How Maslow’s hierarchy of could needs help explain the relationship between pay and productivity?
> After reading about SAS Institute, what would appeal to you most about working there?
> If you were an employee of the Accor Hotels Group, given its customer-centric strategy, how would you expect your performance appraisal to be conducted? Would it be relevant to use both objective and judgmental methods in this performance appraisal? Why?
> As an HR executive at the Accor Hotels Group, you need to identify employees with high potential to become future leaders who embody the strategic approach of the Sofitel brand toward the customer’s experience and to develop a training program for them.
> How does an initiative like Discovery Night positively impact the HR supply-and-demand management in the Accor Hotels Group? Why can this initiative be considered a recruitment tool? To what extent does such an initiative contribute to employees’ trainin
> What do you think most workers would do in this situation? What would you do?
> What are the basic arguments for and against extreme measures to fight unionization efforts?
> What are the ethical issues in this situation?
> Interview the HR manager at a local company about their hiring processes. Describe how they recruit employees to apply for jobs, the steps in the selection process, and their orientation program for new employees.
> What is a realistic job preview, and why is it considered a vital part of external recruiting by many organizations?
> Overwhelmingly, the CEOs of the largest companies in the United States are white males, but women and minorities are making inroads. Identify a leader who is a member of a minority group and describe the challenges that he or she faced and overcame.
> Suppose Reed Hastings asked you for advice on how to make Netflix better. What would you tell him?
> Identify a leader who you believe exhibits charismatic leadership and explain the behaviors that support this conclusion.
> The impact of virtual leadership is likely to grow in the future. As a potential “follower” in a virtual leadership situation, what issues would be of most concern to you? What would the issues be from the perspective of the “leader” role in such a situa
> In terms of cross-cultural leadership, how would you characterize the key cultural differences between countries like the United States and Japan?
> Explain why a school teacher might choose to use reward power to influence her students.
> List and briefly explain the behavioral aspects of decision making.
> In leadership substitutes and neutralizers, what are organizational factors?
> How does a leader differ from a manager? Describe the situational approach to leadership and three major theories within this category. How would the path–goal theory help you identify the most appropriate leadership style in a situation?
> Do you think that you would have enjoyed working for Apple during Jobs’s leadership? Why or why not?
> Describe Jobs with respect to intuition, escalation of commitment, and risk propensity.
> What challenges face employees working for a leader such as Jobs?
> Labor is usually referred to as human resources. Aside from physical work, what else does this include?
> Summarize the basic premises underlying the trait approach to leadership.
> Jobs enjoyed almost cult-like loyalty among his employees. Why do you think people clamored to work for Apple under Jobs’s leadership?
> Do you think Steve Jobs was a charismatic leader? What leads you to this conclusion?
> What are three important lessons from Smith’s career path?
> Do you believe that Smith’s gender played a part in his success? Why or why not?
> How would you describe Brad Smith’s leadership style?
> What personal traits does Brad Smith possess that aid him as a leader?
> What would you do to make sure this never happened again?
> What do you think most managers would do in this situation?
> What are the ethical issues in this situation?
> Enterprising people can spot promising opportunities. What do they need to do when they have?
> In 2017, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, an Ethiopian businessperson, entrepreneur, and founder of sole Rebels, was named African Female Leader of the Year. Research Alemu’s career. What type of leader is she? How would you describe her leadership style? Do you
> How do you distinguish between reward power and coercive power?
> Assume you are about to start your own business. What would you do from the beginning to ensure that your employees will be satisfied and motivated?
> What would you tell a worker performing a simple and routine job who wants more challenge and enjoyment from work?
> Describe your most recent job in terms of your contributions and the organization’s inducements.
> According to Maslow, what happens when an individual’s set of needs is satisfied? What should an organization do then?
> What is person-job fit? Describe a person-job fit you currently have or have had in the past with an employer, or describe the person-job fit of the instructor in your class.
> What goals are set by using management by objectives? How does this work?
> Describe several strategies and techniques for enhancing employee motivation and give examples of each.
> Using Herzberg’s two-factor theory, determine which factor is more important to you and describe how you would assess a potential employment situation for those factors.
> When output grows more quickly than population, what usually follows?
> Describe your ideal job or career and list the performance behaviors that you think would make you successful.
> What criteria do you have for a great place to work?
> How does a psychological contract differ from a business contract?
> Do you believe that companies have a social responsibility to pay higher wages? Why or why not?
> Use equity theory, expectancy theory, or two-factor theory to explain Aetna’s decision.
> Explain Aetna’s decision in light of the classical theory of motivation.
> What factors motivate you personally?
> Do you think that higher pay caused higher productivity and lower turnover for Aetna? What leads you to this conclusion?
> What would you do?
> What are the laws of demand and supply?
> What do you think most managers would do in this situation?
> What are the ethical issues in this case?
> Interview your employer or an administrator at your college. Ask the manager what they believe motivates their employees. Identify one or more theories of motivation that seem consistent with this manager’s approach.
> What does emotional intelligence and emotional quotient demonstrate about an employee?
> Map out the processes involved in preparing, researching, drafting and finalizing your next major assignment for this course. Work backwards from the deadline and show all the predecessor relationships involved in the process.
> If you were a member of a quality improvement team at your college, what would be five specific high-impact recommendations that you would support? Of those five, which two would be the most important, and briefly explain what strategies you might employ
> Develop a list of internal customers and internal suppliers for a business that you use frequently (or where you work), such as a cafeteria, a dormitory or hotel, or a movie theater. Identify areas for potential quality improvement in these internal cust
> What type of business strategy does Disney use to attract customers to its theme parks? What does the company do to implement its strategy? What are the key operational characteristics?
> Apply the five major categories of operations planning to your college or to a local business.
> What are the five areas that comprise materials management?
> Give an example of a monopoly. Under what business circumstances would monopolies be preferable to the presence of competition?
> Production adds value by providing utility in terms of which three utility factors?
> How important is quality in your day-to-day life? What measures or processes are in place around you to maximize the quality of your work, and how effective are they?
> The Sri Lankan factories draw a correlation between employee motivation and the quality of their tea-processing stages. What motivates and demotivate’s you, and how do you think this affects the overall quality of your work?
> Sri Lankan tea factories have sought to improve quality through the management of the supply chain and by making improvements to the living conditions of on-site workers. When observed through the lens of Hertzberg’s Two-Factor Theory (motivators–hygiene
> Visit the website of two coffee manufacturers or producers. Determine how the firms ensure the quality of their product through the production process. How robust is the process, and how does it compare to the measures put in place by the Sri Lankan tea
> For Sri Lankan tea makers, the quality of the tea is primarily dependent upon management of the supply chain. How can technology be used to manage the supply chain, and what technology do you recommend?
> Using the same airline, identify common customer complaints and the causes for the quality issues. Make at least five suggestions as to how you would improve the customer experience without increasing overall costs.
> Identify a local or regional airline and suggest the major factors that need to be considered in terms of their operations planning. What needs to be addressed?
> To what extent do you agree with the notion that airlines are a high-contact system? What are the implications of this for airlines?
> In most developed nations, what is the most significant sector in terms of employment and national income?
> Identify and describe the features of a domestic environment. Why is it important to a business organization?
> Many reviews of airlines are not objective. Reviews are often tainted by previous experience, popular myths, and issues that are actually beyond the control of the airline. In using these potentially biased reviews, it is important to ascertain which iss
> Ryan air, as an airline that provides a service, has to focus on intangible value. How might an airline achieve this goal?
> What would you say on the phone at this time to this customer?
> From an ethical standpoint, what is an appropriate response to the customer’s question? What steps should you take in responding to it? Explain.
> What are the underlying ethical issues in this situation?
> Why should Takata have put TQM at the center of their production and operations?
> Takata had an 85-year history of successful innovation and manufacture. Are all businesses one mistake way from catastrophe?
> Compared to Takata, how might the car manufacturers view the problem, and what would their approach to arriving at a solution be?
> If you were a customer, what would you hope that the company would do? Would your answer be different if you were an investor or stockholder?
> Interview the manager of a local service business, such as a restaurant or hair salon. Identify the major decisions involved in planning that business’s service operations.
> What does the balance of trade tell you about a country’s ability to produce goods and services that can be consumed by the domestic market?
> Identify businesses or industries in your country that demonstrate the characteristics of perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly. To what extent does the government get involved in regulating aspects of the economy and ens
> Figure 3-27 shows a WBS with 11 tasks. Note that each task has an ID, a description, duration, and a reference to predecessor tasks, if any, which must be completed before the task can begin. Also note that dependent tasks can have one predecessor task o
> Think of all the tasks that you perform when you purchase a car. Include any research, decisions, or financial issues that relate to the purchase. Create a WBS that shows all the tasks, their estimated duration, and any predecessor tasks.
> Think of a problem you have experienced at school or at work and draw a sample fishbone diagram with at least two levels.
> Visit the website for an IT magazine and find an article that discusses business cases. Summarize the article and what you learned from it.
> A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information. Identify a tool that supports the creation of mind maps and explain how they can be a valuable part of strategic planning.
> Prepare a SWOT analysis of your school or your employer.
> Use the Internet to find three examples of corporate mission statements.
> Describe the business profile of a home improvement store like Home Depot or Lowe’s and how it is used.
> Explain how ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft are disrupting traditional taxicab business models.
> What are the five main components of an information system?
> What decisions might management reach at the end of the systems analysis phase, and what would be the next step in each case?
> What is information technology, and why is it important to society?
