1 / 2 100% + Langton, Organizational Behaviour, 8Ce Chapter 4 Minicase: Theories of Motivation As Sophia walked past the cubicles of the production-related office staff, she tried to ignore the occasional low, muttered complaint. The resentment over summer hours had simmered this long, a few more days wouldn't make any difference. As the Director of Finance and Information Technology, it was not Sophia's direct responsibility to manage production staff, but since she was the most senior executive located at their company's rural packaging plant she felt a certain responsibility to attend to employee morale, even if it was somewhat outside of her formal job description. Now she wondered how to address this mess before it became toxic. Sophia worked for the Canadian subsidiary of an American consumer packaged oods company who made skin care and personal hygiene products. Their facility in rural Ontario packaged products for the Canadian market, which had unique requirements including French and English labeling. The Canadian operations were responsible for their own sales and marketing campaigns. The sales branch focused on placing their products in retail outlets such as grocery stores and pharmacies, while the marketing team focused on reaching end consumers through television and magazine ads. The sales and marketing teams had offices in Toronto, but other functions, such as accounting and information technology, were located in the more affordable rural offices. The rural facility had about 250 employees who worked on the packaging assembly line in two shifts and 35 office employees. Of those 35 office employees, six were considered production employees. These employees were responsible for taking customer orders, customer service inquiries, and ensuring quality control and proper inventory management within the plant. Ironically, their problems had begun precisely because Sophia was trying to improve employee morale. Several office employees had been asking for summer hours, meaning they would come Ironically, their problems had begun precisely because Sophia was trying to improve employee morale. Several office employees had been asking for summer hours, meaning they would come in half an hour earlier each morning and then get Friday afternoons off. Stephen, the Accounting Supervisor responsible for a staff of 7 bookkeepers and analysts, had been particularly adamant. Everyone enjoys a long weekend," he said to Sophia, "and the accounting employees deserve it even more than most because every single month end they are here until midnight two or three nights in a row while we get the monthly financial statement and reports wrapped up. Offering summer hours is the least we can do.Sophia had agreed, and had instituted the summer hours for office staff. It was not possible to do the same for production staff since the packaging assembly line had to keep running through the full two shifts to keep up with demand. That meant that the six production-related office employees also had to stay, just in case they were needed by either customers or the plant stall. It didn't take long before one of the most senior production-office employees, an operations expert named Bianca, started to object. It was difficult to watch all her colleagues leaving early to enjoy the Friday sunshine while she and her team were stuck behind their desks just in case they were needed (they often weren't). The oflices had always had a family feel most employees had been there for over 10 years. Bianca tried not to take it personally, but it was hard to do. It just didn't Copyright 2019 Pearson Canada Inc. 1 Langton, Organizational Behaviour, 8Ce seem fair to her. She had expressed that opinion at a staff meeting last week only to have Stephen in Accounting confront her. So what exactly is fairness to you anyway, Stephen asked because I never see you complain when we are staying late for month end and you are out the door by 5:00 or 5.30! Sophia hated to see that kind of infighting developing. She had also noticed that a couple of production employees had called in sick on Fridays recently and some of their reports had been late. That wasn't a good sign. How could she make everyone feel they were fairly treated? And what exactly was fairness anyway? Homework: Chapter 4: Mini Case Score: 0 of 1 pt 3 of 5 (2 complete) Minicase 4.3 Click to open and read the Chapter 4 Minicase before answering the question The late reports and absenteeism seen among production office staff could be best addressed by doing which of the following? O A. Carefully explaining the reasons that they must stay late and emphasizing the positive impacts their efforts have on the company OB. Providing an alternate benefit or perk to make up for the lack of summer hours. O C. Expressing appreciation for their efforts OD. Punishing employees for lateness and absenteeism. O E. All of the above except A Click to open and read the Chapter 4 Minicase before answering the question. magine that only those employees who met certain pre-determined performance standards were permitted to take advantage of summer hours. Employees would be told in January what they needed to accomplish and if they achieved it by June they would get access to summer hours. Which theory of motivation would be represented? O A. Valence theory OB. Equity theory OC. Goal-setting theory OD. Negative reinforcement O E Expectancy theory Question Viewer Click to open and read the Chapter 4 Minicase before answering the question. Bianca, the operations expert, feels that her "family" has betrayed her by leaving early when she has to stay and work. In this example what type of organizational justice is she primarily concerned with? O A. Expectancy justice O B. Equity justice O C. Procedural justice O D. Distributive justice O E Relational justice