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Published by: Harvard Business Publishing
Originally published in: "Harvard Business Review", 2018
Version: November 2018
Length: 5 pages
Data source: Published sources

Abstract

FB Holdings had made it through the financial crisis of 2008 without losing money, but Franklin, its automotive climate control systems division, had not fared as well. It had the unfortunate distinction of having been the group's poorest-performing unit for nearly a decade. As CFO, Noelle Freeman was, of course, concerned about the numbers. But after spending time in Little Rock, she worried they might be facing a bigger problem. She knew the plant had been through years of belt-tightening and turnover, so she hadn't expected a warm welcome, but the negative vibe she'd felt from the employees had been even worse than she'd expected. The word that kept popping into her mind was 'toxic'. A numbers person, Noelle had assumed that once the division was out of the red, the people problems would go away. Now she wondered if the low morale and disengagement was a problem a spreadsheet just couldn't fix. This fictional case study by Francesca Gino features expert commentary by Philipp Schramm and Jeremy Andrus. For teaching purposes, this is the case-only version of the HBR case study. The commentary-only version is a reprint. The complete case study and commentary is a reprint.

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Abstract

FB Holdings had made it through the financial crisis of 2008 without losing money, but Franklin, its automotive climate control systems division, had not fared as well. It had the unfortunate distinction of having been the group's poorest-performing unit for nearly a decade. As CFO, Noelle Freeman was, of course, concerned about the numbers. But after spending time in Little Rock, she worried they might be facing a bigger problem. She knew the plant had been through years of belt-tightening and turnover, so she hadn't expected a warm welcome, but the negative vibe she'd felt from the employees had been even worse than she'd expected. The word that kept popping into her mind was 'toxic'. A numbers person, Noelle had assumed that once the division was out of the red, the people problems would go away. Now she wondered if the low morale and disengagement was a problem a spreadsheet just couldn't fix. This fictional case study by Francesca Gino features expert commentary by Philipp Schramm and Jeremy Andrus. For teaching purposes, this is the case-only version of the HBR case study. The commentary-only version is a reprint. The complete case study and commentary is a reprint.

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