What T Do About Louie Leadership Case Study

Introduction:

Mighty Muffler & Brakes is an auto-repair services company that offers a wide range of repair and services on vehicles of any model at competitive prices. The company has a store in the Great Lakes Region, which is headed by a manager known as Louie. The store’s financial performance has been good under his leadership, but there is one problem; a few of the customers and employees of Louie’s store have complained about his lack of cultural sensitivity; some of his actions and his comments are brash and offensive. Emma, the human resources and marketing manager of the company therefore needs to find a way to deal with this issue without upsetting him enough to make him leave the job and join a competitor.

Case Analysis

Does Louie have a problem, or are the people who made the negative comments about Louie just being too sensitive?

Louie does have a problem because he is not culturally sensitive. He judges people who he deems to be different from him such as women, gays, old people and African Americans. Through his actions and words, he makes it evident that he holds a lower opinion of them. The people who made the negative comments are important stakeholders to the business therefore if they are hurt or offended by the manager; the customers may not come back while the employees may lose their morale and their work may be affected.

If you were the CEO of Mighty Muffler Brake, would the profitability of Louie’s store influence your decision about approaching him on his ability to relate to culturally diverse people?

As the CEO of the company, I would place more importance on the customers and the employees of the company than on its profitability. If the customers and employees are happy and content with the treatment they are receiving, this will reflect on the company’s profitability. His cultural insensitivity might also ruin the company’s image, since as the manager he is representing the company. Therefore, as the CEO of Mighty Muffler...