Questions and Answers of Organizational Behaviour And Management

As a consultant, how might you advise the relevant parties in such situations to deal with the issues identified in order to ensure an effective handover of leadership and the continuance of the
What do the above examples imply about relationships, fairness and trust between the generations in family-run businesses?
Stop and consider - To what extent does the ‘end justify the means’ as managers try to disguise what is essentially a power and control-based relationship by invoking a language involving
Use the website indicated above to identify appropriate ‘tools’ that can be used to overcome pressure to give in to bribery or extortion demands. Assess how these might help you to deal with the
Given your answer to Task 1, how should organizations seek to eliminate or minimize the occurrence of bullying?
Figure 1.2 identifies that people bring variety, uncertainty and complexity to the organizational process. The major implication being that to achieve success every manager needs to have experience
Table 1.3 and Figure 1.5 compare the major social science research methods. From that table and figure it is clear that the ‘experimental’ design has no real ability to contribute to an
Assume that a few months after the deal with the agent was reached the Managing Director is removed from office as a result of the poor financial performance of the company and that you have been
What does your answer to Task 3 suggest about the role of perception in managerial activity?Task 3Given that the situation is told from the perspective of one of the new specialist HR staff, how
Assume that you are Nigel Tomlinson of Universal Projects and that you have been asked to identify ways of:A) encouraging the development of improved employee relations practices among firms in the
Given that the situation is told from the perspective of one of the new specialist HR staff, how might that influence their description and explanation of the situation and events?
The case study includes the terms "wild cat strikes" and the "ISO14001 International Environment Standard" Find out what these terms mean and explain them to a fellow student. What topics from the
What problems and benefits might there be in a western based organization such as Universal Projects seeking to assist less developed countries to become effective business partners to western
Could the problems have been anticipated and how might the situation have been dealt with in order to avoid some if not all of them?
Nigel says in his explanation above that in seeking to achieve the objectives for the Greentouch programme it was necessary to change the culture as well as the way that garments were produced and
Was the situation described inevitable as a result of the likely perception and attitudes of people in that situation?
What topics and themes from the organizational behaviour field would you find useful in seeking to achieve your objectives for the Greentouch programme?
How would you have reacted to such a comment if you were Kathleen?
In what ways and to what extent does this case study reflect issues of personality? How would you deal with this situation if you were the chief executive?
How might knowledge of personality theory have helped John to prevent the situation arising, or deal more effectively with the crisis once it arose?
How might knowledge of personality theory help the chief executive to deal with the situation presented to him by Ann more effectively?
To what extent do you consider that it might be possible to use graphology (handwriting) to understand the personality characteristics of an individual?
Could John have dealt with things differently and reduced the likelihood of this problem arising?
Does this experience suggest that the customer is ‘king’ in all circumstances?
To what extent should employees have to put up with bad or inappropriate behaviour from customers?
As the manager of a call centre, what would you want your staff to do in such circumstances, and why?
Explain why people would become motivated to participate in extreme sports, using material discussed in this chapter to support your argument?
What effect would such a situation have on (Justify your answer using material from this and any other chapter in this book):A The individual’s approach to motivation in their next job?B The level
If you were a manager in the company that Lily worked for and you were faced with a requirement to make some of your staff redundant how would you go about it to ensure that you retained both high
What does this example suggest to you about management and leadership in relation to ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘doing things right’?
Could the supervisor concerned be a good leader under the circumstances of taking bribes from subordinates? Why or why not?
What would you have done if you were the production director to try and deal with the situation that had arisen?
Given that the employees who are the highest paid are unlikely to agree willingly to change, how could this situation be changed for the better?
To what extent do you think that development activity such as that outlined above (delivered in the UK) would help create an effective multidisciplinary team that could operate in other countries?
If you were the CEO of KBR how would you ensure that project teams that change with every project and international location (with everything implied by that) were able to work effectively together?
In the above example apparently some £26.5billion of savings were made by replacing 15,000 people with 42,000 – can this be possible and if so how?
How should the 27,000 temporary staff and 11,000 agency staff indicated above impact on the savings and cost aspects of performance?
What might the above example imply that ‘performance’ means?
Discuss the extent to which problem solving is the same as decision making in an organizational context.
What would you do next if you were the senior HR manager in that company?
Explain the differences between programmed and non-programmed decision making providing examples of each. To what extent can all decisions within an organization be said to fall within this framework?
Could the negative reaction to the first newsletter have been prevented and if so, how?
‘Managers don’t really communicate with employees as to do so implies that they should act upon what employees say and to do so might undermine management’s authority’ Discuss this statement.
Is the situation described an example of good or bad communication and decision making on the part of the company management? Justify your answer.
Does the situation described simply reflect a pragmatic reaction and approach to the use of power and control by the shop stewards? Justify your answer.
Imagine that you have just started work as the employee relations manager in the company (reporting to the HR manager), how would you go about using communication and decision making to prevent such
Does this example demonstrate sabotage, or does it reflect alienation, frustration, resistance, boredom, bad job design or ineffective management? Justify your views.
It is suggested that the supervisors might have known what was happening. Why do you think that they may have known but chose to ignore it? Why or why not?
How might this situation reflect conflict within the employer/employee relationship?
Does this example reflect an inevitable consequence of the use of poor job design in both the manufacturing and service sectors, as human beings will always seek to influence their surroundings to
How might employee reactions such as those described in this example be prevented or minimized?
Stop and Consider - To what extent would it be better for all stakeholders if managers sought ways of dealing with employees and trade unions that eliminated the need for negotiation (for example by
Is the planned process of change outlined in this example realistic in all situations? Why or why not?
How might the foregoing discussion help an organization reorganize?
Stop and consider - To what extent can organizational decline be explained by organizations paying too much attention to internal reporting relationships and not enough to the external customer needs?
How would you identify the boundary between appropriate and inappropriate monitoring of employee behaviour?
What ethical issues exist from a management perspective in deciding on a legitimate approach to surveillance?
What role has technology in identifying risks to an organization?
How might the use of such practices lead to employee alienation and how might this be avoided?
How would you go about this task if you were Richard? What internal (organizational) and external (environmental) factors and challenges can you identify and analyse?
To what degree can you identify the existence or exercise of prospective and/or reactive of control in this example?
To what extent should it be possible to eliminate bullying from an organization, or is it simply a reflection of an attempt by one person to control another and therefore it will surface in other
How might the application of Lewin's forcefield model help in designing strategies to deal with and control or eliminate bullying at work?
Did Lowsling go about starting to export the most effective way given their experience, lack of connections and lack of research? Justify your answer.
If you were the Managing Director of Lowsling what would you have done to start the move to become an international business and why? Would an understanding of the systems view of organizations have
Given that the Lowsling Managing Director had reservations about the deal with the agent that the sales manager had reached what should he have done?
Does the deal reached with the agent in Egypt offer a better arrangement for Lowsling than that reached with the agent in Greece? Why or why not?
How might an understanding of the systems view of organizations have helped in achieving your objective as the replacement Managing Director?
This case suggests that the application of HR procedures takes time and in the process good candidates may disengage with the process because they are unlikely to have just one application ‘live’
Can there ever be a case for breaking the rules to attract the best candidate? If so, make that case.
Does it matter if an organization is unable to recruit the ‘best talent’ available because subsequent management of that individual based on good HR policy and practice along with training and
Stop and Consider - It has been argued that because there are so many different views and definitions of culture, it is impossible to know what exactly it comprises, therefore it impossible to
Imagine that you worked for a large European or American company and it has been made clear to you by your boss that the company does not allow bribes. Indeed training is provided in the standards of
What does this example suggest about culture in organizations and specific locations?
Identify the power, influence and political perspectives on this situation.
Why do you think the managers and human resources department responded to this situation as they did?
Were managers right to dismiss the employee or could/should another solution been found to the situation? If so, what was it and how should it have been achieved?
Could the problem have been anticipated and therefore avoided? If so, how?
To what extent does the outcome reflect the exercise of unobtrusive power in achieving the desired (for the HR director) result?
What other forms of power, influence or politics are evident in this example? Justify your answer.
To what extent does this example represent nothing more than an individual seizing an opportunity for personal advantage and having the skills necessary to achieve it in practice? Justify your answer.
Describe the five elements in the innovation process. How might innovation be used as part of a change process?
'Managing people is the most important part of any line manager’s job.' Discuss this statement illustrating your answer with examples from your experience.
Outline the main approaches to employee involvement and discuss the circumstances in which each might be most appropriate.
‘Managing people within an organization is about gripping them warmly by the throat and squeezing gently until they do as management wants.’ Discuss this statement.
Make a case for OB being the bedrock of theory and practice within HRM.
Resourcing is the easiest aspect of HRM practice as it simply involves selecting the most suitable candidate for the vacant job. Discuss this statement.
Kolb describes learning as a circular process. Identify an occasion when you learned something and explain the process using Kolb’s model. What conclusions about learning can you draw from the
‘Training and development are nothing more than elaborate mechanisms for ensuring worker compliance with management’s wishes.’ Discuss.
How can the effectiveness of any learning event provided by management be evaluated? Justify your answer.
What is the learning organization and how does double loop learning relate to it?
What is knowledge management and how does learning impact on it?
‘Sub- and counter-cultures have no part to play in the formal organization and so are irrelevant in relation to managerial activities.’ Discuss this statement.
‘The way we do things around here is the most appropriate definition of culture for practicing managers as it reflects the artefacts level in the Schein model of the three levels of culture.’
Explain Handy’s views on the factors that determine organizational culture.
Outline the cultural web and explain its significance in being able to articulate the culture of an organization.
‘The concept of culture is of little practical value to managers because it simply describes tendencies and ignores the variation between individuals.’ Discuss this statement.
It has been suggested that strong organizational cultures are essential to the achievement of success. It has also been suggested that strong cultures could predispose an organization to failure. Can
How would you set about achieving a change in an organization’s culture?
‘The concept of culture is intended to provide managers with an opportunity to increase the level of control without increasing the level of management.’ Discuss.

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