Ayoub Companies Case Study

Problem Statement

Ayoub Companies (AC) is one of the largest privately owned companies in the Middle east. Since 2002, the companies main focus was centered on growth, the recruiting and retaining of top talent. The most recent numbers in the retail side of the company were stalled and executives started to put pressure on finding someone to operate the retail segment. Joseph Rogers, the head of HR, interviewed Andrew Yard and knew he was the right person for the position. However, Rogers is concerned that he might not be able to get Andrew Yard on board in six months or less.

Hypothesis 1: It may be that there is a lack of leadership in the retail segment.

The executives are putting pressure on Roger’s to hurry up and hire Yard. The executives have all communicated that they really like Yard and want him on the team. In the Harvard Case Study, the COO states in an email, “We’re putting fires out daily over here, I’m having trouble doing my job as COO while managing these.” In the hiring process, the importance of Yard’s immediate transition into his new role was not made clear to him. Yard thought he had enough time to finish out his current position before starting his new one with Ayoub Companies.

Hypothesis 2: It may be that there is not a clear understanding of the hiring package in which Yard agrees to and Rogers created that Yard could not join AC for six months.

Yard first seemed reluctant to join the Ayoub Companies since he still had a six-month contract with his current employer. However, Rogers and Yard agreed on a hiring package for his employment with Ayoub Companies. Upon starting with the company Yard would receive 600k salary plus 75 percent bonus, a long with other benefits that were offered by Rogers. At this time, a start date was not agreed upon between Rogers and Yard. Through out the hiring and negotiation process Yard had remained firm about his six-month contract and became insulted when offered more money to leave his current employer sooner than the six months. Yard was under the assumption that he made it clear during his hiring process that he would be unable to join the company immediately due to his contract with his current employer. Rogers started to receive pressure from the executives and assumed Yard understood the importance of an immediate transfer to Ayoub Companies. Yard, assumed that he had made a clear enough