Wolfgang Keller graduated from Harvard Business School at the age of 34 and soon after experienced instantaneous business success in the food manufacturing industry. Keller, drawn to turn around opportunities departed the food manufacturing industry for Konigsbrau brewing. Keller accepted the role of managing director of Konigsbrau subsidiary in the Ukraine. Keller applied his hands on style of management, which brought earning success to the suffering subsidiary. Keller seemed to be on the successful pathway only to realize he had not yet developed leadership skills that would facilitate his relationship with Dmitri Brodsky. Brodsky, the commercial director presented a management style polar opposite to that of Keller. Keller,
Keller’s second issue surrounds his inability to identify a dysfunctional team. In the book The FIVE Dysfunctions of a TEAM, Lencioni mentions the first dysfunction is absence of trust (2002, p. 188). To be clear Lencioni describes trust as confidence among members that their peer’s intentions are good, and there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. He goes on to discuss the importance of vulnerability with each other in a group (2002, p. 195). In review of the case study it is obvious Keller has never exhibited trust toward Brodsky and equally so in the reverse. As the leader, Keller’s duty first to Konigsbrau and second to Brodsky is to build a team that can function in the face of adversity. There is no mention throughout the case study where Keller has completed a soul-searching exercise into how Brodsky’s team viewed their leaders’ style. Interestingly enough Keller did experience a meeting where the team depicted Keller’s micromanagement style in a special organizational chart. Keller ignorantly placed this loud message as to the dislike of his style on his office wall. Keller also does not take one moment to recognize that Brodsky’s failures are a direct correlation to Keller’s failure. Keller does receive a letter from his supervisor that solidifies this concept. In a letter from Dr. Hanspeter Haussler it states that Haussler doubts Keller’s ability to work as a team. With the