correct in advising against that
strategy. Even now, Cardullo's pride is preventing him from acknowledging his mistake and
attempting a course correction.
 
Suggestions
 
The arrival of Alan Oliver gives Jamie a golden opportunity to rectify the situation. First, Jamie
must reach out to Cardullo and offer to take joint responsibility for the sales disaster due to
uniform margins in front of Oliver. This offer will make Cardullo more amenable to Jamie's
further suggestions. Next, Jamie should find out the exact metrics on which MLI is being judged
and the time available to them. Depending on his findings, Jamie should negotiate a better deal
for both MLI and Cardullo with Oliver. Since he understands the business, he should bring
Oliver's attention to the long-term value and potential that MLI brings to Triple S's portfolio. He
should also bring the current market downturn and competition to perspective so that Oliver's
expectations from MLI are reasonable. Relaxation of performance expectations from Cardullo
will translate into a lower focus on margins at MLI. Finally, Jamie should repair his relation with
Julie at the earliest. He might even use his newfound camaraderie with Cardullo to ask him to
mediate between the two. 
(1055 words)