Organizational Behavior

SECTION A

Instruction: Complete ALL questions from this section.

The company Authentic Caribbean Cuisines is an organisation with 50 years of history in the area of services. The company's headquarters are located in Jamaica, although the services are provided in numerous locations across the Caribbean. The company has three areas (Educational, Hotel and Events), all related to catering.

The company achieves a higher turnover in the educational area, dedicated mainly to catering to many schools (currently more than 400). This area is a great entrance of money for the company, but it also requires a great structure and organisation. The feeling of the worker is that the future and the viability of the company mainly goes through the proper functioning of this area.

However, although in recent months the department has been meeting the objectives set and continues to gain public and private tenders (which means more schools and clients), there is widespread discontent among its workers, since the management is not knowing how to handle the situation and that translates into a poor working environment.

Natalee Graham is the director of the educational area, a competent and proactive woman, with more than 10 years in the position. Above her there are only Garfield Whapp, Chief of Operations, and Marshall Brown, founder and director of the company. They have a way of understanding the business world that is very classic and authoritarian, they do not take their workers into account, and they only move by objectives. In turn, they derive full responsibility from the area directors to communicate the decisions to their workers. They do not usually have direct contact with the workers and, if they do, it is scorched and hostile.

Marshall is only interested in obtaining good economic results without caring about the personal situation of his workers. An example of this is that, on average, workers in the educational area are having to do 10 extra hours a month to be able to fulfil their tasks. This situation is common in recent months and, far from solving it, their opinion is “they’re supposed to work, that’s what we pay them for”. He has also been heard saying, on more than one occasion, phrases such as “if they are not motivated it’s not my problem, they should come motivated from home” or “they should manage with the resources they have” when asked about strengthening the educational area team. All this situation is generating negative repercussions for the future of the company in general, and in the educational area although management doesn’t seem not to notice.

The educational area is made up of 19 workers. As has already been mentioned, Natalee is the director of the area and has a very experienced and prepared team, both in the operational and commercial sectors. In turn, she is characterised by having excellent communication skills and a very remarkable ability to lead, which is helping to relieve the bad environment somewhat, but she does not know how long she will endure.

Her team consists of 12 area coordinators who mainly perform the work at a distance during their working day, as they are responsible, in an autonomous manner, to supervise the proper functioning of the service of the schools in each area. The remaining 6 workers are two commercial employees, who are responsible for preparing and managing the active competitions; a personal assistant of Natalee, who offers direct support to her and to the area coordinators; an administrative assistant, responsible for customer service and various tasks; an office clerk responsible for managing routine actions; and a product technician, in charge of negotiating prices and managing incidents with suppliers. In general, there is a good atmosphere among all of them, although the continuous stress and the lack of empathy from the direction are beginning to generate problems.

Although the area coordinators do not usually work in offices, they have their common work area in them. They are a cohesive group, but the stress and lack of recognition by management are beginning to generate conflicts, resulting in a decline in service quality. In general, most coordinators are open to helping colleagues, which facilitates their work and the resolution of possible arising conflicts.

Finally, Natalee’s personal assistant has informed the company of her decision to accept a work offer, since she considers that she has not been sufficiently valued (when she was admitted, she was offered a salary below what was said in the interview, and they haven’t reviewed it since she’s been in the company). The situation stresses them a lot, since she gets along great with Natalee and with the rest of the team, and they form a very competent and cohesive working group, helping each other in everything they need. They have the same opinion about Marshall’s management, and they are considering taking similar measures if the situation does not change.

Required

Analyze the current situation at Authentic Caribbean Cuisines in terms of human capital. Then, from an analytical perspective, answer the following questions:

A. Explain the position in which the staff of the Educational Area have found themselves. (2 marks)

B. Discuss ONE (1) cause of how the company has reached this point and TWO (2) consequences can be derived if no intervention is done. (9marks)

C. Explain ONE (1) need that you think the company requires for which Management has not detected based on the current situation. (3marks)

D. Propose in details ONE (1) action each to improve motivation and group cohesion within this company. (6 marks)

END OF SECTION A

SECTION B

Instruction:

Complete ALL questions from this section.

Question 1Savvy Swag Ltd. is a company that manufactures and sells plant-based confectionery, condiments, dough, beer, chicken and bacon products. It has been in operation since 2001and have open several store across North America. Mike Jappa, Director of the company has decided to implement kiosk machines and other digital technologies in all its locations to increase sales and customers’ experiences. Employees are becoming uneasy about the new digital technologies that they will have to work with. The company have been doing very well and has decided to host an appreciation event for their customers who shop at their stores in your country. Davia is the head of Marketing and Events management, she was assigned a team of thirty people to help her plan the major customer appreciation event for the upcoming Christmas season. Since September the assigned persons have been working together and they just have not really come together as a team. Davia was sure she started off well. She contacted each individual on the team and let them know their responsibilities on the project. Each member of the team is getting their tasks done, but they do not seem to be concerned with the others on the team. If someone needs help, no one pitches in to assist. If a team member has a problem, no one helps them to solve the problem. Just yesterday one of the team members had an emergency and asked if someone on the team could make a call to the sales team so she could leave early. No one offered to help so Davia jumped in to assist, she realized that she will have to do something to change the behaviour of the members on the team. This is a bad experience for everyone frankly and some persons already are talking about quitting the project. If this team does not come together then the event will be a disaster.

Required:

Analyze the current situation in the case above then, from an analytical perspective, answer the following questions:

A. Based on the contribution of Bruce Tuckman’s model on group development, propose and justify what should be happening at the performing stage with the team in the case above. (6marks)

B. If you were the head of the team in the case above explain THREE (3) things you would have done differently for there to be synergy in this team. (10marks)

C. If members of the team were dissatisfied with their jobs, assess ONE (1) impact of their dissatisfaction on the outcome of the appreciation event. (4marks)

D. Explain how Mike could use Kotter’s approach to organizational change to implement the kiosk machines and digital technologies without resistance from his employees. (25 marks)

Question 2

When Ian Wright started working from his home in London last November, he thought he had the ideal setup. He could spend time with his two-month-old baby while he worked for his brand-new company, British Business Energy, which helps companies compare rates for electric and gas suppliers. From a two-bedroom home in the borough of Greenwich, he set up at his dining room table with big plans to master being an at-home dad and business owner. None of it worked. “There was a moment right at the start where hopes and dreams end and reality sets in,” Wright says. “I quickly concluded that it just wasn’t working. “Two months later he tried putting the baby in full-time childcare. He returned to the dining room table, certain this time it would work. House repairs, chores, the postman, all of it, just seemed to get in the way. “Those little things would just break up my flow,” Wright says. “You get to the end of the day, and you scratch your head and wonder, where did all the time go? “A month later, Wright realized he just couldn’t be productive working from home. He rented a desk at a co-working space near the London Bridge, and finally, he was cranking away.

Required:

A. Explain the cognitive dissonance that Ian is experiencing and TWO (2) ways that Ian could alter his behaviour or attitude to reduce the dissonance. (9 marks)

B. Discuss THREE (3) ways how Information and communications technology (ICT) could impact British Business Energy during this COVID 19 pandemic. (15 marks)

C. Explain TWO (2 ) factors you believe might have influenced Ian’s perception of working from home. (6 marks)