Reference no: EM133179729

The Freaky Friday Management Technique

When the Customer Support and Sales Engineering teams went to war with one another, Ben Horowitz didn't know what to do. Both teams were made up of first-rate people and were led by excellent managers. The sales engineers complained that customer support refused to fix problems, did not respond with urgency, and generally failed to provide the kind of service that led to customer satisfaction. On the other hand, customer support said the sales engineers didn't listen to suggested fixes for problems and made the support team's job harder by assigning every problem top priority. The teams just could not get along. But for the company to function, they had to work together smoothly and constantly.

Horowitz happened to watch the movie Freaky Friday during this time period and came up with an idea. In the movie, a mother and daughter become completely frustrated with one another's lack of understanding and appreciation and wish that they could switch places. Because this is a movie, they miraculously do just that! Throughout the rest of the movie, "by being inside each other's bodies, both characters develop an understanding of the challenges the other faces," Horowitz writes. He wonders if the same thing could work with his sales engineering and customer support managers. The next day, he tells the managers they will be switching places in the company. Like the characters in Freaky Friday, they will keep their own minds but get new bodies.

The reaction he got was equivalent to Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan screaming in horror in the film. But after a week of experiencing the other's challenges, the managers discovered the core issues that were leading to conflict between the two departments. Moreover, they quickly implemented some simple solutions that resolved disputes and got people working together harmoniously. "From that day to the day we sold the company," Horowitz says, those two teams "worked better together than any other major groups in the company-all thanks to Freaky Friday, perhaps the most insightful management training film ever made."*

Questions 

1. In the case discussed above, the leader demonstrated a very unconventional and innovative method to resolve conflict in the organization. What role does a leader have in managing organizational change and organizational conflict? In this case, which type of leadership did the leader show - transactional or transformational? Why?
2. In this case, when the change was introduced, what challenges do you think the team faced? If you were Horowitz, how would you have communicated this change to the employees and how would you have supported them in the challenges the employees faced? 
3. When you are faced with choosing among several valid options, how do you typically make your decision? How do you think managers typically choose among several options? What are the similarities between your decision process and what you think managers do?