Part A
Part A consists of three questions. Be sure to include both the questions and the responses in the document you submit. Your total combined responses for these three questions should not exceed 1000 to 1500 words.
1. A major engineering firm has introduced virtual teams around the globe to resolve client emergencies. Although some of these emergencies are routine (they occur often enough that the engineers have ready-made action plans), several are novel. Furthermore, information about the client emergencies often comes second hand from employees of the client, so some of the details are missing or ambiguous. Although the company plans to eventually offer a variety of communication media that these virtual teams can use, engineers are currently limited to email, telephone, fax machine, and an instant messaging program that was recently introduced.
First, briefly define media richness. Based on your knowledge of media richness, how can this engineering firm maximize communication effectiveness with the existing resources in this situation?
2. Jane has just been appointed as purchasing manager of Tacoma Technologies Corp. The previous purchasing manager, who recently retired, was known for his "winner-take-all" approach to suppliers. He continually fought for more discounts and was skeptical about any special deals that suppliers would propose. A few suppliers refused to do business with Tacoma Technologies, but senior management was confident that the former purchasing manager's approach minimized the company's costs. Jane wants to try a more problem-solving approach to working with suppliers.
Contrast Jane's and her predecessor's approaches to negotiations in terms of the dimensions of interpersonal conflict management style. Then explain whether Jane's approach will be effective or not, and how she might approach negotiations initially given the existing situation created by her predecessor.
3. Arnold Schwartz is a call centre team leader who is one of the best people in the organization for developing new employees in stressful call centre operations. Schwartz knows when to provide clear directions for new recruits and when to provide support and understanding when the workload seems overwhelming or customers are angry. However, Schwartz has trouble working with skilled and highly experienced staff members. Some complain that he looks over their shoulder too often and offers too much advice. Others suggest that he wants to listen with sympathy to their unfavourable customer calls even though they don't feel they need this support. The vice-president of call centre operations is concerned, based on this information, that Schwartz seems to be an ineffective leader overall even though he works very well with
new recruits.
Comment on the accuracy of the vice-president's conclusions about Arnold Schwartz, using a minimum of two of the theories and models described in the textbook.
Part B
Read Case Study 14.1: Hillton's Transformation, on pages 401-403 of the textbook and answer the three discussion questions that follow it.
Your answer for this case study should not exceed 600 to 800 words in length and should incorporate, where appropriate, content from Lessons 9, 10, 11, and 12 (textbook chapters 9, 11, 12, and 14).