What is organizational culture, and how does it affect the way employees behave?
> 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 are the potential advantages of online job searching and recruiting? What are the potential disadvantages?
> 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?
> 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?
> What impact do you think this acquisition will have on Microsoft’s organizational culture? On LinkedIn’s organizational culture?
> Using the information in the article alone, how do you believe Microsoft is organized?
> Based on recent Microsoft acquisitions that have not appeared to be successful, do you think the LinkedIn deal makes sense from an organizational standpoint? Explain your reasoning.
> Now that you have analyzed the way this organization is structured, what advice would you give to its managers to help them improve how it operates?
> What are the principal integrating mechanisms used in the organization? Do they provide sufficient coordination among people and functions? How might they be improved?
> Is the distribution of authority appropriate for the organization and its activities? Would it be possible to flatten the hierarchy by decentralizing authority and empowering employees?
> Identify an organization that you believe is high performing and one you believe is low performing. Give five reasons why you think the performance levels of the two organizations differ so much.
> How many levels are there in the organization’s hierarchy? Is authority centralized or decentralized? Describe the span of control of the top manager and of middle or first-line managers.
> What kind of organizational structure does the organization use? If it is part of a chain, what kind of structure does the entire organization use? What other structures discussed in the chapter might allow the organization to operate more effectively? F
> Can you think of any ways in which a typical job could be enlarged or enriched?
> Using the job characteristics model, how motivating do you think the job of a typical employee is in this organization?
> Which contingencies are most important in explaining how the organization is organized? Do you think it is organized in the right way?
> Which of these structures do you think is most appropriate, and why?
> Discuss how you can improve the way the current functional structure operates so it speeds website development.
> What kind of culture would you help create to make the company’s structure work more effectively?
> Discuss the pros and cons of moving to a (a) multidivisional, (b) matrix, and (c) product team structure to reduce website development time.
> In what ways do you think you will be able to improve on the operations and processes of existing sandwich shops and increase responsiveness to customers through better product quality, efficiency, or innovation?
> In what ways can managers at each of the three levels of management contribute to organizational efficiency and effectiveness?
> Think of your direct supervisor. Of what department is he or she a member and at what level of management is this person?
> Identify the product attributes that a typical sandwich shop customer wants the most.
> How big a layoff, if any, is acceptable? If layoffs are acceptable, what could be done to reduce their harm to employees?
> What criteria would you use to decide which kind of strategy is ethical to adopt and how far to push employees to raise the level of their performance?
> Either by yourself or in a group, think through the ethical implications of using a new functional strategy to improve organizational performance.
> What is innovation and what are some strategies managers can use to develop successful new products?
> Why is it important for managers to pay close attention to value chain management if they wish to be responsive to their customers?
> What is efficiency, and what are some strategies managers can use to increase it?
> What are the main challenges in implementing a successful total quality management program?
> What is CRM and how can it help improve responsiveness to customers?
> Go to a local store, restaurant, or supermarket; observe how customers are treated; and list the ways in which you think the organization is being responsive or unresponsive to the needs of its customers. How could this business improve its responsivenes
> Describe the difference between efficiency and effectiveness and identify real organizations you think are, or are not, efficient and/or effective.
> Ask a manager how responsiveness to customers, quality, efficiency, and innovation are defined and measured in his or her organization.
> What products would be most helpful to your new organization system, and why?
> What tips about improving your personal work flow do you want to try out after reading the tips, and why?
> How does Tesla’s decision to produce its own batteries impact management of the company’s value chain?
> Do you think Musk’s recent decision to buy SolarCity will have an impact on Tesla Motors’ business strategies? Explain your reasoning.
> Describe how Tesla is creating a competitive advantage by bringing battery production in house.
> What is the output of the organization?
> What product attributes do customers of the organization desire?
> Describe the value chain activities that the organization uses to produce this output.
