ORGAINIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR, CASE STUDIES

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THE COUNCIL OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES OF JAMAICA

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE EXAMINATION

SEMESTER I – 2020 DECEMBER

PROGRAMME: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

COURSE NAME: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

CODE : ORTB4801

YEAR GROUP: FOUR

DATE ADMINISTERED: WEDNESDAY, 2020 DECEMBER 9

DURATION: 72 HOURS

ASSESSMENT TYPE: FINAL

This Assessment has 6 pages

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS FROM SECTION A

2. SECTION B CONSISTS OF TWO (2) QUESTIONS. ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS

3. ATTACH THE SIGNED CCCJ ASSIGNMENT COVERSHEET TO THE FRONT

OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT BEFORE SUBMITTING

4. ATTACH THE TURNITIN RECEIPT TO YOUR ASSIGNMENT BEFORE

SUBMITTING

NOTE: YOUR ASSIGNMENT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED IF 3. AND 4. ABOVE IS

NOT ATTACHED

YOUR COMPLETED WORK MUST BE SUBMITTED WITHIN THE SPECIFIED

DURATION OUTLINED ABOVE TO PREVENT PENALTIES

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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

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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

Analyse 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. (9 marks)

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

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

(Total 20 marks)

END OF SECTION A

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SECTION B

Instruction: Complete ALL questions from this section.

Question 1

Savvy 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

Analyse 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. (6 marks)

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. (10 marks)

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. (4 marks)

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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)

RUBRIC

A. Propose and justify (3 marks for proposing and 3 marks for justifying) B. (3 marks for each clear explanation that would create synergy in the team and 1 mark

for Use of English)

C. (1 mark for impact identified and 3 marks for impact assessed in relation to the outcome of the event)

D. Kotter’s eight-step plan (1 mark for each step identified, 2 marks for each explained considering the case and 1 mark for use of English)

(Total 45 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.

Extracted from: Dream of escaping the office and working from home? (Barton, 2017)

Source: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20170418-how-working-from-home-ruins-everything

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)

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

RUBRIC

A. 3 marks for explaining the Ian’s dissonance and 3 marks each for alteration of behaviour B. 5 marks for each discussed C. 3 marks for each factor explained

Students should submit the following

1. APA Style Reference page 2. Turnitin Report (originality index & digital receipt)

(Total 30 marks)

END OF ASSESSMENT