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Vidsoft

Introduction

Alaji Babatunde, senior manager at VidSoft faces a potential “Crucible of leadership” as he is now placed in a position of deciding the fate of two members of his staff. If handled correctly, this could define his career as a manager. If handled incorrectly, this could prove to be his downfall. In order to resolve the current problem, Brabatunde’s options are; to grant Alex Hsu’s request to be transferred to another team that does not directly report to Jenna Li (granting this request may send the negative message that upper management does not support Jenna Li’s abilities); allow Jenna Li to manage the situation as she sees fit; or escalate the matter to his senior manager, James White, in order to resolve this stalemate?

Problem Analysis

Babatunde has done away with the “status quo” by employing an alternative reporting structure for his team than was previous the practice at VidSoft. As his team grew due to Vidsofts’s expansion, Babatunde assessed that the standard reporting structure did not serve his objectives, which were primarily to maintain a high level of productivity with a larger team while still maintaining a close and personal reporting line. However, with this new reporting structure came a new challenge, mainly the current conflict between Alex Hsu and his new manager, Jenna Li.

Alex Hsu’s request to be transferred to another team that does not report to Jenna Li appears to be a request made based on a clash of personalities. However, on closer inspection, it appears that it may stem from the fact that both he and Jenna Li are of Chinese decent. Alex Hsu’s reluctance to accept Jenna Li as a manager goes beyond his initial argument that, due to Li’s lack of experience as a manager and her technical background, he can not learn anything from her.

As Yukongdi and Benson (year)wrote in their text, Women in Asian Management, traditional status, gender stereotyping and role expectation led to a very clear male perceptions...