Exercise Questions

Chapter 6: Perception and individual DM

Questions
1. Think back to a teacher, manager, or coach who believed in your ability and
potential. To what degree did a possible Pygmalion effect impact your
behavior and performance?
2. Assume you have a team leader who always expects the worst from team
members. To what degree can a possible Golem effect negatively impact
team performance?
3. Why are the perceptions of your skills and abilities typically different from
the perceptions that others have of your skills and abilities?
4. What types of schemas do managers use to make better sense of information
at work?
5. Give an example of a time when someone used a stereotype to describe you
or something you did. Was the stereotype accurate? If not, explain why it
wasn’t accurate.
6. In what ways does “information overload” (e.g., text messages, e-mails,
search engine results, etc.) in today’s modern work environment affect
employees’ attention? Does this divided attention impact their job
performance? Explain.
7. Describe an instance at work when you allowed a person’s attractiveness or
physical appearance to influence how you interacted with that person.
8. When a normally high performing employee makes a mistake or has a bad
day, why should his/her manager not commit a fundamental attribution error
when trying to understand the cause of the employee’s behavior?
9. Which impression management tactics, if any, have you used while
interviewing for jobs? In what way did these tactics influence the
interviewer?
10.As an interviewer, what steps can you take to decrease the influence of
impression management tactics that are commonly used by interviewees?
Chapter 7&8 Motivation concepts to Application

Questions

1. Of the three components of motivation—direction, intensity, and persistence

— which do you believe is the most challenging to maintain when it comes
to keeping yourself motivated at work or in school? Explain.
2. Which of the content theories discussed in the chapter do you believe offers
the best explanation of motivation? Which of the process theories? Overall,
do you feel the content approach or the process approach best explains
motivation?
3. Motivation is just one of several factors that influence productivity. What
other factors were discussed in this chapter? What is the relationship
between these factors and motivation?
4. What implications does Herzberg’s two-factor theory have for the design of
organizational reward systems? How can the theory be used to explain
differences in the three components of motivation?
5. Assume you are a global manager responsible for an international subsidiary
that has employees from many parts of the world—China, India, Morocco,
Brazil, and Spain. How will you go about learning how to motivate these
individuals to perform their jobs well? Which of the motivation theories
discussed in this chapter can help you to understand their work attitudes and
behaviors?
6. As a manager, would you prefer the people for whom you are responsible to
be extrinsically or intrinsically motivated? Explain.
7. Think back to the last time you felt unfairly treated at work or at school.
Which of the four components of organizational justice, distributive,
procedural, interpersonal, or informational, best explains why you felt this
way?
8. How important a role does perception play in determining whether an
employee is receiving equitable treatment? What kinds of things might a
manager do to influence those perceptions?
9. Goal setting can be a difficult system to implement effectively. What kinds
of problems might be encountered in attempting to install a goal-setting
program in an organization? As a manager, what would you do to minimize
the likelihood you would encounter these problems?
10.Is there a psychological contract between the students enrolled in this course
and the instructor? What are some of the specifics of this contract? How was
the contract determined?
11. Explain the differences between job enlargement and job enrichment and
analyze the relative advantages of these two approaches in organizations you
have worked for.
12.2. What is the significance of the idea of quality of work life (QWL)? In
particular, what would seem to be the trade-offs between meaningful jobs
and productive jobs during periods of declining economic activity and
unemployment?
13.3. There is a distinct move away from a “job” emphasis in some industries.
Why is this occurring?
14.4. Assume that you are a restaurant supervisor in charge of 10 waiters. You
notice that they appear bored with their jobs and that customer service is
starting to decline. How can you redesign their jobs to make their work more
interesting and more meaningful? Would you enrich or enlarge their jobs?
Explain.
15.5. Describe the most meaningful job that you have ever had. Why was it
meaningful? Do you agree with that part of job characteristics theory that
posits that meaningful jobs tend to be more motivational?
16.6. Job enrichment is realized through changes to job depth. What changes
can managers make to existing jobs that will provide employees with greater
opportunities to exercise discretion?
17.7. Think about a current or previous job in which you were very motivated.
What three factors motivated you the most about that job? Were they
intrinsic or extrinsic outcomes?
18.8. Employees are increasingly interested in jobs with flexible work
schedules. What factors are driving this interest?
19.9. As you understand the idea and practice of total quality management, do
you believe that it’s the wave of the future in American organizations?
Explain.
20.. Why do you think Six Sigma helps many organizations improve quality,
customer satisfaction, and efficiency? Explain.
Case studies
The Hovey and Beard Company manufactured a variety of wooden toys, including animals, pull
toys, and the like. The toys were manufactured by a transformation process that began in the
wood room. There, toys were cut, sanded, and partially assembled. Then the toys were dipped
into shellac and sent to the painting room. In years past, the painting had been done by hand,
with each employee working with a given toy until its painting was completed. Most of the toys
were only two colors, although a few required more than two. Now, in response to increased
demand for the toys, the painting operation was changed so the painters sat in a line by an
endless chain of hooks. These hooks moved continuously in front of the painters and passed into
a long horizontal oven. Each painter sat in a booth designed to carry away fumes and to backstop
excess paint. The painters would take a toy from a nearby tray, position it in a jig inside the
painting cubicle, spray on the color according to a pattern, and then hang the toy on a passing
hook. The rate at which the hooks moved was calculated by the engineers so that each painter,
when fully trained, could hang a painted toy on each hook before it passed beyond reach. The
painters were paid on a group bonus plan. Since the operation was new to them, they received a
learning bonus that decreased by regular amounts each month. The learning bonus was scheduled
to vanish in six months, by which time it was expected that they would be on their own—that is,
able to meet the production standard and earn a group bonus when they exceeded it.

Questions
1. Assume that the training period for the new job setup has just begun. What change do
you predict in the level of output of the painters? Increase, decrease, or stay the same?
Why?
2. What other predictions regarding the behavior of these painters do you make based upon
the situation described so far?

Case 2

The painters were delighted and spent many lunch hours deciding how the speed of the belt
should be varied from hour to hour throughout the day. Within a week the pattern had settled
down to one in which the first half hour of the shift was run on a medium speed (a dial setting
slightly above the point marked “medium”). The next two and a half hours were run at high
speed, and the half hour before lunch and the half hour after lunch were run at low speed. The
rest of the afternoon was run at high speed with the exception of the last 45 minutes of the shift,
which was run at medium. The constant speed at which the engineers had originally set the belt
was actually slightly below the “medium” mark on the control dial; the average speed at which
the painters were running the belt was on the high side of the dial. Few, if any, empty hooks
entered the oven, and inspection showed no increase of rejects from the paint room. Production
increased, and within three weeks (some two months before the scheduled ending of the learning
bonus) the painters were operating at 30 to 50 percent above the level that had been expected
under the original arrangement. Naturally, their earnings were correspondingly higher than
anticipated. They were collecting their base pay, earning a considerable piece-rate bonus, and
still benefiting from the learning bonus. They were earning more now than many skilled workers
in other parts of the plant.

Questions
1. How do you feel about the situation at this point?
2. Suppose that you were the supervisor. What would you expect to happen next? Why?

Case 3

Multitasking—doing two or more things at once, or rapidly switching from one task to another—
is a characteristic of the Millennial generation. One recent study revealed that during a typical
week, 81 percent of young people report “media is multitasking” at least some of the time.
Multitasking nicely illustrates our point that motivation is not just effort but also the way you
direct your efforts. However, is the direction of efforts in multitasking efficient or inefficient?
Many people who multitask say it makes them more efficient: “Why not do two things at once if
I can accomplish about as much as if I only did one thing?” they ask. Research, however,
suggests multitasking is inefficient, that it actually takes longer to do two things at once than to
do one thing first and then turn to the other. David Meyer, a University of Michigan psychologist
who has studied multitasking, argues, “You wind up needing to use the same sorts of mental and
physical resources for performing each of the tasks. You have to switch back and forth between
the two tasks as opposed to really doing them simultaneously.” idly switching from one task to
another—is a characteristic of the Millennial generation. One recent study revealed that during a
typical week, 81 percent of young people report “media multitasking” at least some of the time.
Multitasking nicely illustrates our point that motivation is not just effort but also the way you
direct your efforts. However, is the direction of efforts in multitasking efficient or inefficient?
Many people who multitask say it makes them more efficient: “Why not do two things at once if
I can accomplish about as much as if I only did one thing?” they ask. Research, however,
suggests multitasking is inefficient, that it actually takes longer to do two things at once than to
do one thing first and then turn to the other. David Meyer, a University of Michigan psychologist
who has studied multitasking, argues, “You wind up needing to use the same sorts of mental and
physical resources for performing each of the tasks. You’re having to switch back and forth
between the two tasks as opposed to really doing them simultaneously.”

Multitasking appears to result in adverse outcomes beyond inefficiency. Another study found
multitaskers absorb material more superficially; they notice more things in their environment but
are able to learn material less deeply. “It’s not that they can’t focus,” says one researcher. “It’s
that they focus on everything. They hear everything—even things they would normally be able
to block out—because they are now so used to attending to many things at once.” Others note
that multitasking can damage productivity and social relationships as individuals devote less
concentrated time and attention to the tasks they are working on and conversations they are
having. This scattered attention is especially damaging for tasks that require deep insight or
creativity.

Questions
1. One expert who has studied multitasking calls it “a big illusion,” arguing that
multitaskers think they are more motivated and productive even when they aren’t. Do you
consider yourself a m multitasker? If so, does this case make you reconsider whether
multitasking makes you more motivated or productive?
2. The effects of multitasking have been found to be more negative when the tasks are
complex. Why do you think this is the case?
3. You might think multitasking makes you happy. While there is less research on this topic,
some evidence suggests multitaskers feel more stress in their work. Multitaskers “feel a
constant low-level panic.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
4. One expert recommends we “recreate boundaries” by training ourselves, while doing
something, not to look at other devices like cell phone or television for increasing periods
of time. Do you think you could do that? For how long?

Chapter 9

Group Behavior

Questions

1. Think of a formal group to which you belong. Describe the group in terms of
the characteristics of groups discussed in this chapter.
2. Have you ever been part of a virtual team? Describe it. What are the
advantages and disadvantages of virtual work arrangements?
3. Why is it important for managers to be familiar with the concepts of group
behavior?
4. Are groups more effective in problem solving than individuals?
5. Why is groupthink something to be avoided? How might a manager attempt
to ensure that groupthink doesn’t occur in his or her group?
6. What is the relationship between group norms and group cohesiveness?
What roles do both cohesiveness and norms play in shaping group
performance?
7. Describe a situation in which you were part of a formal work group (while
working in a job or as a student) and one of the members of the group did
not contribute much work to the group effort or project. How did the other
 group members deal with this person? How did this person’s behavior affect
the attitude of the other group members?
8. Thinking back to a recent student or work group project in which you
participated, how effective were you as a team member? What behaviors did
you engage in that contributed to your and the group’s effectiveness? (Refer
to the seven characteristics of effective team members presented in this
chapter.)
9. Is leadership a more or less important consideration in self-managed teams
than in other types of groups? Why or why not?
10.If you were creating a research and development team for an organization,
what kinds of factors would you consider in deciding the composition of the
team? Would these factors be different if you were putting together a
problem-solving team?