Organizational Behavior - Book Report/Review Example

MBA 5322: Essay Questions Question 3 points) The head of emergency services in a large strongly believes that heterogeneous teams are more effective than homogeneous teams. The executive wants to put this belief into practice by frequently rotating ambulance and other emergency service teams so that teams would constantly have new people with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This would be supplemented with a hiring process that deliberately selects people with diverse ethnic, cultural and educational backgrounds. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the executive’s actions in the emergency services agency (Note: in your response, please specify how diverse member characteristics are related to team performance, cohesiveness, conflict, and norms) In relation to diversity in organisations such as Emergency services: Strengths of heterogeneous teams: A heterogeneous team will incorporate individuals who are as diverse as possible in terms of point of view, educational backgrounds, opinions and experiences. Different race, gender and culture will provide a strong and dynamic bond. This also seeks to enhance culture awareness between people. Creativity is important and heightened thus a heterogeneous team has an advantage as compared to a homogeneous team in terms of new ideas to be implemented and those to be reviewed. Team performance: will be outstanding in terms of people having different point of views, educational backgrounds, and opinions such that creative ideas will be shared that will lead to growth, competitiveness and sustainability in the Emergency service unit/agency. Cohesiveness: individuals are bound to have a strong and dynamic bond that will translate to better productivity and setting goals and accomplishing them. Conflict: may also result but agreements between the team members could lead decision making that in quite innovative. Norms: even if a conflict occurs solving it is easy since heterogeneous teams create mentors and leaders who are diverse in their thinking capacity and problem solving capabilities. Weaknesses of heterogeneous teams: There could be lack of equal access to facility and participation of members, as there is a higher chance for being secluded by other members in terms of race and age. Language can be a factor of not understanding each other thus it can be a challenge in communication between the group members. Difference in learning capability can lead to other members lagging behind in terms of learning new concepts. Team performance: can be affected with regard to different opinions, point of view and level of understanding new concepts due to language as a variable. Cohesiveness: excessive cohesion can result to unaccepted decision-making that does not quite suit the situation at hand due to diversity of different points of view. Conflict: may also result from this excessive cohesion between the team members. Agreements in such teams can be difficult; but having to reconcile diverse viewpoints may lead to more innovative solutions. Norms: could be a challenge in terms of listening to others opinions, respect and treating others well but agreement and acknowledgment could resolve such issues. Question 2 (3 points): Power and Influence You are a new employee in a professional position, such as accountant or corporate lawyer. Your company is located in Vancouver and employs several hundred people with various backgrounds. Soon after joining the firm, you discover that the company does not apply certain technology or practices that are now recommended by most people in your profession. Under these circumstances, identify 3 different bases of power and 4 different types of influence tactics that you might use effectively to have senior management introduce these technologies or practices. In your answer, make sure to explain in detail why these power bases and tactics would be acceptable and effective in this situation. 3 different bases of power that would be applicable include: Legitimate Power – this is power related to a person’s title, position or job in the company. The company will give authority to an individual to influence the department (s) or persons that the company wishes to preside over. This base of power is effective in the fact that people have been modelled to follow power systems of employer and employee. This leads to employees following the orders that come from top hierarchy and so on. The followers need to know that their leader has the apt to instruct them. Referent Power – this is power related to social liking and networking with colleagues at work. The results are that the networking builds up relationships and the individual is liked by his or her colleagues. Best described as power often incorporated by charismatic leaders where the followers are simply influenced without the use of power. This base of power is effective in the fact that the charismatic leader is more likely to get a positive response without any form of power or coercion as one can request for small favors and they are implemented. The followers just need to be convinced that the leader has favorable qualities. Expert Power – this is power based on an individual due to their expertise or education or experience that a company values. That is the followers have to buy the fact that the individual has expert knowledge in their field of expertise without regard of whether the individual is a manager. This base of power is effective in the fact that the followers need to know that the leader is an expert and that that. 4 different types of influence tactics Rational persuasion tactic: This involves the use of real data and facts to co hearse an individual that a proposal is worthwhile to be implemented and it will lead to considerable goal achievement. In this tactic, pressure is least and there is possibility of a positive reply. Consultation tactic: This involves ensuring an individual is part and parcel of a planning activity or change that you would like them to support you in. Rather you need the support of someone else in order to get the proposal done. In this tactic, pressure is least and there is possibility of a positive reply. Inspirational appeals: This involves coming up with a proposal idea that will arouse interest to an individual with regard to the person’s values and standards. This will in return increase the chances of implementing the idea. Legitimating tactics: This involves an individual claiming to have the authority to get another individual to do something. An individual aims at ascertaining the authenticity of a request by ensuring and propagating for it that it will work but based on consistency and abiding by organizational norms, policies, rules and practices then they will get it done. Question 3 (3 points): Resolving Conflicts The newly hired CEO of an advertising agency noticed that employees were constantly arguing and debating with each other over design and ad copy. This cantankerous behavior was quite different from the more reserved and polite interactions that occurred in the CEO’s previous organization in the consumer products industry. To correct this problem, the CEO established a new motto (‘Serving Clients in Harmony’) and actively discouraged employees from the debates that occurred in the past. Some key staff members left the company over the next few months, saying that the company was losing its creative edge. However, the CEO was able to bring in new employees who were more discreet and subtle in their discussions with colleagues. Discuss the merits and limitations of the CEO’s actions: Conflicts in organizations are prone to occur due to differences in opinions, ideas, perspectives and desires but when handled in a professional way, they turn out to create dynamic bonds and growth in individuals. Demerits of the introduction of the new motto so as to solve conflicts: Clients will not be content with the services being offered by the company: Employees who are constantly debating and arguing with each other are prone to reduce client satisfaction as well as team work as each thinks they can best serve the client than the other. Thus no leads can be achieved by people constantly arguing with each other. Conflicting goals can quickly turn into personal dislike: Employees may end up disliking each other or even disliking the company and its officials. Some resort to leaving the company. Loosing key players in the company: Talent could be wasted as people leave the company. Thus implementing a new motto comes with the likelihood that some favorable employees are prone to leave in search of a freer environment that suite them better. Additional budget in employing other employees: In terms of costs associated with interviews and the entire selective process. Merits of the introduction of the new motto so as to solve conflicts: It acts as a learning experience: The employees perceive the new motto and they have to slightly change their methods of operation. This move seeks to resolve conflict and also expand the employee’s awareness in such situations giving them a bridge to achieve their personal goals without undermining other people’s goals. The new motto will ensure that the employees can learn the essence of better management of conflicts in their environment. They will learn how to face and resolve issues, better group cohesion through mutual respect and a team work. Better response to conflicts in future: the motto implemented by the CEO is prone to equip the employees with better management of conflicts in the future. Better stress management: Conflicts tend to trigger strong emotions. Thus a move like this will aim to help the employees at better manage stress and anxiety at the work place. Conflicts are an opportunity for growth and self knowledge: As it pushes individuals to re examine their goals and establish what is achievable to them. Question 4 (11.5 points): Leadership Please read "Creative Intelligence, Leadership, and the Challenge of the Future” (attached "Creativity & Leader") while reflecting on our discussions on leadership and answer the questions listed below: A. What are some challenges that leaders will encounter in the next century? (2.5 points) Lack of creativity: without creativity and design for the future, you lack an insight of what it entails. Thus this should be encouraged in organizations so as to ensure individuals are better equipped with the 21st century skills. Lack of problem solving skills: we are living in a challenging and phenomenal environment that creative leaders should be diverse and ready to take on new skills, else lack of these leaders will cause lack of problem solving individuals who do not know much about the environment that they are living in can easily lead to lack of skills to manage complexity in organizations. Adversity in terms of politics, production, education and religion and so on where each individual sector has their own beliefs and ideas of what is desirable. Warren Bennis conducted a research and some of the findings were that extraordinary leaders are those with the skills needed to overcome adversity and emerge better and stronger at the end of it. Lack of change: bureaucratic structures no longer work in this flexible business environment that we are in. Strategic and fast decisions from expert leaders are needed to achieve exceptional and effective performance. Hamel says that radical change can lead to innovation and that revolution is specifically needed to achieve these goals. B. List and discuss qualities that are important and relevant to creativity and leadership. (2.5 points) Skills and knowledge is important to creativity: having the right kind of skills and knowledge to deal with a situation makes leadership a manageable task. Having diverse skills and new methods leads to creativity of what methods can be implemented to gear the organization to another level. Change: is essential in terms of realizing that certain methods for work and other do not. Thus a leader should be able to know how to implement workable ideas in the organization and these changes should have the capability to be successful and ling term. Risk taking: Leadership is all about taking calculated risks, thinking beyond limitations. Risk taking can develop creativity on even greater ways to manage the unknown or uncertainty of the current environment or an undertaking. Motivational and supportiveness: this is a very crucial kind of quality where the leader’s task is to motivate and support his/her work force. With this kind of trait, a leader can also encourage his employees to be creative as he/she is and this will definitely lead to an environment that is formally innovative and competitive. C. What role does communication play in effective leadership? How can a leader communicate his/her vision and messages effectively? (2.5 points) Both leadership and communication are strategically bound together by the fact that an individual will never be a leader without followers. With these two aspects leaders seek to not only lead others but to also develop outstanding relationships with others for the future. So a leader can be able to communicate their vision and even establish a venture based plan using basic communication skills and they can also manage to deliver what they have to offer to his/her followers. Secondly, followers tend to abide by what a leader is talking about or the idea that they are advocating for. Thus communication is essential to showcase the idea being projected to the followers. This will definitely lead to vision propagating by the leader to his/her followers. Finally leaders are meant to face many obstacles that will in turn lead to personal growth. As they are also involved in decision making with other people, they also develop intrapersonal communication which in turn is essential in the decision making process and for the growth and development that a leader has to have. This kind of communication is personal but in the long run it develops to the outside surrounding. D. Finally, reflecting on the article, our class discussions on leadership models and theories, and reflecting on your own experience, answer the following questions. (A) Comment on the best leadership style for all situations and employees. Visionary leadership style: This is the most appropriate when a company or organization needs a new direction. Its main goal is to move individuals towards a new path to success. Goleman states that "Visionary leaders articulate where a group is going, but not how it will get there – setting people free to innovate, experiment, take calculated risks.” (B) Provide an example of a leader whom you know of or have worked with, and explain how this individual demonstrates some of the typical characteristics and behaviors identified by leadership research as typical of leaders. (4 points) Some of the characteristics associated with a leader and a mentor to me include: Personality: Personality includes other attributes such as high self esteem, adaptability, positive attitude, and a great personality. Social appraisal skills: social appraisal skills are so far the most important skills that reside in the leadership core. Social intelligence is another aspect that goes hand in hand with social appraisal skills. Marlowe refers to social intelligence as “the ability to understand the feelings, thoughts, and behaviours of persons, including oneself, in interpersonal situations and to act appropriately upon that understanding” (Marlowe, 1986, p. 52). Problem solving skills and expertise and solution generation: These are strong traits in a leader. Most appropriate in the event problems occur, there is a precise way to handle the problems that is procedural and strategic. **Optional Bonus Question (1 point): Select one OB topic/issue/concept that is contemporary, relevant, and crucial to understanding and managing employee behavior and then discuss its implications for managers and leaders (500 words or so) Organizational Behaviour (OB) is the study of how people, individuals, and groups behave in organizations. OB implements a systems approach that seeks to interpret employee-organization relationships with regard to the people involved, the groups within, the organization itself, and the whole social system. Its main agenda is to build better and strong relationships by attaining human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives. Another goal of OB is to explain, predict and know more about behaviour. Leadership is the ability to persuade a group toward the attaining of a goal or a set of goals. Organisations need strong and dynamic leadership and for optimal effectiveness. Managers and leaders need to exhibit these traits because leaders tend to take personal goal interest while managers play a passive role in accomplishing goal set in the organisation. Leaders have lead power and are expected to drive people and motivate them effectively towards achieving objectives. On the other hand managers need power to be entitled to them by the organisation so that they can efficiently to deal with people. Leader can act independently and confidently as opposed to managers who may need a little bit of supervision. Leaders focus on important matters such as developing future visions for the future and they also have interpersonal skills to communicate the vision to their people and also to help them overcome daily challenges that lead to that long term goal as opposed to managers who deeply concentrate on strategising plans, organisational the organisations structure, controlling deviations from plans and so on and forth Leaders often come to pass from groups through personal development and experience and without formal appointment while managers drive their power from the position that they have secured in the organisation and the formal authority that comes with the title and position. MBA 5322. Organizational Behavior, Mini-Case Are Five Heads Better than One? Evan, Conner, Alexis, and Derek, and Judy had been team members for one week, but they felt that they were already working well together. Upper management at their company, Advert, a medium size marketing firm, picked the five employees for a special project: the development of a commercial promoting the launch of a client’s 60-inch plasma flat-screen television. The project was especially critical because the television company was one of Advert’s most important clients, and the firm’s revenues had been slipping latterly due to a few poor ad campaigns. Needless to say, upper management at Advert wanted the team to hit a home run with the project. Upper management didn’t have any trouble picking the five employees. All were bright, talented individuals who came up with creative ideas. More important, reasoned the top managers, the employees were similar on a number of characteristics. Evan, Conner, Alexis, Derek, and Judy were around the same age, had worked for the company for about the same amount of time. They all tended to be social, friendly, and valued getting along with others. To give the team creative room, Management allowed them as much autonomy as possible. It gave the team the freedom to see the project through from start to finish—coming up with their own ideas, hiring someone to film the commercial, creating a budget, and presenting the final commercial to the client. The top managers had already met with and assured the client that it was in good hands with this team. Expected to begin working, the team decided to meet in person to discuss ideas for the commercial. Conner, who was used to leading others in his previous work groups, took the head seat at the group’s table. Immediately, he told the group his idea for the commercial. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I was first told about the project.” He said, “I know our client well, and I think they want us to do something out of the box, something that will grab people’s attention.” Conner proceeded to explain his idea for the commercial, which centered on a college student “loser” trying to get a date. After one particular attractive female turns him down, and she and her friends ridicule him, the student returns sullenly to his dorm, plunks down on an old sofa, and turns on his small, black and plasma TV in his dorm room, door ajar. While he’s doing this, the group of attractive females walks by. In the final shot, the student in his dorm room watching his new plasma television, with the group of attractive females around him. Following his explanation, Conner proudly asked, “Well, what do you all think?” Alexis was the first to speak up. “Um, I don’t know, well, I think it’s a pretty good start.” Hesitantly, she added, “The only thing that I worry about is that our client won’t like it. They pride themselves on being more sophisticated than their competitors. To them, this television is both an electronics device and a work of art.” Bu then, she quickly added, “But maybe you’re right that we need to do something different.” Conner, with a slight frown on his face, asked the other group members, “What about the rest of you guys?” Evan responded, “Yeah, I think it’s a pretty good idea.” “Judy?” asked Connor. Judy cautiously replied, “I agree, it has potential.” “Well, everyone else seems to agree with me. What do you think, Derek?” Conner asked, with the other three members staring intently at Derek. Derek paused for a moment. He had his own ideas as well, and because he had worked with the client previously, perhaps more than any of the other members, he wasn’t sure about Connor’s idea. Derek had pictured a commercial that place the television in a stylish, contemporary Manhattan apartment, with a couple in their 30s enjoying a classic movie, a bottle of red wine on the coffee table. Feeling the heat from his teammates’ gazes, Derek finally said, “Yeah, that sounds good.” “Great, it’s settled then,” beamed Conner, “We will have this commercial to them in no time if we stay at this pace.” So, the team fleshed out the commercial over the next month. Everyone got along and the feeling of camaraderie strengthened. Once on board with Conner’s idea, the team members became more confident that they would be successful, so much so that they made the commercial even racier than the original idea. The attractive girls would be dressed provocatively, and instead of watching the television, the male student and the girls would be laughing and drinking, with the television on in the background. There were few hesitations here and there as the members expressed other ideas, but each team member, enjoying the group’s solidarity, decided that it would be better to keep the team in good spirits rather than risk losing the team’s morale. Soon, the team had completed their commercial and the management was impressed with the fact that Conner’s team completed the commercial a month ahead of the deadline. On the day of the presentation, the team waited anxiously in a meeting room for their client to arrive. Soon after, three of the client’s managers, dressed in professional attire, walked into the meeting room and sat down quietly. After welcoming the clients, Conner and his team members began the presentation, with Conner leading the way. He explained that the idea had come to the team almost instantly, and that given that everyone thought it was a good idea and had no disagreements, he was sure that their company would feel the same. Then, he dimmed the lights, pressed play, and let the commercial run. It did not take long for the team to realize that the commercial was not having the effect they had wanted on their clients or their managers. The clients exchanged several sideway glances with one another, and the mangers shifted nervously in their seats. After what seemed like an eternity, the commercial ended and an awkward silence filled the room. The clients began murmuring among themselves. “That was, um, different,” said one of the clients. Conner replied that the idea was “out of the box,” and audiences, therefore, would easily remember it. “Oh, they will remember it all right,” smirked one of the clients. She then turned to Advert’s top managers and stated, “This is not at all what we were looking for. The commercial doesn’t fit our needs and doesn’t portray the image that we want to obtain. I am afraid but your company won’t be able to meet our goals. We appreciate the time this took, but we will likely employ another firm to film our commercial.” With that, she and her colleagues left the room swiftly. After a through lecturing form Adverts top managers, the team was disbanded. One month later, Derek was at home watching television when a commercial came on. Classical music played in the background as the camera swept through a modern home. The camera slowly rose up behind a tan leather sofa seating a couple in their 30s enjoying a bottle of wine and watching a new 60-inch plasma television. In the bottom corner of the screen, the name of one of Advert’s major competitors appears. Apparently, Adverts former clients got what they wanted in the end, but from a competitor. Mini-Case Questions: 1. What factors contributed to the poor performance of the Advert team? (3 points) Their ideology of coming up with an Advert that was “out of the box” cost them a poor performance as they were extremely over ambitious and overlooked the basics of a classy and good advert with regard to the target audience. Perhaps if they would have been more composed with what they were to do most probably they would have come up with a better Advert. Lack of understanding the client’s needs: What they sought to portray was what they wanted but not what the client wanted. That all goes to the fact that they did not do a better research on what is suitably to their clients with regard to age and so on. Lack of proper leadership and communication skill between the individuals, because there was no appropriate leader who could be able to strategically come up with a plan, do research and implement a great idea that was no going to be a letdown. The team composition was homogeneous, that is people of the same age bracket, education, experience thus the group lacked someone who was older and had better experience in relation to advertising and that is why they chose that advert genre instead of a classy and elegant type of advert suited for people who are really going to buy the plasma t.v. 2. (A) Please explain group phenomena that were dominant in the Advert team’s decision-making process in depth. The group methods were rational as it was based on facts and they depended upon support from other team members. The members should attend skills training so as to gain more understanding on client needs. (B) Then, come up with a group decision-making technique that could have helped reduce the Advert’s team’s sub-optimal decision in the case. In doing so, make sure to elaborate on strengths and the steps involved in your group decision-making technique recommendation. (4 points) Step 1 Recognize the need for a decision Step 2 Generate alternatives Step 3 Access alternatives Step 4 Choose among alternatives Step 5 Implement the chosen alternative Step 6 Learn from the feedback Step 1. Recognize Need for a Decision to be made: the group should know why they need to a decision to be made as to whether they want to do the Advert job in this case or not. Managers should first acknowledge and realize that a decision must be made as to whether to start the process or not. Step 2. Generate a set of alternatives that you wish to select one Managers should be able to develop feasible alternative courses of action. If a worthy alternative is missed, the resulting output decision is not solid. It is a challenge to develop creative ideas so managers need to look for new ideas that can be implemented. Step 3. Evaluate the alternatives Get to know what are the merits and demerits of each stated alternative. Managers should then specify the criteria, and then evaluate the better option. Step 4. Choose Among the Alternatives Stated The manager should have the capacity to rank the various alternatives and make a decision. Managers must also be sure that all the information is available and is brought to solve the issue at hand. Step 5. Implement the Chosen set or sets of Alternative(s) Managers should now undertake the chosen alternative. Step 6. Learn From Feedback that will be received Managers should be open to learn and to consider what went right and wrong with the decision that was implemented. Without the feedback, managers will not be able to know what to do next and/or what not to do next. 3. Teams can be either homogeneous or heterogeneous in terms of age, ethnicity, personality, experience, expertise, ability, and so on (please refer to the text chapters: Working with Teams and Foundations of Group Behavior, and any other relevant articles for information on team composition, diversity and its effects on team decision-making and subsequent performance). How would you characterize the Advert team, and how did this affect the team’s creativity and performance? (3 points) The advert team can be characterized as: On spot decision makers: they came up with a decision to take Connor’s idea even before screening the idea and doing research on other adverts of the same category.(Intuition decision making involves readily acceptable decisions that require little effort and information gathering thus lead to hasty output.) 4. (A) How would you describe Conner’s leadership style? Why do you think his style was ineffective? Participative style or democratic: This method was ineffective as the leader was not one person, all of them could have been potential leaders. Everyone is part of the team, thus a decision can be made by one person only and the rest are coerced to comply. Decisions are made with ambiguity, not everyone could have contributed to that and even if they did not contribute they had to accept what was being proposed. (B) If Advert company hired you as a leadership consultant to advise the team, which leadership style(s) would you suggest and why (4 points) Autocratic leadership style: there is an established leader in place. Why? Because time is essential and there is minimized time on decision making. Individuals tend to lack the extensive knowledge and skill that is why there is a leader in place to guide them through. Thus the elimination of poor decisions by unskilled employees. At times group members tend to not get along thus a leader should be in place to ensure that there in stable functioning of the group. Tells employees what they want done and how to do it. This best accomplishes the set goals especially if the person giving the order is more skilled and experienced. 5. Please create a question (questions) that you believe are crucial to understanding issues presented in the case but the preceding questions did not adequately address. Then, answer your question(s).(3 points) a) What is the ability of the group members to discover what idea to implement and what not to implement? Answer: They should be able to use a decision making technique instead of being quick to pop out a solution without researching whether its viable or not. b) Does the company have a consultant in decision making and does it need one in the event there is no one to make a clear cut do or not do kind of decision? Answer: No it does not have a consultant in place; even the managers in place were not capable of knowing what the best course of action to take was. Yes it needs a leader who can apply a set or course of leadership style to fit the situation that best will utilize the leadership style. c) Does the company need to implement a heterogeneous team? Answer: Yes because the current team was homogeneous and it led to a disaster kind of Advert that was presented to the clients. d) Does the company need to implement team learning? Answer: Yes because with a homogeneous type of team a lot of team learning is needed from older and more experienced colleagues as they will gain knowledge of do and don’ts through that. e) Does the organization need to implement group activity? Answer: Yes because the managers will meet up and generate ideas that are far much better and the group members shall not be allowed to evaluate alternatives until the stated and better alternatives are listed and the merits and demerits of each are also discussed and a final short list is created. Read More