Case Analysis of Erik Peterson a & B

Case Analysis of Erik Peterson A & B

Executive Summary

Core Problems:

• Lack of human skills to handle conflicts from management perspective
• Short on preparation for unexpected emergency and contingency plan.

Action Recommended:

• Analyze adverse situation and ask for guidance from experienced
• Monitor change in dynamics between colleagues
• Pay close attention to the progress of both KOL negotiation and improvement in its outsourced manufacturing facility.

Problem Statement

At first glance, Erik`s encountered several major obstacles in carrying out his newly appointed job, especially when it comes to put his mind and idea into execution. Given the underlying reason for which these difficulties occurred, they can be summarized into two major categories if have the current situation carefully scrutinized.

First, it is without a doubt that experience-wise, Erik was not ready for a position as senior as general manager. A general manager, even though an acting one, would need to spend tremendous amount of time to build up his/her reputation and authority in the company. Despite the fact that he has fairly sharp eyes and mind to both appreciate colleague`s talent and identify the source of tensions between two particular people, the complexity of colleague relationship in Biometra was so overwhelming to him. The level of human skills required to reconcile conflicts and build a cohesive team is at the moment, beyond his comprehension.

Second, unsatisfactory risk management. Although Erik had some relevant industrial knowledge, it is not hard to imagine acting as a general manager differs a great deal from his previous junior jobs. He failed to foresee, beside colleague complications, the possible impediments during pre-launch phase such as change of mind in KOL, issues in the outsourcing production line and late management decision. Till this very moment, he could not come up with any backup plan should he not be able to uphold the launch date, which had already been postponed once.

 Analysis

There are many ways to alleviate the difficult situation Erik was in. For the first problem, due to his lack of interpersonal skills, he had had some uneasy moments with colleagues. One example is Dr. Scoot, who along with his assistant Karen, will play an important role in terms of negotiating with key doctors and getting them on board. I believe the most proper action for Erik to do at the moment is to think what has caused the unpleasantness, patch up with them, and leverage their expertise to unload some of the burden he had on his shoulder. The same solution also applies to scenario where his superior, Hardy doesn`t see the big picture clearly when it comes to securing enough KOL.

As for the second problem, if time permits, before Knight, Harper and Jenkins` arrival, he should analyze the current situation and come up with a comprehensive report stating all the potential risk and hurdles, maybe even a backup plan when things beyond control happened, submit to high level for their review. In fact, the reason he was in such a difficult position is partly because he did not communicate with his superior efficiently and keep them well informed. Should the higher level be aware of his situation they would never leave him with no guidance and things would have got way better.