You manage the customer service department for an online clothing retailer. Customers tend to call or email with the same types of complaints and problems, day after day, and your employees are getting bored and listless. Some are starting to miss more days of work than usual, and several have quit recently. A few customers have called you directly to complain about poor treatment from your staff. Use the job characteristics model to identify several ways you could improve motivation, job satisfaction, and performance.
> What external environmental factors affect strategic marketing decisions?
> What is strategic marketing planning, and what is its purpose?
> How does the organizational market differ from the consumer market?
> Why are companies pushing for more accountability from the marketing function?
> Concept Integration. How might the key economic indicators discussed in Chapter 2, including consumer price index, inflation, and unemployment affect a company’s marketing decisions?
> If you were launching a new manufacturing company, would you draft your marketing plan or design your production processes first? Why?
> How might a retailer use relationship marketing to improve customer loyalty?
> Ethical Considerations. Is it ethical to observe shoppers for the purposes of marketing research without their knowledge and permission?
> Why do companies segment markets?
> Why does a company need to consider its current marketing situation, including competitive trends, when setting objectives for market share?
> What sort of customers should a company target for the introductory phase of a product’s life cycle?
> Should companies open themselves up to criticism by being active on social media?
> How does the long history of labor-management relations affect labor relations in today’s economy?
> How does mediation differ from arbitration?
> What is a collective bargaining agreement?
> What is a right-to-work law?
> How did the Wagner Act affect the balance of power between unions and employers?
> From an employee’s perspective, what are the potential benefits of unionization?
> Concept Integration. Which motivation theory or theories discussed in Chapter 10 help explain the sometimes contentious nature of labor relations?
> A co-worker is arguing that the President should not have the authority to issue an injunction to stop a strike because doing so violates the legal rights of workers. How would you respond?
> What advice would you give the founders of a new company who want to avoid unionization efforts among their workforce as the company grows?
> Is there still any need for traditional marketing techniques in a world of social commerce? Why or why not?
> You work as an organizer for a union that is trying to persuade workers in the banking industry to unionize. You’ve collected authorization cards from 52 percent of the workers at a particular company. Should you file a petition with the NLRB for a secre
> Why have alt-labor groups caught on in the past few years, when the union model is already in place as a way to advocate for workers?
> What are some of the explanations for the decline in labor union membership in the past 50 years?
> How does the relationship between labor and management reflect the potential for conflict in the stakeholder model?
> How do incentive programs encourage employees to be more productive, innovative, and committed to their work?
> What is the glass ceiling?
> How do defined benefit plans differ from defined contribution plans?
> What is the purpose of conducting a job analysis? What are some of the techniques used for gathering information?
> What are some strategic staffing alternatives that organizations use to avoid overstaffing and understaffing?
> What do human resources managers do?
> If you have a product that appeals to the majority of consumers in a given market, would there be any value in segmenting the market before launching the product? Why or why not?
> Explain the purpose of the six major functional areas in a business enterprise. (1) Do companies that deliver services rather than creating tangible goods ever need to engage in research and development? Why or why not? (2) Why is good customer support e
> Concept Integration. Of the five levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which is satisfied by offering salary? By offering health-care benefits? By offering training opportunities? By developing flexible job descriptions?
> What steps could you take as the owner of a small software company to foster “temporary loyalty” from the independent programmers you frequently hire for short durations (one to six months)?
> Assume you are the manager of human resources at a manufacturing company that employs about 500 people. A recent cyclical downturn in your industry has led to financial losses, and top management is talking about laying off workers. Several supervisors h
> Ethical Considerations. Corporate headhunters have been known to raid other companies of their top talent to fill vacant or new positions for their clients. Is it ethical to contact the CEO of one company and lure him or her to join the management team o
> Why is it in a company’s best interests to break down the glass ceiling?
> Why would companies include vesting criteria in their 401(k) retirement plans?
> Why do some employers offer comprehensive benefits even though the costs of doing so have risen significantly in recent years?
> How does the expectancy theory explain the effect of self-doubt on employee motivation?
> What is negative reinforcement?
> What are the core job dimensions in the job characteristics model?
> What are some of the ways that pay-for-performance schemes could backfire if a company doesn’t set them up carefully or effectively manage the factors that affect employee performance?
> What is management by objectives?
> What is expectancy theory?
> What is motivation?
> Concept Integration. Chapter 7 discussed several styles of leadership, including autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. How do each of these styles relate to Theory X and Theory Y assumptions about workers?
> Ethical Considerations. Motivational strategies that reward employees for meeting specific performance targets can encourage them to work hard—sometimes too hard. Overwork can contribute to mental and physical health problems as well as interfere with o
> Why do managers often find it difficult to motivate employees who remain after downsizing? Explain your answer in terms of one or more motivational theories discussed in the chapter.
> What effect will job enhancement likely have on someone with low growth needs? Why?
> How might a deadline that is too easy to meet cause someone to work more slowly than he or she might otherwise work?
> Why is it important to monitor performance variables that are the most meaningful, not those that are the most easily measurable?
> How is management likely to change as companies increasingly use contingent workers over full-time employees?
> What is scalability, in the context of managing a service business?
> What is a lean system?
> What is mass customization?
> Why is offshoring controversial?
> What role does feedback play in a system?
> Concept Integration. How might supply chain management issues influence your decision on how to expand your vitamin and nutritional supplements company internationally?
> You’ve developed a reputation as an outstanding math tutor, and you want to turn your talent into a full-time business after graduation. How will you address the challenge of scalability in your new venture?
> If 30 percent of the patrons eating at your restaurant say they won’t eat there again, what steps would you take to define the problem(s) that needs to be solved, measure the relevant performance variables, and then analyze the root cause of the problem(
> Business is booming. Sales last month were 50 percent higher than the month before, and so far, this month is looking even better than last month. Should you hire more people to accommodate the increase? Explain your answer.
> Ethical Consideration. How does society’s concern for the environment affect a company’s decisions about facility location and layout?
> Why might a service business be more selective than a goods-producing business regarding the customers it pursues or accepts?
> How does perishability affect the delivery of services?
> How can supply-chain management (SCM) help a company establish a competitive advantage?
> Why do some firms now think in terms of value webs instead of value chains?
> Why is important for companies to decide on their core competencies before choosing an organization structure?
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of the unstructured organizational model?
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of functional departmentalization?
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of work specialization?
> What are the characteristics of tall organizations and flat organizations?
> What is an agile organization?
> Concept Integration. Chapter 7 discussed several styles of leadership, including autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. Using your knowledge about the differences in these leadership styles, which style would you expect to find under the following or
> How does the offshoring controversy reflect the larger question of balancing the competing demands of stakeholder groups?
> Concept Integration. One of your competitors has approached you with a merger proposal. The economies of scale would be terrific. So are the growth possibilities. There’s just one issue to be resolved. Your competitor is organized under a flat structure
> You’ve recently accepted a job as the U.S. sales manager for a German manufacturing company. One of your first assignments is serving on a virtual problem solving team with colleagues from Germany, France, Japan, and South Korea. Budgets are tight, so yo
> You are the leader of a cross-functional work team whose goal is to find ways of lowering production costs. Your team of eight employees has become mired in the storming stage. The team members disagree on how to approach the task, and they are starting
> Ethical considerations. A company executive accidentally emailed you a confidential spreadsheet with the salaries of all the employees in the company. You took only a quick peek before deleting it, but you looked long enough to discover that other manag
> How can companies benefit from using virtual teams?
> What can managers do to help teams work more effectively?
> How can a virtual organization reduce costs?
> Why is cognitive intelligence alone insufficient for effective leadership?
> Why are interpersonal skills important to managers at all levels?
> How does leadership differ from management?
> Review the “Loss of Meaning and Connection” bullet point on page 191 in the discussion of the potential challenges of unstructured organizations. If you were planning to launch an unstructured organization, what steps could you take to help ensure that a
> What is the goal of crisis management?
> What is forecasting, and how is it related to the planning function?
> What is management? Why is it so important?
> What is the principal difference between a business plan (as discussed in Chapter 6) and a strategic plan?
> Using Welch Allyn’s mission statement on page 150 as a model and the material you learned in Chapter 4, develop a mission statement that balances the pursuit of profit with responsibility to employees and community. Choose either a manufacturer of musica
> You’re the youngest person in your department, and you just got promoted to department manager? What steps could you take to make sure all your employees have confidence in your management and leadership?
> Which would be more difficult to forecast 10 years from now: the number of 60 year-olds or their average disposable income? Why?
> Ethical considerations. Apart from meeting the company’s future talent needs, do managers have a personal ethical obligation to help their employees develop and advance in their careers? Explain your answer.
> Why are coaching and mentoring effective leadership techniques?
> How do autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire leadership differ?
> What are some possible benefits and risks of having teams compete against each other, such as having the sales teams from various regions compete to add the newest customers?
> Who provides the leadership in a self-managed team or other organizational unit without an appointed manager? Explain your answer
