What are the potential advantages of online job searching and recruiting? What are the potential disadvantages?
> How would you describe Chris Cox’s personal leadership style, and what sources of power does he possess?
> What signs, if any, did this leader show of being a transformational leader?
> What steps did this leader take to motivate his or her followers? Were these steps appropriate or inappropriate? Why?
> From what you know, do you think this leader was a task-oriented leader or a relationship-oriented leader? How favorable was this leader’s situation for leading?
> What kinds of behaviors did this leader engage in? Were they appropriate for the situation? Why or why not?
> What sources of power did this leader have? Did the leader have enough power to influence his or her followers?
> Design a plan to increase the motivation of pressers to do a top-notch job on all clothes they press, no matter how difficult.
> How do the various management theories discussed in this chapter offer clues for organizing and controlling hotel employees?
> How would you characterize your supervisor’s approach to management? For example, which particular management tasks and roles does this person perform most often? What kinds of management skills does the manager have?
> Design a plan to increase the motivation of spotters to remove as many stains as possible even when they are not being watched by a partner.
> Given what you have learned in this chapter, design a plan to increase the motivation of clerks to provide prompt service to customers even when they are not being watched by a partner.
> Discuss the extent to which you believe that you have a motivation problem in your stores.
> Under what conditions might contingent pay be most stressful and what steps can managers take to try to help their subordinates perform effectively and not experience excessive amounts of stress?
> Either individually or in a group, think about the ethical implications of closely linking pay to performance.
> Discuss why two people with similar abilities may have very different expectancies for performing at a high level.
> Discuss why managers should always try to use positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement.
> Describe three techniques or procedures that managers can use to determine whether a goal is difficult.
> Analyze how professors try to promote equity to motivate students.
> Describe why some people have low instrumentalities even when their managers distribute outcomes based on performance.
> For each managerial task, list the issues to solve, and decide which roles will contribute the most to your restaurant’s success.
> Interview a manager in an organization in your community to determine the extent to which the manager takes advantage of vicarious learning to promote high motivation among subordinates.
> Interview three people who have the same kind of job (such as salesperson, waiter/waitress, or teacher), and determine what kinds of needs each is trying to satisfy at work.
> Would a shortened workday motivate you to do a better job? Why or why not?
> Do you think a shortened workday would help improve productivity and decrease worker stress levels? Explain.
> How might providing employees with a shortened workday contribute to motivation from an equity theory perspective and from a need theory perspective?
> What would be your level of self-efficacy on this job? Why would your self-efficacy be at this level? Should your manager take steps to boost your self-efficacy? If not, why not? If so, what would these steps be?
> To what extent would you be motivated by self-control on this job? Why?
> Would there be any vicarious learning on this job? Why or why not?
> What behaviors would your manager positively reinforce on this job? Why? What positive reinforcers would your manager use?
> What needs would you strive to satisfy on this job? Why? What role would your manager play in helping you satisfy these needs?
> Discuss the most important decisions that must be made about (a) planning, (b) organizing, (c) leading, and (d) controlling, to allow you or your partners to use organizational resources effectively and build a competitive advantage.
> What goals would you strive to achieve on this job? Why? What role would your manager play in determining your goals?
> Whom would you choose as a referent on this job? What steps would your manager take to make you feel that you were being equitably treated? What would you do if, after a year on the job, you experienced underpayment inequity?
> What would be your levels of expectancy and instrumentality on this job? Which outcomes would have high valence for you on this job? What steps would your manager take to influence your levels of expectancy, instrumentality, and valence?
> Describe the pay level and pay structure of your consulting firm.
> Describe how you will appraise the performance of each group of employees and how you will provide feedback.
> Describe the training and development the engineers, the clerical/secretarial workers, and the MBAs will receive.
> Describe the steps you will take to recruit and select (a) the engineers, (b) the clerical/secretarial workers, and (c) the MBAs.
> Do you think managers should feel free to socialize and become good friends with their subordinates outside of the workplace if they so desire? Why or why not?
> Either individually or in a group, think about the ethical implications of managers’ becoming friendly with subordinates.
> Explain why union membership is becoming more diverse.
> Which building blocks of competitive advantage do you need to establish to help your restaurant succeed? What criteria will you use to evaluate how successfully you are managing the restaurant?
> Discuss why two restaurants in the same community might have different pay levels.
> Evaluate the pros and cons of 360-degree performance appraisals and feedback. Would you like your performance to be appraised in this manner? Why or why not?
> Describe the type of development activities you think middle managers are most in need of.
> Discuss why training and development are ongoing activities for all organizations.
> Discuss why it is important for human resource management systems to be in sync with an organization's strategy and goals and with each other.
> Interview a manager in a local organization to determine how that organization recruits and selects employees.
> Would you ever rely on a website like this to help you find a position? Why or why not?
> What can managers do to prepare their employees for a shift away from annual reviews and annual salary increases?
> From an employee viewpoint, do you think replacing small annual increases with bonuses based on performance is equitable? Why or why not?
> Decide what each partner’s managerial role in the restaurant will be. For example, who will be responsible for the necessary departments and specific activities? Describe your management hierarchy.
> From a managerial perspective, what are some potential disadvantages of ongoing, informal performance reviews?
> What levels of pay and benefits are provided for this job? Are these levels appropriate? Why or why not?
> How is performance of this job appraised? Does performance feedback contribute to motivation and high performance on this job?
> What training and development do people who hold this job receive? Are the training and development appropriate? Why or why not?
> How are people recruited and selected for this job? Are the recruitment and selection procedures the organization uses effective or ineffective? Why?
> What relative importance do you put on (a) output control, (b) behavior control, and (c) organizational culture in this design?
> Design the control system that you think will best motivate salespeople to achieve these goals.
> Similarly, some organization’s cultures seem to develop norms and values that cause their members to behave in unethical ways. When and why does a strong norm that encourages high performance become one that can cause people to act unethically? How can o
> Either by yourself or in a group, think about the ethical implications of organizations’ monitoring and collecting information about their employees. What kinds of information is it ethical or unethical to collect? Why? Should managers and organizations
> What are the main obstacles to organizational change? What techniques can managers use to overcome these obstacles?
> What steps might you take to prevent such unethical behavior and encourage people to behave in an ethical way?
> What kind of controls would you expect to find most used in (a) a hospital, (b) the Navy, (c) a city police force? Why?
> Why is it important for managers to involve subordinates in the control process?
> How do output control and behavior control differ?
> What is the relationship between organizing and controlling?
> Ask the same manager or a different manager to list the main forms of output control and behavior control that he or she uses to monitor and evaluate employee behavior.
> Ask a manager to list the main performance measures that he or she uses to evaluate how well the organization is achieving its goals.
> Is there anything about a particular company’s culture or structure that would make you want to work there?
> Do you notice any common values and norms in the top companies?
> From a financial performance perspective, what measures can farmers use to determine if weather-prediction technology should be part of their overall business plan?
> Do you think the agriculture industry will be able to successfully manage the changes brought about by this type of technology? Explain your reasoning.
> Either by yourself or in a group, give three reasons why you think the behavior was unethical. For example, what rules or norms were broken? Who benefited or was harmed by what took place? What was the outcome for the people involved?
> How can individual farmers use the four steps in the control process to take advantage of information gathered by weather prediction technology?
> Which output performance standards (such as financial measures and organizational goals) do managers use most often to evaluate performance at each level?
> At what levels does control take place in this organization?
> Based on this analysis, do you think there is a fit between the organization’s control systems and its culture? What is the nature of this fit? How could it be improved?
> What kind of culture does the organization have? What are the values and norms? What effect does the organizational culture have on the way employees behave or treat customers?
> How important is behavior control in this organization? For example, how much of managers’ time is spent directly supervising employees? How formalized is the organization? Do employees receive a book of rules to teach them how to perform their jobs?
> Does the organization have a management by objectives system in place? If it does, describe it. If it does not, speculate about why not.
> What kind of behavior controls will best facilitate positive interactions within the teams and among the teams?
> How would you help managers develop a culture to promote high team performance?
> What kind of output controls will best facilitate positive interactions both within and between the teams?
> In what ways do you think managers’ jobs have changed the most over the last 10 years? Why have these changes occurred?
> Some people argue that employees who have worked for an organization for many years have a claim on the organization at least as strong as that of its shareholders. What do you think of the ethics of this position—can employees claim to “own” their jobs
> What ethical rules (see Chapter 4) should managers use to decide which employees to terminate when redesigning their hierarchy?
> What is organizational culture, and how does it affect the way employees behave?
> How do matrix structure and product team structure differ? Why is product team structure more widely used?
> When and under what conditions might managers change from a functional to a (a) product (b) geographic, or (c) market structure?
> How might a salesperson’s job or an administrative assistant’s job be enlarged or enriched to make it more motivating?
> Using the job characteristics model as a guide, discuss how a manager can enrich or enlarge subordinates’ jobs.
> Would a flexible or a more formal structure be appropriate for each of these organizations? (a) A large department store (b) a Big Five accountancy firm (c) a biotechnology company. Explain your reasoning.
> Interview some employees of an organization to ask them about the organization’s values, norms, typical characteristics of employees, the organization’s ethical values and socialization practices. Using this information, try to describe the organization’
> With the same or another manager, discuss the distribution of authority in the organization. Does the manager think that decentralizing authority and empowering employees are appropriate?
> What are the building blocks of competitive advantage? Why is obtaining a competitive advantage important to managers?
> Find and interview a manager and identify the kind of organizational structure that his or her organization uses to coordinate its people and resources. Why is the organization using that structure? Do you think a different structure would be more approp
> Look at the organizational chart. What type of structure does Hitachi have?
> Find the Hitachi Vision Book. How will the journey toward its vision affect the structure of Hitachi?
> Click on the message from top management. What does this information tell you about how the structure might change or stay the same in the future?