Management Chapter 15 1 Instructor Resource Rowe Cases Leadership Sage Publications Inc Case Notes Case Ornge

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Instructor Resource

Rowe, Cases in Leadership 5e

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019

Case Notes

Case 15.1: Ornge: A Crisis At Ontario’s Air Ambulance Service

Sharda Prashad wrote this teaching note under the supervision of Professor W. Glenn Rowe as

an aid to instructors in the classroom use of the case Ornge: A Crisis at Ontario’s Air

Ambulance Service, No. 9B13C005. This teaching note should not be used in any way that would

prejudice the future use of the case.

This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any

form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this

material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order

Teaching Note

Synopsis

This case is set in March 2012, two weeks into Ron McKerlie’s tenure as the interim president

and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ornge (Ontario’s air ambulance service). At the time of the

case, McKerlie reflected on the embattled state of the organization, which had been badly

mismanaged under its previous CEO, Dr. Chris Mazza (Mazza was fired in February 2012 as a

What should be McKerlie’s strategy for rebuilding the Ornge brand?

Instructor Resource

Rowe, Cases in Leadership 5e

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019

Case Objectives

• To provide insight into the formulation of a reputational management strategy

Position in the Course

This case is appropriate for courses in strategic management, where it can be used in various

ways. We suggest the following applications:

First, the case can be used to illustrate the challenges in setting a strategy after the current

strategy has been derailed. This process includes an assessment of why the existing strategy was

Teaching Approach and Learning Objectives

The primary objective of the case is to provide students with insight into an organization with a

damaged reputation. Students should gain an appreciation of the fact that it is better to prevent an

organization’s reputation from being damaged with a mitigation strategy versus allowing the

reputation to erode. Students will gain insight into the types of decisions a leader must make

Instructor Resource

Rowe, Cases in Leadership 5e

Assignment Questions

1. What does Ornge need to do to regain the public’s trust?

2. What are the three most pressing business issues?

3. What upcoming challenges does Ornge face?

Suggested Teaching Approach (assuming an 80-minute class)

1. Introduce the case and discuss the challenges faced by Ornge in March 2012. (5

minutes)

2. Discuss ways for Ornge to regain the public’s trust (assignment question 1). (10

minutes)

Analysis

1. What does Ornge need to do to regain the public’s trust?

Instructor Resource

Rowe, Cases in Leadership 5e

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019

Regaining the public trust: This assignment question can be used to discuss why organizations

2. What are the three most pressing business issues?

Prioritizing the pressing business issues: When McKerlie took over the helm at Ornge, he wanted

to focus on six pillars of business strategy. These pillars are identified for the students: (1)

3. What upcoming challenges does Ornge face?

The case specifies some upcoming challenges for Ornge. These are: (1) staff who believed the

best way to get problems addressed was to leak information to the media; (2) an auditor general

4. What do you think were the key lessons from Ornge’s media maelstrom?

Lessons from the media maelstrom: Students should acknowledge that Ornge did not seem to

have sufficient controls in place to protect against the kind of headlines that resulted from the

Instructor Resource

Rowe, Cases in Leadership 5e

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019

5. What should be McKerlie’s key message to the board regarding the future approach for

Ornge?

Approach for moving forward: This is probably the most significant assignment question, and

thus it should take up the majority of discussion time. McKerlie recommends a six-pillar

Key Takeaways

1. When taking over an organization that is mired in scandal, focus on moving the

business forward versus dealing with the noise around the scandal. McKerlie could

2. The reputation of an organization is not just a concern for the corporate

3. It is better for an organization to always have a risk mitigation strategy in place.

However, if an organization does not have one in place, it should immediately create

Instructor Resource

Rowe, Cases in Leadership 5e

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019

What Happened

1. Dr. Andrew McCallum took over as Ornge’s president and CEO on January 21, 2013.

Ron McKerlie served as the interim president and CEO for 11 months.

2. Before leaving as the interim president and CEO, McKerlie:

(a) Decided to leave the issues of illegal and unethical behaviour for Ornge’s

legal team to deal with, while his own focus remained on the core business

issues.

(d) Issued a series of press releases in an effort to repair the company’s

reputation. These included:

• December 27, 2012: A press release was issued about a new whistleblower policy

that was introduced to promote accountability and transparency. At its heart, the

policy focused on using a third party to track and examine complaints.

Specifically, “as the Independent Ethics Officer, Grant Thornton LLP will receive

Instructor Resource

Rowe, Cases in Leadership 5e

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019

• November 12, 2012: A press release was issued about Ornge’s improved patient–

relations process, designed to better address patient concerns. Specifically, the

• November 2, 2012: A press release was issued about Ornge’s new conflict-of-

interest policy for staff and board volunteers, which was intended to improve

accountability and transparency. The goal of the new policy was to improve

integrity and public trust at all levels of the organization. Specifically, the policy

stated that:

o “Ornge employees are expected to conduct themselves with personal

integrity, honesty and to exercise due diligence in performing their duties;

(e) Introduced a patient advocate to support and resolve any issues faced by

Ornge’s patients.

Instructor Resource

Rowe, Cases in Leadership 5e

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019

(f) Accepted the Auditor General’s recommendations and welcomed the

Coroner’s Review.