Assignments: Organizational Behavior Class
Start by reading and following these instructions:
1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.
2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.
3. Consider the discussions and any insights gained from it.
4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.
Part 1
Assignment: Answer these essay questions:
1. You are the manager of a small team of 11 software developers who have been working together successfully for three years. Seven of the employees are in your office, while the other 4 are in a time zone 7 hours behind you. Your company has decided that to cut costs, all employees will now work remotely. You have worked hard to build and maintain a positive work environment for your staff and you pride yourself on employing positive OB techniques. You have been given ample budget to purchase needed distant technologies to keep the team high functioning. Explain how you would work to employ the same OB tactics with a remote team. Include examples of how other organizations have successfully - or unsuccessfully - transitioned in-office OB to remote OB.
2. Explain in your own words - and drawing from your own experiences - how stereotypes function in today's workplace. Do you think stereotyping is always a bad thing or can it sometimes be a good thing? Have you found yourself using stereotypes in the workplace or while engaging in activities such as shopping (I.e., finding a female store clerk to ask where the baby clothing is, or asking a male store clerk where to find a wrench, etc.)
3. The chart on page 79 of the textbook shows the main causes of job satisfaction, per a Gallup poll. Create a new chart that shows the characteristics you most align with and the percentage for each. Then explain how, and to what extent, these things have impacted your current and past jobs. Use specific examples.
4. Explain the most satisfying job you have ever had and why. Be sure to include the impact of all aspects of the job, including: stress, pay, co-workers, benefits, manager, work space, room for growth, etc.
Part 2
Assignment: Answer these essay questions:
1. Would you rather have a manager who regularly displayed a wide range of emotions and moods or one that showed little to no emotions or moods on a daily basis? Explain how the difference in the two would affect how you handled the situation in which you had to tell that manager that your coworker has been sexually harassing you and another employee.
2. Research 3-5 high profile and successful business people who have been in the international news - both those famous for doing well and those famous for not doing well. Based on what you know of these people and what you've read, use the Big Five traits as well as the other traits in Chapter 5 to write a short personality profile for each. Then explain how each personality fits - or does not fit - with that person's business profile.
3. Based on Exhibit 5-4 on page 146 of the textbook, list the dominant work values you think the generation after the "Nexters" will have, and why. Include a solid rationale of why you think what you do, including a sound reflection on the dominant work values of the other generations in the figure.
4. We all use shortcuts in making judgments about others. (I.e., assuming a woman in scrubs is a nurse, and a man in scrubs is a doctor.) As the world continues to get ‘flatter" and diversity increases do you think this will get better or worse? Why? How will you work to try to minimalize this in your own life? Include stories about a few times you have taken shortcuts to make judgments - either in your professional life or your personal life - and what the results were. Also share stories about times you were the one being judged and what the outcome of this was.
Part 3
Assignment: Answer these essay questions:
1. Compare and contrast two theories, early or contemporary, in light of your own experiences. Answer these questions using concrete examples from those experiences. Which theory do you believe, and why? Or do you believe both or neither? Which theory would you rather have your manager subscribe to?
2. Read Case Incident 1 "The Demotivation of CEO Pay" on page 236 of the textbook and answer the 3 corresponding questions.
3. Janine is a wholesale yarn salesperson working the northeastern US. Her territory covers all of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Ohio. She lives in Harrisburg, PA with her husband and three children. Janine enjoys her job and loves being out on the road and meeting yarn shop owners and knitters. However, her employer, White Mountain Yarns, requires her to drive to Detroit for a monthly staff meeting; maintain an office outside of her home; complete redundant paperwork due to outdated systems; and often sets her store visit schedule in a way that results in a lot of backtracking, all of which cut into the time she has to build rapport with store owners and individual buyers of the products. The company also doesn't let her hold virtual client meetings, even though clients want them and they would save considerable time and money. Janine is one of the top 5 salespeople and her customers rave about her, however the company is making her job difficult. She doesn't want to quit her job, but many of the antiquated aspects have led her to consider either quitting or asking to be cut back to part time so she can have a better work life balance. Using the concepts in Chapter 8 of the textbook, write up a proposal to redesign and/or enrich Janine's job.
4. You are a mechanic in a local chain of successful auto body shops. You've been there 8 years but have not been promoted or given any opportunity to grow and develop in spite of your degree in business and 10 other years of experience in mechanics. The owner of the company is usually absent and morale is low, both of which have contributed to high turnover. What employee involvement programs and/or motivation theories do you think would help turn things around? Be specific.
Part 4
Assignment: Answer these essay questions:
1. Your team of 6 computer programmers has been very successful at delivering high quality work. As a result, your boss would like to increase the size of your team to 18. Write a letter to your boss explaining why this is NOT a good idea. Use information gleaned from the textbook to craft your response.
2. List and explain 3 ways in which teams and groups differ.
3. Explain in your own words each step of the Communication Process in the textbook. Use the communication between a husband and wife to illustrate.
4. Use examples from your life or work experiences, or use a commonly known character from a TV show or movie, to explain how each barrier to effective communication really impacts the communication process. Include the outcome of each interaction and how the barrier led to it.
Part 5
Assignment: Answer these essay questions:
1. Conduct research online to find a high-profile example of both charismatic leadership and transformational leadership (not ones mentioned in the book). Explain how each of the two people brings to life their style of leadership.
2. Often time when businessmen or women find themselves in positions of power, they use that power for personal gain instead of for the betterment of the company and its employees. Explain in your own words why you think this appears to happen quite often in today's global marketplace? Do you think the problem is more prevalent than it was a decade ago? Two decades? Support your answer with sound research and real-life examples.
3. Find a real-life example - high profile if possible - for each of the formal powers and personal powers listed in Chapter 13 of the textbook. Explain why you think each person has the specific type of power.
4. Using the 9 power tactics on page 418 of the textbook, explain and justify how you'd talk to an employee of yours who has been showing up late and whose work performance is slumping.
Part 6
Assignment: Answer these essay questions:
1. Imagine you and your spouse have outgrown your current home. You spouse wants to move to a larger home, but you'd like to add on to your existing home because you love your neighborhood. Using the negotiation process on page 463 of the textbook, explain how you would approach negotiating with your spouse about this topic.
2. Research organizational structures of widely known companies (for example, Nike, Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, etc.). Find one you thing exemplifies an ideal organizational structure. Include an explanation of why you think the structure is ideal and how it benefits the firm and all key stakeholders. Be sure to submit the org chart with your essay.
3. Find one organization that employs each of the organizational designs in Chapter 15. For each, include an explanation as to why you think the organization employs that structure.
4. Read Ethical Dilemma: Culture of Deceit on page 554 of the textbook and answer the corresponding questions.
Part 7
Assignment: Answer these essay questions:
1. Select one multinational organization that gets a lot of media attention and that most people are aware of, and explain its organizational culture using the 7 primary characteristics as listed in Chapter 16.
2. Find one company - preferably one that garners frequent media attention - whose organization culture you think is exemplary. Explain the components of the company's culture and why you think it's an ideal place to work.
3. If you were a remote employee for a small book publishing company that was 200 miles from your home, how would you work to ensure you were still part of the organizational culture? Or do you think remote employees who never come to the office can't be a part of the organization's culture? Explain your viewpoint in detail.
4. You run a small app development company that has 9 employees: 3 of whom work in the office and the others work remotely but come to the office for quarterly meetings and team building activities. All 9 of your employees have been with you since day one and all are very satisfied with their job and the organization. You're organizational culture is a relaxed one, where people have freedom to set their own hours, learn on the job, and always stretch their abilities. You think of your staff as your family. Due to rapid growth you are thinking about hiring 3 employees in Mumbai, India. If you do this, how could you work to export your organizational culture in a way that those employees have the same experience as your employees in the U.S.?
Part 8
Assignment: Answer these essay questions:
1. Compare and contrast on-the-job and off-the-job training. Use your own experiences with each to highlight the pros and cons of each. Also include which type of training you prefer, and why, and whether your opinion varies depending on the job for which you are training.
2. Performance evaluations are one of the most dreaded parts of work: both for the manager and the employee. Explain in your own words what a performance evaluation is, what it measures, and whether you think it has any relevance in today's workplace. Why or why not? Include how much you think "the boss likes you" or "you don't make waves" or "your coworkers don't like you" impacts performance evaluations of average employees, either consciously or unconsciously. Also include your opinion on any performance evaluations you've had during your career, and whether they had any impact on your work.
3. You own a company that makes after-market accessories for vehicles. You have 75 employees split in two facilities: one in Denver and one in Baltimore. The facility supervisor in Baltimore has abruptly quit to follow his wife on an overseas government appointment. You hired a former colleague who has everything needed to step in and take over the operation successfully. However, as the only woman at that site, she has been facing serious resistance to change since beginning three Parts ago. List the reasons why you think she is experiencing such resistance to change then explain how you would work to overcome this resistance with the 32 employees in that building.
4. You are the manager of an air traffic control tower that has 55 employees. Air traffic control is one of the most high stress jobs in the U.S. You have recently been assigned to lead a stress-management task force. Using information found in the textbook, combined with online research, write up a plan on how you would first identify those under considerable stress, and then work to keep all employee stress levels manageable. Explain whether you would need to adapt your plan for men and women, and for people from different cultures. If so, how?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.