Lisa Benton Hbs Analysis
Lisa Benton Case Analysis
Benton is a Harvard educated MBA who chose to work at the Home care Division of Houseworld based upon the classical marketing training in a structured environment from an industry leader over Right-Away which she had interned at. Benton was informed she would become a product manager within 2 to 3 years, yet was not informed of the importance of her performance in the first year. She was informed that the product manager’s responsibility was to groom his or her associates to be “promotable”. Benton was assigned Deborah Linton as her product manager who informed her of her dislike for MBA’s with “MBA’s act like they know a lot more than they do.” & “the only way to learn is on the job and your formal education won’t help you.” And made it clear she would have to prove herself like everyone else. Linton informed her she should feel free to stop by her office if she had any questions and she was to report to her and not to Scoville, the associate product manager. She also was informed to get objectives for her job which she never received and also learned Linton was recently promoted and Benton was the first Assistant manager she ever had showing limited ability to groom associates for promotion. Scoville, the associate manager reiterated that he was not impressed with MBA’s, and later in the case yelled at her and used her MBA degree against her. Scoville consistently undermined her and asked her to do his work and she hesitated to ask for more responsibility for fear of coming across as an aggressive MBA. She also consistently deferred questions due to Scoville telling her she was in “learning mode” and thought it best to be quiet and act like a learner, causing Scoville and Linton rarely to ask for her opinion. He also informed her that she would need to stay late at certain times and not rely on the train while later on she was told not to stay late in the office after 6:00 by another employee because it will limit her chance of
Benton is a Harvard educated MBA who chose to work at the Home care Division of Houseworld based upon the classical marketing training in a structured environment from an industry leader over Right-Away which she had interned at. Benton was informed she would become a product manager within 2 to 3 years, yet was not informed of the importance of her performance in the first year. She was informed that the product manager’s responsibility was to groom his or her associates to be “promotable”. Benton was assigned Deborah Linton as her product manager who informed her of her dislike for MBA’s with “MBA’s act like they know a lot more than they do.” & “the only way to learn is on the job and your formal education won’t help you.” And made it clear she would have to prove herself like everyone else. Linton informed her she should feel free to stop by her office if she had any questions and she was to report to her and not to Scoville, the associate product manager. She also was informed to get objectives for her job which she never received and also learned Linton was recently promoted and Benton was the first Assistant manager she ever had showing limited ability to groom associates for promotion. Scoville, the associate manager reiterated that he was not impressed with MBA’s, and later in the case yelled at her and used her MBA degree against her. Scoville consistently undermined her and asked her to do his work and she hesitated to ask for more responsibility for fear of coming across as an aggressive MBA. She also consistently deferred questions due to Scoville telling her she was in “learning mode” and thought it best to be quiet and act like a learner, causing Scoville and Linton rarely to ask for her opinion. He also informed her that she would need to stay late at certain times and not rely on the train while later on she was told not to stay late in the office after 6:00 by another employee because it will limit her chance of