OB tutorial activities

Lecture 1The Global Recession and Workplace Malfeasance

The great global recession has claimed many victims. In many countries, unemployment is at near-historic highs, and even those

who have managed to keep their jobs have been asked to accept reduced work hours or pay cuts. In some cases—say, the U.S.

auto industry—job losses have been predictable but no less painful. However, in other cases, they have come as a surprise. Norm

Elrod had earned an MBA while employed at an online marketing firm. His degree didn’t save his job—Elrod was laid off

in October 2008 and, as of April 2009, he was unemployed and still looking for work. “There’s a lot of frustration out there,”

Elrod said.  

The financial and psychological pain caused by the recession may lead you to wonder whether employees attempt to get even. Is

there evidence the recession has led to increased incidents of workplace violence, sabotage, or theft? As it turns out, this is a very

difficult question to answer with any confidence. The difficulty illustrates how OB can teach you how to think critically about

problems and analyze them carefully. 

During any recession, there is no lack of reports on the calamitous effects of the downturn. The Times of London reported that

U.S. job losses were directly linked to 58 fatalities in eight incidents during one month in 2009. Among them was a Vietnamese

man fired from his factory job who killed 13 people at an immigration center in Binghamton, New York. 

It’s not just displaced-worker violence that is getting headlines. Among nearly 400 employees asked in late 2008 whether the

recession had caused a recent rise in thefts of money among employees, 18 percent said yes, 41 percent said no, and 41 percent

were unsure. Though this poll suggests only a small minority of employers thought the recession had led to an increase in

employee theft, the media reported the opposite result. The Wall Street Journal ran the headline “Businesses Say Theft by Their

Workers Is Up.” MSN Money, under the headline “Businesses See Rise in Employee Theft,” reported the poll results as

follows: “When asked if they had noticed a recent rise in monetary theft among employees, such as fraudulent transactions

or missing cash, 18% said yes, 41% were unsure and the rest said they hadn’t.” You’ll notice that, put another way, 18 percent

agree that theft is up, and 82 percent either disagree or are unsure. But that makes for a less sexy headline. 

Another mischief factor is companies that exist to provide services, software, and technology to deter workplace theft. While

they might provide a valuable service to the organizations they serve, it is in their interest for employers and the general public to

believe incidences of workplace violence and theft are increasing. These companies often produce press releases, which then

work their way into the media and presumably generate potential clients for the organizations. One such company, for example,

publicizes a study of workplace theft, reporting it has increased each and every year since 2003. 

We are not arguing that all business press articles—or all studies done by organizations—are inaccurate. But these examples do

illustrate one of the benefits of learning OB:  Put on your investigator hat, ask questions, analyze the situation, and consider the

source! 

Case study questions:

1. Does this case prove economic downturns and company layoffs fail to lead to workplace malfeasance? Why or why not? 

2. Does the case prove we can learn nothing from the business press? 

3. Does this chapter provide any clues for how you can be an informed consumer of business news on OB issues? 

4. Some companies install surveillance equipment (cameras, computer software) to monitor their employees. Valenti

Management, which owns and runs 117 Wendy’s and 17 Chili’s restaurants, has installed fingerprint scanners on all its cash

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registers. Do you think these measures infringe too much on individual privacy? Can a company take prevention too

far? How do you strike a balance between prevention and intrusion?  

Sources: Based on J. Bone, “Gunman Kills 13 and Takes 40 Hostage in Upstate New York Town,” The Times (April 4, 2009),

http:// www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6031421.ece; S. E. Needleman, “Businesses Say Theft by

Their Workers Is Up,” Wall Street Journal (December 11, 2008), p. B8; M. Conlin, “To Catch a Corporate Thief,” Business

Week (February 16, 2009), p. 52; P. McGeehan, “Well Educated, and Now Collecting Unemployment,” New York Times (April

5, 2009), p. Y23; and “Businesses See Rise in Employee Theft,” MSN Money (December 12, 2008),

articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/businesses-see-risein-employee-theft.aspx.

PRACTICE EXERCISETeam Exercise - Human Checkers

Adopted from Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione (2003) ©McGraw-Hill Australia, SydneyPurpose

This exercise is designed to help students understand the importance and application of organisational behaviour concepts.

Materials:

Chairs. The instructor has more information about the team’s task.

Task description

Each team will develop and execute a strategy in which the three team members on either side of an open space will move to the other side in the same final order (see Exhibit on this page). Team members 1, 2 and 3 begin on the left side and must move to the right side in the same order. Team members 4, 5 and 6 will begin on the right side of the open chair or space and must move to the left side in the same order (see Exhibit below).

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Instructions

Step 1: Form teams with six students each. (Note: Larger teams may be formed, but all teams must be the same size and have the same number of people on each side.) If possible, each team should have a private location where team members can plan and practise the required task without being observed or heard by other teams.

Step 2: All teams will receive special instructions in class about the team’s assigned task. All teams have the same task and will have the same amount of time to plan and practise the task. At the end of this planning and practice, each team will be timed while completing the task in class. The team that completes the task in the least time wins.

Step 3: Other than chairs, no special materials are required or allowed for this exercise. Although the task is not described here, students should learn the following rules for planning and implementing the task:

Rule 1: You cannot use any written form of communication or any props other than chairs to assist in the planning or implementation of this task.

Rule 2: You may speak to other students in your team at any time during the planning and implementation of this task.

Rule 3: When performing the task, you must move only in the direction of your assigned destination. In other words, you can only move forward, not backward.

Rule 4: When performing the task, you can move forward to the next space, but only if it is vacant (see Exhibit 1 in textbook).

Rule 5: When performing the task, you can move forward two spaces, if that space is vacant. In other words, you can move around a student who is one space in front of you to the next space if that space is vacant (see Exhibit 2 in textbook).

Step 4: When all teams have completed their task, the class will discuss the implications of this exercise for organisational behaviour.

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Lecture 2Presentation - CASE STUDY

Long Hours, Hundreds of E-Mails, and No Sleep: Does This Sound like a Satisfying Job?

Source: Based on L. Tischler; “Extreme Jobs (And the People Who Love Them),” Fast Company, April 2005, pp. 55–60. http://www.glo-jobs.com/article.php?article_no=87.Although the 40-hour workweek is now the exception rather than the norm, some individuals are taking things to the extreme.

John Bishop, 31, is an investment banker who works for Citigroup’s global energy team in New York. A recent workday for Bishop consisted of heading to the office for a conference call at 6:00 P.M. He left the office at 1:30 A.M. and had to be on a plane that same morning for a 9:00 A.M. presentation in Houston. Following the presentation, Bishop returned to New York the same day, and by 7:00 P.M., he was back in his office to work an additional three hours. Says Bishop, “I might be a little skewed to the workaholic, but realistically, expecting 90 to 100 hours a week is not at all unusual.”

Irene Tse, 34, heads the government bond-trading division at Goldman Sachs. For ten years, she has seen the stock market go from all-time highs to recession levels. Such fluctuations can mean millions of dollars in either profits or losses. “There are days when you can make a lot, and other days where you lose so much you’re just stunned by what you’ve done,” says Tse. She also states that she hasn’t slept completely through the night in years and frequently wakes up several times during the night to check the global market status. Her average workweek? Eighty hours. “I’ve done this for 10 years, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of days in my career when I didn’t want to come to work. Every day I wake up and I can’t wait to get here.”

Tony Kurz, 33, is a managing director at Capital Alliance Partners and raises funds for real-estate investments. However, these are not your average properties. He often travels to exotic locations like Costa Rica and Hawaii, wooing prospective clients. He travels more than 300,000 miles a year, often sleeping on planes and dealing with jet lag. Kurz is not the only one he knows with such a hectic work schedule. His girlfriend, Avery Baker, logs around 400,000 miles a year, working as the senior vice president of marketing for Tommy Hilfiger. “It’s not easy to maintain a relationship like this,” says Kurz. But do Kurz and Baker like their jobs? You bet.

David Clark, 35, is the vice president of global marketing for MTV. His job often consists of traveling around the globe to promote the channel, as well as to keep up with the global music scene. If he is not traveling (Clark typically logs 200,000 miles a year), a typical day consists of waking at 6:30 A.M. and immediately responding to numerous messages that have accumulated over the course of the night. He then goes to his office, where throughout the day he will respond to another 500 messages or so from clients around the world. If he’s lucky, he gets to spend an hour a day with his son, but then it’s back to work until he finally goes to bed around midnight. Says Clark, “There are

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plenty of people who would love to have this job. They’re knocking on the door all the time. So that’s motivating.”

Many individuals would balk at the prospect of a 60-hour or more workweek with constant traveling and little time for anything else. However, some individuals are exhilarated by such professions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2004, about 17 percent of managers worked more than 60 hours per week. But the demands of such jobs are clearly not for everyone. Many quit, with turnover levels at 55 percent for consultants and 30 percent for investment bankers, according to Vault.com. However, it is clear that such jobs, which are time consuming and often stressful, can be satisfying to some individuals. Questions1. Do you think that only certain individuals are attracted to these types of jobs, or is

it the characteristics of the jobs themselves that are satisfying?

2. What characteristics of these jobs might contribute to increased levels of job satisfaction?

3. Given that the four individuals we just read about tend to be satisfied with their jobs, how might this satisfaction relate to their job performance, citizenship behavior, and turnover?

4. Recall David Clark’s statement, “There are plenty of people who would love to have this job. They’re knocking on the door all the time.” How might Clark’s perceptions of having a job that many others desire contribute to his job satisfaction?

PRACTICE EXERCISEAre Americans Overworked?Sources: Juliet Schor, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure (New York: Basic Books, 1992), C. S. Smith, “Effort to Extend Workweek Advances in France,” New York Times, February 10, 2005, p. A9,” The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Quality-of-Life Index,” The Economist, 2005 (http://www.economist.com/media/ pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf); E. Olsen, “The Vacation Deficit,” Budget Travel, October 29, 2004 (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6345416/).Europeans pride themselves on their quality of life, and rightly so. In a recent worldwide analysis of quality of life, the United States ranked 13th. The 12 nations that finished ahead of the United States were all from Europe. Factors considered in the analysis were: material well-being, health, political stability, divorce rates, job security, political freedom, and gender equality, among other factors.

Many Europeans would credit their high quality of life to their nations’ free health care, more generous unemployment benefits, and greater emphasis on leisure as opposed to work. Consider that most European nations mandate restricted workweek hours and a month or more of vacation time, but Americans have among the fewest vacation days and longest average workweek in the world. Juliet Schor, a Harvard economist who has written on the subject, argues that the United States “is the world’s standout workaholic nation,” and that U.S. workers are trapped in a “squirrel cage” of

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overwork. Some argue that mandated leisure time would force companies to compete within their industry by raising productivity and product quality rather than by requiring workers to put in more hours.

Many European nations also place limits on the hours employers can require employees to work. France, Germany, and other nations limit the workweek to 35 hours. Recently, after much debate, the French parliament voted to do away with the rule that set 35 hours as the maximum workweek. The justification was that more flexible rules would allow French companies to compete more effectively so that, if business required it, they could pay employees for longer hours. Opponents of the new rules argue that it puts the decision of how much to work in the individual’s hands. These people argue that it will inevitably detract from quality of life and give employers power to exploit workers. A French union leader said, “They say it’s the worker who will choose how much to work, but they’re lying because it’s always the employer who decides.”Class Exercise: There are several ways to approach the topic to this case. Some ideas are:

Ask students to do some research on European work rules such as the 35-hour workweek. You may also ask them to determine what the average vacation time is for Europeans vs. workers in the United States.

Ask students whether or not the United States could ever move toward a European model.

Responses to this exercise will vary; however, you may want to discuss the following questions when discussing the case.

Questions1. Why do you think quality of life is lower in the United States compared to many

European nations? Do you think it would improve if the United States government required a minimum number of vacation days or limited workweek hours?

2. Do you think the French parliament was right to eliminate the 35-hour workweek limit? Do you think the quality of French life will suffer? Why or why not?

3. Do you think employers have an obligation to watch out for the quality of life of their employees? Could such an obligation mean protecting employees from being overworked?

4. Do you think it makes a difference in the research results that the unemployment rate in Europe is roughly double that of the United States and that Europe’s gross domestic product (GDP) is about half that of the United States?

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Lecture 3 Presentation: CASE STUDY

Hiring people based on body art

Sources: R. R. Hastings, “Survey: The Demographics of Tattoos and Piercings,” HRWeek, February 2007, www.shrm.org; and H. Wessel, “Taboo of Tattoos in the Workplace,” Orlando (Florida) Sentinel, May 28, 2007, www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/05/28/2666555.htm>

Leonardo’s Pizza in Gainesville, Florida, regularly employs heavily tattooed workers. Tina Taladge and Meghan Dean, for example, are covered from their shoulders to their ankles in colorful tattoos. So many of the employees at Leonardo’s sport tattoos that body art could almost be a qualification for the job. Many employers, however, are not that open to tattoos. Consider Russell Parrish, 29, who lives near Orlando, Florida, and has dozens of tattoos on his arms, hands, torso, and neck. In searching for a job, Parrish walked into 100 businesses, and in 60 cases, he was refused an application. "I want a career,” Parrish says, “I want the same shot as everybody else.”

Parrish isn’t alone. Many employers, including Walt Disney World, GEICO, SeaWorld, the U.S. Postal Service, and Wal-Mart, have policies against visible tattoos. A survey of employers revealed that 58 percent indicated that they would be less likely to hire someone with visible tattoos or body piercings. “Perception is everything when it comes to getting a job,” says Elaine Stover, associate director of career services at Arizona State University. “Some employers and clients could perceive body art negatively.”

However, other employers—such as Bank of America, Allstate, and IBM—allow tattoos. Bank of America goes so far as to have a policy against using tattoos as a factor in hiring decisions.

Policies toward tattoos vary because, legally, employers can do as they wish. As long as the rule is applied equally to everyone (it would not be permissible to allow tattoos on men but not on women, for example), policies against tattoos are perfectly legal. Though not hiring people with tattoos is discrimination, “it's legal discrimination," said Gary Wilson, a Florida employment lawyer.

Thirty-six percent of those aged 18 to 25, and 40 percent of those aged 26 to 40, have at least one tattoo, whereas only 15 percent of those over 40 do, according to a fall 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center. One study in American Demographics suggested that 57 percent of senior citizens viewed visible tattoos as “freakish.”

Clint Womack, like most other people with multiple tattoos, realizes there's a line that is dangerous to cross. While the 33-year-old hospital worker’s arms, legs, and much of his torso are covered with tattoos, his hands, neck, and face are clear.

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"Tattoos are a choice you make,” he says, “and you have to live with your choices."

Questions

1. Why do some employers ban tattoos while others don’t mind them?2. Is it fair for employers to reject applicants who have tattoos? Is it fair to require

employees, if hired, to conceal their tattoos? 3. Should it be illegal to allow tattoos to be a factor at all in the hiring process?

PRACTICAL EXERCISEIndividual Differences in Teams

Begin by pointing out some behaviors that effective teams practice: establish a common mission, assess strengths and weaknesses, develop individual goals, secure agreement on a way to achieve goals, develop accountability for individual and group actions, build trust, maintain a mix of skills and personalities, provide training, and create opportunities for successes. Ask students to review the “Big Five” model before beginning the exercise. If you choose not to list the items presented by the teams on the board, appoint a scribeSome commonly used search engines are:

www.excite.com www.yahoo.com www.hotbot.comwww.google.com www.lycos.com www.bing.com

1. Learn more about yourself! Go to www.2h.com/personality-tests.html. There you will find a variety of personality tests such as “Are you a Type A?” the “Stress O Meter,” and other IQ and personality tests. Most are free and often fun to take. Take two or three of your choice. Print the results you get on yourself and bring them to class where we will discuss the validity of your findings.

2. How are personality tests and employment linked? Why would an employer or employee be interested in the results of a personality test? Go to the following sites to learn more:http://www.signonsandiego.com/marketplace/jobs/myjobsearch/ccsdt/advance/personal/personal2.shtml http://www.careerjournal.com/jobhunting/interviewing/20010622-webb.html http://www.hr-guide.com/data/G312.htm

Bring five new facts you learned from at least two of the above sites to class for a group discussion.

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Lecture 4Presentation CASE STUDY

Natural Disasters and the Decisions that followSource: Based on M. Blomberg, “Insuring the Nation,” Gainesville (Florida) Sun (February 27, 2006), pp. 1D, 8D; M. Trottman, “Choices in Stormy Weather,” Wall Street Journal (February 14, 2006), pp. B1, B2; C. Salter, “Lessons from the Tarmac,” Fast Company, May 2007, pp. 31–32; and D. Q. Wilber, “Tale of Marooned Passengers Galvanizes Airline Opponents,” Washington Post (February 16, 2007), p. D1.

Jeff Rommel’s introduction to Florida could be described as trial by hurricane. Rommel took over Florida operations in 2004 for Nationwide Insurance. Over a 2-month period in 2004, Florida experienced its worst hurricane season in history—four major hurricanes (Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne) slammed the state, causing an estimated $40 billion in damage. In the hurricanes’ wake, Nationwide received more than 119,000 claims, collectively worth $850 million.

Although dealing with those claims was difficult, even more difficult was Rommel’s later decision to cancel approximately 40,000 homeowners’ policies. Nationwide received a huge amount of media attention as a result, almost all negative. In reflecting on the decision, Rommel said, “Pulling out was a sound business decision. Was it good for the individual customer? No, I can’t say it was. But the rationale was sound.”

Hurricanes aren’t the only weapons in nature’s arsenal, and the insurance industry is hardly the only industry affected by nature. Consider the airline industry. American Airlines has 80,000 employees, 4 of whom make decisions to cancel flights. One of them is Danny Burgin. When weather systems approach, Burgin needs to consider a host of factors in deciding which flights to cancel and how to reroute affected passengers. He argues that of two major weather factors, winter snowstorms and summer thunderstorms, snowstorms are easier to handle because they are more predictable.

Don’t tell that to JetBlue, however. On February 14, 2007, JetBlue was unprepared for a snowstorm that hit the East Coast. Due to the lack of planning, JetBlue held hundreds of passengers on its planes, at JFK, in some cases for as long as 10 hours (with bathrooms closed!). To the stranded travelers, JetBlue’s tepid offer of a refund was just as outrageous. For an airline that prided itself on customer service and had regularly been rated as the top U.S. airline in customer satisfaction, it was a public relations disaster. Linda Hirneise, an analyst at J.D. Power, said, “It did not appear JetBlue had a plan.” In defending the airline, JetBlue’s founder and CEO, David Neeleman, said, “Is our good will gone? No, it isn’t. We fly 30 million people a year. Ten thousand were affected by this.” In responding to another interviewer, he said, “You’re overdoing it. Delta screwed people for two days, and we did it for three and a

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half, okay? So go ask Delta what they did about it. Why don’t you grill them?” Eventually, though, Neeleman himself was affected by it, and he stepped down.

Questions1. Insurance companies in the state of Florida earned record profits in 2006,

suggesting that Nationwide’s decision to cancel policies in light of the calm hurricane seasons (in Florida) in 2005–2007 may have cost the company potential revenue and customer goodwill. Do you think Rommel’s quote about making a “sound business decision” reveals any perceptual or decision-making biases? Why or why not?

2. Review the section on common biases and errors in decision making. For companies such as Nationwide, American Airlines, and JetBlue that must respond to natural events, which of these biases and errors are relevant and why?

3. In each of the three cases discussed here, which organizational constraints were factors in the decisions that were made?

4. How do you think people like Rommel, Burgin, and Neeleman factor ethics into their decisions? Do you think the welfare of policy owners and passengers enter into their decisions?

PRACTICAL EXERCISEBiases in Decision Making

Step 1Answer each of the following problems.1. Fortune magazine ranked the following 10 corporations as being among the 500

largest United States–based firms according to sales volume for 2008: a. Group A: Apple Computer, Hershey Foods, Kellogg, McDonald’s, U.S.

Airwaysb. Group B: Altria Group, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson,

Valero Energy Which group would you say (A or B) had the larger total sales volume? By what percentage (10 percent, 50 percent, 100 percent)?

2. The best student in your introductory MBA class this past semester writes poetry and is rather shy and small in stature. What was the student’s undergraduate major: Chinese studies or psychology?

3. Which of the following causes more deaths in the United States each year?a. Stomach cancerb. Motor vehicle accidents

4. Which would you choose?a. A sure gain of $240b. A 25 percent chance of winning $1,000 and a 75 percent chance of winning

nothing.5. Which would you choose?

a. A sure loss of $750b. A 75 percent chance of losing $1,000 and a 25 percent chance of losing

nothing6. Which would you choose?

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a. A sure loss of $3,000b. An 80 percent chance of losing $4,000 and a 20 percent chance of losing

nothingStep 2Break into groups of three to five students. Compare your answers. Explain why you chose the answers you did.

Step 3Your instructor will give you the suggested answers to each problem. Now discuss the accuracy of your decisions, the biases evident in the decisions you reached, and how you might improve your decision making to make it more accurate.

Source: These problems are based on examples provided in M. H. Bazerman, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making,3rd ed. (New York: Wiley, 1994)

SITUATIONAL QUESTIONABCLtd has a large secretarial pool on the third floor of company headquarters where professional and lower-level managers have their reports and other documents word-processed. The tasks are received by the secretarial pool coordinator and assigned randomly (on an availability basis) to secretaries in the pool. The secretaries often do not know the managers or professionals for whom the word-processing assignment is being completed. They rarely find out about the quality of their work because revisions are often sent to other secretaries in the pool due to the rotating work assignment system. Some assignments involve simple word-processing while others require complex formatting using more sophisticated word-processing software. Some secretaries don’t mind working in the pool, but most are there because it represents the entry-level secretarial position. They resent the lack of control over work assignments and look forward to being transferred to other secretarial jobs in the firm where there is more freedom to schedule their own work activities. Turnover in the pool is much higher than for other support staff at ABC Ltd.

Would job enlargement (combining tasks) be an effective job design strategy for employees in ABC’s secretarial pool?

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Lecture 5 Presentation CASE STUDY

Addapted from Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione (2003) ©McGraw-Hill Australia, Sydney

Jackie Ney was an enthusiastic employee when she began working in the accounting department at Steelfab Ltd. In particular, she prided herself on discovering better ways of handling invoice and requisition flows. The company had plenty of bottlenecks in the flow of paperwork throughout the organisation and Jackie had made several recommendations to her boss, Mr Johnston, that would improve the process. Mr. Johnston acknowledged these suggestions and even implemented a few, but he didn’t seem to have enough time to either thank her or explain why some suggestions could not be implemented. In fact, Mr Johnston didn’t say much to any of the other employees in the department about anything they did. At the end of the first year, Jackie received a 6 per cent merit increase based on Mr Johnston’s evaluation of her performance. This increase was equal to the average merit increase among the 11 people in the accounting department and was above the inflation rate. Still, Jackie was frustrated by the fact that she didn’t know how to improve her chances of a higher merit increase the next year. She was also upset by the fact that another new employee, Jim Sandu, received the highest pay increase (10 per cent) even though he was not regarded by others in the finance department as a particularly outstanding performer. According to others who worked with him on some assignments, Jim lacked the skills to perform the job well enough to receive such a high reward. However, Jim Sandu had become a favoured employee to Mr Johnston and they had even gone on a fishing trip together. Jackie’s enthusiasm towards Steelfab Ltd. fell dramatically during her second year of employment. She still enjoyed the work and made friends with some of her colleagues, but the spirit that had once carried her through the morning rush hour traffic had somehow dwindled. Eventually, Jackie stopped mentioning her productivity improvement ideas. On two occasions during her second year of employment, she took a few days of sick leave to visit friends and family in another state. She had used only two sick days during her first year and these were for a legitimate illness. Even her doctor had to urge Jackie to stay at home on one occasion. But by the end of the second year, using sick days seemed to ‘justify’ Jackie’s continued employment at Steelfab Ltd. Now, as her second annual merit increase approached, Jackie started to seriously scout around for another job. 1. What symptom(s) exist in this case to suggest that something has gone wrong?

2. What are the root causes that have led to these symptoms?

3. What actions should the organisation take to correct these problems?

PRACTICAL EXERCISEWhat is the most successful film studio of all time on a picture-for-picture basis? If you said Disney, Universal, Fox, or MGM you would be wrong. The answer is Pixar. That’s right, Pixar, the company that brought you Buzz Lightyear and Nemo. Their success, according to industry experts, is based on the fact that Pixar creates the entire film itself—the idea, the story, characters, relationships, production, and even

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distribution to some extent. This turnkey approach has left other film studios in the dust and scratching their heads. In the beginning Pixar was tied to Disney since Pixar made movies and Disney distributed them (to the tune of $200 million net per movie). However, recently Pixar has decided to change its Disney relationship and negotiations have been very strained. Pixar is poised to go it alone. Why? Each Pixar film has pushed the threshold of photorealism and Pixar sees films as expressions of entertainment art rather than cold products. Will Pixar make it to “infinity and beyond?” Chief Pixar architect Steve Jobs is betting that the answer will be an unqualified “yes.” Using a search engine of your own choosing, conduct a research query about

Pixar and its history. List the successes that the company has had. After reviewing the company’s Web site (see Pixar.com) and information

gained from “a” above, write what you perceive to be five (5) organizational objectives of Pixar.

How are the organizational objectives you have just written connected to the success of Pixar?

Review Pixar’s plans for the future. Are these plans consistent with the organizational objectives that you have listed? Explain and discuss.

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Lecture 6Presentation CASE STUDY:It was a typical semester at State University. The courses were underway and the instructors were getting used to their students and vice versa. The history department had hired Dr. Menefee, a new professor right out of graduate school. Believing that he could make Introduction to World History interesting for his class of non-history majors, he devised a plan to put people into teams and let he teams work on various projects. The teams were going to complete papers on various history topics from out-of-class research. The team’s responsibility was to create in-depth papers on topics from the lectures. The four five-person teams were chosen by numbering off from 1 to 4 in class. Dr. Menefee told the students their entire grade for the semester would be based on six team papers and all the members of the team would receive the same grade. The student reaction was very positive at first. There would no quizzes, no tests, and attendance did not matter. All the students taking this course were non-history majors trying to fulfill a general education requirement in liberal arts and sciences. The mentality of getting the credit and moving on was prevalent. The class was composed entirely of sophomores and freshmen. The GPAs’ for the class ranged for 1.55 (on probation) to 3.88 (on the dean’s list).

The first team had Sarah, Bob, Fred, Obi, and Lauren. Sarah was a 3.88 GPA sophomore and was determined to make high grades to get into law school. She was a take charge person and wanted things done right every time. Bob was a freshman partier who had amassed a 2.01 GPA and felt pretty good about not being on probation. Fred was a freshman working a nearly full time job to pay for college. He was doing fairly well with a 2.79 GPA. Obi was the foreign freshman from Japan. He was very smart, but had language problems. He had language difficulties that resulted in him earning a GPA of 1.95. Lauren was a sophomore who had just pledged a sorority. She had a GPA of 2.33.The second team had Bill, Mike, Tim, Sue, and Ashley. Bill was a sophomore, had a 3.75 GPA, and was president of the sophomore class. Mike was a sophomore with a 3.55 GPA and assistant editor of the student newspaper. He had the reputation for putting the paper together and getting it out on time. Tim was freshman with a 3.50 GPA and the ability to work with people and get things done. Sue was a freshman with a 3.22 GPA and the ability to encourage others. Ashley a sophomore with a 3.45 GPA grew up in a strict home and had learned to obey the rules.The third team was composed of Nick, Tony, Gail, Wendy, and Gwynn. Nick was a sophomore business major with a 2.25 GPA and the philosophy of do what you have to do to get through liberal art and science courses. Tony was a freshman jock with a GPA of 2.11. Tony just wanted to stay eligible for football with aspirations of going pro. Gail, a sophomore, had a GPA of 2.45 and just wanted to get through this course with C. Wendy had a GPA of 2.18 and had no interest in history. Gwynn, a freshman, with GPA of 2.08 wanted to stay off of probation.The fourth team was composed of Roger, Linda, Meagan, Lindsey, and Paul. Roger, a freshman, was the worst student in the class with a 1.55 GPA. He hated college, but

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came only because his parents pushed him into it. Linda, a freshman, with a 1.99 GPA enjoyed the party scene and could not care less about world history. Meagan, a sophomore, had a 2.01 GPA was more interested in finding a husband that getting a degree. Lindsey, a sophomore with a 2.19 GPA, was just trying to get a passing grade to finish off her last liberal arts and science course. Paul had a GPA of 2.25 and felt he could take a D in this course and still stay in good academic standing.In the middle of the semester, Dr. Menefee noticed some interesting trends with the teams. Team Two was clearly dominating the class. Their three assignments were in on time, perfectly word processed, and superior in content. The team had gotten 98, 99, and 100 on the three papers. Team One had gotten 82, 83, and 81 on their three papers. The papers contained minor word processing errors and one was one day late. Team Three had earned 72, 74, and 75 on their three papers. There work was sometimes late with word processing and content errors. The Fourth Team was definitely struggling with a 60, 64, and 59 on the three papers. There work was full of word processing errors, poor content, and were delivered after the due date.Dr. Menefee decided to discuss their work with each team individually. Team Two was the first to see Dr. Menefee. He explained he was pleased with their work and asked them how they had done it. Bill explained he took the lead on the papers, Mike organized the work, Sue encouraged the team to stay on task and look for the best information, and Ashley was the closer making sure it was proofread for content and word processing and making sure the finished copy was handed in on time. All the students said the team worked well together.

Dr. Menefee met with Team One and told them their work was good. Only Sarah, Fred, and Obi showed up for the meeting. Sarah shared that Bob was under the weather and Lauren was at a sorority meeting. He asked them how the team was working. Sarah was starting to answer the question when Fred had to leave to go to work. Sarah complained that she had to do all the work herself because Fred is always working, Lauren is caught up in her sorority, and Bob never shows up. Obi said he tries to help, but his English is not so good. Sarah said “I try hard to do A work, but I cannot do it all myself even with the help I get from Obi and sometimes Fred. Bob and Lauren contribute nothing to this team.”Dr. Menefee met with Team Three and told them that work was just average. The team reacted positively to that comment. Nick said the team worked well together and produced a paper that satisfied them. They indicated they were pleased with the C grade.Dr. Menefee met with Team Four and told them their work was below average. Paul spoke on behalf of the team and stated they were not history majors and the assignments were too tough. Roger chimed in with “you really need to cut us some slack here Doc.” After the meeting, Dr. Menefee was convinced that none of them were trying very hard.Questions

1. Describe what happened with each team and why it happened?2. Was there any social loafing in the teams? 3. Why was Team Two doing better that the other teams?4. Is giving the same grade to everyone on the team a good idea?

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PRACTICAL EXERCISEWilderness Survival

You are a member of a hiking party. After reaching base camp on the first day, you decide to take a quick sunset hike by yourself. After hiking a few exhilarating miles, you decide to return to camp. On your way back, you soon realize that you are lost. You have shouted for help, to no avail. It is now dark. And getting cold.

Your Task Without communicating with anyone else in your group, read the following scenarios and choose the best answer. Keep track of your answers on a sheet of paper. You have 10 minutes to answer the 10 questions.

1. The first thing you decide to do is to build a fire. However, you have no matches, so you use the bow-and-drill method. What is the bow-and-drill method?

a. A dry, soft stick is rubbed between one’s hands against a board of supple green wood.

b. A soft green stick is rubbed between one’s hands against a hardwood board.c. A straight stick of wood is quickly rubbed back-and-forth against a dead

tree.d. Two sticks (one being the bow, the other the drill) are struck to create a

spark.

2. It occurs to you that you can also use the fire as a distress signal. When signaling with fire, how do you form the international distress signal?

a. 2 firesb. 4 fires in a squarec. 4 fires in a crossd. 3 fires in a line

3. You are very thirsty. You go to a nearby stream and collect some water in the small metal cup you have in your backpack. How long should you boil the water?

a. Fifteen minutesb. A few secondsc. One hourd. Depends on the altitude

4. You are also very hungry, so you decide to eat what appear to be edible berries. When performing the Universal Edibility Test what should you do?

a. Do not eat for 2 hours before the test.b. If the plant stings your lip, confirm the sting by holding it under your

tongue for 15 minutes.c. If nothing bad has happened 2 hours after digestion, eat half a cup of the

plant and wait again.d. Separate the plant into its basic components and eat each component one at

a time.

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5. Next, you decide to build a shelter for the evening. In selecting a site, what do you not have to consider?

a. It must contain material to make the type of shelter you needb. It must be free from insects, reptiles, and poisonous plants.c. It must be large enough and level enough for you to lie down comfortably.d. It must be on a hill so you can signal rescuers and keep an eye on your

surroundings.

6. In the shelter that you built, you notice a spider. You heard from a fellow hiker that black widow spiders populate the area. How do you identify a black widow spider?

a. Its head and abdomen is black; its thorax is red.b. It is attracted to light.c. It runs away from light.d. It is a dark spider with a red or orange marking on the female's abdomen.

7. After getting some sleep, you notice that the night sky has cleared, and so you decide to try and find your way back to base camp. You believe you should travel north and can use North Star for navigation. How do you locate the North Star?

a. Hold your right hand up as far as you can and look between your index and middle fingers.

b. Find Sirius and look 60 degrees above it and to the right.c. Look for the Big Dipper and follow the line created by its cup end.d. Follow the line of Orion's belt.

8. You come across a fast-moving stream. What is the best way to cross it?a. Find a spot downstream from a sandbar as the water will be calmer.b. Build a bridge.c. Find a rocky area, as the water will be shallow and you will have hand- and

footholdsd. Find a level stretch where it breaks into a few channels.

9. After walking for about an hour, you feel several spiders in your pants. You don’t feel any pain, but you realize some spider bites are painless. Which of these spider bites is painless?

a. Black Widowb. Brown Recluse c. Wolf Spiderd. Harvestman (Daddy Longlegs)

10.You decide to eat some insects. Which insects should you avoid?a. Adults that sting or biteb. Caterpillars and insects that have a pungent odorc. Hairy or brightly colored one.d. All of the above

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GROUP TASKBreak into groups of 5–6 people. Now imagine that your whole group is lost. Answer each question as a group, employing a consensus approach to reach each decision. Once the group comes to an agreement, write the decision down on the same sheet of paper that you used for your individual answers. You will have approximately 20 minutes for the group task.Scoring Your AnswersYour instructor will provide you with the correct answers which are based on expert judgments in these situations (www.wilderness-survival.net). Once you have received the answers, calculate: (A) your individual score; (B) your group’s score; (C) the average individual score in the group; (D) the best individual score in the group. Write these down, and consult with your group to ensure that these scores are accurate.

(A) Your individual score                                                                                   (B) Your group’s score                                                                                   (C) Average individual score in group                                                                                   (D) Best individual score in group                                                                                  

Discussion Questions 1. How did your group (B) perform relative to yourself (A)? 2. How did your group (B) perform relative to the average individual score in the

group (C)? 3. How did your group (B) perform relative to the best individual score in the group

(D)? 4. Compare your results with those of other groups. Did some groups do a better job

of outperforming individuals than did others? 5. What do these results tell you about the effectiveness of group decision making? 6. What can groups do to make group decision making more effective?

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