Management Oral Exam 2

According to the articles and cases read to date, and the textbook, what are the attributes that make a manager exceptional? Mediocre?

Attributes that make a manager exceptional include: ● First article we read about What Great Managers Do: ​Checkers vs. Chess ● 8 Tips to help Managers thrive: ​Consistency, humbleness ● Forgotten Team Member:​ Strong communicator and a task setter​. Someone that sets expectations early. ● Case of Missing Time: ​TRUST​, allow subordinates to make decisions ● Who's got the monkey: Ability to ​empower and develop others, initiative in subordinates ● Best laid incentive plans: managers need to be ​customer and people-oriented​ not just numbers ● Two Tough Calls: ​Courage to make tough decisions, Consistency

Answer the following questions and relate to 12 Angry Men. You do not need to know the jury person's #; instead, you can just describe pertinent scenes that he or she was in:

Give at least two specific examples of "soft and hard tactics" being used by two of the jurors. a. Juror 8 i. SOFT: rational - train, footsteps; consultation - getting everyone involved in recreation and discussion ii. HARD: coalition - did not vote and got Juror 9 to switch to not guilty b. Juror 3 i. SOFT: rational - wants to talk about the facts but with emotion ii. HARD: pressure - demanded compliance, wanted them to vote guilty 2. Relate the play/movie to the stages of group development and groupthink. a. Forming - getting together as a jury b. Storming - personalities come out and conflicts arise c. Norming - revealing if they think guilty/not guilty d. Performing- making decisions on the case e. adjourning stages- leave -Stereotyping -Invulnerability -Sensitivity

Contrast the viewpoints for and against social responsibility. Which leading economist argued against social responsibility?

Social Responsibility- A manager's duty to take action that will benefit the interests of society as well as the organization For- Paul Samuelson. Since businesses create problems-mostly environmental- they should fix them Against- Milton Friedman "The social responsibility is to make profits" this view would most likely lead to companies having headquarters in the Caribbean to avoid taxes

What is a transactional leader? What is a transformational leader? Explain how the two types of leadership differ.

Transactional leader- Focus on clarifying employees' roles and task requirements and providing rewards and punishments contingent on performance Transformational leader- Transforms employees to pursue organizational goals over personal goals

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What is the design thinking process? Why approach problem solving using design thinking? How does it differ from a more traditional approach? How could you have applied the Design Thinking process to your service learning project from the outset? Be specific. What should you look for when you observe? What does "fail early to succeed sooner" mean?

● Approach to innovation ● A tool for imagining experiences and then turning them into a reality ● It addresses the problems that people have and finds solutions to those problems ● It differs from a more traditional approach because it helps restructure companies that have been in business for a while and need a change to generate ideas ● You want to fail early so that you immediately recognize what the problem is so that you can "succeed sooner" ● How could we apply to our service learning project? -Making our hard work a profession (doing things that we don't enjoy doing in order to be successful) 3 Main Steps in the Design Thinking Process 1) Inspiration- Expecting success: Building implementation resources into your plan a) Motivates the search for solutions 2) Ideation- Brainstorming: Organizing information and synthesizing possibilities 3) Implementation- Executing the vision: Engineering the experience Application: How might we question- Using the "how might we" question is a good approach to brainstorm problem solving. As a team, we have used this approach on ways to improve our performance for the service learning project. This approach is an example of design thinking and is more effective than a traditional brainstorming method.

Your team member has had a very bad day, and has come to the team meeting extremely unhappy. This is the third meeting in a row she has arrived to the meeting upset. How do her emotions influence her attitude during the team meeting? How can her emotions and attitude influence the level of satisfaction among team members? What can you, as the team leader, do to improve overall team satisfaction?

● Stress is the tension people feel when they are facing or enduring extraordinary​ demands, constraints, or opportunities and are uncertain about their ability to handle them effectively ● Attitude is a learned predisposition toward a given object​ ● Unhappy workers are less likely to demonstrate high performance ● Attitude will influence her behavior ○ This could lead her to a certain level of rudeness, which will likely spread to the other members (and will only make the stress increase) ○ The more that the team has to work with this "de-energizer" the lower their performance ● Her stress and bad attitude can cause conflict within the team ○ When people don't get along can be a stressor ○ Even if you have your stress under control, her stress might bother you and diminish your productivity ● High levels of stress can lead to an energy-sapping flight-or-fight response that produces low performance ● She will become less engaged in the team ● Expectations of teams ● As a manager, you should be noticing the symptoms of stress ○ The fact that she has come to three different meetings in a row is one ● Managers can put buffers in place ○ If the other members are happy, you have to make the team meeting an escape for the bad attitude girl ○ Employee assistance program?

Explain the four key areas of focus for millennial leaders. What are the management fundamentals that millennial leaders need to learn?

- 1. Developing a leadership mindset. - Moving from individual contributor to frontline manager can be a difficult change. Millennial leaders need to make sure they understand how to build trust and credibility, leverage emotional intelligence and begin to think of themselves as a leader, not just a contributor. - 2. Leading yourself. - Millennial leaders need to make sure they develop personal agility to survive in today's environment. Focus on development areas such as agility, time and stress management, and delegation skills. - 3. Leading others. - Two key areas for millennial leaders are accelerating talent development and developing high-performing teams. Focus on how to give feedback, be a coach, manage a team and effectively deal with team conflict. - 4. Leading the business. - Millennial leaders need to successfully and effectively drive execution. They need to know how to create alignment within their team and effectively make decisions in a manner that results in their team members and stakeholders feel like they've been listened to. Management fundamentals Basic managerial tasks, such as performance management Approve expenses, manage vacation requests, set up work schedules, and conduct interviews, learn to be a leader, and give feedback

Define and explain Expectancy Theory. How could you have used this theory to improve the outcome of your service learning project? How can expectancy theory explain a team member who is a social loafer?

- Suggests that people are motivated by two things: (1) how much they want something and (2) how likely they think they are to get it. In other words, assuming they have choices, people will make the choice that promises them the greatest reward if they think they can get it. - Expectancy: belief that a particular level of effort will lead to a particular level of performance - Instrumentality: expectation that successful performance of the task will lead to the desired outcome - Valence: the value a worker assigns to an outcome - Our project: 10/10 we want an A and we know we have to complete this project to do this so we are very motivated, when we receive poor grades even though we are putting in a ton of effort, we lose a bit of hope in receiving that A which causes us to lose motivation. - Social loafer- someone who puts less work into a group assignment than an individual assignment. If one person does minimal work but the group still achieves the desired outcome, that person will continue to do minimal work as they have achieved their desired goal

What is the relationship between organizational culture and structure? In other words, how does structure influence culture? How would the culture differ for a mechanistic organization versus an organic structure? How would you describe the structure and culture of your sponsor organization for your service learning project?

1. Organizational culture is defined as a system of shared "assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations", which has a huge effect on how people act or perform in the work place. While organizational structure can be defined as how "activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims". 2. Structure influences culture in a way that it acts as a base for the culture to be formed within the business 3. Culture might differ for a mechanistic organization versus an organic structure 1. M - MECHANISTIC ORGANIZATION DEFINITION: According to Black's Law Dictionary mechanistic organization is "the organization is hierarchical and bureaucratic. It is characterized by its (1) highly centralized authority, (2) formalized procedures and practices, and (3) specialized functions. 2. O - According to Burns and Stalker, an organic organization is one that is very flexible and is able to adapt well to changes. Its structure is identified as having little job specialization, few layers of management, decentralized decision-making, and not much direct supervision. 4. For our service learning project, I would describe the structure and culture of our sponsor organization as an a very traditional culture, centering its operations around a core set of values that have been around for years within the organization. While I would describe the structure as mechanistic because of the fact that it is based very much on a hierarchy much like the scouts themselves and their formalized procedures and practices follow that of the boy scouts.

If you were the president of the Perfect Pizzeria franchise, what changes would you make to improve the performance of the franchise operations? What theories of motivation best explain the behavior of employees in the case? What Hygiene factors are apparent here? Explain the need-based perspective on motivation.

What to do differently: ● Incentive Program for employees ● Management training Theories of Motivation: ● Abraham Maslow(mentioned previously in ​Chapter 2​), put forth his ​hierarchy of needs theory​,which proposes that people are motivated by five levels of needs: (1) physiological, (2) safety, (3) love, (4) esteem, and (5) self-actualization. In proposing this hierarchy of five needs, ranging from basic to highest level, Maslow suggested that needs are never completely satisfied. That is, our actions are aimed at fulfilling the "deprived" needs, the needs that remain unsatisfied at any point in time. Thus, for example, once you have achieved safety (security), which is the second most basic need, you will then seek to fulfill the third most basic need—love (belongingness ● David McClelland's acquired needs theory states that achievement, affiliation and power are the major motives determining people's behavior in the workplace ● Two Factor Theory: work satisfaction and dissatisfaction arise from motivating factors (achievement recognition, responsibility and advancement) and hygiene factors (salary, work conditions, interpersonal relationships, company policy). ● EXTRA: Expectancy Theory....Employees have no motivation because they have nothing to reach for

Why is Change so difficult to manage? How does Lewin's approach to handling the change process facilitate change? How are employees threatened by change and how can you help them adjust? What will you do as a manager to overcome a resistance to change by your subordinates?

Why is Change so difficult to manage? Change is difficult to manage because it requires a lot of efforts to motivate and engage employees, which requires the use of soft skills from leaders and upper management. Employees that perceive change to be a threat for them will oppose, which makes it harder to implement this change. How does Lewin's approach to handling the change process facilitate change? Lewin's approach to change consists of three parts: Unfreezing, changing, refreezing. It facilitates change because it allows the manager to be able to answer important questions such as "why they should change?", "how willing and able are we to change?", "what results do we want from the change?". How are employees threatened by change and how can you help them adjust? Employees perceive change as a threat of losing security , status , autonomy and therefore are threatened by change. When change is implemented in organizations some employees stand to gain and some employees stand to lose and those employees who stand to lose from change are the ones who will resist. What will you do as a manager to overcome a resistance to change by your subordinates? Managers can overcome a resistance to change by implementing the lewin's change model, which involves these three steps: The change model provides a guideline for managers to manage resisting employees and encourage them to change by (1) creating the motivation to change, (2)teaching them new ways to do things, and (3) making the new ways normal by encouraging employees to exhibit new changes and additional support or coaching.

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