Step 1. Read critically and analyze the following scenario: Geraldine Barney Garrett, the granddaughter of Wilford Barney took over the reins of the R&D department of Biotech Health and Life Products (Biotech) in 1965. She had trained at the hands of her grandmother Wilford’s mother, Maria. Geraldine was a strong manager and developed the Research and Development (R&D) lab from the advanced kitchen of her grandmother to the scientific lab of her peers. Geraldine’s management philosophy evolved over the years but she had several basic ideas that kept her grounded. Geraldine knew she had to answer to the family in every decision she made. Her grandmother stressed this point and she eventually came to agree. Therefore, decisions were made by her. She also realized that her employees had good ideas and talent but they did not bear the responsibility she did. So, although she consulted with the employees often, she never gave them the power to make important decisions. Geraldine was charismatic in a motherly way and employees saw her as someone to learn from but career growth was unlikely so in five or six years employees moved on to another company. The unambitious stayed on and eventually Geraldine collected a small group of people she trusted and who became her team. Now, several of the team members are retiring like Geraldine leaving few left to the company. When it comes to leading the entire R&D Division, Geraldine is very controlled in defining goals, setting tasks, and is outstanding at dividing the work among the employees, organizing the product materials and coordinating and communicating activities between the different departments. Decisions that Geraldine makes are always dependent on the circumstances and context of the decision. You often hear her instructing the young employees stating, “Always ask yourself, which method will work best here? Remember, you are always looking to find the simplest and most cost-effective solution.” When it comes to developing new products and innovating, Geraldine is much more open to other people’s input and ideas relying heavily on her team of experienced but older people. Still, the final decision remains in her hands. Geraldine could see the need for changes in the lab, the most important of which was retaining younger employees. Since she was retiring at the end of the year, Geraldine knew the new department head would have to deal with the problem. Her immediate concern was who the new department head should be. Her own granddaughter, Melanie Malone, was now working in the company and she knew Melanie was expecting the job. Melanie was qualified for the job. She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland College Park with a double major in Botany and Food Science. She minored in Business Management. She had worked in the plant in Chicago every summer since High School and had reproduced and revised all her grandmother’s and great-great grandmother’s recipes. Starting full-time .

1. Step 1. Read critically and analyze the following scenario:
Geraldine Barney Garrett, the granddaughter of Wilford Barney took over the reins of the R&D
department of Biotech Health and Life Products (Biotech) in 1965. She had trained at the hands
of her grandmother Wilford’s mother, Maria. Geraldine was a strong manager and developed the
Research and Development (R&D) lab from the advanced kitchen of her grandmother to the
scientific lab of her peers. Geraldine’s management philosophy evolved over the years but she
had several basic ideas that kept her grounded. Geraldine knew she had to answer to the family
in every decision she made. Her grandmother stressed this point and she eventually came to
agree. Therefore, decisions were made by her. She also realized that her employees had good
ideas and talent but they did not bear the responsibility she did. So, although she consulted with
the employees often, she never gave them the power to make important decisions.
Geraldine was charismatic in a motherly way and employees saw her as someone to learn from
but career growth was unlikely so in five or six years employees moved on to another company.
The unambitious stayed on and eventually Geraldine collected a small group of people she
trusted and who became her team. Now, several of the team members are retiring like Geraldine
leaving few left to the company.
When it comes to leading the entire R&D Division, Geraldine is very controlled in defining
goals, setting tasks, and is outstanding at dividing the work among the employees, organizing the
product materials and coordinating and communicating activities between the different
departments. Decisions that Geraldine makes are always dependent on the circumstances and
context of the decision. You often hear her instructing the young employees stating, “Always ask
yourself, which method will work best here? Remember, you are always looking to find the
simplest and most cost-effective solution.” When it comes to developing new products and
innovating, Geraldine is much more open to other people’s input and ideas relying heavily on her
team of experienced but older people. Still, the final decision remains in her hands.
Geraldine could see the need for changes in the lab, the most important of which was retaining
younger employees. Since she was retiring at the end of the year, Geraldine knew the new
department head would have to deal with the problem. Her immediate concern was who the new
department head should be. Her own granddaughter, Melanie Malone, was now working in the
company and she knew Melanie was expecting the job.
Melanie was qualified for the job. She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of
Maryland College Park with a double major in Botany and Food Science. She minored in
Business Management. She had worked in the plant in Chicago every summer since High School
and had reproduced and revised all her grandmother’s and great-great grandmother’s recipes.
Starting full-time at 22 years of age Melanie got along with everyone in the department but at 27

2. Geraldine thought she may be too young to assume the position. Geraldine had hoped that she
might mentor Melanie for a few more years and turn the reins over when she was 30, but health
concerns made Geraldine shorten the plan.
Melanie was confident and competent in her work. She was passionate about keeping the
business focused on its all-natural product line and developing ecofriendly packaging. She was
detail oriented and the people on her team seemed to work well together. Geraldine noted that
Melanie appeared to create functional teams well suited for the various types of tasks or projects.
The teams invariably were always on time and productive. Although the group may change in
terms of members depending on the task, the group was comprised of the longest standing
members of R&D and also included Geraldine’s team from time to time.
Geraldine knew that Melanie feels strongly that the lab has to be updated to include the use of
more sophisticated machinery and computers that would enhance the efficiency of the products
being developed. Melanie also believes the update to technology will make the company more
competitive. Melanie often tried to get Geraldine to agree to the revisions bringing in literature
from various business journals to prove her point. “The business world is dynamic and requires
people to adjust to the competition in a vigorous and active way. The lab needed the tools to
make that happen.” Melanie argued. Melanie also told her grandmother that she had a lot of new
ideas for oils and essences that only the new equipment would be able to test. Melanie was
adamant that Biotech would lag behind the competitors especially in the new beauty line
products if the company did not modernize.
Melanie liked to collaborate with the others but did not always take the lead. She often sat back
and listened and at times deferred decisions to others whose opinion differed from her own.
When Geraldine told Melanie, she would lose control of the group and maybe the project if she
didn’t actively lead, Melanie only smiled and said “Nana you have to let the team unleash its
potential, be creative or else they will leave and go somewhere that listens to them.” Melanie
also was insistent on the idea of bringing in the labs and R&D people from the other branches on
projects rather than having them pass along the ideas. In a conversation one day about a new
project for Germany, Melanie pointed out to Geraldine, “That new products have to be customer
driven, and our customers are from all over the world. We need to appreciate their needs and
taste preferences. While we can come up with our own ideas of what the market should like that
also means that the markets are biased by our own pallets and health needs. We now have to
think globally. The changing marketplace means we have to listen to our customer and what they
want.”
Geraldine was unsure of some of Melanie’s ideas on engaging others. She felt sure that Melanie
may begin to empower people rather than maintain control over the decision making. When,
Geraldine questioned Melanie about her concerns, Melanie replied “Nana, this company is like

3. one big family and in order for it to keep running functionally, we have to be aware of all its
parts, all the people who are important to keep it vital, and change with the times to keep the
livelihood of the family intact. To do this and keep people wanting to be a part of the family, we
have to create an environment that makes employees feel stable and safe in the family yet
dynamic enough to stay relevant in the industry. We have to keep employees looking and
moving forward.” Geraldine shrugged and said nothing but thought, “They are more likely to get
off task.” Geraldine knew the company had a collaborative culture, and she often worked
together with her family in a similar fashion, but managing a department this way...she was not
too sure. That business school education may have put some ideas into Melanie’s head that might
come back and haunt her.
The other logical candidate was Valerie Harper. Department Head of the new products team,
Valerie at 35 was competent, and ran her team like Geraldine would. In an effort to get some
idea of Valerie’s management philosophy Geraldine asked her one day, after witnessing a not
terribly successful exchange with one of her team, “What do you believe is important in
managing a team?” Valerie’s reply was, “I think it is important to retain the final responsibility
for decision making. Everyone should have their own specialty, while answering to the common
good. My order and discipline are important. It was like what Joe just did. I asked him to process
the essential oils for this new candy bar we are working on for Italy. He is the best at doing so
and he does this well but he just kept going on with the project adjusting the ingredient list to
make what amounts to a completely new candy bar. He claimed the adjustment was needed to
get the best flavor from the oils. However, it threw everything off for everyone else in the
project. His efforts wasted time. I tried to be fair and listened to his reasoning, but he is making
the others feel like they are wasting their time. There is one direction, which I set, and he should
follow.” Geraldine was disturbed by this a little. One thing that seemed inconsistent with the
episode with Joe was the fact that Valerie usually wants employees to take initiative even if they
make mistakes. “Are you sure he just wasn’t taking the initiative to get things right with the
flavor?” Geraldine asked. “I supposed you have a point,” Valerie replied, “but he should know
that we must have unity of direction and what Joe needs to understand is that he is not to take
over an interfere with the work of the others in the team.” Geraldine agreed with some of
Valerie’s approach but had to wonder if Valerie overdid the idea of order. Her staff seemed to
have a greater turnover than Melanie’s, which wastes a great deal of time and money in the long
run than the time Joe spent trying to make the candy bar work.
One other thing that bothered Geraldine about Valerie was the lack of new ideas and creativity.
Although Valerie could take ideas from others and execute them in a creative way, she did not
have a lot of new ideas of her own. She never seemed to seek new ideas or even revamp old
ones. Geraldine saw Valerie as talented and would keep the lab in its current state making only

4. minor changes. Valerie often said to Geraldine, “If it isn’t broken why fix it?” Geraldine liked
the idea of the lab being run the same way, but she wondered if the lack of ideas was reflective
of a good department head. After all the head was always expected to have new ideas.
Step 2.
Answer the Following
Identify and describe the School of Thought that best fits each of the three women. Explain why
and how you arrived at these selections using the course material, your research, and the facts
provided from the scenario.
Identify and describe the theorists that best fits each of the three women. Explain why and how
you arrived at these selections using the course material, your research, and the facts provided
from the scenario.
Decide which candidate (Melanie or Valerie), Geraldine should choose to head the R&D lab.
Explain why and how you arrived at this decision using the facts from the case scenario and the
course material to support your reasoning and conclusions.
You must research and cite 3 sources in APA style format.
Solution
Answer:
School of thought means the thought process of a person. This explains what a thought process a
person follows in his day to day working. We can say that the mind set of approaches of the
person followed in his working. We can understand the thought process of below three women as
below
Answer 2:
Answer3:
Melanie should be the right candidate for the organization as a successor for Geraldine. The
reason for these is as below