W18071
Teaching Note
EXPRESS TRUCKING: EXECUTIVE TEAM DYNAMICS (ROLE PLAY)
(A), (B), AND (C)
SYNOPSIS
This case is a role play involving two executives at Express Trucking: Alex, the vice-president (VP) of
Legal Affairs, and Dominic, the VP of Sales. They are involved in a dispute over a customer contract that
is to be signed the next day.
This case is designed to help participants diagnose and address a conflict between executive team members
in a manner that is most beneficial to their organization. Discussion of the case involves no advance
preparation and is suitable for a class of 20 to 70 students. It can be completed in 1.5 to 2.5 hours, depending
on the size of the class and the depth to which the instructor wishes to discuss the case issues.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This role play will help students to develop the competence needed to address typical conflicts between
executive team members. Such skills are difficult to develop solely from a lecture-style teaching approach.
A role play better reproduces the complex environment in which executives operate. Students will be able
to test different approaches to conflict resolution in real time and to determine which approaches produce
positive results and which are less likely to lead to positive outcomes.1
After completion of this case, participants will be able to
understand how executive teams differ from non-executive teams, notably because
1
Eric Knight and Paroutis Sotorios, “Expanding Paradox-Pedagogy Links: Paradox as a Threshold Concept in Management
Education,” in The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox, ed. Marianne Lewis, Wendy Smith, Paula Jarzabkowski, and
Ann Langley (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2016), 9.
, Page 2 8B18M014
– executive team members have two roles—the first as representatives of their units or functions, and
the second as corporate officers charged with ensuring the success of the overall organization2—
and these two roles sometimes send seemingly contradictory signals;
– executive team members must both collaborate and compete with their executive team colleagues
if they hope to achieve their objectives as unit or function leaders;
diagnose the causes of the most typical executive team conflicts; and
address executive team conflicts, notably by avoiding an “either/or” mindset and instead developing
their ability for “both/and” thinking.3
POSITION IN COURSE
The learning objectives of this case study can best be achieved only if a significant proportion of the students
have some experience, either direct or indirect, with conflict on executive teams. This case is thus well
suited for an executive-level program where students represent a mix of executive team members, soon-to-
be executive team members, and/or consultants who have worked with executives. This case is less well
suited in a class where students have little or no work experience.
This case covers the topics of leadership, top management teams, conflict management, paradox, and
organizational behaviour.
No advance preparation is required for this case study; students must discover the case in the classroom.
The learning objectives will be compromised if students have the opportunity to discuss the roles they have
been assigned before the role play begins.
TEACHING PLAN
A Word about the Different Roles
The role play has two main roles: the VP of Legal Affairs (Alex) and the VP of Sales (Dominic), who
square off in a discussion mandated by their boss, the chief executive officer (CEO).
A third role is added to the mix—that of the Observer. The Observer should read both the Alex and Dominic
scripts. The Observer then listens to the discussion between Alex and Dominic as they conduct the role
play, but should not intervene in any way. Observers become active only when the entire class reconvenes
to debrief the role play. The observers can then highlight what Alex and Dominic did to come closer to
resolution or, conversely, what they did to pull further apart.
Before the role play begins, the students who are assigned the Alex and Dominic roles read their assigned
scripts and are then given time to prepare what they will say during the role play. This preparation is much
richer when Alex and Dominic can each prepare with a fellow student. For this reason, we introduce two
additional characters into the role play:
2
David N. Berg, “Senior Executive Teams: Not What You Think,” Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research 57,
no. 2 (2005): 107–117.
3
Wendy K. Smith, Marianne Lewis, and Michael Tushman, “Both/And Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, May 2016, 63–
70. Available from Ivey Publishing, product no. R1605D.
Teaching Note
EXPRESS TRUCKING: EXECUTIVE TEAM DYNAMICS (ROLE PLAY)
(A), (B), AND (C)
SYNOPSIS
This case is a role play involving two executives at Express Trucking: Alex, the vice-president (VP) of
Legal Affairs, and Dominic, the VP of Sales. They are involved in a dispute over a customer contract that
is to be signed the next day.
This case is designed to help participants diagnose and address a conflict between executive team members
in a manner that is most beneficial to their organization. Discussion of the case involves no advance
preparation and is suitable for a class of 20 to 70 students. It can be completed in 1.5 to 2.5 hours, depending
on the size of the class and the depth to which the instructor wishes to discuss the case issues.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This role play will help students to develop the competence needed to address typical conflicts between
executive team members. Such skills are difficult to develop solely from a lecture-style teaching approach.
A role play better reproduces the complex environment in which executives operate. Students will be able
to test different approaches to conflict resolution in real time and to determine which approaches produce
positive results and which are less likely to lead to positive outcomes.1
After completion of this case, participants will be able to
understand how executive teams differ from non-executive teams, notably because
1
Eric Knight and Paroutis Sotorios, “Expanding Paradox-Pedagogy Links: Paradox as a Threshold Concept in Management
Education,” in The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox, ed. Marianne Lewis, Wendy Smith, Paula Jarzabkowski, and
Ann Langley (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2016), 9.
, Page 2 8B18M014
– executive team members have two roles—the first as representatives of their units or functions, and
the second as corporate officers charged with ensuring the success of the overall organization2—
and these two roles sometimes send seemingly contradictory signals;
– executive team members must both collaborate and compete with their executive team colleagues
if they hope to achieve their objectives as unit or function leaders;
diagnose the causes of the most typical executive team conflicts; and
address executive team conflicts, notably by avoiding an “either/or” mindset and instead developing
their ability for “both/and” thinking.3
POSITION IN COURSE
The learning objectives of this case study can best be achieved only if a significant proportion of the students
have some experience, either direct or indirect, with conflict on executive teams. This case is thus well
suited for an executive-level program where students represent a mix of executive team members, soon-to-
be executive team members, and/or consultants who have worked with executives. This case is less well
suited in a class where students have little or no work experience.
This case covers the topics of leadership, top management teams, conflict management, paradox, and
organizational behaviour.
No advance preparation is required for this case study; students must discover the case in the classroom.
The learning objectives will be compromised if students have the opportunity to discuss the roles they have
been assigned before the role play begins.
TEACHING PLAN
A Word about the Different Roles
The role play has two main roles: the VP of Legal Affairs (Alex) and the VP of Sales (Dominic), who
square off in a discussion mandated by their boss, the chief executive officer (CEO).
A third role is added to the mix—that of the Observer. The Observer should read both the Alex and Dominic
scripts. The Observer then listens to the discussion between Alex and Dominic as they conduct the role
play, but should not intervene in any way. Observers become active only when the entire class reconvenes
to debrief the role play. The observers can then highlight what Alex and Dominic did to come closer to
resolution or, conversely, what they did to pull further apart.
Before the role play begins, the students who are assigned the Alex and Dominic roles read their assigned
scripts and are then given time to prepare what they will say during the role play. This preparation is much
richer when Alex and Dominic can each prepare with a fellow student. For this reason, we introduce two
additional characters into the role play:
2
David N. Berg, “Senior Executive Teams: Not What You Think,” Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research 57,
no. 2 (2005): 107–117.
3
Wendy K. Smith, Marianne Lewis, and Michael Tushman, “Both/And Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, May 2016, 63–
70. Available from Ivey Publishing, product no. R1605D.
