Question

Questions:

1. How successful has Emilio been over the entire course of his career? What criteria do you use to measure career success? Award a number grade on a scale of one to ten. Explain your answer.

2. How well has Emilio responded to change?

3. How good of a job did ICL do in managing Emilio Kornau’s career?

4. Compare and contrast Emilio Kornau with Mark Margolis. How were the two men different? What were the impact of these differences to their career success?

Case Emilio Kornau Emilio Kornau grew up believing he would be successful. His parents had emigrated to the United Kingdom from northern Italy in 1940. His father, once a machinist in a factory near Turin, had left his homeland of political reasons, bringing his young oride to an uncertain life in the sooty tenements of Manchester, where he found work as a laborer in a steel mill. Emilio was born in Manchester in 1948, and by the time he was ten was supplementing his family's meager income by selling news- papers and delivering groceries. The 1960s saw an improvement in the lot of the Kornau family. Emilio's father finally overcame a strong anti-immigrant (and, during and after World War II, anti- Italian) bias and became a line manager in a major British steel manufacturer. The family was able to buy a home in one of the newer Manchester suburbs, and Emilio attended one of the new "polytechnic" than to illustrate ette ce: Prof. Maury Peiperl prepared this case e purpose of classroom discussion, rather llustrate effective or ineffective handling Career situation. Certain information case has been altered for reasons of in the case has confidentiality. 2002 by Maury Peiperl

Answer 1

(1): I would say that although Emilio’s career within ICL was successful, on an overall basis his career did not amount to much. This is because even though Emilio came far in his career within ICL he failed to diversify his learning and skill sets. A successful career is measured by various factors like the amount of influence that an employee has, ability to create an impact, developing valuable relationships and networks, learning different things, etc. A number grade that I will award is 5. This is because while Emilio exceled in his chosen field he refused the chance to up-skill by becoming a manager and hence learning the ropes of leadership and people management. He stuck to his core competency and hence was poor at career self-management. When the change happened, which was inevitable, his skills became obsolete and hence he was no longer a desired candidate and a suitable candidate for job openings after his stint with ICL got over.

(2): Emilio responded very poorly to change. This is because he was never prepared for change and never made a plan for himself in case he found himself stuck in an undesirable career situation due to change. He failed to realize the fact that change is an inevitable aspect of human lives and that it will, at some point in future, affect your professional life as well. So when ICL was taken over by Fujitsu Emilio transformed from a highly valuable resource for ICL to a redundant resource for the electrical industry.

(3): ICL did a poor job of managing Emilio’s career. The company should have encouraged Emilio to broaden his perspective and his horizon while working with ICL. He should have been encouraged to become a supervisor and a manager even though he declined the offers. The company should have provided him with career counselling to show him the right path for career advancement and growth which it failed to do.

(4): The two main have some stark and marked differences with regards to their approach to professional life. Emilio was never prepared for change and became complacent within his job and role. He never tried to take on new responsibilities, diversify his learning and make himself more suitable for a wide variety of job types. On the other hand Mark was more change oriented, more progressive in thinking and a better visionary. He knew that changes are inevitable and from his past mistakes he prepared himself for every possible scenario that he can face in his professional life. This level of readiness and preparedness made him grab opportunities at the right time and never let his career slow down despite setbacks. The impact of these differences is that while Emilio let the setback affect him in a significant manner Mark continued to move ahead. Emilio was not prepared for change and this put a brake on his career. Mark, on the other hand, was prepared for all sorts of different situations and hence his career never stopped its advancement and he kept on progressing and doing well by taking charge of each new development and each new situation that confronted him and his professional life.