1. CLEM GRANT *
Clem Grant was Manager of the Ottawa branch of the Milcroft Concrete Forms Corporation
(Milcroft Corp.). Milcroft Corp. was established in 1932 and based in St. Anthony,
Newfoundland, with branch offices in several major cities across Canada. The Ottawa
branch was their most successful, having been a consistent moneymaker until last January,
when Clem Grant was brought in as Manager of the Ottawa branch. Clem came from the
Vancouver branch office of a competing Canadian concrete firm, CementWo rks Inc. (Cl). Up
until his retirement in January, the Ottawa branch was managed by Bartholemew (Bart)
Stallone. Stallone was born and raised in Ottawa and was a graduate of the University of
Ottawa’ s School of Management (then known as the Faculty of Adm inistration). He had
worked for Milcroft Corp. first as a student during his time at university, and after
graduation, signed on full – time, working his way up to become manager of the most
successful branch of the company. It was, in fact under Stallone’ s leadership that the
Ottawa branch eventually became the most successful branch of Milcroft Corp. During
Stallone’ s thirty years as manager of the Ottawa branch, the’ branch had never fired or laid
off a single employee, and staff turnover was well below ind ustry standards. Stallone was a
very confident and likeable person, and believed strongly in developing an environment in
which his employees would become self – motivated. He encouraged everyone to have a
voice and strongly preached that if employees worke d hard, the company would take care
of them. He was charismatic and believed in, and demonstrated delegation and
empowerment. He was regarded as a cautiously optimistic risk – taker who earned
employees respect and loyalty by sharing his knowledge and showin g them how to do
things. Clem Grant was the second – in – command at the Vancouver branch of Cl. As with
the Ottawa Branch of Milcroft Corp., the Vancouver branch of Cl was also very successful –
the branch had experienced ten consecutive years of growth and profitability, and was
regarded as the most successful branch of Cl. As second – in – command in Vancouver, Clem
was responsible for managing all the construction workers employed at the branch. He was
task – oriented, actively assertive and was accustomed to exercising control and influence.
He was also strongly motivated to “ make the numbers” given to him by the Vancouver
branch manager in terms of revenues, expenses and people. While staff turnover at the
Vancouver branch of Cl was considerably higher than t he industry standard, for the past 10
years he “ made the numbers” —often with margin to spare. Clem had worked “ in
concrete” for over fifteen years and like Bart Stallone, had worked his way up in the same
company since graduating from a Canadian west co ast university in civil engineering. One

2. of the reasons frequently cited for Milcroft Ottawa’ s success was the shrewdness of Bart
Stallone in recruiting division chiefs of different cultures, given Ottawa – Gatineau’ s
multicultural environment. It was this management team that Clem inherited when he
accepted the job as Manager of Milcroft Ottawa. This management team was made up
ofYoshi Mundansha, Chief of Engineering, Susan Comfort, Chief of Sales and Marketing,
Wilhem Thiele, Chief of Finance and Administr ation, and Jacques (Le – grand) Fromage,
Chief of Quality Control. Clem also had an Executive Assistant, Martin Campbell, whom he
recruited from his old office in Vancouver. Yoshi Mundansha was born and raised in Japan
where he earned his undergraduate degr ee in civil engineering from the University of
Tokyo. He subsequently completed a master degree in architecture from Carleton
University in Ottawa, Canada, and was recruited by Stallone five years ago to head up the
engineering division of Milcroft Ottawa. With forty persons reporting to him, Yoshi was
responsible for engineering, construction and transport. Susan Comfort was born and
raised in New York City and held earned degrees in business administration and marketing
management from the State Universi ty of New York. After working for ten years as a
marketing manager for a major American construction and development company, she
married a Canadian from Ottawa and moved north. Her first job application in Canada was
successful – Stallone hired her, impress ed with her credentials and successful work record
– and instructed the Milcroft attorneys to ‘ take care of the citizenship thing post – haste’ .
That was seven years ago. Comfort had a staff of twenty employees, ten of whom were
salespersons paid on commission. Wilhelm Thiele was born, raised and educated in Munich,
Germany. He held an undergraduate degree in Accounting Science and a Master degree in
Finance from the University of Munich, and had worked