Case
Assignment
Strong
cognitive abilities are usually considered a very important and positive trait
to seek when hiring new employees. However, one police department decided not
to higher those who scored too high on acognitive skillsexam on the grounds
that people who are too intelligent will not be satisfied with their job as a
police officer and will end up quitting (Naish, 2013). This of course is a
controversial policy that resulted in at least one lawsuit.
For this
assignment we will be looking at individual characteristics that may predict
job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance for police
officers. Being a police officer is a demanding job that required strong
physical capacity, sharp mental capacity to deal with difficult and
life-threatening situations, and strong interpersonal skills in order to
effectively work with the communities they protect and serve. The issue of what
traits to look for in police officer recruiting is a controversial one.
Review
the background materials on individual traits, personality, and attitudes such
as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Then read these articles on
law enforcement recruitment with the issues in the background materials in
mind:
Naish, R.
(April, 2013). Too clever by half. E. Learning Age, 8. [ProQuest]
Means,
R., Lowry, K., & Conroy, D. (2011). Hiring: Background investigation,part
3. Law & Order, 59(3), 12-13. [ProQuest]
Reaume,
S. (2009). Improved hiring for child protective investigators. Law &
Order, 57(2), 19-20,22,24. [ProQuest]
Now
suppose a police department has hiredyou as a consultant to come up with anexam
to assess personality and other traits of applicants to the department. The
department is looking to hire applicants who meet the following criteria:
1. Are
likely to have strong job satisfaction and organizational commitment to the
police department after they are hired.
2. Will
be able to work effectively under stressful and sometimes life-threatening
situations; can make good decisions under pressure.
3. Will
be able to present a positive image of the police department in the communities
they serve and maintain strong relations with community leaders.
Using
whatyouve learned in the background about personality traits such as the Big
Five Personality traits and factors that influence job satisfaction and
organizational behavior, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following
issues:
1. Do you
think cognitive abilities should be part of the exam?Do you agree with the
police department mentioned in Naish (2013) that there should be an upper limit
to cognitive abilities, or should the department try to hire those with the
highest cognitive abilities?
2. What
personality traits do you think will best predict a police officers ability to
handle stressful situations in the field and make decisions under stress?
Consider the Big Five traits as well as any other personality traits that you
read about in the background materials. Be specific about what traits the
departmentshould consider and why these traits will be associated with an
ability to work under stress.
3. What
personality traits will best predict an ability to work cooperatively with
their coworkers as well as with members of the community they serve? Again, be
specific about which traits the departmentshould consider and why these traits
will be associated with a good ability to work with others
Module 1 – SLP
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE WORKPLACE
For the
Session Long Project, you will be applying the concepts from the background
materials to your own personal workplace experiences. For this assignment,
think of two former or current coworkers that had unique personalities. Choose
two people that you worked with closely enough that you were able to get a good
idea of their personality traits and workplace attitudes.
Review
the main personality traits and attitudes from the background materials, and
think about how these apply to your two coworkers. Then write a 3-page paper
addressing the following issues:
1. How
would you describe the personalities of these two coworkers? Use the Big Five
Personality traits and other traits from the background materials to describe
their personalities the best you can.
2. How
would you describe their workplace attitudes including job satisfaction and
organizational commitment?
3. Do you
think their personality traits impacted their workplace attitudes, or where
other factors such as the work environment, job characteristics, etc. have a
greater impact on their attitudes?
Module 2 – Case
EMOTIONS AND MOODS
Case Assignment
Pret A Manger is a London based chain of cafs and sandwich shops known for
their extremely friendly workers who take service with a smile to a new
level. Employees are screened and selected for the positive-oriented
personalities and trained to provide their customers with highly positive and
friendly service. Management even sends mystery shoppers which are members of
the corporate office go under cover as normal customers and enter one of the
cafs. These mystery shoppers rate and evaluate the performance of the workers
without the workers knowing it.
Pret A Mangers approach has brought them success as they are now rapidly
expanded from London into New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago. However, their
emphasis on their workings presenting a positive and friendly attitude at all
times which is enforced by visits from mystery shoppers has been criticized
as an extreme form of emotional labor
Review the concepts of emotional labor and emotional intelligence, and then
do some research on Pret A Mangers management of emotional labor. Here are a
few articles to get you started:
Noah, T. (2013). Labor of love.New Republic,244(1), 18.
[Academic Source Complete EBSCOHOST]
Clifford, S. (Aug. 7, 2011). Would you like a smile with that?New York
Times.[ProQuest]
Goodman, M. (Mar. 6, 2011). Smile, it will pay for everyone.Sunday
Times.[ProQuest]
When you have finished reviewing the background materials and finished your
research on Pret A Manger, write a 3- to 4-page paper addressing the following
issues:
What do
you think the positive benefits will be to Pret A Mangers employees from
the emotional labor they have to engage in? Will this emphasis on
presenting a positive and happy image at all times lead to positive
attitudes such as greater job satisfaction and organizational commitment?What
negative consequences might Pret A Mangers employee face from the heavy
emotional labor they have to perform? Will it lead to burnout or problems.Which of
the four aspects of emotional intelligence do you think would be most
helpful for a Pret A Manger employee? Should Pret A Manger use emotional
intelligence tests to recruit employees?
Module 2 SLP
EMOTIONS AND MOODS
For the Module 2 SLP, you will continue to apply the background materials to
your own workplace experiences. Review the concepts of emotional intelligence
and emotional labor from the background materials, and then write a 2- to
3-page paper addressing the following issues:
Continue
with your discuss of the two coworkers that you wrote about for your
Module 1 SLP. Discuss your evaluation of their emotional intelligence. How
would you rate them on aspects of emotional intelligence such as
self-awareness, self-management, self-motivation, empathy, and social
skills? Be specific and explain your reasoning.Discuss
one or two times during your career when you felt you were being put under
extreme emotional labor by your manager. How did you cope with your
emotional labor?
Module 3 – Case
WORKPLACE MOTIVATION
Case Assignment
In the background materials you read about some very traditional theories of
motivation such as Theory X and Theory Y, and the hierarchy of needs. But one
trend that has received a lot of attention in the media is that of weird or
offbeat methods to motivate employees. The recent move The Internship is set in
the odd (or googly) workplace culture of Google. Zappos Shoes even mentions
weirdness in the list of corporate values.
CashLinq, a financial services firm, is famous for their Nerf gun battles in
the office. Eric Ryan, founder of the highly successful soap company Method,
was known to go to extremes to motivate employees such as dressing up as a
chipmunk or holding impromptu office dance parties. Other examples of
unorthodox motivation techniques may include unusual perks such as health
insurance for your pets, or allowing employees to ride scooters in the office.
But is this just a passing fad for trendy new companies, or there actually a
method to their madness? For this assignment, you will be doing some research
on these offbeat new motivation techniques and investigating whether or not
these techniques actually fit in with standard textbook theories of motivation.
Review the background materials, and then read the following articles and also
see if you can find any other examples of bizarre or unusual workplace
motivation techniques:
Alsop, R. J. (2010). The last word.Workforce Management, 89(10),
50. [ProQuest]
Petrecca, L. (Dec. 30, 2011). Quirky perks for workers: Pet insurance,
massages.USA Today[ProQuest]
Quirky offices may inspire employees. (Dec. 17, 2010, Dec 27).McClatchy
– Tribune Business News[ProQuest]
Habib, M. (Oct. 7, 2011). Foosball? bah. employers dangle offbeat
incentives.The Globe and Mail[ProQuest]
When you are done with your research, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing
the following issues:
Are
these unusual motivation techniques more closely matched to McGregors
Theory X, or his Theory Y?Which of
Maslows needs do think these techniques address or do not address
physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization?Overall,
what do you think the main advantages and disadvantages are of these new
and unusual motivation techniques as compared to more traditional
techniques?
Module 3 – SLP
WORKPLACE MOTIVATION
For the Session Long Project, you will be writing about an organization you
currently work for or have worked for in the past and applying the background
materials to your own experience. So the first step in this assignment is to
choose an organization that you have worked for that you want to write about.
Think about your own experiences at this organization, and how motivated you
were and what factors increased or decreased your motivation. Then write a 2-
to 3-page paper covering the following issues:
What
steps did management at your organization do to motivate workers?Did
management seem to apply Theory X or Theory Y for their motivation
strategies? Or did they use elements of both?What
needs in Maslows hierarchy does management at your organization try to
address?
Module 4 – Case
GROUPS AND TEAMS
Case Assignment
A rapidly growing trend in the business world is the growth of virtual
teams. Some companies are allowing teleworking, which means that more and more
workers have to coordinate their activities with other team members through the
phone or internet. Even among workers who are working from their office, more
and more companies are having employees work in teams with employees who work
at other locations who they may or may not have ever met in person. New
technologies have been developed to help facilitate virtual teamwork, but
challenges still remain.
Review the background materials and also do some research on virtual teams.
Here are a few articles on virtual teams to get you started:
Garfoot, A. (2003, 05). The reality of virtual teams.IT Training,,
32-34. [ProQuest]
Sadri, G., & Condia, J. (2012). Managing the virtual world.Industrial
Management, 54(1), 21-25. [ProQuest]
Rigby, R. (2013). How best to manage a virtual team.The Financial Times[ProQuest]
When you are finished with your research, integrate what you learned in
general about group dynamics in the background materials with more specific
information you learned about virtual teams. Write a four to five page paper
addressing the following issues:
How do
you think the five stages of group development (forming, storming,
norming, performing, adjourning) will be different for virtual teams as
compared to traditional teams? Discuss in regard to all five stages of
group development.Do you
think virtual teams will be more or less cohesive than traditional teams?
Include a discussion of the issue of groupthink in your discussion.
Overall, do you think virtual teams will perform better or worse than
traditional teams? Explain your answer with references to the background
readings.
Case Assignment Expectations
Answer
the assignment questions directly. Stay focused on the precise assignment
questions; dont go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to general
background materials.Make use
of both the required Case Assignment articles as well as the required
general background materials in your paper. Apply concepts that you
learned in the background materials in your answers to the assignment questions.Review
our Writing Style Guide for more detail on referencing and writing
expectations. This guide is found under My Resources in the TLC portal.
Module 4 – SLP
GROUPS AND TEAMS
For the Module 4 SLP, pick an experience in your workplace when you were
assigned to work as part of a team. Think carefully about your experiences
working on this team, and how the concepts in the background materials apply to
your experiences. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following
issues:
Did
Tuckmans five stages of group development apply to your team? Did some of
the stages apply but not others? Explain your reasoning with specific
experiences that your team faced.How
would you rate the cohesiveness of your team? Was it not very cohesive, or
was it too cohesive to the extent that your team suffered from groupthink?Based on
what youve read in the background materials, what do you think could have
been done differently with this team to improve its performance?
Module 5 – Case
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Case
Assignment
Southwest Airlines and Koch
Industries are both known for their distinctive organizational cultures, and
both have been highly successful and profitable companies. Southwest Airlines
is known as a fun place to work where socialization and humor in the
workplace are strongly encouraged. Koch Industries, on the other hand, has a
culture defined by the principles of market-based management where
performance and revenue growth is emphasized.
Do some background reading on
the cultures behind Southwest Airlines and Koch Industries. While doing your
research, keep strongly in mind the characteristics of organizational cultures
discussed in the background materials such as team-oriented, people-oriented,
outcome-oriented, etc. Here are some articles to get you started on your
research that will give you some background about the cultures at these two
organizations:
Klein, D. (2011). Creating
cultures that lead to success: Lincoln Electric, Southwest Airlines, and SAS
Institute.Organizational
Dynamics41(1), 35-39
[Available in Science Direct. Note: you only have to read the middle portion of
the article concerning Southwest Airlines and not the whole article]
Bird, A. (Mar. 13, 2011).
Southwest: Corporate culture combines work, play.The Post and Courier.[ProQuest]
Whatley, H. (2013). Principles
and dimensions of market-based management.Independent
Journal of Management & Production, 4(1), 126-135. [ProQuest]
Dissecting the Kochtopus. (Jun.
7, 2014).The Economist,
411, 76. [ProQuest]
When you are finished with your
research, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following issues:
1.
Describe the organizational culture of Southwest Airlines the
best you can using the characteristics of organizational culture discussed in
the background materials. These include: but are not limited to
detail-oriented, team-oriented, innovative, aggressive, outcome-oriented, and
people-oriented. Be specific as you can regarding which characteristics of
organizational culture that you read about in the background materials apply to
Southwest and which ones do not.
2.
Describe the organizational culture of Koch Industries using the
criteria as in Question 1 above.
3.
Now suppose Koch Industries decided to purchase Southwest
Airlines. Compare and contrast the two cultures, and explain what kind of
challenges you think they would face in merging the two cultures. Also, explain
what steps you think would need to be taken in order to prevent culture clashes
between the two organizations.
Assignment
Expectations
Answer the assignment questions directly. Stay focused on the
precise assignment questions; dont go off on tangents or devote a lot of space
to general background materials.
Make use of both the required Case Assignment articles as well
as the required general background materials in your paper. Apply concepts that
you learned in the background materials in your answers to the assignment
questions.
Review our Writing Style Guide for more detail on referencing
and writing expectations. This guide is found under My Resources in the TLC
portal.
Module 5 – SLP
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
For this final SLP, choose an
organization that you currently work for or have worked for in the past. You
will be applying the concepts of organizational culture that you read about in
the background materials to this organization.
Write a 2- to 3-page paper
addressing the following issues:
1.
Describe how your organization rates on these cultural characteristics:
detail-oriented, team-oriented, innovative, aggressive, outcome-oriented, and
people-oriented.
2.
Discuss how strong the organizational culture is at your
organization. To what extent is the organizations culture shared by employees
and managers?
3.
What aspects of your organizations culture do you think should
be changed, and what steps would you recommend to change the culture?
SLP Assignment Expectations
Answer the assignment questions directly. Stay focused on the
precise assignment questions; dont go off on tangents or devote a lot of space
to general background materials.
Make use of both the required Case Assignment articles as well
as the required general background materials in your paper. Apply concepts that
you learned in the background materials in your answers to the assignment
questions.DiscussionsPersonality
Traits and Personality Tests Subscribe
One area
of controversy is how well you can accurately assess the personalities of
employees or potential employees. One popular way is through various
questionnaires.
For your
first post, give the following information:
How would
you rate yourself on each of the Big Five personality traits based on only the
description of the trait? Would your friends agree with your self-ratings?
After
your own self-ratings, do a search in Google or other search engines on
“big five personality test” and find an online personality test that
will tell you how you rate on the Big Five dimensions. Take the test and
compare your results with your initial self-ratings. How do you feel about the
personality test you took? Was it accurate or not very helpful? Also, provide
the link to the test you found in case any of your classmates want to use it.
Compare
your results with those of your classmates, and try to find a classmate with
opposite traits as you as well as one with very similar traits.
Module 2
Discussions
Subscribe
Locked
before Monday, August 11, 2014 12:00 AM PDT
Hide
Topics
Emotional
Intelligence and EQ Tests Subscribe
The
discussion for this module will include two issues for you to address:
How would
you rate yourself on each of the four dimensions of emotional intelligence?
Would your friends agree with your self-ratings?
After
your own self-ratings, do a search in Google or other search engines on “emotional
intelligence test” and find an online EQ test that will give you an EQ
score. Take the test, and compare your results with your initial self-ratings.
How do you feel about the EQ test you took? Was it accurate, or not very
helpful? Also, provide the link to the test you found in case any of your
classmates want to use it.
This
information should be in your first post. Compare your results with those of
your classmates, and try to find a classmate with opposite traits as you as
well as one with very similar traits.
Module 3
Discussions
Hierarchy
of Needs Subscribe
Based on
what you learned about Maslows hierarchy of needs, which of the needs in the
hierarchy is most important for you at this time for your career?
Once you
answered question above, do a search on hierarchy of needs test and find an
online survey that measures your hierarchy of needs. Report what you found.
Were the results surprising or what you initially suspected? Also, provide the
link to the test you found in case any of your classmates want to use it.
Compare
and contrast your results with those of your classmates.
Module 4
Discussions
Groups
and Teams Subscribe
Okay, one
more questionnaire. But first explain whether or not you think you are a team
player or more someone who works better alone. After your own self-rating, go
online and do a search for team player quiz. Report your results and compare
with your initial self-ratings. Also, provide the link to the test you found in
case any of your classmates want to use it.
Finally,
take a look at the Modules 1-3 discussions and the responses from your
classmates and assess whether this class has a diverse variety of different
personalities and other characteristics, or if you think your classmates
generally have similar characteristics. If you and your classmates were all to
work at a company for the same manager, do you think this manager would have
any easy or hard time managing this group?
Module 5
Discussions
Rate your
Organizational Culture Subscribe
For your
Module 5 SLP, you rated your organization along the following dimensions:
detail-oriented, team-oriented, innovative, aggressive, outcome-oriented, and
people-oriented. Give a brief overview of how you rated your organization on
these dimensions.
Then do a
search in Google or another search engine on Quiz: What Is Your Corporate
Culture or similar search terms to see if you can find an organizational
culture quiz. Take the quiz and report your result. How does it compare to your
ratings from your SLP? Does it better describe your organization than the
ratings of the five dimensions you used for your SLP? Are the cultural
dimensions you took from the quiz more useful than the standard textbook
dimensions that you read about in the background readings?
Module 6
Given the
readings and assignments in the course, identify and briefly discuss two
important concepts that you feel are most applicable to your professional
discipline.
Please
reference and cite scholarly sources in your comments.
[This Discussion is designed for you to respond to the above
question/topic during the first week of the module. During the second week of
the module please read through responses by peers and post a second response
addressing one or more of the shared ideas. Please bring in new ideas/comments
and research that haven’t been mentioned yet.]
Case
AssignmentStrong
cognitive abilities are usually considered a very important and positive trait
to seek when hiring new employees. However, one police department decided not
to higher those who scored too high on acognitive skillsexam on the grounds
that people who are too intelligent will not be satisfied with their job as a
police officer and will end up quitting (Naish, 2013). This of course is a
controversial policy that resulted in at least one lawsuit.For this
assignment we will be looking at individual characteristics that may predict
job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance for police
officers. Being a police officer is a demanding job that required strong
physical capacity, sharp mental capacity to deal with difficult and
life-threatening situations, and strong interpersonal skills in order to
effectively work with the communities they protect and serve. The issue of what
traits to look for in police officer recruiting is a controversial one.Review
the background materials on individual traits, personality, and attitudes such
as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Then read these articles on
law enforcement recruitment with the issues in the background materials in
mind:Naish, R.
(April, 2013). Too clever by half. E. Learning Age, 8. [ProQuest]Means,
R., Lowry, K., & Conroy, D. (2011). Hiring: Background investigation,part
3. Law & Order, 59(3), 12-13. [ProQuest]Reaume,
S. (2009). Improved hiring for child protective investigators. Law &
Order, 57(2), 19-20,22,24. [ProQuest]Now
suppose a police department has hiredyou as a consultant to come up with anexam
to assess personality and other traits of applicants to the department. The
department is looking to hire applicants who meet the following criteria:1. Are
likely to have strong job satisfaction and organizational commitment to the
police department after they are hired.2. Will
be able to work effectively under stressful and sometimes life-threatening
situations; can make good decisions under pressure.3. Will
be able to present a positive image of the police department in the communities
they serve and maintain strong relations with community leaders.Using
whatyouve learned in the background about personality traits such as the Big
Five Personality traits and factors that influence job satisfaction and
organizational behavior, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following
issues:1. Do you
think cognitive abilities should be part of the exam?Do you agree with the
police department mentioned in Naish (2013) that there should be an upper limit
to cognitive abilities, or should the department try to hire those with the
highest cognitive abilities?2. What
personality traits do you think will best predict a police officers ability to
handle stressful situations in the field and make decisions under stress?
Consider the Big Five traits as well as any other personality traits that you
read about in the background materials. Be specific about what traits the
departmentshould consider and why these traits will be associated with an
ability to work under stress.3. What
personality traits will best predict an ability to work cooperatively with
their coworkers as well as with members of the community they serve? Again, be
specific about which traits the departmentshould consider and why these traits
will be associated with a good ability to work with othersModule 1 – SLPINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE WORKPLACEFor the
Session Long Project, you will be applying the concepts from the background
materials to your own personal workplace experiences. For this assignment,
think of two former or current coworkers that had unique personalities. Choose
two people that you worked with closely enough that you were able to get a good
idea of their personality traits and workplace attitudes.Review
the main personality traits and attitudes from the background materials, and
think about how these apply to your two coworkers. Then write a 3-page paper
addressing the following issues:1. How
would you describe the personalities of these two coworkers? Use the Big Five
Personality traits and other traits from the background materials to describe
their personalities the best you can.2. How
would you describe their workplace attitudes including job satisfaction and
organizational commitment?3. Do you
think their personality traits impacted their workplace attitudes, or where
other factors such as the work environment, job characteristics, etc. have a
greater impact on their attitudes?Pret A Manger is a London based chain of cafs and sandwich shops known for
their extremely friendly workers who take service with a smile to a new
level. Employees are screened and selected for the positive-oriented
personalities and trained to provide their customers with highly positive and
friendly service. Management even sends mystery shoppers which are members of
the corporate office go under cover as normal customers and enter one of the
cafs. These mystery shoppers rate and evaluate the performance of the workers
without the workers knowing it.Pret A Mangers approach has brought them success as they are now rapidly
expanded from London into New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago. However, their
emphasis on their workings presenting a positive and friendly attitude at all
times which is enforced by visits from mystery shoppers has been criticized
as an extreme form of emotional laborReview the concepts of emotional labor and emotional intelligence, and then
do some research on Pret A Mangers management of emotional labor. Here are a
few articles to get you started:Noah, T. (2013). Labor of love.New Republic,244(1), 18.
[Academic Source Complete EBSCOHOST]Clifford, S. (Aug. 7, 2011). Would you like a smile with that?New York
Times.[ProQuest]Goodman, M. (Mar. 6, 2011). Smile, it will pay for everyone.Sunday
Times.[ProQuest]When you have finished reviewing the background materials and finished your
research on Pret A Manger, write a 3- to 4-page paper addressing the following
issues:Module 2 SLPFor the Module 2 SLP, you will continue to apply the background materials to
your own workplace experiences. Review the concepts of emotional intelligence
and emotional labor from the background materials, and then write a 2- to
3-page paper addressing the following issues:In the background materials you read about some very traditional theories of
motivation such as Theory X and Theory Y, and the hierarchy of needs. But one
trend that has received a lot of attention in the media is that of weird or
offbeat methods to motivate employees. The recent move The Internship is set in
the odd (or googly) workplace culture of Google. Zappos Shoes even mentions
weirdness in the list of corporate values.CashLinq, a financial services firm, is famous for their Nerf gun battles in
the office. Eric Ryan, founder of the highly successful soap company Method,
was known to go to extremes to motivate employees such as dressing up as a
chipmunk or holding impromptu office dance parties. Other examples of
unorthodox motivation techniques may include unusual perks such as health
insurance for your pets, or allowing employees to ride scooters in the office.But is this just a passing fad for trendy new companies, or there actually a
method to their madness? For this assignment, you will be doing some research
on these offbeat new motivation techniques and investigating whether or not
these techniques actually fit in with standard textbook theories of motivation.
Review the background materials, and then read the following articles and also
see if you can find any other examples of bizarre or unusual workplace
motivation techniques:Alsop, R. J. (2010). The last word.Workforce Management, 89(10),
50. [ProQuest]Petrecca, L. (Dec. 30, 2011). Quirky perks for workers: Pet insurance,
massages.USA Today[ProQuest]Quirky offices may inspire employees. (Dec. 17, 2010, Dec 27).McClatchy
– Tribune Business News[ProQuest]Habib, M. (Oct. 7, 2011). Foosball? bah. employers dangle offbeat
incentives.The Globe and Mail[ProQuest]When you are done with your research, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing
the following issues:For the Session Long Project, you will be writing about an organization you
currently work for or have worked for in the past and applying the background
materials to your own experience. So the first step in this assignment is to
choose an organization that you have worked for that you want to write about.Think about your own experiences at this organization, and how motivated you
were and what factors increased or decreased your motivation. Then write a 2-
to 3-page paper covering the following issues:A rapidly growing trend in the business world is the growth of virtual
teams. Some companies are allowing teleworking, which means that more and more
workers have to coordinate their activities with other team members through the
phone or internet. Even among workers who are working from their office, more
and more companies are having employees work in teams with employees who work
at other locations who they may or may not have ever met in person. New
technologies have been developed to help facilitate virtual teamwork, but
challenges still remain.Review the background materials and also do some research on virtual teams.
Here are a few articles on virtual teams to get you started:Garfoot, A. (2003, 05). The reality of virtual teams.IT Training,,
32-34. [ProQuest]Sadri, G., & Condia, J. (2012). Managing the virtual world.Industrial
Management, 54(1), 21-25. [ProQuest]Rigby, R. (2013). How best to manage a virtual team.The Financial Times[ProQuest]When you are finished with your research, integrate what you learned in
general about group dynamics in the background materials with more specific
information you learned about virtual teams. Write a four to five page paper
addressing the following issues:Overall, do you think virtual teams will perform better or worse than
traditional teams? Explain your answer with references to the background
readings.For the Module 4 SLP, pick an experience in your workplace when you were
assigned to work as part of a team. Think carefully about your experiences
working on this team, and how the concepts in the background materials apply to
your experiences. Then write a 2- to 3-page paper addressing the following
issues:Southwest Airlines and Koch
Industries are both known for their distinctive organizational cultures, and
both have been highly successful and profitable companies. Southwest Airlines
is known as a fun place to work where socialization and humor in the
workplace are strongly encouraged. Koch Industries, on the other hand, has a
culture defined by the principles of market-based management where
performance and revenue growth is emphasized.Do some background reading on
the cultures behind Southwest Airlines and Koch Industries. While doing your
research, keep strongly in mind the characteristics of organizational cultures
discussed in the background materials such as team-oriented, people-oriented,
outcome-oriented, etc. Here are some articles to get you started on your
research that will give you some background about the cultures at these two
organizations:Klein, D. (2011). Creating
cultures that lead to success: Lincoln Electric, Southwest Airlines, and SAS
Institute.Organizational
Dynamics41(1), 35-39
[Available in Science Direct. Note: you only have to read the middle portion of
the article concerning Southwest Airlines and not the whole article]Bird, A. (Mar. 13, 2011).
Southwest: Corporate culture combines work, play.The Post and Courier.[ProQuest]Whatley, H. (2013). Principles
and dimensions of market-based management.Independent
Journal of Management & Production, 4(1), 126-135. [ProQuest]Dissecting the Kochtopus. (Jun.
7, 2014).The Economist,
411, 76. [ProQuest]When you are finished with your
research, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following issues:1.
Describe the organizational culture of Southwest Airlines the
best you can using the characteristics of organizational culture discussed in
the background materials. These include: but are not limited to
detail-oriented, team-oriented, innovative, aggressive, outcome-oriented, and
people-oriented. Be specific as you can regarding which characteristics of
organizational culture that you read about in the background materials apply to
Southwest and which ones do not.2.
Describe the organizational culture of Koch Industries using the
criteria as in Question 1 above.3.
Now suppose Koch Industries decided to purchase Southwest
Airlines. Compare and contrast the two cultures, and explain what kind of
challenges you think they would face in merging the two cultures. Also, explain
what steps you think would need to be taken in order to prevent culture clashes
between the two organizations.
Answer the assignment questions directly. Stay focused on the
precise assignment questions; dont go off on tangents or devote a lot of space
to general background materials.
Make use of both the required Case Assignment articles as well
as the required general background materials in your paper. Apply concepts that
you learned in the background materials in your answers to the assignment
questions.
Review our Writing Style Guide for more detail on referencing
and writing expectations. This guide is found under My Resources in the TLC
portal.For this final SLP, choose an
organization that you currently work for or have worked for in the past. You
will be applying the concepts of organizational culture that you read about in
the background materials to this organization.Write a 2- to 3-page paper
addressing the following issues:1.
Describe how your organization rates on these cultural characteristics:
detail-oriented, team-oriented, innovative, aggressive, outcome-oriented, and
people-oriented.2.
Discuss how strong the organizational culture is at your
organization. To what extent is the organizations culture shared by employees
and managers?3.
What aspects of your organizations culture do you think should
be changed, and what steps would you recommend to change the culture?
Answer the assignment questions directly. Stay focused on the
precise assignment questions; dont go off on tangents or devote a lot of space
to general background materials.
Make use of both the required Case Assignment articles as well
as the required general background materials in your paper. Apply concepts that
you learned in the background materials in your answers to the assignment
questions.DiscussionsPersonality
Traits and Personality Tests SubscribeOne area
of controversy is how well you can accurately assess the personalities of
employees or potential employees. One popular way is through various
questionnaires.For your
first post, give the following information:How would
you rate yourself on each of the Big Five personality traits based on only the
description of the trait? Would your friends agree with your self-ratings?After
your own self-ratings, do a search in Google or other search engines on
“big five personality test” and find an online personality test that
will tell you how you rate on the Big Five dimensions. Take the test and
compare your results with your initial self-ratings. How do you feel about the
personality test you took? Was it accurate or not very helpful? Also, provide
the link to the test you found in case any of your classmates want to use it.Compare
your results with those of your classmates, and try to find a classmate with
opposite traits as you as well as one with very similar traits.Module 2
Discussions SubscribeLocked
before Monday, August 11, 2014 12:00 AM PDTHide
TopicsEmotional
Intelligence and EQ Tests SubscribeThe
discussion for this module will include two issues for you to address:How would
you rate yourself on each of the four dimensions of emotional intelligence?
Would your friends agree with your self-ratings?After
your own self-ratings, do a search in Google or other search engines on “emotional
intelligence test” and find an online EQ test that will give you an EQ
score. Take the test, and compare your results with your initial self-ratings.
How do you feel about the EQ test you took? Was it accurate, or not very
helpful? Also, provide the link to the test you found in case any of your
classmates want to use it.This
information should be in your first post. Compare your results with those of
your classmates, and try to find a classmate with opposite traits as you as
well as one with very similar traits.Module 3
DiscussionsHierarchy
of Needs SubscribeBased on
what you learned about Maslows hierarchy of needs, which of the needs in the
hierarchy is most important for you at this time for your career?Once you
answered question above, do a search on hierarchy of needs test and find an
online survey that measures your hierarchy of needs. Report what you found.
Were the results surprising or what you initially suspected? Also, provide the
link to the test you found in case any of your classmates want to use it.Compare
and contrast your results with those of your classmates.Module 4
DiscussionsGroups
and Teams SubscribeOkay, one
more questionnaire. But first explain whether or not you think you are a team
player or more someone who works better alone. After your own self-rating, go
online and do a search for team player quiz. Report your results and compare
with your initial self-ratings. Also, provide the link to the test you found in
case any of your classmates want to use it.Finally,
take a look at the Modules 1-3 discussions and the responses from your
classmates and assess whether this class has a diverse variety of different
personalities and other characteristics, or if you think your classmates
generally have similar characteristics. If you and your classmates were all to
work at a company for the same manager, do you think this manager would have
any easy or hard time managing this group?Module 5
DiscussionsRate your
Organizational Culture SubscribeFor your
Module 5 SLP, you rated your organization along the following dimensions:
detail-oriented, team-oriented, innovative, aggressive, outcome-oriented, and
people-oriented. Give a brief overview of how you rated your organization on
these dimensions.Then do a
search in Google or another search engine on Quiz: What Is Your Corporate
Culture or similar search terms to see if you can find an organizational
culture quiz. Take the quiz and report your result. How does it compare to your
ratings from your SLP? Does it better describe your organization than the
ratings of the five dimensions you used for your SLP? Are the cultural
dimensions you took from the quiz more useful than the standard textbook
dimensions that you read about in the background readings?Module 6Given the
readings and assignments in the course, identify and briefly discuss two
important concepts that you feel are most applicable to your professional
discipline. Please
reference and cite scholarly sources in your comments.[This Discussion is designed for you to respond to the above
question/topic during the first week of the module. During the second week of
the module please read through responses by peers and post a second response
addressing one or more of the shared ideas. Please bring in new ideas/comments
and research that haven’t been mentioned yet.]
