Case 1 : Class 3: Did I make the wrong decision?

Thawatchai (Tee) had just finished his first week at Regal Enterprises and decided
to drive upcountry to a small village hotel for some rest and relaxation. Tee had
worked for the previous ten years for the Paradise Company, but Paradise had been
through some financial problems and had recently shut down several of its
operating groups, including Tee’s, to cut costs. Fortunately, because of Tee’s
experience and qualifications, he found another job fairly easy. As he drove the
motorway, he reflected on the past ten years and his new job at Regal Enterprises.

At Paradise, things had been great. Tee had been part of the team from day one.
The job had met his personal goals and expectations perfectly, and Tee believed he
had grown greatly as a person. His work was appreciated and recognized; he had
received three promotions and many more pay increases. Tee had also liked
Paradise itself. The firm was small, allowing its managers considerable freedom.
The company culture was easygoing. Communication was open. It seemed that
everyone knew what was going on at all times, and if you didn’t know about
something, it was easy to find out.

The co-workers had been another positive point. Tee and three other managers
went to lunch often and played golf every Saturday. They got along well both
personally and professionally and truly worked together as a team. Their boss had
been very supportive, giving them the help they needed and used a democratic
leadership style.

When news about the shutdown came down, Tee was heart-broken. He was sure
that nothing could replace Paradise.

As Tee drove, he thought about the differences between Paradise and his new firm,
Regal. Top managers at Regal didn’t worry too much about who did a good job
and who didn’t. They seemed to promote and reward people based on how long
they had been there (seniority) and how well they played office politics.Regal was
a bigger organization than Paradise and was structured much more
bureaucratically. It seemed that no one was allowed to make any sort of decision
without getting three signatures from top management. Those signatures, though,
were hard to get. All the top managers usually were too busy to see anyone, and
internal office memos apparently had very low priority.

Tee also had had some problems getting along. His co-workers treated him with
indifference. He had the feeling that a couple of them saw him as an outsider. On
Tuesday he had asked two colleagues about playing golf. They had politely
refused, saying that they did not play often. But later in the week, he had heard
them making arrangements to play golf that very Saturday.

It was at that point that Tee had decided to go upcountry. As he steered his car off
the motorway to get gas, he wondered if perhaps he had made a mistake in
accepting the Regal offer without finding out more about the company and what he
was getting into.

Identify any 10 concepts that you link from chapters 1, 2 and 3 to this case.