Case analysis

Case Analysis: Internal or External Manager?

The case of Jamie Dimon described in R. Khurana’s book entitled “Searching for a corporate savior” is typical of many organizations, which struggle with the question of whether an external candidate would be better qualified to lead the organization than an internal one. Consider for instance the appointment of Mr. Merret Stierheim as Superintendent of Miami Dade Public School System years ago. Mr. Stierheim took on the job at a time when a group of civil leaders argued that a change in the organization’s culture was needed, and that such a change required bringing new blood. Some felt that a reputable administrator/manager like Mr. Stierheim was better suited to the job than any internal candidates such as experienced educators and school principals, given the situation of the district. However, the appointment was surrounded by controversy. Opponents of Mr. Stierheim’s appointment argued that a strictly administrative approach to the school system would be disastrous. Still another controversial case is that of Ms. Marissa Meyer, a Google executive hired to take over the Yahoo’s CEO job, Ms. Mayer faced quite a bit of backslash when she banned telecommuting upon taking over the CEO job at Yahoo. The following video clip illustrates the measures that she took:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEBYO--5IoM

Some have attributed the later troubles that Yahoo faced to what in their view was Ms. Mayer’s abrupt break with Yahoo’s corporate culture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iilpmj8-obY

Please answer the following questions:

1. In general, under what circumstances do external candidates make better leaders than internal ones? Try to classify your answers within the four quadrants represented in this matrix:

	Internal	External
Pros
Cons

2. What kind of developmental activities would you have recommended for an external candidate prior to taking a top leadership job? How about developmental activities for an internal candidate in the same situation?

3. What about the process employed to recruit an external leader? How does this process contrast with the process that should be followed to recruit an internal candidate?

4. Upon taking his/her new post, what should an external leader immediately do? Is this different from what an internal leader should do?