ANSWER TO THE 3 GIVEN QUESTIONS

Q1. How did Rinaldi get into this Mess?

1. Although she was an MBA and knowledge about Organisational behaviour, she couldn’t
manage the situation well, as she wasn’t able to communicate properly, which created a
communication gap.

2. Her senior, Natalie, was not always available and Jamie had resentment towards young
MBAs. She was let down by the menial tasks given to her by Jamie and. This affected her
motivation and she was usually quiet at meetings because of which she had an aggressive
behaviour towards the work given by her managers.

3. The intimate relationship of Natalie Follet and Jamie creates uneasiness for Rinaldi and it
causes a lack of trust and affects the professionalism of the company and it also displays
favouritism towards Jamie which impacted Rinaldi.

Q2. Could she have done anything differently?

1. Rinaldi could have raised this issue earlier with Natalie and Jamie instead of merely
accepting orders from them
2. She could have brought this issue up earlier and she was more highly qualified. She could
have sent an email to Natalie, to fix a meeting with her and clearly put forward her training
expectations so that an appropriate job role can be assigned to her with regard to Invi's
launch.
3. Rinaldi’s kind gesture to help people of other departments was not wrong but she could
have asked her managers as this could lead to a good relationship with her manager and it
would also indicate that she respects her manager’s principals.
4. Also, Rinaldi, had an MBA degree, so she could have used her knowledge for controlling
the misunderstandings between her office colleagues and change their perspective towards
her.

Q3. What should she do now?

Quit Potomac:
Pros:
1. Rinaldi would be more fulfilled working at Deep Dive as her inputs would be valued there
and also, she would be receiving a higher salary which can act as an extra motivation
2. She would be managing a higher position there and this would help her to share her ideas
and skills with people in the higher level of organisation which would provide her with more
growth opportunities and align her personal goals with organisational goals.
Cons:
3.she will have to work under VP of marketing whom she is not acquainted with so there is
no certainty as to what kind of relations will she establish with the VP.

Stay at Potomac:
1. Stay at Potomac and try to ease everything out at Potomac Waters between her manager
and co-worker.
2. Also try to show Natalie how much committed she is towards her work and towards
learning new things

Re-assign to a different brand:

The two divisions of the organization, namely, 'Health' and 'Sports' were spearheading the
growth.
1. When she visited Potomac in June, 2008, she interacted with many employees, one of
them being the PM of Sports Drinks, who valued Rinaldi's drive, energy and enthusiasm. So,
she can consider switching to Sports.
Cons:
People within the organisation would start looking towards her as a person who
wasn't able to cope up with a difficult situation and interpret her as a difficult person
to work with.
 INPUT → PROCESS → OUTPUT

Inputs:
1. Martha Rinaldi Personality and Values
Martha Rinaldi completed her MBA with strengths in marketing and management
information systems, she had high hopes and zeal to learn new things in the field of
Marketing
2.Organisational Culture
Potomac was known for their proven record of marketing excellence, and this was one of
the sole reason why Martha decided to go with Potomac instead of Deep Dive to learn
different aspects of marketing.
Before starting her job, Martha had an interaction with the employees working in the
company and also with a few Product Managers, which made her believe about the positive
work environment at Potomac.
Martha was impressed by the organisational culture of friendliness and inclusiveness.
3.Little or no-effect from Recession
The $40 Billion U.S Beverage Industry had not done as badly as many other sectors of the
economy during the 2008 recession and it was expected that growth rates are going to
rebound to its normally modest, but reliable rates.

Processes:
1.Motivation + Emotions
i.) Rinaldi lacked motivation from seniors lead for her work.
She was not recognised for her productivity neither encourage by her product manager,
Natalie Follet and co-worker, Jamie and was made to do menial work like copying and fixing
power-point presentations.
ii.) Although being appreciated by the marketing VP (Bautista), she didn’t receive a single
work
of appreciation from her Product Manager, Natalie and co-worker, Jamie for her work (ROI
Report) neither was she given any similar kind of work in the future.

2.Perception:
i) All these things gave Martha a perception that she was not liked by her product manager
and co-worker and thus she stopped giving her opinions during meetings and conferences.
ii) Although Martha had lively conversations with managers of other departments and also
received praises from them stating that Rinaldi’s drive, energy and enthusiasm are valued
qualities at Potomac- she didn’t receive any compliments from her boss (Follet) and on top
that her product manager was not even interested to conduct an employee performance
review which shows her lack of support in Rinaldi’s personal development.

3.Psychological empowerment: Martha Rinaldi lacked psychological empowerment as she

thinks she is not making any significant impact at work.

Output:
1.Lower trust level leading to lower group functioning and lower productivity
i.) The intimate relationship of Natalie Follet and Jamie creates uneasiness for Rinaldi and it
causes a lack of trust and affects the professionalism of the company and it also displays
favouritism towards Jamie which impacted Rinaldi.
ii.) Task Performance
Martha joined Potomac Waters for the only reason of getting better trained in all aspects of
Marketing at Potomac Waters as Potomac was known for their marketing excellence but
when she joined the organisation, she realised that she is not considered as a capable
employee by her Product Manager, Natalie Follet and her co-worker, Jamie Vaughan.
 ANTECEDENTS - PRECEDENTS – MODERATORS

ANTECEDENTS

1. Martha Rinaldi recently graduated from a reputed b-school with an MBA in Marketing and
Information Management Systems.
2. Before starting to work at Potomac, she interned at Deep Dive where she came up with
various innovative ideas and gained a high reputation at deep dive.
3. Potomac was a beverage company with a nationwide presence in three major divisions -
Sports Drink, Health Drink and Carbonated Soft Drinks
4. Potomac was a reputed company and was known for grooming their employees with
various skills of marketing.
5. Martha decided to join Potomac after completing her MBA because of its stability and also
for its marketing excellence.
6. However, when she started working at Potomac, she started facing difficulties in coping
up with the attitudes, values and behaviours of her manager and co-workers.

PRECEDENTS
1.The Environment at Potomac created Job Dissatisfaction for Martha Rinaldi.
2. This led to an aggressive behaviour when her managers gave some tasks to her.
3. She was not motivated, recognized or valued at the organisation, which led to lower
efficiency and productivity of Martha Rinaldi.
4. She receives conflicting orders from her manager and the VP of marketing, which creates
confusion.
5.She faces a dilemma whether to continue at Potomac and if yes, then should she sift her
department or leave Potomac and join Deep Dive.

MODERATORS

1. When Martha complained to Annie about not being appreciated for her first assignment,
Anne congratulated her for not losing her cool and re assured her that Bautista liked her
work.

2. Julius made it a formal policy to hire MBAs, he encouraged young people in the
organization.

Martha did very well in her first assignment itself and caught the attention of Julius Bautista
He wanted Martha to have greater responsibilities. He even sent her an email when he saw
her helping her co-worker Anna Dutch.

He set up a meeting with new hires. He noticed Martha being quiet at the meeting, contrary
to how she volunteered with new ideas on the first day. He checked up on her to ensure if
everything is okay with Jamie and Natalie