Assume that you applied for a job and were asked to take a personality test, like the one offered by Kronos. How would you react? Would you view the organization with which you were applying in a more or less favorable light? Why?
> The move toward driverless cars represents another battlefield for Lyft and Uber. For its part, Lyft has forged relationships with General Motors, MIT, and Maymo—a division of Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Lyft’s plan is to create a suite of hardwar
> Accenture, one of the world’s largest and most successful consulting and professional services firms, recently abandoned its long-standing practice of evaluating the job performance of employees on an annual basis by ranking them against each other based
> Clearly the end goal behind the Improving Worker Well-Being initiative is laudable. The stickier question is how to achieve that goal in 72 different factories. A natural temptation would be to focus on interventions with universal appeal and to roll out
> When AT&T purchased Time Warner and its accompanying properties, including HBO, there was no shortage of individuals who wondered how the two cultures would mix. Communications expert Gary Arlen told The New York Times, “HBO’s and AT&T’s cultures also co
> Figure 2-3 classifies production deviance and political deviance as more minor in nature than property deviance and personal aggression. When might those “minor” types of counterproductive behavior prove especially cos
> Although ex-CEO Margo Georgiadis’ restructuring ideas were lauded internally at Mattel and many believed they were starting to show results, the environment shifted quickly for the toy company when retailer Toys ‘R’ Us declared bankruptcy and financial r
> Although it didn’t start that way, few people doubt the ability of Daniel Ek (CEO of Spotify) to be able to follow through any more. One early investor said, “When I first met him, he could completely articulate how this could affect the music industry a
> One of Emma Walmsley’s biggest challenges when she stepped into the CEO role at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was to use her power and influence effectively to start to change the strategic focus of the company. Under the prior CEO, Sir Andrew Witty, GSK had tak
> The growing number and insidiousness of cyber-threats has become a huge concern for companies that are responsible for the security of private user data, account information, personal information, passwords, and so forth. The average cost of a data breac
> Teams are taken very seriously at Whole Foods. Not only are company employees referred to as “team members,” but teams are given a great deal of freedom to make important decisions. For example, teams help decide what items to order and sell, and how to
> The U.S. Marine Corps is a large organization with a highly recognizable culture that values mental and physical toughness, pride, and character. However, with emerging technologies and other geopolitical trends, the battlefield is changing in ways that
> At one point, Marriott’s personality assessment was supplied by Kronos—a human resource software company. Kronos became a larger presence in the personality assessment arena after acquiring Unicru—a firm that specialized in such tests. Kronos/Unicru has
> Slack is certainly not the only chat or messaging system in use inside organizations but it is certainly one of the biggest. Estimates now hold that over 40 percent of American workers now use a chat app of some kind at work. That number goes up to more
> In addition to trust, Salesforce has a strong commitment to its equality value. The company is one of the first to employ a chief equality officer—Tony Prophet. “I’d been 40 years in the traditional business world, where we were told that creating shareh
> Ed Bastian’s profit-sharing formula stands as one of his biggest legacies. Originally, the formula gave employees 10 percent of Delta’s first $2.5 billion in pretax profits. They would then earn 20 percent of the profits beyond that $2.5 billion. Later,
> Describe the job that you currently hold or hope to hold after graduation. Now look up that job in the O*NET database. Does the profile of the job fit your expectations? Are any task behaviors missing from O*NET’s profile?
> When you think of the U.S. Postal Service’s culture, what kinds of words come to mind? Where do these impressions come from? Do you think your impressions are accurate? What has the potential to make them inaccurate?
> How can two companies with very different cultures that operate in the same industry both be successful? Shouldn’t one company’s culture automatically be a better fit for the environment?
> Is it possible for an employee to have personal values that are inconsistent with the values of the organization? If so, how is this inconsistency likely to affect the employee’s behavior and attitudes while at work?
> If you worked in a matrix organization, what would be some of the career development challenges that you might face? Does the idea of working in a matrix structure appeal to you? Why or why not?
> Which of the organizational forms described in this chapter do you think leads to the highest levels of motivation among workers? Why?
> Which is more important for an organization: the ability to be efficient or the ability to adapt to its environment? What does this say about how an organization’s structure should be set up?
> Why do the elements of structure, such as work specialization, formalization, span of control, chain of command, and centralization, have a tendency to change together? Which of the five do you feel is the most important?
> Is it possible to be a great leader of employees in a highly mechanistic organization? What special talents or abilities might be required?
> Can you think of any potential “dark sides” to transformational leadership? What would they be?
> Consider the four dimensions of transformational leadership: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Which of those dimensions would you respond to most favorably? Why?
> Describe your “job” as a student in terms of the job performance dimensions discussed in this chapter. What would be the benefit of approaching student performance from a behavior perspective rather than from an outcome (grades) perspective? What would t
> The time-sensitive and life cycle models of leadership both potentially suggest that leaders should use different styles and behaviors for different followers. Can you think of any negative consequences of that advice? How could those negative consequenc
> The time-sensitive model of leadership argues that leaders aren’t just concerned about the accuracy of their decisions when deciding among autocratic, consultative, facilitative, and delegative styles; they’re also concerned about the efficient use of ti
> Before reading this chapter, which statement did you feel was more accurate: “Leaders are born” or “Leaders are made”? How do you feel now, and why do you feel that way?
> What would it take to have a “politically free” environment? Is that possible?
> Who is the most influential leader you have come in contact with personally? What forms of power did they have, and which types of influence did they use to accomplish objectives?
> Which forms of power do you consider to be the strongest? Which types of power do you currently have? How could you go about obtaining higher levels of the forms that you’re lacking?
> Describe the communication process in a student team of which you’ve been a member. Were there examples of “noise” that detracted from the team members’ ability to communicate with one another? What was the primary mode of communication among members? Di
> Think about the team states described in this chapter. If you joined a new team, how long do you think it would take you to get a feel for those team states? Which states would you be able to gauge first? Which would take longer?
> Before reading this chapter, how did you define teamwork? How did this definition correspond to the definition outlined in this book?
> How would you describe your student team in terms of its diversity? In what ways would there be advantages and disadvantages to increasing its diversity? How might you be able to manage some of the disadvantages so that your team is able to capitalize on
> Think of something that you “know” to be true based on the method of experience, the method of intuition, or the method of authority. Could you test your knowledge using the method of science? How would you do it?
> Think about a highly successful team with which you are familiar. What types of task, goal, and outcome interdependence does this team have? Describe how changes in task, goal, and outcome interdependence might have a negative impact on this team.
> Think about your student teams. Which aspects of both models of team development apply the most and least to teams in this context? Do you think these teams function best in an additive, disjunctive, or conjunctive manner? What are the advantages and dis
> In which types of teams have you worked? Were these teams consistent with the taxonomy of team types discussed in this chapter, or were they a combination of types?
> Think of experiences you’ve had with people who demonstrated unusually high or low levels of emotional intelligence. Then consider how you would rate them in terms of their cognitive abilities. Do you think that emotional intelligence “bleeds over” to af
> Consider your responses to the previous questions. Are cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities different in the degree to which jobs can be redesigned to accommodate people who lack relevant abilities? What are the implications of this difference, i
> Think of a job that requires very high levels of certain cognitive abilities. Can you think of a way to redesign that job so that people who lack those abilities could still perform the job effectively? Now respond to the same question with regard to emo
> What roles do learning, education, and other experiences play in determining a person’s abilities? For which type of ability—cognitive, emotional, or physical—do these factors play the largest role?
> If you owned your own business and had a problem with employee theft, would you use an integrity test? Why or why not?
> Consider the personality dimensions included in the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory and the RIASEC model. If you had to “slot” those dimensions into the Big Five, would you be able to do so? Which dimensions don’t seem to fit?
> Research on genetic influences on personality suggests that more than half of the variation in personality is due to nurture—to life experiences. What life experiences could make someone more conscientious? More agreeable? More neurotic? More extraverted
> Create a list of the most successful companies that you can think of. What do these companies have that others don’t? Are the things that those companies possess rare and inimitable (see Figure 1-2)? What makes those things difficult to
> Given your background, which of the decision-making biases listed in the chapter do you most struggle with? What could you do to overcome those biases to make more accurate decisions?
> Do you consider yourself to be a “rational” decision maker? For what types of decisions are you determined to be the most rational? What types of decisions are likely to cause you to behave irrationally?
> What does the term “expert” mean to you? What exactly do experts do that novices don’t?
> Companies rely on employees with substantial amounts of tacit knowledge. Why do companies struggle when these employees leave the organization unexpectedly? What can companies do to help ensure that they retain tacit knowledge?
> In your current or past workplaces, what types of tacit knowledge did experienced workers possess? What did this knowledge allow them to do?
> Which component of ethical decision making do you believe best explains student cheating: moral awareness, moral judgment, or moral intent? Why do you feel that way?
> Putting yourself in the shoes of a manager, which of the four justice dimensions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, informational) would you find most difficult to maximize? Which would be the easiest to maximize?
> Consider the three dimensions of trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity). Which of those dimensions would be most important when deciding whether to trust your boss? What about when deciding whether to trust a friend? If your two answers di
> Which would be more damaging in organizational life—being too trusting or not being trusting enough? Why do you feel that way?
> Describe a job in which citizenship behaviors would be especially critical to an organization’s functioning, and one in which citizenship behaviors would be less critical. What is it about a job that makes citizenship more important?
> Think about a job that you’ve held in which you felt very low levels of psychological empowerment. What could the organization have done to increase empowerment levels?
> How do you tend to respond when you experience over reward and under reward inequity? Why do you respond that way rather than with some other combination in Figure 6-6? Figure 6-6: Three Possible Outcomes of Equity Theory Comparisons
> Consider the five strategies for fostering goal commitment (rewards, publicity, support, participation, and resources). Which of those strategies do you think is most effective? Can you picture any of them having potential drawbacks?
> Assume that you were working on a group project and that one of your teammates was nervous about speaking in front of the class during the presentation. Drawing on Figure 6-3, what exactly could you do to make your classmate feel more confident? Figure 6
> Which of the outcomes in Table 6-2 are most appealing to you? Are you more attracted to extrinsic outcomes or intrinsic outcomes? Do you think that your preferences will change asyou get older? Table 6-2: Extrinsic and Intrinsic Outcomes
> If you managed people in an organization in which there were lots of hindrance stressors, what actions would you take to help ensure that your employees coped with the stressors using a problem-focused (as opposed to emotion-focused) strategy?
> How would you assess your ability to handle stress? Given the information provided in this chapter, what could you do to improve your effectiveness in this area?
> If you had several job offers after graduating, to what degree would the level of challenge stressors in the different jobs influence your choice of which job to take? Why?
> Describe your dream job and then provide a list of the types of stressors that you would expect to be present. How much of your salary, if any at all, would you give up to eliminate the most important hindrance stressors? Why?
> Prior to reading this chapter, how did you define stress? Did your definition of stress reflect stressors, the stress process, strains, or some combination?
> Think again about the worst coworker you’ve ever had—the one who did some of the things listed in Table 1-1. Think about what that coworker’s boss did (or didn’t do) to try to improv
> Consider the list of positive and negative emotions in Table 4-2. Which of these emotions are most frequently experienced at work? What causes them? Table 4-2: Different Kinds of Emotions
> We sometimes describe colleagues or friends as “moody.” What do you think it means to be “moody” from the perspective of Figure 4-6? Figure 4-6: Different Kinds of Mood
> Consider the five core job characteristics (variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback). Do you think that any one of those characteristics is more important than the other four? Is it possible to have too much of some job characteristics?
> What steps can organizations take to improve promotion satisfaction, supervision satisfaction, and coworker satisfaction?
> Which of the values in Table 4-1 do you think are the most important to employees in general? Are there times when the values in the last three categories (altruism, status, and environment) become more important than the values in the first five categor
> Studies suggest that decades of downsizing have lowered organizational commitment levels. Can you think of a way that an organization can conduct layoffs without harming the commitment of the survivors? How?
> Can you think of reasons the increased diversity of the workforce might actually increase organizational commitment? Why? Which of the three types of commitment might explain that sort of result?
> Can organizations use a combination of monitoring and punishment procedures to reduce psychological and physical withdrawal? How might such programs work from a practical perspective? Do you think they would be effective?
> Describe other ways that organizations can improve affective, continuance, and normative commitment, other than the strategies suggested in this chapter. How expensive are those strategies?
> Which type of organizational commitment (affective, continuance, or normative) do you think is most important to the majority of employees? Which do you think is most important to you?
> Assuming you possessed the right technical skills for the job, would a position at IKEA be appealing to you? What would be the most important positives associated with the position, in your view? What would be the most important negatives?
> The directors of Helena Beauty Products Ltd have been presented with the following abridged financial statements: Required: Using six ratios, comment on the profitability (three ratios) and efficiency (three ratios) of the business as revealed by the st
> Accona plc operates a successful chain of furniture retail stores. For the year that has just ended, the business reported after-tax profits of £250 million. It has 200 million £0.50 shares in issue and has a P/E ratio of 7.8 times. Some years ago, in an
> Advocates of the shareholder value approach argue that, by delivering consistent and sustainable improvements in shareholder value, a business will benefit several stakeholder groups. The performance of a business such as the Stagecoach Group plc, which
> Larunda plc operates a shipyard in the UK and has recently completed the building of a passenger ferry for a French business. The ferry has successfully completed its sea trials and final payment of €20 million is due to Larunda plc in three months’ time
> Mithras plc is a UK business that is due to receive €200,000 from a German customer in three months’ time. A money market hedge will be used to manage currency risk and the following borrowing rates are available: Country ………. Borrowing rate per year Ger
> A French business is due to pay $3 million in six months’ time to a US supplier. In order to hedge against currency risk, the French business decides to sell euro futures immediately at €1 = $1.1306 and to close its position by buying euro futures in six
> Planters plc manufactures agricultural implements, components for which are acquired from a number of sources, including some overseas ones. The implements are marketed in the UK and, increasingly, overseas. The directors are aware that the business is e
> Ndovu plc is considering investing in a new project and, in the past, it would have used a cost of capital of 10 per cent as the discount rate to assess new projects. This rate had been calculated by a team of consultants about seven years ago. However,
> Bellona Ltd is a small business that produces a single product – a thermostat that is used in a range of kitchen appliances. Information relating to the thermostat is as follows: All sales are made to kitchen goods manufacturers on cre
> Bernese plc develops and manufactures drills for businesses operating in the oil and gas industry. Although it is committed to maximising the wealth of its shareholders, the business has incurred heavy losses over recent years. A new chief executive has
> Threads Limited manufactures nuts and bolts, which are sold to industrial users. The abbreviated financial statements for 2018 and 2019 are as follows: Dividends were paid on ordinary shares of £70,000 and £72,000 for 2018 and
> Bradbury Ltd is a family-owned clothes manufacturer. For a number of years, the chair and managing director was David Bradbury. During his period of office, sales revenue had grown steadily at a rate of 2 to 3 per cent each year. David Bradbury retired o
> Thermia Ltd is a family-owned business that produces packaged foods for supermarkets. The family has recently lost interest in the business and has indicated a willingness to sell.­The senior managers of the business have decided to make an of
> Which control systems did Goldman Sachs’ primarily rely on (see Section 9.3). How did the systems support the growth strategy and in what respects did they fail with regard to the Malaysian business and more generally?
> Can you identify other technology platform companies and their ecosystem partners?
> How can ARM attract and manage so many ecosystem partners?
> Are there any unmet needs in your community, at college or elsewhere that could be turned into a business opportunity?
> Given its strategic challenges, do you agree that for Tesla a flatter organization was the right way to go?
> What do you learn from the experience of Goldberg and Ting which could be useful to launching a new enterprise?
