Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation free essay sample

Harvard Business School9-492-037 Rev. April 4, 2000 Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A) Joline Godfrey slowly surveyed the room where she and her partner, Jane Lytle, were bargaining for the future of their venture, Odysseum. For the past three years, Polaroid had provided Godfrey with the resources to nurture her idea of using photography as the basis for creative corporate training programs. Now, after agreeing to spin the project off into an independent company, Godfrey was unpleasantly surprised at the proposal Polaroid had made. In return for 14% equity, Polaroid expected to invest only an additional $120,000 in the company. Godfrey did not believe that this offer was consistent with the support she was previously given. Godfrey glanced at Jerry Sudbey, group vice president of worldwide manufacturing at Polaroid, and Godfrey’s long-time supporter. Sudbey had taken an active interest in Godfrey’s project from its inception and played an influential role in its evolution. At this meeting, however, he remained silent and did not once take Godfrey’s side of the argument. Godfrey felt shocked and hurt by the terms on which she was expected to leave the company. Godfrey’s First Years at Polaroid Godfrey began at Polaroid in 1975 as an intern in the company’s employee assistance program (EAP) department while working towards her master’s degree in social work. Upon graduation, Godfrey became a full-time employee in Polaroid’s affirmative action department. During that time, she worked closely with William Rebelsky, a policy assistant to the company’s chairman and CEO, William McCune. Having previously opened the Polaroid manufacturing plant in the Netherlands, Rebelsky had earned credibility as one of the company’s top line managers. Rebel, as he was nicknamed, was actively involved in the hiring policies at Polaroid. He established a reputation for bringing in young people, especially women and minorities, and ensuring that they were given a broad range of responsibilities. Rebelsky got Godfrey involved in a variety of projects that exposed her to upper-level management. Even though she did not have any formal authority over these projects, his active support gave her legitimacy within Polaroid’s engineering-oriented environment. Godfrey recalled Rebelsky’s influence on her early career at Polaroid: He was an extraordinary man. If I needed to talk something over with Bill, he would suggest I drop by his office at the end of the day. We might meet for 15 or 20 minutes and then, informally, others would slowly gather in his office to discuss company politics, policy issues under discussion, or projects underway. He never Research Associates Nancy A. Kamprath and Melinda B. Conrad prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Linda A. Hill as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Copyright  © 1992 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www. hbsp. harvard. ed[-0]u. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School. 1 This document is authorized for use only in PGXPM II by Prof. Vijay Menon from May 2010 to May 2010. 492-037Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A) asked me to leave and it was in this way that I came to feel comfortable in this milieu. So I, this young thing right out of graduate school, would be sitting in the office with the CEO, etc. For the first time in my life, I was smart enough to be quiet so they wouldn’t notice I was there. Later, when projects came down that were important to the company, I was often involved. No doubt, not everyone supported his ways of giving some of us opportunity. But he brought us into contact with company officers and helped us gain a more intimate understanding of the company culture. Impressed with Godfrey’s work in the affirmative action department, Rebelsky suggested that she move into a line personnel position in the camera division. He pushed her, explaining that it was the only way she could have a significant impact on the company. Godfrey resisted; she did not want to be part of the typical â€Å"corporate lifestyle. † Ultimately, Godfrey succumbed to Rebelsky’s persistence by accepting a line human resource position in the camera division. Bill Rebelsky’s sudden death shortly thereafter was a tremendous loss for Godfrey: He was my role model for not having a job title. He didn’t have to have a job. He was very important in terms of my understanding of how to use the cracks in the company to achieve the things you felt needed to be done. Bill was a master at that. I remember asking him about career ladders. And he said, â€Å"Career ladder! Whatever gave you the thought that anything in life is as neat as a ladder? † By the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, Polaroid faced changing times. Dr. Edwin Land, who founded Polaroid in 1947, retired. His influence had extended from the technical development of products to the recruitment of new employees. One executive noted: Dr. Land created, all of us together created, an exciting, can-do environment in which you were allowed to do what needed to be done. There was no harness. You went from one thing to another. You filled a hole; you did a job. We wanted to be involved, especially when Dr. Land was involved. He was such a dynamic, creative person. And he exuded an atmosphere of no matter how impossible it is, we’re going to make it happen. He was ahead of his time in creating temporary organizations and empowering people and valuing people. Meanwhile, Kodak introduced a new product that challenged Polaroid’s long-established market share. This product ultimately embroiled the company in a costly lawsuit. 1 For the first time, Polaroid’s profits, which had been growing at 17% per year, dropped and the company was forced to lay off employees. Tension developed as people began questioning company activities, budget allocations, and areas of involvement. By 1979, Polaroid underwent a massive downsizing. The president, MacAllister Booth, designated the vice president of personnel, John Harlor, to draw up an implementation plan for the necessary layoffs. Aware of Godfrey through her work as well as through her relationship with Bill Rebelsky, Harlor assigned her to the project committee. She recalled: Polaroid was one of the first companies to do what began to be called â€Å"downsizing† in the late seventies. It was in fact a massive layoff. John Harlor had assigned the project to my boss at that time, Al Ladhams. I was one of those selected to be on the project team. Booth and Harlor charged the group to handle the process thoughtfully, in concert with the company’s traditions. At the same time, we would 1In January, 1986, Polaroid won a patent infringement case against the Eastman Kodak Company. In addition to receiving damages from Kodak, Polaroid became the sole manufacturer of consumer instant cameras. 2 This document is authorized for use only in PGXPM II by Prof. Vijay Menon from May 2010 to May 2010. Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A)492-037 be sending a new message to employees that the assumption of employment security was no longer guaranteed. This was a fundamental change in the company. Those of us on the project worked for weeks to come up with plans which would meet the standards set by Mac. It was a well thought-out process, an impressive attempt at communicating a new message and accomplishing a very painful task. Shortly after the conclusion of the severance project, Robert Delahunt, a vice president in the company, asked Godfrey to put together a â€Å"conversation on ethics† for the next staff meeting. As Godfrey reviewed the literature on business ethics, she became fascinated. She soon expanded on Delahunt’s initial request. Godfrey reported her findings to Delahunt by proposing a three-day conference for the company. She remembered his reaction: He said to me, â€Å"Joline, I sent you fishing for a flounder and you came back with a whale. I don’t really know that I want a whale. † But I knew he had to have a whale and that I didn’t want to give him a flounder. Finally, he said, â€Å"Alright. † In the meantime, Godfrey began to feel frustrated with her position. She recalled the situation she experienced with her boss at that time, the director of personnel in the division: We were not cut from the same cloth.