GROUP ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

STUDENT DETAILS

Student name: Nguyen Bich Vy Student ID number: 22003388

Student name: Pham Chau Bao Student ID number: 22002650

Student name: Luu Quoc Toan Student ID number: 22003581

Student name: Dang Thi Hai Yen Student ID number: 21000967

Student name: Le Gia Han Student ID number: 22002245

UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS

Unit name: Principle of Management Unit number: T123PBW-3

Tutorial/Lecture: Tutorial Class day and time: Wed, 8:30-10:30
Lecturer or Tutor name: Tran Thi Huong Trang

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Reflection Report 5: Case 1-Chapter 11 and Case 2-Chapter 11

Length: 2.581 Words Due date: March 3, 2023 Date submitted: March 3, 2023

DECLARATION
I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged.
I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s work or from
any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment.
I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been submitted by me in another (previous or
current) assessment, except where appropriately referenced, and with prior permission from the Lecturer /
Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit.
No part of the assignment/product has been written/ produced for me by any other person except where
collaboration has been authorised by the Lecturer / Tutor /Unit Coordinator concerned.
I am aware that this work may be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs for the
purpose of detecting possible plagiarism (which may retain a copy on its database for future plagiarism
checking).

Student’s signature: VY
Student’s signature: BAO
Student’s signature: TOAN
Student’s signature: YEN
Student’s signature: HAN

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Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above declaration has not been
signed.

REFLECTION REPORT 6
Principles of Management – Tutorials 7.2
Group 9

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

CASE 1 – CHAPTER 11

1. What we have learned..................................................................4

2. Feedback on presentation and debate group................................5

CASE 2– CHAPTER 11

1. What we have learned..................................................................7

2. Feedback on presentation and debate group...............................11

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 CASE 1 – CHAPTER 11
A New Kind of Structure
1. What we have learned

My group gained a better understanding of Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical

company, thanks to the presentation from Group 3. This company has implemented

a program known as "PfizerWorks," which allows businesses to reduce their

working time by allowing these outsourcing businesses to freely charge their wages

and hours.

This appears to be a question for questions 11–13 that is intended to test the

presentation group's comprehension and memory of the reading about the

PfizerWorks program. The team also provided a very thorough response to this

query after learning that this program was created by Jordan Cohen and that it serves

as an illustration of "stealth storming" through group 3. When a company presents a

wholly original and useful idea, "PfizerWorks" is a program that demonstrates the

company's creativity, it can be said.

The response group is given questions 11–14, and they must rely on the article's

components as well as a little imagination when it comes to the Pfizer company's

strategy and organizational structure. The team appeared to have fully addressed this

question by including all of its methods and concepts in the summary. The following

are the steps the group suggested:

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1. Break up the work into distinct parts.

2. Separately delineate the tasks for each department.

3. Use formalization to uniformly define job duties

Question 11–15, which asks if other businesses can adopt a model similar to this

and why requires deep thought from the group. The group has provided as many

justifications for its position as well as the best possible response. The group did

include the caveat that the outcomes would vary based on each business's industry

and range of activities.

The final question, which was posed to the group and tested their understanding of

their opinions on organizational structure, was number 11–16. According to the

group, the organizational structure serves primarily to specify the company's

hierarchy and streamline operations. Long-term operating costs can be greatly

reduced and company quality can be improved by using a reasonable organizational

structure.

2. Feedback on presentation and debate groups

 Presentation group
In terms of the view of the audience, a great job from group 3 is distinguished by eye

contact and interesting information. However, the slides are so gaudily and the group

should summarise more to show the main keys of the topic. Adding more images

instead of text to make the example for the audience more understandable. About the

speakers, the presenters did perform not smoothly enough and had a difficult voice

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to read, they should not use the words like first, next, or something like that in the

presentation. So the group should pay attention to the words more to improve the

performance.

 Debate group:

Overall, group 3 answered the question clearly and quite fast like they have the

script, however, I am not sure about so I still appreciate the group. In question 2

from group 1, the group should focus on the question they should hire people who

are good at one side or people who are good at all sides but not depth enough in the

major. In the answer, the group just answer the question and more text about that

topic but still did not focus on the question. The group should answer why choose

the first person and why choose the second. Not answer like that because that is the

specific case but in the real life that can be occurred. Anyway, I appreciate the speed

of the answer of the group and how fast they can find the information. 

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 CASE 2 – CHAPTER 11
Organizational Volunteers
1. What we have learned

After Group 6’s presentation, we were provided with information about

organizational volunteers, examining the antiquated idea of self-serving and how

organizations have advanced it by enlisting the assistance of volunteers. The

following paragraphs will overview the information from the presentation.

Group 6 responded to the first question (11-17). They said that The concept of

deploying "volunteers" to fulfill jobs that are paid occupations is one that our group

believes is commonly discussed these days. Because both sides of this topic merit

discussion, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of workplace

volunteering.

Before proceeding, it is critical to ascertain why someone is volunteering. The most

obvious benefit of a volunteer program is the ability to obtain free assistance or

assistance for the low cost of running the program and offering the volunteers a few

small tokens of appreciation. Furthermore, some volunteers are thrilled to offer their

time to a firm because they are driven to further the organization's aims. They may

be more energetic, have more innovative ideas, and are more eager to go above and
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beyond for the firm than conventional employees (Drucker, 1998). There are

numerous advantages to volunteering, but there may also be some disadvantages. In

the long run, for example, using a volunteer program necessitates some staff effort,

and providing proper training and tools for these individuals can take more time than

the organization had anticipated, and they may even be forced to remain on solely to

produce additional revenue for the business that was supposed to be hired to handle

originally anticipated (Farmer & Fedor, 1999). Also, certain positions may be filled

by volunteers. As a result, a generation will be unemployed, with an increase in

sadness and perplexity.

In response to questions 11-18, they claimed that If these volunteers provide false

information or are unable to manage complex consumer complaints, the company's

reputation and customer happiness may suffer. Yet, according to the research

(Schwager & Meyer, 2007), poor customer service can cause a firm to lose

customers who would otherwise spend their money with them and instead move to

the competition, resulting in a decrease in sales and an increase in expenses.

To solve this issue, we would implement a comprehensive training program for

volunteers to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to effectively respond to

consumer issues. This training could involve product and service knowledge,

interpersonal skills, and problem-solving strategies. Furthermore, we would

establish specific standards and procedures for responding to client issues, and we
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would closely monitor the volunteers' responses to ensure they met the company

standard. In addition, we would build up a way for customers to communicate any

concerns or issues they may have with the volunteers' responses. This would allow

us to handle any problems as they develop and make any necessary system

improvements.

In the next question 11-19, group 6 points out 5 reasons. The first component is

Work Specialization. Volunteers are more likely to be specialized, meaning that

their expertise and role within the group are limited to specific fields and behaviors.

Departmentalization is the second component, and it pertains to how positions are

arranged. Product departmentalization would be acceptable for this. The third is the

chain of command. The third aspect is authority and responsibility, which relates to

things that organizations do to get work done. The line of command between

management and employee must be defined under Authority and Responsibility; this

is especially critical if any difficulties or prioritizing conflicts develop. The fourth

component is Centralization and Decentralization, which will show us where choices

are made. Typically, decision-making occurs at higher-up levels and has nothing to

do with a volunteer's role, indicating that decision-making power is centralized.

Verizon falls inside the customer service area, while the utilization of volunteers

varies by business. Volunteers would, by definition, have limited decision-making

authority. Individuals would be permitted to express their views, but they would not

be making choices on behalf of the company or other employees. Last but not least,
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formalization refers to the extent to which an organization's duties are standardized

and the extent to which employee behavior is governed by rules and procedures

(Robbins & Coulter, 2018). Volunteers are highly formalized since they must obey

the rules and accomplish the responsibilities assigned to them by the supervisors for

the organization to function successfully.

In the last question 11-20, they said that It is reasonable to suppose that ordinary,

unskilled people cannot perform the arduous jobs of specialist professionals, such as

import and export activities, inventory management, financial accounting, market

research, and so on. Nevertheless, when we consider a corporation's internal

operations, the benefits, and significance of voluntary work decline. Because of the

large number of enthusiastic users wanting to offer labor and do their work for them,

this technique can be slightly modified by firms that sell things or services directly

to consumers. Supply firms, on the other hand, are unable to utilize this resource due

to two major factors: the enormous volume of their clients and the significance put

on having a specialized workforce (Roper & Payant, 2014). There is no need for

further customer service because the suppliers' buyers are a select group of business

enterprises that acquire their things to sell to consumers. Furthermore, organizations

that solely provide products to other businesses would have very high criteria for the

quality of their output, prioritizing the hiring of professionals in a certain industry

and eliminating any chance for the labor of unskilled individuals. Last but not least,
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companies who create their products and sell them on the open market can still apply

this approach, but only to the part of the business that deals with distribution, not the

part that deals with manufacturing.

Regardless of the many hurdles, our group has read all of the questions and their

respective responses. As a result of this episode, we now have a far better knowledge

of organizational volunteers in the business world. Furthermore, we can obtain

insight into how to deal with a variety of future difficulties.

2. Feedback on presentation and debate groups

 Presentation group

Group 6 has fared brilliantly in terms of the visual component, thanks to their

imaginative utilization of absorbing and exhilarating presentations. Because they had

a thorough knowledge of the situation, they were able to devise effective solutions.

Despite a few hiccups, the pronunciation was mostly clear, and the terminology and

vocabulary were correct enough to clarify ideas. Team 9 is very impressed with how

team 6 reduced the material on the PowerPoint slides to only what was required,

making it easier for viewers to comprehend the overall solutions.

In the first question, Team 6 examines the benefits and drawbacks of workplace

volunteering. The ability to obtain free assistance, or assistance for the little expense
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of running the program and offering the volunteers a few small tokens of gratitude,

is the most obvious benefit of a volunteer program. There may also be some

downsides such as employing a volunteer program necessitating some staff work,

and providing appropriate training and tools for these individuals may take longer

than the organization had planned. In the following question, Team 6 would be

particularly worried about depending on "volunteers" to react to customer inquiries

concerning technical concerns. To solve this issue, team 6 suggests implementing a

rigorous training program for volunteers, establishing exact norms and procedures,

closely monitoring volunteers' reactions to ensure they conform to corporate

standards and establishing a way for consumers to express any difficulties or

challenges. In the next question, team 6 also provides constructive information to

prove that 6 elements of organizational design significantly impact structural

approaches such as the specialization of volunteers, product departmentalization,

and low authority,... In the last question, team 6 agrees that the innovative approach

of using its volunteers to provide customer service is ground-breaking in how it

affects salary costs, helping to lower the cost spent on this particular department

while also enabling its customers to get trustworthy information by consulting

volunteers' unbiased feedback because these people are not being employed by the

company, so there is no legitimate incentive for them to lie or manipulate other

users.

 Debate group:
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The debate's questions elaborate on a variety of topics that were not covered in the

discussion, such as how to handle the outside world's rapidly changing or

technological factors. They are all significant since they helped us learn more from

the readings and because they brought up the fact that group 6 caught everyone's

attention. It seems that the presenters will have to put in a lot of work to completely

understand and come up with more in-depth inquiries.

Concerning team 5's question, specifically, how to deal with the problem As none of

the volunteers receive compensation, they can be tired of their jobs and lack the

motivation to do them well. Team 9 supposes that team 6 gives persuasive

information to exploit the different aspects of the problem. Team 6 suggests

applying to be a volunteer so they might learn and get the certificate showing that

we gave up something for that organization. Volunteers, on the other hand,

nevertheless run the risk of losing interest in and enthusiasm for their job. Connect

to purpose, establish ground rules early on, write a realistic position description,

create a welcoming and inspiring work environment, use specific managerial

techniques to correct problem behaviors, and avoid having to let go of or fire a

problematic volunteer are some solutions offered by Team 6. In the following

question from team 5, team 6 replied that instead of relying on unpaid labor for these

tasks, firms may concentrate on hiring the best candidates to handle this issue. This

guarantees that businesses continue to be effective and productive while paying their

staff fairly for their work.

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In the following query, group 9 assumes that information group 6 has an enough

persuasive answer to team 4’s question. To be more specific, the question is But

what if a company only wants to use those individuals for their gain and doesn't

genuinely have any clear objectives? Team 6 answered that although the groups'

objectives are unclear, volunteers can nonetheless profit from their labor. As they are

still volunteers, they might feel better by boosting their self-confidence, finding a

work-life balance, gaining knowledge and experience, or developing their

networking skills. And if the organization does not fit them, they can move jobs and

test out various forms of work that they might wish to pursue as full-time

employment.

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