ABDM2073 Organisational Behavior

Tutorial 2

1. Discuss the four management functions defined by Henri Fayol as described in your text.

2. Discuss Henry Mintzberg’s ten different roles. Group them as being primarily interpersonal,
informational, and decisional.

Interpersonal

Figurehead: As head of department or an organization, a manager is expected to carry out ceremonial

and symbolic duties. He required to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature.

Leader: A leader is responsible for the motivation and direction of employees. He coaches and
supports staff, enters into official conversations with them, assesses them and offers education and
training courses.

Liaison: A manager serves as an intermediary and a linking pin between the high and low levels. He
maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favors and information.

Informational

Monitor: As a monitor, the manager receives a wide variety of information. He serves as nerve center
of internal and external information of the organization. He is also responsible for arranging,
analyzing, and assessing this information so that he can easily identify problems, opportunities and
identity changes.

Disseminator: As a disseminator, the manager transmits information received from outsiders or from
other employees to members of the organization.

Spokesperson: As a spokesperson, the manager represents the company and he transmits information
to outsiders on organization’s plans, policies, actions, and results. He serves as expert on
organization’s industry.

Decisional- Searches organization and its environment for opportunities and initiates projects to bring
about change.

Entrepreneur: As an entrepreneur, he responsible for corrective action when organization faces

important, unexpected disturbances.

Resource allocator: As a resource allocator, he makes or approves significant organizational

decisions.

Negotiator: As a negotiator, he responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations.

3. Samantha Reeves works as a sales manager at Synergy Bank. Explain the nature of tasks
she would be performing according to Mintzberg's concept of leadership role.

Tutorial 3

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1. Explain THREE (3) characteristics of a highly formalized organization in detail.

2. Diversified Technologies, Inc. (DTI) makes four types of products, each type to be sold to
different types of clients. For example, one product is sold exclusively to automobile repair
shops, whereas another is used mainly in hospitals. Expectations within each client group are
surprisingly similar throughout the world. The company has separate marketing, product
design, and manufacturing facilities in Asia, North America, Europe, and South America
because, until recently, each jurisdiction had unique regulations governing the production and
sales of these products.

Describe TWO (2) forms departmentalization might be best for DTI.

3. Mark is the owner of a local shoe business. He has fifteen employees who report directly to
him, he makes all the decisions regarding the type and quality of shoes, and he looks after
the shop's finances. Which type of organizational structure does Mark have?

(a) Explain TWO (2) characteristics of organizational structure does Mark have? Give examples
for your answer.

(b) Discuss ONE (1) advantage and ONE (1) disadvantage of organizational structure does Mark
have. Justify your answer.

4. Compare THREE (3) common organization designs. Justify your answer.

Tutorial 4

Case study: Merritt’s Bakery

In 1979, Larry and Bobbie Merritt bought The Cake Box, a small business located in a tiny 450-foot
store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The couple were the only employees. “I would make cakes and Bobbie
would come in and decorate them,” Larry recalls. Then, a doughnut shop around the corner was put
up for sale, and its owner made it possible for the Merritts to buy that business. They moved to the
larger location and changed the company’s name to Merritt’s Bakery to reflect the broader variety of
products sold. The Merritts hired their first two employees, who performed front-of-store sales and
service. Over the next decade, Merritt’s Bakery’s physical space doubled and its revenues increased
13-fold. The company employed 20 people by the time it made its next move.

In 1993, Merritt’s Bakery moved to a 6,000-foot location across the street. The business became so
popular that customers were lining up down the street to buy its fresh baked goods. “That looks like
success to a lot of people, but that was failure,” says Bobbie Merritt. The problem was that the couple
didn’t want to delegate production to employees, but they couldn’t produce their baked goods or
decorate their carefully crafted cakes fast enough to keep up with demand. “We felt like failures
because we had to work those 20 hours (per day),” she reflects.

At some point, the Merritts realized that they had to become business owners and managers rather
than bakers. They devised a plan to grow the business and drew up an organizational structure that
formalized roles and responsibilities. When a second Merritt’s Bakery store opened across town in
2001, each store was assigned a manager, a person in charge of baking production, another in
charge of cake decorating and pastries, and someone responsible for sales. A third store opened a
few years later. Larry worked on maintaining quality by training bakery staff at each store. “Because it
is so difficult to find qualified bakers nowadays, I want to spend more time teaching and developing
our products,” he said at the time.

Christian Merritt, one of Larry and Bobbie’s sons, joined the business in 2000 and now runs the
business. An engineer by training with experience in the telecommunications industry, Christian soon
developed flowcharts that describe precise procedures for most work activities, ranging from simple
store-front tasks (cashiering) to unusual events such as a power outage. These documents
standardized work activities to maintain quality with less reliance on direct supervision. Christian also

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introduced computer systems to pool information across stores about how much inventory exists,
which products are selling quickly, and how much demand exists for Merritt’s famous custom cakes.
The information improved decision making about production, staffing, and purchasing without having
to directly contact or manage each store as closely.

In late 2007, Merritt’s Bakery opened a dedicated production center near the original store and moved
all production staff into the building, affectionately called “the Fort.” The centralized production facility
reduced costs by removing duplication of staff and equipment, provided more consistent quality, and
allowed the stores to have more front store space for customers. Today, Merritt’s Bakery employs
more than 80 people, including production managers, store managers, and a marketing director. Two-
thirds of the business is in the creation of cakes for birthdays, weddings, and other events, but the
company also has three busy and popular stores across Tulsa. “We’re just now getting the pieces in
place to start to treat Merritt’s Bakery like a business, with a lot of parts that we manage from a
distance,” says Christian Merritt. “We’re present but detached; we have our hands in a lot of things,
but it’s in managing stores instead of operating them.”

(Sources: S. Cherry, “Not without Its Merritt’s,” Tulsa World, April 13, 2001, 19; D. Blossom, “Bakery Has Recipe for Success,”
Tulsa World, October 28, 2002, A7; M. Reynolds, “A Difficult Choice Pays Off for Merritt’s Bakery,” Modern Baking, March
2010, 39; “Flour Power, Tulsa People, May 2011).

1. Describe how span of control and centralization have changed at Merritt’s Bakery over the
Years?

2. Is the Merritt’s Bakery’s organizational structure today more mechanistic or organic? Are these two
organizational structure elements well suited to the company in their current form? Why or why not?

Essay questions

1. Explain how the external environment, organizational size, technology, and strategy are
relevant when designing an organizational structure.

2. Studies report that college instructors are frequently required to engage in emotional labor.
Identify the situations in which emotional labor is required for this job.

Tutorial 5- Motivation concepts

1. The church you go to every Sunday is made up of people who have very different lifestyles
and are at different stages in their life. Joanna is a 23-year-old single parent who works for
minimum wage and shifts from motel to motel for accommodation. Josephine is a single, 45-
year-old woman who earns a decent salary and has few interests and friends outside her
office. You have decided to apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs to determine what motivates
each of these individuals.

a) Describe ONE (1) need that would most likely motivate Joanna? Justify your answer.
b) Explain ONE (1) need that would most likely motivate Josephine? Justify your answer.

2. Erika wants to become the head of the HR department. Although the role comes with a
generous salary hike and will put her in charge of several subordinates, she is mainly
pursuing this position because she believes she can do the job better than anyone else and
wants people to know this. According to McClelland's theory of needs, explain ONE (1) need
is Erika primarily driven by in this case?

3. Explain TWO (2) similarities between Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and McClelland's
theory of needs.

4. George is trying to teach his two-year old son to gently cares their cat. George softly strokes the
animal and every time his son does the same, he rewards him with kind words like "good job!" The
child is very attentive during the process and claps his hands when his father praises him. However,
as soon as George leaves, the boy lunges for the cat and grabs it by the tail. Provide ONE (1) process
of social learning theory is failing.

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Tutorial 6 - Personality, Work attitudes and behavior

1. All candidates applying for a management trainee position are given a personality test that
measures the five dimensions in the five-factor model. Explain THREE (3) Big Five personality traits
would you consider most important for this type of job? Explain your answer.

2. Mara is looking to send one of her team members on an international assignment to China to train
a group of employees located at her company's office in Beijing. As part of the assignment, the
chosen employee will have to undergo a three-week diversity training program to help him/her learn
about his/her new environment. Bryan, one of Mara's colleagues, is interested in taking up the
assignment.

Apply ONE (1) dimension of Big Five Traits on Bryan to enhance the likelihood that Bryan will be
selected.

3. A college graduate, Simon recently joined the major newspaper as journalists. Both work long
hours and have tight deadlines for completing his stories. He is under constant pressure to scout out
new leads and be the first to report new controversies. Explain his THREE (3) possible reactions of
job dissatisfaction. Give examples to support your answer.

Tutorial 7 – Understanding perception and attribution

1. David Myers perceive that people who drive SUVs are rash drivers. He feels that people driving
SUVs do not respect road rules and always violate traffic regulations. Provide ONE (1) factor affecting
Myers' perception of SUV drivers?

2. Alicia Akers works as a marketing executive. She always talks in a high pitch and often draws a lot
of attention wherever she is. Examine ONE (1) reason behind people noticing Akers.

3. Amanda Winter worked as a public engagement coordinator at Safe Food Alliance until three
months ago when her manager, Laura Morris, promoted her to the position of a sustainable food
campaigner. However, soon after this, Laura noticed that Amanda was facing major difficulties in
achieving campaign milestones and the project was falling behind schedule due to her lack of
performance.

a) Applying ONE (1) common shortcuts in judging others to explain Laura’s action to promote
Amanda.
b) Provide TWO (2) impacts of Laura’s behaviors towards her subordinates. Support your answer with
relevant example.

4. Define fundamental attribution error. Explain with TWO (2) examples.

Tutorial 8 – Motivation concepts to application

1. Andrew is a software tester. He runs through the same types of programs day after day looking for
bugs and reporting them. He is taking night classes on programming. Often, he knows the best
solution to many of the bugs, but he is still learning to code.

a. Describe TWO (2) job characteristics that Andrew is striving to improve.

b. Explain ONE (1) way that Andrew's manager can redesign his current job to help him reach his
goals.

2. Nora Elm is a newly-appointed HR manager at Seven Oaks, a famous PR firm that is not doing too
well at present. As she assumed the post of the HR manager, everyone impressed upon her the need
to energize the employees and motivate them to give their best to the job. After she met with the
employees and managers, she felt that many employees were demotivated because they had
attained their maximum potential in their current job roles. Additionally, she felt that though the
management believed strongly in its employee-friendly nature, this nature was not manifested in its
actions. The company has nominated some employees to its board of representatives but this is only
a symbolic act of employee involvement. Those employees who were on the board had begun to

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mimic the management's action of attributing the lack of any constructive change to company policies.

Describe any TWO (2) changes that Nora should propose at the meeting. Justify your answer.

3. Samantha Barnes is an emergency medical technician. Recently, during an emergency call, she
was able to resuscitate a man who had a cardiac arrest. Subsequently, she spent some time calming
the 12-year-old daughter of the patient and looked after her until the rest of the patient's family arrived
at the hospital.

Examine ONE (1) characteristic of Samantha’s job. Justify your answer.

4. Adam Sears is an assembly line employee with Swenson Motors. Though Adam is popular among
his supervisors and colleagues, Adam experiences low morale and lack of motivation. He feels
frustrated that his job is restricted to fixing nuts and bolts on the car parts. He fears that he has no
chances of advancing in his career as he cannot completely assemble a car.

Provide ONE (1) characteristic of Adam’s job. Justify your answer.

Tutorial 9 – Communication

1. Stacey was at work when Ann, her sister, called to confirm their dinner plan the following weekend
at their Aunt Hilda's farmhouse. Stacey said she would call Joe, her husband, and get back to her.
However, when Stacey called her back, Ann could not hear most of what she said because Jennifer,
Ann's daughter, was crying loudly in the background.

a) Provide ONE (1) first sender in this scenario. Justify your answer.
b) Identify ONE (1) noise in the communication process depicted in this scenario. Justify your answer.

2. Reuben Williams, the marketing manager for F&B Industries, is frustrated. He feels that the
production division repeatedly lets his division down. Although the latest marketing strategy
announced that a new product would be available in the market by July, the production division was
unable to complete the production of the first batch till August. The production manager claims that
manpower is short and the targets placed on the production division are unreasonably high. To
resolve this deadlock, they will be meeting soon.

Examine ONE (1) communication direction referring above scenario. Justify your answer.

3. Explain and provide ONE (1) workplace example for each of the following communication
situations:

a) oral communication in downward flowing direction

b) written communication in upward flowing direction

4. Genepa Corporation manufactures home appliances and other electronic products. Genepa is
planning to introduce a new refrigerator model. The marketing manager at Genepa has developed a
marketing plan for this new product and wants to communicate this plan to all the employees in the
marketing department.

Explain ONE (1) best form of communication for communicating this plan.

Tutorial 10 – Foundation of group behavior

1. Aaron Dias was working on the last shift for the day at All Needs, a retail store owned by an Asian
man, when he opened the cash register and stole some money thinking that nobody would witness
him stealing. However, one of the customers watched him steal the money and reported it to the
manager the next day, and Aaron was terminated. Subsequently, the manager became extremely
strict with all his Caucasian employees and was often heard abusing them by saying, "You guys are
all the same."

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a) Identify ONE (1) types of group depicted in this scenario. Justify your answer.

2. Janice Cooper has recently joined a hospital as a part of the internship program prescribed by the
nursing school she attends. Janice, who was inspired to take up this profession by the story of
Florence Nightingale, has very strong ideals about how she should behave as a nurse. She feels that
as a nurse she must be gentle, pleasant, and caring at all times so she can serve her patients well,
and she often goes to great lengths as an intern by putting in extra hours at the hospital and so on.

Examine ONE (1) type of role requirement referring above scenario. Justify your answer.

3. Explain and provide TWO (2) examples for the following groups:
a) Formal group
b) Informal group

4. Explain and provide ONE (1) example for the following terms:

a) Role perception
b) Role expectation.

Tutorial 11- Foundation of group behavior

1. Discuss the difference between a work group and a work team.

2. Compare the FOUR types of teams found in organisations.
3. How does group size affect a group’s behavior?

Tutorial 12 – Understanding work teams

1. Nick, the director of manufacturing at a large electronics company, has created a team of eleven
employees from quality control for working on high priority projects. Nick gives the team members the
responsibility of planning and scheduling their own work and making all functional decisions. Also,
members of this team evaluate each other's performance.

Provide ONE (1) type of team described in this scenario. Justify your answer.

2. To retain its edge in the organic health food market, Natura has established a high-priority team
comprised of senior executives from the company's production, marketing, and research divisions.
These employees work together closely to study consumer attitudes about organic health foods and
come up with a closely monitored development and marketing strategy for new products. This
ensures that each division is informed of the specific needs, timelines, and expected outcomes of the
strategy. It also makes Natura a company that adapts to changes in market trends swiftly.

Identify ONE (1) type of team Natura referring above scenario. Explain your answer.

3. Araceli is a team member in a large corporation. She never speaks in team meetings because she
has seen members talk behind each other's backs after the meetings. Members are constantly
monitoring the other members' work and looking for mistakes to point out in a meeting.

Describe ONE (1) contextual factor is lacking in Araceli's team?

4. Jean Wills, a trainer with Leverage Inc., is infuriated because the conference hall that she had
booked will be occupied by the HR team for the day. Jean feels that the company only superficially
commits to training and that it is not a priority as this lack of facilities for training is a recurring
phenomenon. Recently, she had asked the HR department to supply printed copies of her material for
the orientation and training modules to the new trainees, and HR refused, saying the soft copies
available on the systems would suffice.

Identify ONE (1) contextual factor is lacking between training and HR department in this scenario?
Justify your answer.

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Tutorial 13 – Power and politics

1. At the PR firm where Gerald works, everyone considers him to be very good with his work and
depends heavily on his knowledge to help the organization to solve its problems. Gerald is often seen
teaching interns a simpler way to present an article, helping project managers with scheduling, and
even the CEO often asks him for his opinion on important matters because of his experience and skill.

Identify ONE (1) type of power referring Gerald’s specialized knowledge. Justify your answer.

2. As a regional sales officer, one of Brandon's job responsibilities is to process the yearly appraisal
forms of his subordinates and provide them with increments, bonuses, or benefits based on their
performance that year.

Provide ONE (1) type of power reflecting Brandon’s job responsibilities. Explain your answer.

3. Mike Ford is a senior accountant at Coleman and Co., a financial management company. Mike has
wanted to be on the board of representatives of his company for a long time, but the company
stipulates a minimum number of years an employee must work at the organization before he or she
makes it to the board. Mike is unwilling to work two more years to reach that stipulated experience
and so he found a way to transgress this rule. He met up with one of the existing board members who
was having problems accounting for allocated funds that went missing and offered to settle that for
him in his department provided he nominate Mike to the board

Describe ONE (1) power tactic is being used.

4. When the contract with one of their major suppliers was about to expire, the management of Pierre
and Collins began seeking tenders from potential vendors. One of the top management executives,
Todd Hughes, wanted the contract to go to a vendor he personally knew. In order to do so, he held
separate discussions with two key members of the organization wherein he downplayed the potentials
of the competing tenders and convinced them to support this offer. At the meeting to finalize a
supplier, Todd and his supporters strongly supported the tender of the supplier they had chosen
amongst themselves and convinced their CEO to hire this supplier despite the higher price quoted by
him.

Examine ONE (1) power tactic is being used.

Tutorial 14 – Politics & conflict

1. Daphne is one of the three project managers at Virgo Inc., an art and design studio. Raymond and
Gabriel, the other two project managers, are unhappy working with Daphne as she always selects
projects that suit her area of expertise and avoids projects which require more ambiguous work, have
tight deadlines, and represent a low probability of success. Raymond and Gabriel feel that they
deserve greater credit than Daphne for being open and accepting different work demands and
situations, as opposed to Daphne, who always takes a conservative and risk-averse approach.

Identify ONE (1) type defensive behavior of Daphne. Justify your answer.

2. Will Cears works at Mesner Corp. as a middle-level manager. Will recognizes that his firm is
plagued by organizational politics. Since he is not good at playing games, he frequently engages in
defensive behaviors in order to protect himself and his interests. Will is frustrated because he believes
that he has little control over his environment and his environment is uncomfortable to him. He has
had some success at establishing a sense of control for himself by appearing to be cooperative and
supportive to his colleagues. However, he continues to hold his reservations against politicking and
does not engage in it.

Provide ONE (1) type defensive behavior of Willis. Explain your answer.

3. Mike and Keith are on the same team; they work well with other people in the same team but don't

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get along with each other.

Describe ONE (1) type of conflict.

4. Luke's cubicle neighbor Leia, though an understanding and great co-worker, talks loudly on the
phone. Luke gets annoyed every time Leia's phone rings, but he has decided it's simply not worth the
trouble to talk to her about it.

Examine ONE (1) conflict-handling intention of Luke.