Martha McCaskey - the Seleris Associates Industry Analysis Case Study

Martha McCaskey The Seleris Associates Industry Analysis Case Study

John Hardin

Chancellor University The Jack Welch Management Institute

MBA 6120/0100

Dr. Galina Pildush

Abstract

For the past 18 months Martha McCaskey has been an exemplary performer with high integrity and been assigned as a project leader to a crucial high profile project named Silicon 6. Upon successful completion of Silicon 6, McCaskey has been promised a promotion to group manager. McCaskey is being pressured by senior management to finish the project and have an action plan to present to the client. Now she has some options to weigh in order to complete the project. What McCaskey must decide is where she draws the line on compromising her values in order to complete Silicon 6. She will have to decide what constitutes proprietary information or is she engaging in "gentleman's industrial espionage" McCaskey has also realized she might have to pay someone off to finish her project in order to attain her promised promotion. She felt she has always maintained a high degree of integrity until now. There were some warning flags McCaskey should have noticed. The focus this paper is to examine specific reasons underlying McCaskey's situation, what the warning flags were and what tactics she should employ concerning her involvement in the Silicon 6 project and her future with Seleris.

Martha McCaskey Seleris Associates Industry Analysis Division Case Study

Martha McCaskey has been assigned as the Project Leader of the Silicon 6 Project with Seleris Associates Industry Analysis Division (IAD). She is facing some real tough decisions that can be career threatening and possibly have legal ramifications. Silicon 6 has become a crucial project for IAD. Silicon 6 will account for 20% of IAD's revenues. If successful for IAD's client then more lucrative projects would follow. This should have been a warning sign to McCaskey, a high profile project given to a new hire would not happen. McCaskey has been promised a promotion to Group Manager with a substantial increase in pay if she performs well. This was a warning sign. How could McCaskey be promoted to Group Manager? There were only 2 groups who was going to go? Was it just "lip-service" to entice her further to obtain the needed information on Silicon 6? Selersis's client is a semiconductor manufacturer based in California. The client has retained IAD to identify cost structure and manufacturing processes for a new chip being manufactured by a competitor. Selersis's client has offered to double the consulting fees if the required