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Organizational Behavior: Submitted To
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Analysis of Cases
Case#1
Treetop Forest Products
Problem Statement
The primary focus problem at treetops appears be lack of focus by management on packaging
department; the packaging team at Treetop Forest is experiencing many problems. Their output
was shrinking and affecting the rest of the departments adversely. The unproven employees were
slacking off, not gelled together and were adopting norms that were not fitted with the
company. Inventory costs and the risk of damaged stocks were also increasing. The quality of the
finished products is also decreasing, resulting in a loss in the market share in the industry, hence
being unable to compete with other companies. Because market was quite competitive.
As a result of there being no full time manager assigned to the packaging department the
management at Treetop appears to have broken their psychological contract with the packaging
department employees. Supervisor of other departments were bound to supervise packaging
department as well, in addition to their normal duties. Social loafing was causing the decrease in
productivity in the packaging team. The inclination to suppress physical or intellectual effort
when performing a group task represents the slacking behaviours of the employees in that
department. The lack of supervision is also one of the main causes of most of the problems
stated. The group’s cohesiveness is causing them to behave in similar manners, as additive tasks,
even though the behaviours adopted are not in line with the norms of the rest of the company
(taking longer breaks etc). this packaging department has been separated from others and was far
from others which made it impossible for supervisors to go in the afternoon, the employees feel
isolated and excluded from the company, causing lack of motivation. The group’s poor
performance is causing an overstock which results in high inventory costs and risk of damaged
stocks since they have to be stored outside ultimately causing the poor appearance of the finished
product which affects the buyer’s decision. It can be assumed that it is a larger group due to the
tasks that need to be performed, which affects the group in many ways. In larger groups,
friendships develop, participation decreases and disengagement increases resulting in process
loss: a group performance difficulty stemming from the problems of motivation and coordination
in larger groups.
1. To deal with the gazillions of issues company should start from the social loafing:
Increase feelings of indispensability. Doing this within the group would motivate the
employees. Increase performance feedback, so that employees will know how to improve
themselves as well as knowing what they did well. Reward group performance.
Positive Consequence:
They will be highly motivated whatever they do.
They will feel as part of the organization since they would know what the company’s
goals are.
2. To have a more structured environment, Treetop should hire and train a new supervisor
only for the packaging department.
Positive Consequence:
This solution will decrease inventory costs and increase the production and quality of the
finished products.
Effective communication between the other departments to balance the productivity
levels
Negative Consequence:
3. To reduce the overtime costs, limits should be put on the amount of overtime hours an
employee is allowed to use, along with a deadline for a specific amount of products.
Positive Consequence:
Because these goals are imposed, the employees may be reluctant to achieve them. To avoid this
situation, the goals could be discussed therefore increasing the probability of their achievement.
Recommended Solution
It would be recommended to implant supervision since it is the main cause of all the problems,
The group needs structure and a supervisor would therefore help resolve most problems.
Implemented Solution
Question
1. Based on “team dynamics”, why the packaging is less productive than others?
2. How should they change non-productive norms than exist in the packaging?
Answer :
1.
About Company:
Issued faced:
Alternative Plans:
There must be a clear policy of rewards and punishment for employees if they do
something wrong. The reward system will help the employees to improve their
performance which punishment system will help the employees to reduce the unethical
activities by employees which will ultimately result in more performance and less cost.
There must be clear and sound policies for employees which will help them align their
personal and organizational goals. This will definitely have positive consequences on the
employee’s performance.
Company must also work for the training of its managers and some sort of orientation for
employees as the employees are not permanent so company must not involve in training
of employees instead it should give an 2 to 3 days orientation to its employees.
Plan of Action
According to available solutions we should make a sound policy and before we make it we have
to resolve the problem between management and employees as employees or mangers are not
even properly aware of the policies of the company. Along with the clear goals and policy the
company must also look for the reward and punishment for the employees which will help the
employees to achieve their targets.
Case#3
“Conflict Management”
The initial cause of conflict is misbehaving. Gentlemen do not try to understand or at least to
respect each other’s point of view. Problem is creating hype without any apparent reason, it
seems to be a personality clash more than a management conflict, company’s two key managers
of technical development and product Engineering, playing “blame games”. Problems lies at
both ends, on one hand Mr. George have “Neuroticism personality model” whereas on other
hand Mr. Ralph has conscientiousness characteristics in his personality. There is no doubt that
Mr. George was misusing his authority. He is fond of authoritative leadership style and seems to
be charismatic leader. Although he had no authority to interfere in other departments but his
charisma is influencing others worker to work for him and people leave their department to join
him.
Mr. Ralph had his own issues; He has lack of leadership qualities, he preferred small groups to
large, complex ones and that was the reason he could not adjust himself in a new job position. He
was not good in interpersonal relations with John and with other coworkers, which became a root
cause of moral ebb, employee apathy, more lateness and absence in his division. Instead of
improving himself he thought that George was playing games with his department by stealing his
key people.
Mr. Henry is extraversion who also thought, George had tried to lure some of his better talent
away during recent past. Mr. Jones position as area manger could be a question mark because he
had a responsibility for smooth functioning.
Theories applications:
In our case conflict management strategies could help us to resolve the issue. The five possible
strategies are: withdrawal, suppression, integration, compromise and authority.
Under the circumstances Suppression or Diffusion strategy would be applicable here
because a cooling down period is needed, The issue is unimportant and relationship is
important but we should aware of intensity of issue.
We could also apply Compromise strategy because power is equal here, recourses are
limited and a win-win settlement is desired. But we may need a third party for
negotiation.
There could be another strategy named Mediation could use to resolve the conflict; It has
become a central focus of the policy debate surrounding workplace dispute resolution.
“There is significant scope for encouraging parties to resolve workplace disputes at the
earliest opportunity. There is evidence to show that where a problem has arisen that could
not be resolved by discussion between the parties (and that should always be the first
step), inviting a mediator – an independent and impartial third party – to work with the
two people involved can bring about a swift resolution of the issue.” (BIS, 2011:19)
There is another theory of leadership styles which helped us to understand George
behavior as follows: Authoritative leadership style: George’s personality is authoritative,
as mentioned in the case that he is “hard nosed” manager.
Five factors of Personality model has also helped us to understand each individual
involved in presented case.
Expectancy theory of Motivation also remain useful to understand the George character
as it explains: E-to- P: George wanted to put specific effort level that will result in
specific level of performance.
A sound policy should be made that so no one can interfere in other departments. As a
positive consequence future problems and issues can be avoided. And as a negative
consequence people may feel detached from other departments
Information should be flowed through proper channel and a proper record should be
maintained. As a positive consequence indirect employee exploitation would be avoided.
And as a negative consequence, it is time consuming.
Being reserved by nature would not help Ralph, he should try to adopt interpersonal
skills. As a positive consequence he may become well recognized about his employees’
circumstances, thus gaining more department support. And as a negative consequence,
the employees may become more relaxed because of his friendly attitude.
According to available solutions we should make a sound policy and before we make it we have
to resolve the conflict by adopting conflict management strategies discussed above. There might
be some hurdles or pressure could come across from certain departments, but once we took the
initiative the future conflict can be avoided.
Case#4
Case#5
Chandler’s Restaurant
Solutions:
A sound policy should be made so that no one can interfere in others work. As a positive
consequence future problems and issues can be avoided. And as a negative consequence
people may feel detached from other departments of the restaurant.
Information should be communicated through a proper channel. As a positive
consequence the misunderstandings among the cooks and the runners can be eliminated.
And as a negative consequence, it is time consuming as the people working in
restaurants do not have much time on hand.
The workers can be given a training in which they can learn how to coordinate
and communicate effectively with one another. It would help maintain
coordination among the workers but would require sufficient time.
The rank of the runners should be increased and their wages should be increased
as well.
Plan of Action:
There should be a proper channel for the flow of information. All the workers need to coordinate
with one another in order to benefit the organization. Training of the employees would greatly
help them to coordinate and communicate with each other effectively and would help reduce all
the stereotypes and prejudices.
Five factors of Personality model has also helped us to understand each individual
involved in presented case.
Traditional Cognitive models of Attitudes can also be useful.