Jc Peney And Ron Johnson Case Study

In the case, “J.C. Penney and Ron Johnson: A case of the failed leadership: Lessons to Be Learned”, it is clear that Ron Johnson made mistakes culturally, in leadership style and in lack of authenticity that current and future managers can learn from. Being well versed in different cultures is important in leadership. According to our text book, “Organizational Behavior” by Fred Luthans, individuals from the same country still have different beliefs, values and behaviors. In the United States, it doesn’t get much different than the liberal state of California and the conservative state of Texas. That being said, Ron Johnson living in California while working in Texas understandably created a cultural divide. He also stayed at …show more content…
In fact, it didn’t seem like he wanted to even be there at all. Another cultural mistake that Ron Johnson made was that he brought in management from outside of retail to manage J.C. Penney’s. Anyone who has gone from working in a retail store to working in an office environment knows that the culture is completely different. In retail, turnover is very high, lower level management is typically younger, and everything revolves around directly selling your product to the customer that walks in the door. In an office environment, turnover tends to be lower, managers typically have more experience and you are less focused on the front lines and more focused on running things behind the scenes. Therefore, it makes sense that people who have never managed retail before probably should not be …show more content…
The textbook lays out many characteristics of an authentic leader, but the two that Ron Johnson failed at were being transparent and building associates. The case study makes a point to tell us that, under Ron Johnson, there was no transparency and that employees never knew what to expect from leadership. This foggy environment can create a feeling of uncertainty with employees, which can lead to low moral and turn over. The case study also shows us that Ron Johnson was not concerned with building up his associates. Instead of building his current associates, he fired nearly 20,000 employees in his first year and then referred to the fired employees as “Dumb Old Penney’s Employees”. The lack of building employees from within and the treatment of employees can also lead to low morale and turn over. In both examples, the employees that remain with low morale are less likely to perform well, resulting in lower sales for the company. The actions of Ron Johnson show us that it is important to be authentic in leadership and that not doing so can be detrimental to the success of the