Case Study: a Window on Life

A WINDOW ON LIFE

LaCrosse Industries in Eau Claire, Wisconsin manufactures wood-framed windows. Gilbert LaCrosse, the company founder, continually reinforced the need to make quality windows because they provided “a window on life” for so many families. He consistently repeated this point by talking with all employees at every convenience. He began taking pictures of people looking through LaCrosse windows and this led to the company’s popular marketing campaign. LaCrosse also actively involved employees in organizational decisions. Eventually, the company’s continued success depended on expansion to other parts of the country, so a majority share was sold to Build-All Products, a conglomerate with international marketing expertise in building products. Build-All brought in Jan Vlodoski to oversee production while LaCrosse met with developers around North America. Vlodoski was a less participative and more directive manager who tried to shift the emphasis from product quality to inventory cost efficiency. Inventory costs were reduced, but product rejects increased markedly during the first year. Employee morale dropped significantly and some people quit in spite of the poor labor market. After 18 months, LaCrosse realized that Build-All’s actions were inconsistent with his vision of the company, while Build-All was not sufficiently pleased with the company’s return on equity (not quite the 18 percent required by Build-All).

This company does not exist as described. It is a composite of a few situations that the author knows about, both in terms of the company’s growth, experience following acquisition, and leadership of the founder.

1. Identify the symptoms indicating that problems exist at LaCrosse Industries, Inc.

2. Use one or more leadership theories to analyze the underlying causes of the current problems at LaCrosse Industries. What other organizational behavior theories might also help to explain some of the problems?

3. What should Gilbert...