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HEG Munich: Leading Change in a Successful Team
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Reference: DPO-320-E
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Year: 2009-2013
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Number of pages: 16
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Geographic Setting: Alemania
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Publication Date: Sep 26, 2014
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Source: IESE (España)
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Type of Document: Case
Description
The unseasonably cold winds swirling around the Hindenburg Conference Center in Koln, Germany, in early November 2013 were a stark contrast to the white-hot temperatures in the second-floor conference room where Albert Mahler (Al), newly-appointed president of the Munich office of Herrmann Engineering Group (HEG), sat surrounded by his leadership team.
Al had gathered the group as the initial step in a process he had hoped would unify them as a team and put them on track to become transformational leaders for HEG Munich. Now, during the second day of the meeting, Al was aghast as he watched a series of exchanges among his team that were unexpectedly candid, often sharply critical, and filled with incredibly raw emotion. Members of his team were openly angry; issues that had been festering under the surface for months had been brought out into the open; and there was a growing concern in the room that this "unifying" process might yield a result completely opposite to its intention.
"What have I done?" thought Al, as he tried to maintain the usual air of calmness on his now fully-flushed face. "When I was named president, my mission was clear - to make a great business even greater, and to do that without undertaking any unnecessary risk. Have I tried to do too much too soon? Have I opened Pandora's box with my leadership team, a team that has been running an incredibly successful business, without me, for the past several years?"
Learning Objective
The case discusses the real-life situation of a company that changes its CEO following a few consecutive years of success and with seemingly good relations among its management team. The new CEO, who has a different management style, decides to set aside a few days to work with his new team so that they can get to know each other better and to promote the flow of feedback among the members. This new approach brings to light many personal relationship problems that had up until that point been kept discretely hidden.