More from the Author

• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2019 (Revised July 2019)

  Building a Meritocracy at Alghanim Industries

  Paul M. Healy, Susanna Gallani and Esel Çekin

  Building on his father’s legacy, Omar Alghanim (MBA 2002) had been working on strengthening a performance-driven culture based on meritocracy in the family business, Alghanim Industries. The task had been particularly challenging because of traditional Middle East practice of relying on relationships and influence to conduct business. Omar’s vision attracted and empowered like-minded employees who were rewarded on merit and who delivered on the firm’s mission of providing excellent service to its customers. Together, they revamped the company’s performance and compensation system and established a well-structured control and compliance mechanism. The next challenge for Omar was to transform the workforce from a mono-culture, male-dominant expat community to a diverse mix of people, cultures, backgrounds, and viewpoints. In particular, he needed to find a way to attract talented women and local Kuwaitis to become part of his organization.

  Keywords: meritocracy; Social Norms; Family Business; Organizational Culture; Performance; Diversity; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Middle East; Kuwait;

  Citation:

  Healy, Paul M., Susanna Gallani, and Esel Çekin. "Building a Meritocracy at Alghanim Industries." Harvard Business School Case 119-019, June 2019. (Revised July 2019.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related

• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2019

  The Global-Local Tension: Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao Leading with'International Values and Local Roots' (A) and (B)

  Tsedal Neeley and Julia Kelley

  Citation:

  Neeley, Tsedal, and Julia Kelley. "The Global-Local Tension: Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao Leading with'International Values and Local Roots' (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 419-063, June 2019.  View Details

  CiteView Details

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2019

  Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)

  Tsedal Neeley, Paul Leonardi and Michael Norris

  Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio—a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies—was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build a check scanner feature inside their management software? AppFolio’s founders had instructed to never build a check scanner; providing technologies to help businesses move into the digital era was a primary company goal. A scanner for paper checks would contradict the hard-won culture of software innovation and project self-selection that AppFolio and Hawkins’ teams lived by. Hawkins also worried that creating a new team to work on the check scanning project would cause workload and morale issues. But the sales team believed that this technology could close deals with larger, more complex property management companies, some with managers who wanted the check scanner feature. Several large-scale deals were on the line. Hawkins quickly assembled an agile market validation team and considered two options: hold fast to the company’s values and refuse to build the check scanner feature or capitulate and build a basic check scanner with minimum functionality. Engineers would likely consider this a “loser” project, yet sales might get a boost that could open a new revenue stream. Hawkins had to make his decision quickly.

  Keywords: digital transformation; values; Agile; vision; corporate culture; Leadership; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; United States; California;

  Citation:

  Neeley, Tsedal, Paul Leonardi, and Michael Norris. "Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)." Harvard Business School Case 419-066, June 2019.  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducators

  Related