Robin Hood

An Action Plan for Robin Hood

INSTRUCTIONS

Read the “Robin Hood” case below. Look at Robin Hood and his band of Merrymen as an organization. Think of their activities and the issues they face using management and business terms such as leadership, recruitment, revenue generation, expansion, diversification, and the like.

1. Identify elements of their organizational strengths and weaknesses. Examine the external environment and identify opportunities and threats they face. Enter the items identified in the appropriate places in the TOWS matrix in Figure 1 that follows the case.

2. Next, one by one, match the elements from the “Internal” axis (S or W) with ones from the “External” axis (O or T) and write them as action steps (that is, actions the organization can undertake) in the inside boxes labeled SO, WO, ST, and WT. a brief example is given in the chart in Figure 1 to illustrate the process. Then answer questions 1 and 2 that follow.

ROBIN HOOD

It was in the spring of the second year of his insurrection against the High Sheriff of Nottingham that Robin Hood took a walk in Sherwood Forest. As he walked, he pondered the progress of the campaign, the disposition of his forces, the Sheriff’s recent moves, and the options that confronted him.

The revolt against the Sheriff had begun as a personal crusade. It erupted out of Robin’s conflict with the sheriff and his administration. However, alone Robin Hood could do little. He therefore sought allies, men with grievances and a deep sense of justice. Later he welcomed all who came, asking few questions and demanding only a willingness to serve. Strength, he believed, lay in numbers.

He spent the first year forging the group into a disciplined band, united in enmity against the Sheriff and willing to live outside the law. The band’s organization was simple. Robin ruled supreme, making all important decisions. He delegated specific tasks to his lieutenants. Will Scarlett was in charge of...