1. Please go to page 35 in your textbook. Please read Case Incident 2.1 very
carefully. Then answer the four questions that are provided.
Granddad’s Company. Case Incident 2.1
J.R.V. Company, which manufactures industrial tools, was founded in 1905 by James R. Vail
Sr. Currently, James R. Vail Jr. is the president of the company; his son Richard is executive
vice president. James Jr. has run the company for the past 30 years in a fashion very similar to
that of his father.
When the company was founded, James Sr. had been a big supporter of scientific management.
He had organized the work very scientifically with the use of time and motion studies to
determine the most efficient method of performing each job. As a result, most jobs at J.R.V.
were highly specialized and relied on a high degree of division of labor. In addition, there was
always a heavy emphasis on putting people in jobs that were best suited for them and then
providing adequate training. Most employees are paid on a piece- rate incentive system, with
the standards set by time and motion studies. James Jr. has largely continued to emphasize
scientific management since he took over. All employees now receive two weeks of paid
vacation and company insurance. Also, employees are generally paid an average wage for their
industry. The present J.R.V. building was constructed in 1920, but it has had several minor
improvements, such as the addition of fluorescent lighting and an employee lunchroom.
James Jr. is planning to retire in a few years. Recently, he and Richard, his planned successor,
have disagreed over the management of the company. Richard’s main argument is that times
have changed and time and motion studies, specialization, high division of labor, and other
philosophy for many years and change would be “foolish.”
Question
1. Do you agree with Richard? Why or why not?
2. Are the principles of scientific management applicable in today’s organization?
Explain your answer.
3. What are James Jr.’s reasons for keeping things the way they are?
4. What kind of changes do you think Richard would like to make?
2. Please go to page 152 in your textbook. Please refer to Case Incident 6.1, Changes in the
Plastics Division on this page. Read the information provided very carefully. Then
answer the four questions provided.
Changes in the Plastics Division. Case Incident 6.1
Ed Sullivan was general manager of the Plastics Division of Warner Manufacturing Company.
Eleven years ago, Ed hired Russell (Rusty) Means as a general manager of the Plastics
Division’s two factories. Ed trained Rusty as a manager and thinks Rusty is a good manager,
an opinion based largely on the fact that products are produced on schedule and are of such
quality that few customers complain. In fact, for the factories independently. Rusty believes
strongly that his job is to see that production runs smoothly. He feels that work is work.
Sometimes it is agreeable, sometimes disagreeable. If an employee doesn’t like the work, he or
she can either adjust or quit. Rusty, say the factory personnel, “runs things. He’s firm and
doesn’t stand for any nonsense. Things are done by the book, or they are not done at all.” The
turnover in the factories is low; nearly every employee likes Rusty and believes that he knows
his trade and that he stands for them. Two months ago, Ed Sullivan retired and his replacement,
Wallace Thomas, took over as general manager of the Plastics Division. One of the first things
Thomas did was call his key management people together and announce some major changes
he wanted to implement. These included (1) bring the operative employees into the decisionmaking process; (2) establish a planning committee made up of three management members
and three operative employees; (3) start a suggestion system; and (4) as quickly as possible,
install a performance appraisal program agreeable to both management and the operative
employees. Wallace also stated he would be active in seeing that these projects would be
implemented without delay. After the meeting, Rusty was upset and decided to talk to Robert
Mitchell, general manager of sales for the Plastics Division.
Rusty: Wallace is really going to change thing, isn’t he?
Robert: Yeah, maybe it’s for the best. Things were a little lax under Ed.
Rusty: I liked them that way. Ed let you run your own shop. I’m afraid Wallace is going to be
looking over my shoulder every minute.
Rusty: Well, let’s give him a change. After all, like them. Having them participate in making
decisions and those other things are just fancy management stuff that won’t work with our
employees.
Questions
1. What different styles of leadership are shown in this case?
2. What style of leadership do you think Wallace will have to use with Rusty?
3. Do you agree with Rusty? Why or why not?
4. If “products are produced on schedule and of such quality that few customers complain,”
why should there be any changes?
3. Please go to page 185 in your textbook. Please read very carefully the
information provided in Case Incident 7.2, The Vacation Request. Then
answer the following questions:
The Vacation Request. Case Incident 7.2
Tom Blair has a week’s vacation coming and really wants to take it the third week in May,
which is the height of the bass fishing season. The only problem is that two of the other five
members of his department have already requested and received approval from their boss,
Luther Jones, to take off that same week. Afraid that Luther would not approve his request;
Tom decided to forward his request directly to Harry Jensen, who is taken Harry fishing on
several occasions). Not realizing that Luther has not seen the request, Harry approves it.
Several weeks pass before Luther finds out, by accident, that Tom has been approved to go on
vacation the third week of May. The thing that really bugs Luther is that this is only one of
many instances in which his subordinates have gone directly to Harry and gotten permission to
do something. Just last week, in fact, he overheard a conversation in the washroom to the effect
that, “if you want anything approved, don’t waste time with Luther-go directly to Harry.”
Questions.
1. What should Harry have done?
2. Who is at fault, Harry or Tom?
3. Should Tom get his vacation? Why or why not?
4. What should Luther do to make sure this doesn't happen again?
4. Please go to page 278 in your textbook. Please read very carefully the information
provided in Case Incident 10.1, An Informative Coffee Break. Then answer the four
questions provided.
An Informative Coffee Break. Case Incident 10.1
On a Monday morning, April 28, George Smith was given the news that effective May 1, he
would receive a raise of 13 percent. This raise came two months before his scheduled
performance appraisal. His manager, Tom weeks, informed him that the basis for the raise was
his performance over the past several months and his value to the company. He was told that
this was an “above average” increase.
On the next day, Tuesday, a group of George’s coworkers were having their regular morning
coffee break. The conversation slowly made its way around to salary increases. One member of
the group shared that she had received a performance review in April, but she had yet to
receive any indication of a salary increases. George made a comment about the amount of any
such increases, specifically questioning the range of increase percentages. Another co-worker
immediately responded by saying how surprised he was in getting and across-the-board 12
percent increase last Friday. Another co-worker confirmed that he too hard received a similar
salary increase. Shocked by this information, George pressed for information, only to learn that
several people had received increases of “around” 11 to 13 percent. Confused and angry,
George excused himself, went back to his office, and closed the door. That evening, George
wrestled with his conscience concerning that morning’s discussion. His first impression of his
raise was that it had been given based on performance. He felt he was being singled out for
recognition for his hard work and his value to the organization. Now he wasn’t so sure. Several
questions were bothering him:
1. Why did his boss present the raise to him as a merit increases when it was the same as
everyone else’s?
2. Did individual job performance really count for that much in salary increases in his
department?
3. Did his boss hide the truth regarding the raise?
4. Can he trust his boss in the future?
5. Will future salary increases be averaged across the board too?
Questions.
1. Do you think George is right to be this upset? Why or why not?
2. How do you think the information George discovered during that morning coffee break
will affect his performance from now on?
3. How would you react if you were George? Why?
4. What can Tom Weeks do to regain George’s trust?
5. Please go to page 324 in your textbook. You will see Case Incident 11.2, The
College Admissions Office on this page. Please read the information provided
very carefully. Then answer the four questions that are provided for this Case
Incident.
The College Admissions Office Case Incident 11.2
Bob Luck was hired to replace Alice Carter as administrative assistant in the admissions office
of Claymore Community College. Before leaving, Alice had given a month’s notice to the
director of admissions, hoping this would allow ample time to locate and train her replacement.
Alice’s responsibilities included preparing and mailing transcripts at the request of students,,
mailing information requested by people interested in attending the college, answering the
telephone, assisting students or potential enrollees who came to the office, and general
supervision of clerical personnel and student assistants. After interviewing and testing many
people for the position, the director hired Bob, mainly because his credentials were good and
he made a favorable impression. Alice spent many hours during the next 10 days training Bob.
He appeared to be quite bright and seemed to quickly pick up the procedures involved in
operating a college admissions office. When Alice left, everyone thought Bob would do an
outstanding job. However, little time had elapsed before people realized that Bob had not
caught on to his job responsibilities. Bob seemed to have personal problems that were severe
enough to stand in the way of his work. He asked questions about that Alice had covered
explicitly; he should have been able to answer these himself if he had comprehended he
instruction. Bob appeared to constantly have other things on his mind. He seemed to be
preoccupied with such problems as his recent divorce, which he blamed entirely on his exwife, and the distress of his eight-year-old daughter, who missed her father terribly. His
thoughts also dwelled on his search for peace of mind and some reasons for all that had
happened to him. The director of admissions was aware of Bob’s preoccupation with his
personal life and his failure to learn the office procedures rapidly.
Questions.
1. Could Alice Carter have done anything differently here? Why or why not?
2. What would you do at this point if you were the director of admissions?
3. Do you think Bob should keep his job? Why or why not?
4. Describe how you might effectively use a performance appraisal in this situation.
6. Please go to page 369 in your textbook. Please refer to the Ethical
Management section on this page and read the information provided. Then
answer the four questions provided.
Ethical Management
A colleague of yours is on an annual contract that is soon due to be renewed. During your time
of working together you have become friends with him even though, as an African American,
he was originally hired as part of an increased workforce diversity campaign (in preference to
your brother-in-law who didn’t offer the necessary diversity bonus). You are aware that your
friend’s wife has recently become pregnant with their second child. However, while he tries
had and means well, your colleague is really quite incompetent at his job. You frequently need
to work harder to try to compensate for this and have been aware of him covering up some
relatively serious mistakes.
Questions.
1. Your boss has asked for your advice as to whether or not your friend’s contract should be
renewed. What will you tell your boss?
2. Would your answer be different if diversity wasn’t a factor? Why or why not?
3. How would you convince your boss that your feed-back wasn’t influenced by sour grapes
over the decision not to hire your brother-in-law?
4. If the company requires a specific hiring ratio for employee diversity, is the diversity factor
worth keeping an incompetent employee? Why or why not?
7. Research a business magazine (BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Fortune, or
Forbes) or newspaper (The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times), and
identify a significant business decision made by a major company. Then
answer the following questions.
1. What business and /or economic factors prompted the decision?
2. Did the managers or involved satisfice optimize?
3. What was their risk approach to the decision they made?
4. In your assessment, how creative was their decision?
8. Using the Internet, select the mission statement of an organization of your
choice, and identify the following components of the statement:
1.Customer and/or market
2. Product and/or service
3. Geographic domain
4. Concern for survival
5. Concern for public image
9. Visit the Web site of the HRM Guide at www.hrmguide.net Answer the
following questions:
1. What is the HRM Guide?
2. Select and summarize an article on work life balance under the "Employee
Relations" HR topic.
3. The HRM Guide is a network of HRM and other Web sites. Identify two other
Web sites to which the HRM Guide can refer you.
10. Locate the Web site of Corporate Social Responsibility newswire (CSRWire).
What does CSRWire do? List four CSRWire members, and explain the
services they receive from CSRWire. Find the CSRWire events page, and
identify the next scheduled event. Briefly summarize the location and
planned agenda for the event. Locate the Web site of Corporate Social
Responsibility newswire (CSRWire). What does CSRWire do? List four
CSRWire members, and explain the services they receive from
CSRWire. Find the CSRWire events page, and identify the next scheduled
event. Briefly summarize the location and planned agenda for the event.