04 · Applied case lab · 2026.08.31-practice-3
Practice on a
messy record.
The packet contains contradiction and incomplete evidence on purpose. Each assignment now identifies the exact fictional inputs available to the learner. Complete a bounded starter, mark missing records instead of inventing them, and compare your reasoning with the debrief—not with a pretend single perfect answer.
This is a fictional, sanitized cross-border management case. People, locations, compensation, records, and events are fabricated; the exercise is not employment, labor, immigration, tax, benefits, or classification advice.
CB01 · citable versioned case brief
NorthStar distributed team charter
NorthStar Analytics is a fictional U.S. company forming a distributed customer-operations team with four workers in Colombia, three in Mexico, and two in Argentina. Headquarters expects coverage from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time and schedules a daily 4:30 p.m. Mountain meeting. That time falls outside the normal local day for several team members during part of the year. Managers use the title independent contractor for every role, although work arrangements differ in schedule control, equipment, exclusivity, supervision, and duration. No qualified country-specific classification review is recorded. The role description says own customer success but gives no authority for refunds, account changes, customer commitments, or incident escalation. English is used in executive meetings, while operating procedures exist partly in Spanish, partly in English, and in two conflicting versions. Two team members requested written action summaries after fast English-language calls. A manager describes this as weak communication and proposes measuring accent and camera-on time. Weekly performance reporting counts closed cases but not complexity, quality, rework, customer confirmation, privacy exceptions, or unavailable dependencies. One worker reports repeated jokes about nationality in a team chat and asks the manager not to tell anyone. The manager promises absolute confidentiality and plans to question teammates alone. Payroll, benefits, working-time, holiday, leave, data-transfer, equipment, safety, and termination questions remain unresolved. Learners must design a cross-border management mindset, role and decision charter, bilingual communication standard, time-zone and asynchronous rhythm, feedback and concern handling, and fair performance and development process. They cannot classify workers, investigate protected concerns, determine employment compliance, or treat nationality, accent, location, or camera behavior as competence.