Stratford Giving Voice to Values Co-Authorship Case Study Questions Complete the Case Study.”What can Neerja say, to Rahul and Professor Hari, about the co

Stratford Giving Voice to Values Co-Authorship Case Study Questions Complete the Case Study.”What can Neerja say, to Rahul and Professor Hari, about the co-authorship? When and how?.” Use at least 3 academic references.and Perils of Collaboration (A)1
The Centre for Leadership Studies (CLS), established in 2006 was a management research
centre located in a leading business school in Bangalore, India. Its vision was to be an
internationally top-ranked research centre in management that created and disseminated
research-based knowledge. It had a flat organizational structure with the Director leading a
team of three faculty members, two senior researchers, three researchers and one researchfellow (Exhibit 1). CLS produced empirical research, case studies, and books.
In early May, Professor Hari, a faculty member with CLS, proposed a new book–-an edited
volume titled Leadership and Organizational Transformation—with the objective of
conveying how leaders successfully transformed their organizations. Any new project at CLS
required approval from the Director, Dr. Unni, especially as it related to output, resource
allocation and timelines. Professor Hari mentioned to Dr. Unni, that he would want Neerja to
assist him with the book. He said, “If my work is given to Neerja, I can sleep peacefully.
Though she is soft-hearted and emotional, I have always found her extremely professional,
knowledgeable and efficient.” Professor Hari received the go-ahead for his project from Dr.
Unni and promptly set up a meeting with Neerja to discuss.
Neerja, a part-time Doctoral student in organizational behavior, had been working as a
Researcher with Professor Hari since CLS’s inception. He was also her co-guide for her PhD
in “Capability Building for Organizational Transformation”. Neerja was in the data
collection phase of her study during this time.
Later that week, Neerja met with Professor Hari to discuss the proposed book where she
learned that the deadline for the manuscript to reach the publishers was November 30th. The
Professor went over the details of her role, which involved coordinating with various authors,
conducting interviews, and editing the chapters. She thought that this project would give her
                                                                                                                       
 This  case  was  prepared  by  Neha  Gupta  and  Rekha  K.N  at  Indian  School  of  Business  under  the  
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guidance  of  Prof  Ranjini  Swamy.  This  case  was  inspired  by  observations  of  actual  experiences  but  
names  and  other  situational  details  have  been  disguised  for  confidentiality  and  teaching  purposes.  
 
This  material  is  part  of  the  Giving  Voice  to  Values  curriculum  collection  (www.GivingVoiceToValues.org).    
The  Aspen  Institute  was  founding  partner,  along  with  the  Yale  School  of  Management,  and  incubator  for  Giving  Voice  to  Values  (GVV).  
 Now  Funded  by  Babson  College.  
 Do  not  alter  or  distribute  without  permission.  ©  Mary  C.  Gentile,  2010  
1  
 
 
an opportunity to interact with various high level leaders in organizations that had undergone
successful transformation. The thought that this project might help in collecting data for her
PhD added to her excitement.
 
Neerja started working hard on the book. She interviewed eight leaders and submitted the
write-up to Professor Hari at the end of the first week of October and she was anxious for his
feedback. After a week, Professor Hari called Neerja to give his comments and mentioned
that he was impressed.
Little did she know that there was another surprise waiting for her.
During the meeting, Professor Hari invited her to author a book chapter on the turnaround of
a leading IT firm: BLM Ltd. She was thrilled as it would help her meet the publication
requirement for her PhD programme and begin fulfilling her long cherished dream of being a
published author.
On October 25th, more than a month before the deadline, she was ready to submit the first
draft of the BLM Ltd. chapter to Professor Hari.
On the same day, during a team meeting, Dr. Unni introduced Rahul as the new Research
fellow at CLS. Rahul, was an aspiring doctoral student with two decades of experience in
applied research in the IT field. Before joining CLS, he was the Associate Director of
Research at BLM Ltd. In addition, Rahul had earned his B.Tech and M.Tech in Computer
Science from one of the top engineering colleges in India. He was a BLM Ltd. “life-timer”
who had also earned three patents in database and network management.
During the announcement, Dr. Unni mentioned, “I’m proud to have been associated with
Rahul in the earlier part of my career. Rahul has been instrumental in the flawless execution
of several key projects at BLM Ltd. and was even personally involved in the widely
acclaimed turnaround of the organization.”
In his introduction, Rahul shared that he felt privileged to be a part of CLS. He expressed
keen interest in his assignment at CLS related to “commercialization of research.” He
mentioned that he aimed to have a few publications before applying for a PhD programme
abroad. All of the faculty members welcomed Rahul and praised Dr. Unni for bringing an
excellent researcher home. One of the faculty members, aware of Rahul’s past achievements,
went on to say, “Rahul will serve as a role model for young researchers.”
In the meeting, it struck Neerja that Rahul’s experiences at BLM Ltd. would enrich the
chapter and she asked Professor Hari for his opinion. He liked the idea. On October 28th,
Neerja emailed the first draft of the chapter to Rahul requesting his inputs. Rahul suggested
that she refer to a book written by the CEO of BLM Ltd. Neerja went through the book and
found the narrative of the initiatives at BLM Ltd. very insightful. She incorporated those
narratives into the chapter. She shared the revised draft with Professor Hari and informed him
of Rahul’s recommendation. Professor Hari said: “Find out if Rahul would like to co-author
 
 
This  material  is  part  of  the  Giving  Voice  to  Values  curriculum  collection  (www.GivingVoiceToValues.org).    
The  Aspen  Institute  was  founding  partner,  along  with  the  Yale  School  of  Management,  and  incubator  for  Giving  Voice  to  Values  (GVV).  
 Now  Funded  by  Babson  College.  
 Do  not  alter  or  distribute  without  permission.  ©  Mary  C.  Gentile,  2010  
2  
 
 
the chapter. With his involvement in the BLM Ltd. turnaround, it would be like listening to
the story from the horse’s mouth.”
 
On November 3rd, Neerja e-mailed Rahul to ascertain his interest in co-authoring the chapter.
He happily agreed and asked Neerja to schedule a meeting with Professor Hari.
In the meeting held on November 5th, Neerja briefed Professor Hari and her new co-author
Rahul on the storyline. Professor Hari then asked Rahul to share his experiences from the
turnaround of BLM Ltd. Rahul’s insights into the transformation journey impressed Professor
Hari and Neerja. Professor Hari spelled out his expectations for the chapter which included
adding some of Rahul’s personal experiences and set November 20th as the deadline. Before
leaving, Rahul thanked Professor Hari for this opportunity as the publication would help him
in applying for his PhD. He asked Neerja to send him the draft.
Neerja happily emailed the chapter to Rahul as soon as she left the meeting. After three days,
Neerja called Rahul to enquire about his progress and he promised to respond by November
10th. When she didn’t hear from him, she sent a reminder on November 12th but it was to no
avail. Finally, she received Rahul’s version on November 14th.
She opened the chapter with excitement, but it quickly fizzled as she read on. There were
barely any changes. The only new element was an overview of BLM Ltd. which was copied
from the company website. Everything shared by Rahul so far had begun to seem like a tall
tale. Moreover, she was surprised to notice that he added “Rahul Kumar” as the second
author in the revised draft.
On November 15th, Neerja again called Rahul to ask that he add his experiences to the
chapter to which Rahul sternly replied, “I’m busy with multiple assignments. Kindly go
ahead with it.”
In order to complete the chapter, she had to collaborate with Rahul, but she didn’t know how.
She even scheduled a face-to-face meeting, but he never showed up. Time was running out
and the chapter was still in the same state. At this juncture, Neerja mentioned her experience
with Rahul to Professor Hari. Professor Hari asked her to submit the current draft without
waiting for Rahul’s input anymore. He told Neerja that he would go through the chapter and
give feedback the next day.
The final verdict by Professor Hari would decide the chapter’s fate: in the book or the bin. On
the morning of November 19th, Professor Hari praised Neerja for an insightful chapter. She
was overjoyed to have written her first ever book chapter! But, she was surprised to see
Rahul’s name struck off from the top. When she pointed it out, Professor Hari remarked, “It’s
your call. I am fine with either including or excluding Rahul’s name.”
Neerja decided to discuss the issue with her colleagues.
Neerja approached a few researchers and was surprised to receive similar feedback about
Rahul. One colleague mentioned how during a joint project, he had calmly requested Rahul’s
 
 
This  material  is  part  of  the  Giving  Voice  to  Values  curriculum  collection  (www.GivingVoiceToValues.org).    
The  Aspen  Institute  was  founding  partner,  along  with  the  Yale  School  of  Management,  and  incubator  for  Giving  Voice  to  Values  (GVV).  
 Now  Funded  by  Babson  College.  
 Do  not  alter  or  distribute  without  permission.  ©  Mary  C.  Gentile,  2010  
3  
 
 
help on something to which Rahul had screamed in response that he was “not his assistant
and would not just do whatever he wanted.” His unwillingness to collaborate had eventually
led to the shelving of the project.
 
Neerja was in a dilemma. If she excluded Rahul’s name from the chapter, he might cry foul.
Neerja had enjoyed a cordial relationship with her peers and superiors; but this incident could
result in animosity with Rahul and damage the congenial environment at CLS. He could also
spoil her reputation by bad-mouthing her with faculty members who were his lunch partners.
Moreover, Rahul himself had added his name as a co-author and was very keen to have his
first publication before applying to PhD programs.
On the other hand, adding Rahul as co-author would send the wrong signal to the CLS team.
They would think that free-riding was acceptable at the centre. Neerja’s decision would set a
precedent at CLS that a low level of dedication and effort was enough to claim authorship in
research outputs. She also wanted to adhere to CLS’s policy about intellectual property and
academic honesty (See Exhibit 2). Furthermore, giving undue credit for work was against the
norms of academia in general and CLS in particular. Moreover, Neerja was an honest
researcher who had never claimed undue credit.
The clock was ticking and Neerja had to make her decision before the November 20th
deadline. Neerja’s heart directed her to exclude Rahul from co-authorship of the chapter. But
it was a matter of balancing between heart and mind. She wanted to act on her values but in a
way that she could maintain a positive relationship with Rahul and his networks, as well.
What can Neerja say, to Rahul and Professor Hari, about the co-authorship? When and
how?
Revised: 12/10/13
 
 
This  material  is  part  of  the  Giving  Voice  to  Values  curriculum  collection  (www.GivingVoiceToValues.org).    
The  Aspen  Institute  was  founding  partner,  along  with  the  Yale  School  of  Management,  and  incubator  for  Giving  Voice  to  Values  (GVV).  
 Now  Funded  by  Babson  College.  
 Do  not  alter  or  distribute  without  permission.  ©  Mary  C.  Gentile,  2010  
4  
 
 
Exhibit  1:  Organization  Structure  of  CLS  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Exhibit  2:  IP  Policy  of  CLS  
  References:  You  should  conform  to  the  APA  guidelines  for  citations  and  references.  Non-­‐citation  of  other’s  
work  would  be  construed  as  plagiarism  and  will  attract  warning  followed  by  disciplinary  action.  The  following  
  examples  are  provided  for  clarity.  Ultimately,  authors  should  follow  the  guidelines  set  forth  in  the  most  recent  
edition  of  the  Publication  Manual  of  the  American  Psychological  Association  (APA).      
 
Articles:  
Habron,  G.,  &Dann,  S.  (2002).  Breathing  life  into  the  case  study  approach:  Active  learning  in  an  
introductory  natural  resource  management  class.  Journal  on  Excellence  in  College  Teaching,  
13(2/3),  41-­‐58.  
Books:  
Bruner,  J.  (1990).  Acts  of  meaning.  Cambridge,  MA:  Harvard  University  Press.  
Chapters:  
Butcher-­‐Powell,  L.  M.  (2004).  Teaching,  learning,  and  multimedia.  In  S.  Mishra  &  R.  C.  Sharma  
(Eds.),  Interactive  multimedia  in  education  and  training  (pp.  60-­‐72).  Hershey,  PA:  Idea  Group.  
 
 
 
Web  Pages:   Anderson,  J.  R.,  Reder,  L.  M.,  &  Simon,  H.  A.  (1995).  Applications  and  misapplications  of  
cognitive  psychology  to  mathematics  education.  Retrieved  June  29,  2002,  from  
 
http://act.psy.cmu.edu/personal/ja/misapplied.html  
 
Copyright:  You  should  take  written  permission  from  the  concerned  authority/author/publishing  house  before  
using  any  copyrighted  material.  If  you  are  reproducing  an  already  published  work,  it  is  mandatory  to  obtain  the  
‘Author  Approval  Form’  signed  by  all  the  authors.    
Authorship:  You  are  entitled  to  claim  authorship  only  if  you  have  contributed  significantly  to  the  manuscript  in  
terms  of  coining  an  idea,  data  collection,  analysis,  and  writing/editing  the  manuscript.  For  very  limited  
contribution,  the  person  may  be  acknowledged  and  not  added  as  another  co-­‐author.      
Acknowledgements:   Any   persons,   institutions,   or   granting   agencies   should   be   duly   acknowledged.   The  
acknowledgement  can  be  brief.        
   
 
This  material  is  part  of  the  Giving  Voice  to  Values  curriculum  collection  (www.GivingVoiceToValues.org).    
The  Aspen  Institute  was  founding  partner,  along  with  the  Yale  School  of  Management,  and  incubator  for  Giving  Voice  to  Values  (GVV).  
 Now  Funded  by  Babson  College.  
 Do  not  alter  or  distribute  without  permission.  ©  Mary  C.  Gentile,  2010  
5  
 
 

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