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MGT-500 Leading people and Organizations

Case write-up
Taran Swan at Nickelodeon, Latin America

By: Sher Khan Nassery
ID: 003757
March 10, 2015

Summary of the Case:
This case is about “Nickelodeon” an American Cable Channel for kids with an intention to launch its new branch in Latin America. Nickelodeon was launched in the United States in 1979.
The establisher of Latin America’s branch was Ms. Taran Swan the Nickelodeon’s managing director. Ms. Swan had served as Launch Director and General Manager of Nickelodeon in Latin America since its inception in 1998.
More specifically in this case, we read about the challenges that Ms. Swan had faced while launching the Latin America’s branch. We have also discussed about her leadership style and how she had managed the team through decisions she made and the subsequent results as part of her leadership in the Nickelodeon.

Questions and Answer:

1- Describe the culture at Nickelodeon Latin America. Be specific.
In Nickelodeon, the work environment is very comfortable where employees do not hesitate to share ideas and critique each other. All employees in Nickelodeon feel themselves responsible in a self-driven way. They appear to be creative and goal oriented who can find solutions to any problems that may occur. Application of different guidelines through established focus groups in order to strengthen the high energy work culture, high accountability, reliable and effective communication system including the sense of responsibility among the workers have been the main elements of the high culture in Nickelodeon.

2- How did Swan go about building the culture? (Consider the interrelationships among Nickelodeon Latin America’s context, design factors, culture and outcomes.)

* Swan hired the right people by focusing on the team and giving equal value to everyone. * Left the communication channels

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