Many organizations around the world claim they are green. What criteria would you consider if you had to evaluate their green credentials objectively?
> It is not surprising that employers are keen on knowing what their employees are up to. In some cases, they can be a little too keen. In 2015, British Airways was accused of illegally monitoring the phones and emails of its cabin crew during a dispute in
> When General Motors (GM) decided to start a bug bounty program—paying hackers to find computer bugs in the company’s information systems—they purposely tried to avoid other companies’ mistakes with such programs. Uber ended up paying hackers more than te
> Cyber Monday falls on the first Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday. During Cyber Monday, employers find that a significant number of employees are surfing the web for holiday deals. A recent survey revealed that 64 percent of professionals planned
> When Steve Kerr first became the coach of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, he saw the need for some changes. He wanted to steer away from the tendency for new leaders to announce that they want to change the culture, since that can be insulting
> PepsiCo, Inc., is regarded as the second largest food and beverage business in the world, and a large part of its success can be attributed to its leader. Indra Nooyi, who served as the chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo, is an inspiring and visionary leader
> Card Connection is one of the UK’s largest card publishers and a market leader in the franchise distribution of greeting cards in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Established in 1992, it is regarded as one of the Britain’s best-run franchise ope
> Have you ever watched the show Undercover Boss? It features a company’s “boss” working undercover in his or her own company to find out how the organization really works. Typically, the executive works undercover for a week, and then the employees the le
> Flexible working schemes have been around for many years, and are generally expected to be found in any organization that wants to retain its staff. The standard 9-to-5 business hours structure is an old concept. Employees being able to work from home or
> Is having a caring employer important to you when looking for a new job? Today, many organizations consider well-being initiatives as a way of keeping employees happy and motivated. Research has demonstrated that asking questions about whether employees
> Advocates of open-book management point to the advantages of getting employees to think like owners and to be motivated to make better decisions about how they do their work once they see how their decisions impact financial results. However, is there su
> Employees first” is the most important cultural value that former HCL Technologies’ CEO Vineet Nayar believed would help the company to grow. While most managers think a customer’s satisfaction should come first, Nayar’s philosophy is that employee satis
> In the same league as Amazon Inc., Microsoft, and Alphabet Inc., the Chinese multinational investment holding Tencent is considered one of the world’s biggest companies in the gaming industry. Founded in 1998, the company is based in Shenzhen, China. Wha
> A new business analyst needs to be hired to work at the corporate headquarters of a retail firm. Jared and Amanda are managers in charge of the hiring decision. The candidates have been narrowed down to three possible hires: 1) Sheri, who was in the same
> On January 13, 2012, 32 people died after the Costa Concordia, the lead ship of Concordia-class cruise ships, ran aground with more than 4,000 passengers and crew a few hours after leaving the Italian port of Civitavecchia. As the ship steered close to t
> Founded in 1972, the German software business SAP (Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing) is known as one of the world leaders in enterprise resource planning software, employing over 98,000 staff. Usually SAP managers meet employees on
> Forty-six percent of employees worry about being judged by coworkers for something they have posted on social media.38 Social networking websites can be fun. Staying in touch with old friends or family is one of the pleasures of joining. However, it can
> The UK’s National Health Service employs 1.7 million people.45 It is the world’s largest publicly funded health service. There are cases when employees have found themselves “victimized” by management for one reason or another. A prime example is that of
> With greater global expansion, more organizations are collaborating on projects with teams consisting of people who are based in dispersed geographical locations, having different cultural backgrounds and value systems. These are virtual teams that have
> In India, only about 20 cities out of 87 have organized transport and fewer can lay claim to a mass rapid transit system. A collaboration between India’s Tata Motors and Brazil’s Marcopolo, it specializes in coach and bus manufacturing, combining Marcopo
> When coworkers work closely on a team project, is there such a thing as becoming too close? Not everyone thinks so. A recent survey revealed that 51 percent of employees said they have had an office romance.45 And another survey found that workers in the
> Despite being a world-renowned business, BAE Systems Naval Ships has hardly changed its working arrangement over the past years at its Glasgow sites on the River Clyde, explains Chris Westcott, who is the Head of Employee Relations. Employees are expecte
> One of the world’s biggest shipping companies, Danish company Maersk is concerned about the future of its presence in the Chinese market. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Søren Skou, the head of the company’s container-shipping division in m
> Though it might be a challenge, employing individuals with autism is beneficial. According to Britain’s National Autistic Society, only 15 percent of adults with autism have fulltime employment, while 9 percent work part-time, despite 79 percent actually
> Imagine being at all-company meetings where trays of hors d’oeuvres and drinks are being served, but you and the others who aren’t wearing white badges are asked to return to your desks. That has been the experience of some contractors at Google. There a
> If you get a job at Punchkick Interactive—a digital agency that designs and builds software in Chicago—you won’t have a boss. You’ll not be shown an organizational chart of who reports to whom because such a chart doesn’t exist. You also will be asked to
> Thomas Lopez, a lifeguard in the Miami area, was fired for leaving his assigned area to save a drowning man. His employer, Jeff Ellis and Associates, which has a contract with the Florida city of Hallandale, said that by leaving his assigned patrol area
> In 2002, British restaurateur and television celebrity-chef, James Trevor “Jamie” Oliver opened Fifteen, a nonprofit restaurant and bar in London. As a social enterprise, this restaurant would later operate as part of a charity called Foundation Fifteen
> It’s one thing to ensure that customers feel that their concerns are resolved quickly. It’s something else to revamp how a company reaches customers. That’s what Nike has been up to lately. This approach seems to be paying off with sales growth as well a
> Many college students pull all-nighters to study for midterms and finals. What Andrew Kozlovski noticed when he was a freshman at the University of Southern California was how many students were using Adderall to allow them to stay awake and concentrate.
> Everyone can make mistakes, but sometimes these can have severe consequences. The employees of the insurance company Aviva Investor’s asset management division simultaneously received an email from the company’s HR department, which stated that they had
> What began as a humble suburban-neighborhood grocery store in Essen, Germany, is today one of the most successful discount supermarket chains in the world. Aldi has been operating with the motto “the best quality at the lowest prices” since Anna Albrecht
> When Will Shu, a former investment banker, spent long hours working in London’s Canary Wharf offices, he was forced to live off grocery store sandwiches for lack of an equally convenient option, he was struck with an idea. He saw that London had an abund
> The luxury goods market is incredibly lucrative. Most studies on counterfeiting have tended to focus on the supply side. In recent years, however, there has been greater interest in studies pertaining to the demand side of the counterfeit business. There
> Tesla Inc. has generated a lot of excitement about producing its Model 3 sedan, its electric car “for the masses.” The Model 3 begins at $35,000, while other luxury models Tesla produces cost $80,000-plus. Production on the Model 3 only started in mid-20
> Hermes, not to be confused with Hermes the French luxury goods manufacturer, is a pan-European courier company with over 40 years’ experience in the parcel delivery and courier business. It operates primarily in the UK, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Russi
> It is sometimes said that management is a tough and thankless job. Do you think this is true?
> Do you think management is a relevant course for study today? Explain using examples.
> Mintzberg suggested that specific actions or behaviors expected of and exhibited by a manager comprise of three specific roles. Briefly explain them.
> Why are managers important to organizations? What are their key responsibilities in an organization?
> What are the three main roles performed by a manager?
> Contrast the calm waters and white-water rapids metaphors of change.
> Why is a change agent needed for organizational change? Can a low-level employee be a change agent? Explain your answer.
> What can an organization do to encourage ethical behavior?
> Ethical leaders are honest, share their values, stress important shared values, and use the reward system appropriately.” Observe your college professors. Would you consider them to be ethical leaders? Discuss.
> What kind of protection can be afforded to whistleblowers? Are these protective steps sufficient to encourage such actions in future?
> While important, rules may sometimes create more problems than they resolve. Websites like TripAdvisor are valuable for tourism, providing businesses with greater exposure. The problem is not all reviews are positive. A hotel in Blackpool, England, fined
> In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused the largest oil spill in history. BP (British Petroleum) and the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) ignored subsequent independent reports of continued oil le
> How can internal and external locus of control influence work behaviors?
> How might the moral development of an employee affect their ethical stance?
> Why do you think an organization might not value social responsibility?
> Who is responsible for doing more to break the glass ceiling barrier for women and minorities?
> Are laws, federal or otherwise, necessary for supporting diversity initiatives? Use an example from your country to illustrate.
> Different ethnicities cause problems associated with diversity management. Discuss.
> Look around you and summarize the different forms of diversity you can find at your university or workplace.
> Do you think religion can affect work behaviors?
> Scott Emmons was working for Neiman Marcus, the luxury retailer, as an enterprise architect when he realized a big gap in how their stores were handling technology. “Customers were showing up with smartphones and outgunning our own associates’ capability
> In developing countries like Africa, Asia, and Latin America, birth rates are likely to remain high. Are there any benefits of this and is it sustainable?
> What are the benefits and challenges of having workforce diversity in an organization?
> How has workforce diversity changed since the 1960s, particularly in the West?
> Describe how an organization can become a global entity. Why would it choose to do so?
> What makes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) different from the European Union (EU) as a trade alliance? Can those differences impair ASEAN’s effectiveness as a trade alliance compared to the EU?
> What clarity of perspective would the GLOBE framework, as presented in this chapter, offer to local managers to help them understand their employees better?
> What are the benefits of managers knowing foreign languages?
> What are the characteristics of a multi-domestic corporation?
> Discuss the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
> The European Union (EU) is an economic and political partnership of countries. What are the practical implications of this union?
> In October 2018, the media reported that technology giant Google responded to what were deemed credible sexual assault claims against a former executive by paying him $90 million and praising him as he left the company.60 Google employees have been pushi
> For most people, artificial intelligence brings to mind replacing jobs with robots. However, 1,500 companies studied by the management consulting firm Accenture found that the largest performance gains were when humans and machines worked together.33 Wha
> A monolingual, parochial, and ethnocentric organization is bound to fail. Discuss.
> What are the four ways an organization communicates its culture to employees?
> Why is strong culture likely to have a greater influence on employees compared to weak culture?
> Distinguish between people and team orientation as dimensions of organizational culture
> How is a shareholder different from a stakeholder? If a stakeholder can hold no shares or any ownership inthe organization, why then would the managers care about stakeholder relationships?
> Would a manager’s job be fundamentally different if the same person were to work in different companies in the same industry?
> What does the term external environment mean? Which external environmental factors are more important for a manager to pay attention to?
> Is there a real difference between an omnipotent manager and a “good” manager? Explain.
> What do you understand by personalization technologies? How does big data fit into decision-making processes?
> What should a good manager do if it becomes apparent that a decision that has already been made is clearly not working or solving the situation?
> Change usually involves some kind of modification of the way in which a business does things. Invariably, it means alterations in products or services, and processes. Research seems to suggest that organizations undergo some form of change every three ye
> Most managers adopt particular styles to simplify their decision making. This helps them make sense of information. Why do you think these styles are unreliable?
> Is satisficing a desirable way of making managerial decisions?
> What role does intuition play in decision making?
> Where in the eight-step decision-making process are the likely problem areas for managers?
> Explain how good decision making is a skill that can be learned and improved
> How do systems theory and the contingency approach make managers better at what they do?
> How has technology impacted how managers use the quantitative approach in today’s workplace?
> Describe total quality management.
> Explain what the quantitative approach has contributed to the field of management.
> Why were the Hawthorne Studies so critical to management history?
> Headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, the automotive manufacturer Renault was established 120 years ago in 1899, and Japanese automotive manufacturer, Nissan, was founded in 1933, headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. In 1999, these two automotive g
> What did the early advocates of OB contribute to our understanding of management?
> What is a bureaucracy? Do bureaucracies still exist today?
> What is the significance of the industrial revolution?
> How do societal trends influence the practice of management? What are the implications for someone studying management
> Explain why studying management history is important.
> Researchers at Harvard Business School found that the most important managerial behaviors involve two fundamental things: enabling people to move forward in their work and treating them decently as human beings. What do you think of these two managerial
> Is there one best “style” of management? Why or why not?
> Henri Fayol suggested that all managers perform the five functions of planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. Was he correct?
> Discuss how managers define organizational purpose. How would the managerial functions help in achieving that purpose?
> Is the task of seeking innovative processes really a manager’s job?
