APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 1
1. Why is it important to examine management from different perspectives? What do you gain from this type of examination'? Think of other possible perspectives or metaphors you could use to describe management (e,g., management is a profession: management means "being in charge). What does your new perspective tell you about management that adds to your understanding?
2. What do you think is the biggest personal reward of being a manager? What is the biggest potential 'downside' of being a manager?
3. Think about two different managerial-type jobs you have personally observed (within your family, as a worker, as a customer. etc.) Compare them using Stewart's concept ofjob dimensions. Considering each job's content as analyzed by the three dimensions, which one would you choose? Why?
Rosemary Stewart's Three Dimensions are:
- Demands
- Constraints
- Choices
See Slides 27-29 for an example of how to do this type of analysis.
4. The chapter states that effective managers need technical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills. Do all managers need these in the same mix? In other words, would some managers need more of one than of another? Why? Describe the managerial skills you think you need to work on the most and suggest how this might be done.
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 2
1. As you think about your own personal history, how difficult has it been for you to make behavioral changes'' If you were being interviewed for a job and were asked to describe an incident that demonstrates your ability to change, what would you say?
2. Think about a recent organizational change at school, at work, or someplace else that you were part of. Would you rate it a success for failure? In either case_ based on the concepts in this chapter. what do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the change effort?
3. If you were to look back on change efforts you lead or helped manage, what do you think ir-ou did well? In retrospect, what would you do differently and why?
4. As you think about potential change efforts that you may have to manage in the future, what aspects of change management do you think you need to strengthen and why? What aspects do you believe will be strengths that you can leverage?
Next step?' or "what would happen next" and 'what would you have done differently in the refreeze part of the process'?"
Managerial Challenge; Managing Change at Oracle
This managerial challenge details the problems and solutions faced by Oracle when it branched out from its single, market dominating, data base management software, into head-to-head competition with other majors software suppliers of relationship management software, CEO Larry Ellison saw the need for change, made sure others saw it, but then realized there was still a problem. Sales representatives were reluctant to change because they did not feel it was possible to learn everything they needed to learn. Ellison and his top managers reorganized the marketing structure of the company so that the individual salesperson would not need to know everything about every product. They then ensured that the sales force received all of the training they needed, had access to any necessary information, and were rewarded in new ways for implementing the change. In the process, the company culture changed from one of competition to one focused on customer satisfaction.
Suggested Questions:
1. What do you think was the most critical action taken by Ellison and his top managers? Why?
2. Describe the elements of the change process visible in this challenge. What caused problems? What were the solutions?
3. If you were a salesperson for Oracle, how would you have felt about this change?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 3
1. What key environmental changes do you think will increasingly force managers to be proficient at conducting environmental analyses?
2. Are there industries that will be more immune to changes in the global environment and as a consequence will be influenced primarily by their domestic external environment? Name at least two and explain why.
3. What are the most difficult environmental analysis skills to develop? What are some possible means of ensuring that you have these valuable skills?
4. Debate the following statement: Computers and news media have made international environment analysis simpler.
5. Pick a country and go to the library or the Internet to find some information about its resources, government, political and legal systems, and physical infrastructure, What type of business would do well in that country? Why?
Closing Case: KB Home Corp.: Its Business Is Building
1. Which do you think are the most important environmental forces for KB Home? Why?
2. Are there environmental forces besides those mentioned that you think KB management needs to focus on?
3. How should KB managers address the issue of aging baby boomers?
4. Based on your analysis of the external environment, what changes do you think managers at KB Home should make?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 4
OPENING CASE: GE Medical's Sick Patient in France
This case discusses the acquisition of Companie Generale de Radiologie (CGR) by General Electric (GE) focusing on the culture clash between the "profit-hungry culture of GE' and the "state-run, non-competitive history and culture of CGR.- There are several excellent examples of how managers who do not pay attention to existing organizational and national culture can both face and cause tremendous difficulties. This case presents an ideal opportunity to revisit many of the concepts presented in Chapter Two concerning why change efforts frequently fail.
Suggested Questions:
1. In your opinion, what was the most fundamental, important mistake made by GE following the acquisition of CGR?
2. Were the GE managers wrong to expect higher performance of the CGR staff? Why or why not?
3. What could GE have done differently?
4. Think back to the discussion of duality in Chapter One. Did GE think globally and act locally?
1. The stronger an organizational culture, the greater the impact it can have on behavior: however, the stronger the culture, the more difficult it is to change Unfortunately, the environment changes, and values that fit the environment today may be inappropriate tomorrow. What can an organization do to keep the positive aspects of a strong culture and still reduce the risk of becoming extinct by not changing its culture fast enough to accommodate environmental shifts?
2. All organizations have cultures. What are the key cultures aspects of your school? What links are there between key assumptions and values and visible artifacts such as clothing, behaviors, or ritual? Compare your school's culture with that of other schools. How do they differ? How are they the same?
3. If you look forward to working with individuals from a variety of cultural backgrounds, or perhaps even working in foreign countries, what. can you do to better prepare yourself for those future opportunities?
4. What are the key work values you want in an organization you work for? List at least five. How can you assess the extent to which potential employers have these desired values?
Closing Case: Changing the Culture at General Semiconductor
The closing case discusses the culture change initiate by Ronald Ostertag when he took over as CEO of General Semiconductor. It takes the students through the steps in the process. Ostertag first determined the need to change the culture from one of competition and acrimony to a more team based cooperative culture. He recruited a top management team that shared his values. They worked to codify the values, The HR department put together training and socialization programs that reiterated the importance of the company values. Ostertag, while visiting subsidiaries, made a point of reinforcing the importance of the company values whenever possible.
In addition to detailing the process of culture change, this closing case also provides an opportunity to revisit Chapter 2. The situation can be analyzed using Lewin's change framework. Ostertag saw the need for change, convinced others of that need (led them to see), implemented the change, and lastly reinforced it. The reinforcement is particularly apparent in the description of Ostertag asking employees in different countries to rattle of several of the 8 culture points important to the company.
1. What actions do you think had the greatest impact on changing the culture at General Semiconductor?
2, Do you think changing General Semiconductor's culture was critical to its improved performance?
3. What changes would you have made and what actions would you have taken if you had been in Ronald Ostertag's position?
4. What outcomes would you want to measure to determine if your actions were working or not?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 5
1. How much would you change your ethical values or standards or your view of social responsibility in order to fit into a company? What if you were sent on assignment to another country where the national standards seemed to differ both from the corporate ones and from your personal standards? How much would you change?
2. Which of the basic approaches to ethical decision-making most closely matches your approach for dealing with ethical dilemmas?
3. Is it wise for a government to try to legislate ethics through laws such as the FCPA?
4. What is the ethical climate like in your school? What is your school's policy or honor code concerning cheating? What is your ethical responsibility if you see someone cheating?
5. Would you be willing to be a whistle blower? On what type of issue would you blow the whistle? Inflated overtime submitted on a government contract? Sexual harassment? What organizational and personal factors would you consider?
6. Consider the following scenario: A sales representative from a textbook publisher calls on your professor to try to get him or her to adopt a new textbook Is it okay for the professor to accept a free lunch from a publisher's sales representative? If it is okay for a professor to accept a free lunch, what about a free game of golf? What about a free set of golf clubs after the game?
Closing Case: Schwab Trades Security for Uncertainty Online
One of the first big business scandals of the new millennium involved Procter & Gamble and Unilever. P&G hired some "Competitive Intelligence Professionals- to spy on Unilever. Industrial espionage of this sort is not unusual: however, the actions of these contractors were unusual, They misrepresented themselves to Unilever as marketing consultants, obtained access to Unilever and finally managed to obtain sensitive strategy documents by sorting Unilever's trash.
This case presents the background of the rivalry between P&G and Unilever and offers industry information to explain the actions of P&G. The students are asked to analyze the situation from an ethical standpoint and suggest alternative actions,
1. Assume that P&G's hair-care products marketing manager has the Unilever papers on his or her desk. The manager is considering doing nothing with the information, just keeping a lid on the situation and telling those involved to hack off. Is this action ethical?
2. Suppose the marketing manager decides that his or her superiors should be told about the raid on Unilever but cannot decide whether to advise sacrificing the contractors to the media to protect P&G. or admitting P&G's wrongdoing and apologizing to Unilever in public, What counsel would you offer, and why? What is the ethical basis for your decision?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 6
1. Effectively changing strategies is often one of the most difficult tasks of management. Why do you think this is the case?
2. How does the articulation of strategic intent affect the strategic planning and management process? Could organizations be just as effective without clear statements of strategic intent?
3. What would a SWOT analysis of your university look like? What are your school's key strengths and weaknesses? What are the major threats in the external environment? What are the opportunities? Make a list of all you can think of.
4. Looking at your life, to what degree do you have an intended versus emergent strategy? Are the classes you're now taking and planning to take in the next term more a. function of intended steps or of positive and negative consequences encountered as you took classes over time?
5. With this assessment in mind, what do you see as the positive and negative aspects of intended and emergent strategies for individuals or for organizations?
Closing Case: Blockbuster Fast Forwards for Growth
This case details the history of Blockbuster, the massive video rental chain noting in particular the points along the way where BB changed its strategy. It offers wide latitude for practicing many of the analytical tools presented here and in chapter 3.
1. How aggressively should Blockbuster move into selling video game players, games, and accessories versus its past focus on rentals? Why do you think it was slow to enter the DVD sales market?
2. Has the Blockbuster concept lost its novelty in the U.S. market? Can a subscription strategy help revive it?
3. Should Blockbuster push harder into international markets, where digital-on-demand technology is not yet available?
4. In what other ways can Blockbuster try to redefine its core business and pursue other options in entertainment or home electronics? Or do you believe such a strategy would fragment the business?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 7
1. Universities are typically organized by departments or colleges such as business, biology, engineering, political science, and so on. Is this an appropriate structure? What aspects of the environment support this structure? Are there any aspects of the internal or external environment that currently or in the near future push for changes in university structures? What is the level of environmental uncertainty? Is there any indication of improper structure/environment fit?
2. Organizational design skills are critical to career success, but total organizational design or redesign typically is not put in the hands of newly hired managers. Why then is it important for you early in your career to understand the structure and the specific differentiation and integration mechanisms of the organization you work in?
3. What would be the likely influence of a collectivist culture (refer back to Chapter 4) on the formal or informal aspects of an organization's structure? What would you expect the influence of a strong hierarchical cultural value to be on the line of authority or chain of command in a company's structure?
Closing Case: Restructuring the Organizational Restructure at Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark, facing major competition, products with saturated markets, slow overseas growth. and problems integrating its acquisition of Scott Paper, decided in 2002 to restructure the organization. Its initial restructuring plans were different from those usually seen in that they did not plan to use one of the generic structures but rather a "grow, sustain, and fix' categorization for its structural components. However, when it did finally roll out its finalized new structure in 2004, K-C had dropped the 'grow, sustain, fix' structure for one based on personal care products, washroom products, and emerging markets.
1. Why do you think Kimberly-Clark considered restructuring its corporation based on "grow, sustain, and fix" categories?
2. How well do you think such a structure might work? What do you perceive would be its advantages and disadvantages?
3. Why do you think Kimberly-Clark reorganized its business structure in 2004 when it finalized its restructuring plans?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 8
1. At your university, professors likely have objectives regarding teaching, research, and service to the university, From your perspective, what are the relative priorities of these three objectives? If you could, how would you change these priorities and why?
2. Think of an action plan in which you were recently involved. Which elements of the planning process were done well? Which ones were done poorly? What was the impact of these strengths and weaknesses on the outcome?
3. As you look at your own experience and capabilities, where are your strengths and weaknesses relative to the seven elements of the planning process? What is your plan of action for strengthening your planning capabilities?
4. Think about the last goal you set for yourself, How SMART was it? The key element here is that the students utilize the SMART elements to analyze their own individual goal setting, After they have determined how SMART the goal was, you might ask them to redesign it. What would they change and how?
Closing Case: Planning a New Program Launch at LDC
This case details the planning for a new executive leadership training program. The case takes you through the entire process step-by-step. Information is offered on goal setting (including prioritization and measurement issues), resource assessment (human, financial, and time), and the development of the action plan with specific information on timing, sequence, and accountability, and preliminary results and problems. The case ends with the manager in a quandary, because the plan is not working as hoped. What should she do?
1. What adjustments would you make at this point? Would you cancel the program or run it at a loss?
2, Draw out a Gantt chart of the sequence and timing of key activities, What insights does this give you regarding the plan and its implementation?
3. What do you think went wrong? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the planning process?
4. LDC seemed to follow a planning process that had worked well for its mid-level managerial programs. Are there differences between senior executives and mid-level managers that might explain why the plan did not work our as anticipated? Could these differences have been anticipated? Should they have been?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 9
1. If your subordinates expect you to be consistent in your decision making style, but you believe that different decision making styles (e.g,, high involvement of others vs. low involvement.) are appropriate for specific situations, how can you change your decision making approach and yet not seem inconsistent to your employees?
2. Think of someone you know personally who is an effective decision maker. What key characteristics would you use to describe this person?
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of a manager with "good instincts" and who seems to make effective decisions, but whose approach is more like the retrospective than rational model?
4, Japanese and Korean managers tend to spend considerably more time on and involve more people in the problem formulation stage of decision making than American managers do. What are the pros and cons you see with this?
Closing Case: Schwab Trades Security for Uncertainty Online
Do you think Schwab's decisions in recent years have been smart considering the company's long history to the contrary? What are the risks inherent in offering the new service? How can Schwab managers balance these risks as they move into this area? When the stock market improved in 2003, do you feel Schwab was well-positioned to take advantage of it?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 10
1. Think of a specific leader in your work situation, in a friendship group, on a sports team, or in the news. What types of power does he or she appear to use? How does he or she use these different types of power? Would you consider this person to be an effective leader? Why or why not?
2. Do you think people are born leaders? Are there specific traits that can be seen early in a person's life or career that identify that person as leader? Can someone without these specific traits go on to become a leader?
3. Think of a leader you have had at work, school, or some other situation. How did you actions as a follower help or hinder that leader's effectiveness? What kind of a relationship did you have with the leader? Did it differ from the relationships the leader had with other members of the group? If there were different relationships, did this situation contribute to the group's effectiveness? Did it seem fair to you?
4. Using a specific situation, analyze the contributions of the leader, the followers, and the effectiveness of the leader.
Closing Case: The New Supervisor
This case presents the problems confronting a telephone operator when she is promoted to supervisor over a group of her friends. She had worked very hard for the promotion, and both she and her friends were very happy when she received it. However, within a month nothing seemed to be going right, morale had plummeted, performance was suffering, and she wasn't sure what to do to fix things!
The case offers background on the organization and the situation and well as the leader and her followers, It offers a wealth of discussion opportunities. It allows students to use all of the information in this chapter and can be revisited following discussion of the concepts and theories in chapters 11-14 (Leadership II, Motivation. Groups and Teams, and Communication),
1. Which traits, skills, and behaviors associated with successful leaders does Grace possess? Are there characteristics she could enhance to improve her leadership ability?
2. Why did Grace have problems making changes and maintaining discipline when she first was promoted to a position that required leadership?
3. Analyze Grace's leadership situation in terms of her sources of power. Are there types of power she couldn't or shouldn't use? What types of power could she draw on, and how could she use those types to greatest effect?
4. Are there substitutes for leadership present in this situation? What neutralizers must Grace overcome to be an effective leader?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 11
1. Which of the many approaches to leadership do you think is the best? Defend your reasoning,
2. How would you characterize yourself- as a transformational, transactional, or charismatic leader? Which would you rather be? Can you change your style?
3. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Jim Jones, Kenneth Lay (Enron), Bernard Ebbers (WorldCom) - all were "leaders." Were they effective leaders? Why or why not?
4. (A) Select the country in which you have spent the majority of your time. Is the type of leadership in that country/culture changing? What is the basis/evidence for your answer? (B) Select a large and influential country (in terms of the world's economy) other than the country you named in part A. Is the type of leadership in your (A) country becoming more or less similar the type of leadership in the (B) country/culture? Explain your reasoning.
Closing Case: Ethics on the Line at Baxter International
1. Using the leadership theories and perspectives presented in this chapter, analyze Kraemer's leadership in having Baxter "do the right thing,"
2. What elements, if arty, of charismatic, transformational, and transactional leadership behavior did Kraemer display? Explain your answer.
3. How did his followers' capabilities affect the leadership shown by Kraemer?
4. Compare Kraerner's leadership with that of other corporate leaders whose actions have been highly publicized, such as those at Enron. World Corn, and Adelphia. Do you think there were major situational circumstances that caused Kraemer's actions to differ, apparently, from those of the leaders at the other companies?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 12
1. You have taken a job as production manager in the electronics plant your company has just bought in Hungary. Your subordinates will be local workers, and your primary goal is to increase their productivity through increasing their motivation. Which motivational theories would you use? Are there any you think would not apply? Why?
2. Is the use of positive reinforcement always the best approach to motivational problems? When might other types of -consequences" be more appropriate?
3. Examine some of your own goals. How did you set them? Were they effective in motivating your performance? If you analyze them in terms of goal-setting theory, how would you change the way you set them in the future?
4. Both equity and expectancy theory suggest that individuals make conscious, reasoned choices concerning their performance. When would a person be most likely to do this? Have you ever seriously analyzed a work situation in the ways suggested by these theories and then changed your behavior as a result?
5. Which motivational forces are stronger: Push or Pull? Or are they Equal? How might their relative strength change with different circumstances? Why?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 13
1. As a manager, would you rather work with highly diversified teams or with more homogeneous teams? Why? Which types would be best for which types of situations?
2. Think about a group in which you have been involved at work, at school, or perhaps while playing a sport. What were the structural characteristics of the group? What were some of its norms? Would you characterize it as a group or as a team? Why?
3. As a manager, if your workgroup is demonstrating considerable intra-group conflict, what would you do?
4. Which type of team - self-managing, cross-functional, global, or virtual - do you think is the most difficult to manage, and why?
5. How would you characterize your own level of group competency? What do you think are the most important KSAs relevant to groups and teams that you should master next?
APPLY YOUR UNDERSTANDING: HOMEWORK CHAPTER 14
1. Despite the considerable emphasis that most companies and other types of organizations put on communication, why do you think that many employees feel there is inadequate communication with and from their managers?
2. Assume that you are now working in the first, truly management position in your career. What is likely to be the most important communication issue/problem you will face in the first few months in that position?
3. Will the probable continued increase in electronic communication within and between organizations be likely to increase or decrease the communication issues/problems faced by the typical manager? Explain the reasoning behind your answer.
4. How can knowledge of the basics of negotiation assist managers in doing their day-to-day activities, especially in regard to exercising leadership and influence? Can you provide examples?
Textbook - MANAGEMENT Third edition by Michael A. Hitt, J. Stewart Black and Lyman W. Porter.
Attachment:- Assignment File.rar