This OB in Action profiles GE and Lego’s efforts at crowdsourcing. For example, GE’s Ecomagination Challenge is a crowdsourcing effort designed to solicit help creating the next-generation smart power grid. Lego also uses crowdsourcing to help design new products and provides 1 percent of a toy’s net revenue to those that fund if a design is selected. Think of a service you use, or some element of your job, that you think would benefit from crowdsourcing. Remember to focus on how others can help you solve problems, which involves more than simply soliciting other people's opinions.
> 1. Identify one aspect of personal competence from Table 3.6 and describe how you can improve it. Be specific. 2. Identify one aspect of social competence from Table 3.6 and describe how you can improve it. Be specific.
> This Problem-Solving Application encourages students to think creatively about how to motivate high school students to excel academically. 1. What problem is Tim Richard trying to address? 2. What OB concepts or theories are consistent with Mr. Richard’
> This case considers the long-term implications of Apple’s decision to deny local and federal requests to unlock data on iPhones. It all started with the terrorist attack perpetrated by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife. The couple killed 14 people in San B
> Samantha Peters, Technical Director at Quantum Gaming, a video-game company, is conducting a scheduling meeting where she must ask employees to put in a serious amount of extra hours to meet a valued customer’s request. In addition to various challenges
> This OB in Action describes Cameron Mitchell, a successful restaurateur who currently runs 48 upscale restaurants. Mitchell believes in “people first” and makes sure his company is committed to employees and also creates a climate that fosters trust, aut
> This Problem-Solving Application outlines the first ever informational picket by Southwest Airlines pilots in 2012. Pilots believe there has been an erosion of Southwest's company culture of shared sacrifice and shared success. Southwest’s record profits
> What work-related outcomes are associated with job satisfaction?
> How can changes in the workplace improve job satisfaction?
> Why should management pay attention to workplace attitudes?
> How do personal attitudes affect workplace behavior and work-related outcomes?
> What role do values play in influencing my behavior?
> 1. What is the problem in the case? 2. Identify the OB concepts and theories that may point to the cause of the problem. 3. Assuming Conrad were still CEO, what would you do to correct the situation?
> How does understanding the relative stability of individual differences benefit me?
> How can understanding emotions make me more effective at work?
> What is emotional intelligence and how does it help me?
> How do self-evaluations affect my performance at work?
> How does my personality affect my performance at school and work?
> How do multiple intelligences affect my performance?
> This OB in Action profiles the Priceline Group, an $8.44 billion online travel company. Priceline focuses on eliminating noise by allowing customers to speak with agents around the world, as needed, and trains employees in cross-cultural communication. P
> This Take-Away Application encourages students to consider the levels of culture at their current, past, or possible future employer. 1. What artifacts can you see at work? What do these artifacts tell you about your employer? 2. What are the company’s
> Abbe Willsby and Randall Keene are co-leaders of a 15-employee team in a retail/fashion company. Soon after Randall separated from his wife, the two began an affair. Six months later Abbe breaks off the relationship after hearing rumors that Randall stil
> Malcolm Price has recently transitioned from an IT coordinator with low-level managerial responsibility to a leadership role, heading up the technical side at Schumacker’s Company Formations, a web-based business start-up and support company. Unfortunate
> Three months ago, Ralph Ramos assigned a number of employees to work as telecommuters to alleviate the lack of space in their office building. Among them was Angela Zanoni, an employee and friend for over four years, who was delighted to work from home s
> This Problem-Solving Application encourages students to consider how the Internet is changing how organizations or people can hire people for short-term projects. 1. What is the problem that led to the creation of companies like TaskRabbit and Elance? 2
> What are the common forces or drivers of change at work, and how can this knowledge improve my personal effectiveness?
> How can OB knowledge and tools help me effectively manage change and stress?
> How does stress increase or reduce my effectiveness?
> Why do people resist change and what can I do about it?
> How can my organization and I use different approaches to more effectively manage change?
> This OB in Action allows students to reflect on actions companies can take to reduce their employees’ stress. What effect do you think it had on employee stress? Employee engagement?
> This Take-Away Application encourages students to consider the type of organizational structure they prefer. How would you assess whether or not a future employer had your preferred organizational structure?
> This Take-Away Application encourages students to reflect how they could use empowering leadership and servant-leadership. 1. Think about the group projects you are currently working on. How might you use both empowering leadership and servant-leadershi
> This Take-Away Application encourages students to develop an action plan for making a good first impression. Describe how you can appear interested. What questions might you ask?
> This OB in Action allows students to reflect on how self-promotion has become more important for venture capital firms. What ethical standards would you apply to impression management?
> How can I integrate rational and nonrational models of decision making?
> How can I increase my own creative behavior and that of my employees?
> What are the pros and cons of group decision making and the various problem-solving tools?
> How can I assess the ethics of my decisions?
> How do I decide to decide?
> How can I more effectively use evidence-based decision making?
> It’s hard to be rational. What biases get in the way?
> Martin Shkreli was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals when it purchased the 62-year-old drug called Daraprim and quickly raised the price of one pill from $13.50 to $750. As a result, the average cost of treatment with the drug rose from about $1,130 to $63,0
> What are the basic forms of power and how can they help me achieve my desired outcomes?
> Do I seek only to impress, or to make a good impression?
> What are the many forms of politics, and how can understanding them make me more effective at school, at work, and socially?
> How do influence tactics improve my personal effectiveness?
> How can sharing power increase my power?
> This OB in Action presents elements of the social media principles used by Coke, which are designed to encourage using social media to support the marketing of the company, but to do so in a positive light. 1. What are two benefits you see in Coke’s pol
> This Take-Away Application encourages students to reflect on how to improve their LMX. 1. What do you think are the main causes of your LMX? 2. Describe three things you can do to improve your LMX.
> This OB in Action profiles the leadership of Aldemir Bendine, CEO of Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petrobas. Bendine’s lack of industry experience and unwillingness to treat his position as more than a “part-time” job has caused many of the organization’s
> This OB in Action allows students to reflect on how a firm can reinforce a core belief in sustainability. 1. What do you think was the driving force behind Polman’s desire to create a culture of sustainability? 2. Do you agree with Polman about the tang
> This OB in Action profiles Dave Gentleman, the general manager of the Carolina Panthers. When Dave became GM, he actually did not fire any existing coaching staff, which is uncommon in the professional sports world. Provide three reasons why you would f
> This Take-Away Application encourages students to develop an action plan for using organizational politics to change something in an organization. Work through and apply as many of the eight recommendations in the list above as are relevant. (Don’t be t
> 1. The case describes considerable group cohesion at VW. How may this cohesion contribute to the problems at VW? Why or why not? 2. Which biases that commonly affect decision making did different groups at VW exhibit? Explain. 3. Evidence shows that many
> Susan Sheppard, Creative Design Manager at Word-of-Mouth Marketing Group, is consistently bullied by her colleague, Alexandra Woodward, the boss's sister. Alexandra has been working at the firm a little over a month, after quitting her job as a Rare Arti
> This Problem-Solving Application encourages students to consider approaches for effective decision making. What concepts or theories of OB help to explain the reasons why people are quitting?
> People have always said the best way to make a decision is to think about it rationally. However, recent evidence shows the rational brain is incapable of taking in large amounts of information at a time. Instead, it sputters and short circuits, making i
> This OB in Action profiles IDEO, an influential and award-winning global design firm. The organization created the first mouse for Apple, heart defibrillators that walk a user through the steps, and TiVo’s “thumbs up–thumbs down” button. To what extent
> This Take-Away Application encourages students to consider how they could change their level of job satisfaction. If you could ask your boss or employer to change one thing to improve your job satisfaction, what would you suggest?
> Some companies prefer to “pamper” their employees in order to attract and motivate them on the job, as well as to create a space that invites creative output. However, one study examined productivity during the recent recession and concluded that product
> This Take-Away Application builds on Self-Assessment 6.2 and encourages students to further consider extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation. 1. Which rewards in the list are extrinsic? Intrinsic? 2. Assume you are job hunting. How can you determine wheth
> The Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects people from discrimination in the workplace based on their religion (in addition to other protected groups). However, religious-based discrimination is still problematic today, particularly after the terrorist attack
> The focus of the video is on the “Silver Tsunami,” and how BMW is preparing for the inevitable – the aging workforce that is having difficulties performing their job duties due to a decreased physical state. The “Silver Tsunami” refers to the fact that
> This case explores how KPMG Canada updated its benefit program by involving employees in the design process. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Why is having a competitive benefits packag
> Suppose you have been asked to lead a taskforce to develop a sales incentive plan at your firm. The taskforce is to generate a list of strategies and issues to be evaluated by upper management. Using details from www.salescompensation.org and other relat
> Discuss why variable pay-for-performance plans have become popular and what elements are needed to make them successful.
> Recent research has shown an inverse relationship between CEO pay and corporate performance. Read the article “The Highest- Paid CEOs Are the Worst Performers, New Study Says” at http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/06/16/the-highest-paid-ceosare-
> This case discusses incentives paid to government workers who had been disciplined or failed to support their agency’s mission and values. The case focuses on the scandal involving delayed medical treatment for military veterans at the Veterans Administr
> This case shows how a large firm uses recognition and awards. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Based on the Sodexo example, discuss the importance of widespread incentives in improving
> This case discusses incentive plans that stimulate employee interest and motivate them to perform well. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Why might the use of incentives in the form of g
> Both positive and negative issues associated with the use of an incentive plan are discussed in this case. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Evaluate the use of this type of incentive an
> This case deals with CEO pay for a newly hired executive at Best Buy. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Was Joly overpaid? 2. What factors probably led to this pay package? 3. If you wer
> Congratulations! You have recently been promoted and are the company’s new Human Resources Manager! You have offices in several countries, so how would you evaluate different compensation packages for employees who are located throughout the world?
> Give some examples of ethical issues that you have experienced in jobs and explain.
> Recently, larger companies have been in the news because of violations of overtime regulations. How should your Human Resources department protect itself from these devastating claims? Brainstorm some ideas on how to prevent these issues from occurring.
> United Grinding Technologies needed a compensation plan for all of its employees. Because benchmark jobs were not readily available, HR created job descriptions and matched them to jobs with BLS and trade association pay survey data. 1. How would you eva
> This case discusses how a hospital uses pay for performance to improve employee productivity. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Discuss how this case illustrates how compensation can be
> This case discusses the concerns associated with having a formal base pay system, and communication issues that occur. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. What role does equity play in thi
> This case identifies how performance management systems might be redesigned. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. How do the JC Penney changes reflect a total rewards approach? 2. Discuss w
> This case identifies how the Fair Labor Standards Act might need to be reformed because of restrictions caused by workweek definitions. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Does the 40-hour
> Based on your experiences, as well as the chapter information, what are some good “rules of thumb” for conducting successful performance appraisal interviews?
> Suppose you are a supervisor. What errors might you make when preparing the performance appraisal on a clerical employee? How might you avoid those errors?
> Describe how an organizational culture and the use of performance criteria and standards affect the remaining components of a performance management system
> As the new HR Director of a company in the behavioral health industry, you have the responsibility to develop a performance management system. You need to present a business case to senior executives that the performance management system does not stand
> Why is it important for HR management to transform from being primarily administrative and operational to a more strategic contributor?
> This case describes the stack rankings system that Microsoft used for several years before dropping it. 1. What is your overall opinion of the stack ranking system? Do you think this approach serves a purpose in modern organizations? 2. If you were to im
> The case outlines what was done at Jewelers Mutual Insurance in allowing employees to have a say in performance management. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Discuss how this case illust
> This case identifies how performance management systems might be redesigned. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Discuss how this case illustrates the contrasts between the administrative
> This case provides an example of how a performance-oriented culture can be established to facilitate the performance management process. 1. Would you find working at Netflix exciting or frightening? Why? 2. Can everyone in a company be above average? If
> This case identifies the consequences of giving appraisal ratings that may not be accurate. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. How have the inaccurate performance ratings created more pro
> Design a management development program for first-level supervisors in a mass-market retail company. What courses and experiences do they need?
> How have the evolving business environment and the emergence of free agent workers affected the “make-or-buy” talent decisions?
> Discuss what talent management is and why it is a consideration addressed by a growing number of employers
> You are the HR Director of a large manufacturing company that is approximately 50 years old. The company has reaped the benefits of a mostly tenured workforce, and many of the key workers are now approaching retirement age. It is anticipated that approxi
> This case describes the Leadership Academy Walmart runs to train its managers. 1. What are the pros and cons of rotating participants from in-class training back to the worksite every two weeks? What support would be needed at the worksite to ensure tha
> Discuss several areas in which HR can affect organizational culture positively or negatively.
> This case illustrates a serious concern some employers have about developing employees only to have them leave. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. As Ezra’s manager, what would you do to
> This case shows how one company in the oil industry started a succession planning program. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. Discuss how NOV’s efforts combine different phases of talent
> This case demonstrates how a health care company utilized talent to better manage the development of employees. (For the case, go to www.cengage.com/management/mathis or visit the instructor companion website.) 1. The top managers are very busy people. W
> Identify training needs for a group of entry-level workers in a fast food restaurant.
