Carlyle Publishing Case

CASE 1: CARLYLE PUBLICATIONS

Case Report

The case showcases two illustrations of General Managers - the GM of Carlyle Publications and Robert Lake as GM of his own company, and how one failed while the other succeeded.

Carlyle Publications was acquired by a broadcasting company, hence, it can be assumed that as a newly acquired organization, there was a shift in direction and priorities to align them with the broadcasting company's goals and objectives. Given this situation, the GM plays a vital role in this period of transition, particularly in pursuing the acquiring company's plan of rejuvenating Carlyle Publications.

Carlyle's GM was unable to perform his responsibilities and this eventually led to breeding a formidable competitor from within their company.

* As a leader and visionary, he should have set goals for the publishing division and trailblaze the path they should be taking, instead of simply observing or reacting to situations.

* As a planner and strategist, he didn't lay out a plan on how to improve performance. At the very least, he should've discovered what Lake had - that losses were incurred from the inability to tap on majority of their prospects because of the extremely negative opinion they had of Bush and the paper, and that they were missing out on a available market.

* As a manager of profitability, he knew that division was the weakest of all Carlyle's properties, and yet no adjustments were made to steer the division towards a more positive direction. Under his leadership, he tolerated Bush's unwillingness to make adjustments, which resulted in maintaining the status quo of poor profitability.

* As a manager of talent, since Lake was assigned to a challenging job, he should have made sure that he was given enough support, clear targets and had frequent meetings with him to check on progress or problems. Because Lake is talented and driven, the GM could have maximized his talent and input by coordinating with him, accommodating his ideas though not necessarily agreeing to them, and giving him positive reinforcement such as praise or recognition. In that way, he wouldn't feel that he was going at it alone, and wouldn't become demotivated. Had the GM conferred with Luke, initial conflicts with Bush could have been addressed at early on and didn't have to escalate to the point that he decided to quit. Also, he shouldn't have waited for Lake's company to overtake Carlyle before firing Bush.

* As an arbitrator, he didn't respond well to Lake's complaints and didn't take the time to understand where Lake was coming from. He should have had foresight in predicting the possible outcomes of the situation, including the possibility of Lake's resignation and that he could