Nathan Johnson Case Analysis MGT 400 – 10/13/09

Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-TAK (A)
1) What is your assessment of Brodsky’s performance? Please be specific. The first point of concern regarding Brodsky’s performance that I saw was Keller’s description of how long it took Brodsky to complete a project or task. As Keller highlighted Brodsky’s great analytical skills with regards to how he redesigned the sales force organization and the development of a comprehensive set of information and control systems, we see that the problem is it took him 6 months to do this and it would have most likely taken even longer if Keller had not stepped in. Another concern that is evident about Brodsky is that Keller had to step in several times on
Keller needs to be very careful in the way he provides recommendations to Brodsky’s performance so that he does not do this. I do believe I may have been able to do better in the leadership position over Brodsky. As soon as I saw Brodsky’s performance poor in areas that I believed to be key, I would try to get in touch with him before his annual review and discuss these issues with him. Once he was aware of them, I would try to help and guide, but not necessarily intervene unless it was absolutely necessary. If you intervene constantly, you will give the impression of being a micro-manager and this can lead to further problems. I believe that if I directed more care and guided direction towards the mentorship of Brodsky, I could have improved his technique without hardening the relationship between us. 3) What are the underlying causes of Brodsky’s performance problems? What actions should Keller take upon returning to Kiev? Be specific.

Nathan Johnson Case Analysis MGT 400 – 10/13/09 The underlying causes of Brodsky’s performance problems are mostly highlighted in my response to question #1 which include: the large time requirement for his projects, his more “administrative” approach, his more distant management style, the lack of attention and disregard for the recommendations given to him by his superiors, and his “hands-off” approach towards dealing with customers. As Keller briefly described, there are three apparent