questions

CONFIDENTIAL

Model Answers

QUESTION ONE: 

There are a lot of theories of how to motivate individuals in organisations, yet motivation is a rather personal thing. 

1. Discuss a motivational theory that explains what motivates you and why and how that theory could be applied to make you motivated at work. 

2. Critically consider and discuss two (2) ways organisations can help provide ‘meaning’ in work. Best answers will draw upon relevant theories, readings, videos, class discussion and business examples.

 [10 marks]   

FOUNDATIONS

Any application of any of the motivation theories in the book, plus the ones covered in the lecture: 

· Maslow’s hierarchy, 

· McClelland’s 3-Needs (Achievement, Affiliation, Power), 

· Alderfer’s ERG (Existence, Relatedness, Growth), 

· Reinforcement and its associated problems in organisations, i.e., ‘You get what you count’ and ‘If you create a system of rewards, people will ‘game’ the system (and that’s not necessarily good or bad, it’s just human nature, i.e., reward-seeking)

· Fear as motivation, with the example that high-achievers (including the professor) are often motivated by ‘fear of failure’

· Expectancy theory (Valence, Expectancy, Instrumentalism), which I don’t particularly like and don’t explain very well

· Equity theory, with the example of discovering a colleague gets paid more than you, and what you might do about it

· Goal setting theory with its key tenants: Participation, Acceptance, Specific (goals), Challenging and Feedback

· We discussed Angela Duckworth’s book, Grit: The power of passion and perseverance, where the ‘X’ Factor is persevering, doing things long enough to get through the boring bits and the character trait of ‘grit’ as a powerful indicator of success

· Also mentioned Daniel Pink’s book, Drive, which endorses Autonomy, Mastery and Meaning as key drivers of human behaviour, especially in the contemporary society

· In lecture, we watched Dan Areily’s TED Talk on ‘What makes us feel good about our work’ with excellent examples of how a) people find challenging tasks rewarding, even though they are not comfortable, b) people will work for a minimal amount of reward, if their work is acknowledged, and c) how easy it is to extinguish effort by ignoring someone’s effort, and d) how things become more valuable when we put a lot of effort into them (like raising kids)

· In TBL, we watched Simon Sinek’s talk on ‘Why,’ i.e., ‘People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.’

ADVANCED (especially the ‘meaning’ question)

Advanced comments and observations in the first question would include reflections on any of the following:

· That motivation is essentially an individual-level phenomenon, i.e., as Ken Blanchard says, ‘what motivates people, motivates people’ 

· Therefore, when we try to build motivation into work systems, teams, and/or organisations, the reaction from individuals will vary according to their needs, personality traits, training, maturity and many other circumstances

· And, no matter what system we develop, there are normally trade-offs (‘you get what you count’)

· There are ‘funny’ conundrums, like executive pay, which can be seen as totally out of line with any theory of motivation, because we know that money is not the most important motivator for many, if not most people; so executive pay can be explained as symbolic (‘it’s not about the money, it is what it represents in a competitive environment), creeping incrementalism, or corrupt, depending on your viewpoint and an opinion on this matter would represent critical thinking

As for what constitutes ‘meaning,’ best answers will reflect in their own words, the Areily or Sinek (or Pink) talks, and importantly, apply it to their own personal life, including some of their own character traits (tenacity, persistence), as well as their desire to ‘do good,’ ‘make a difference,’ which could be tied back to self-actualisation and/or Areily’s notion of feeling good when we’re doing challenging work, even if the task is relatively trivial (constructing Lego bionticals). 

Best answers, however, will extrapolate these conditions of personal meaning to organisational behaviours and systems.  For example, organisations that avoid micro-managing and provide opportunities for autonomy (working independently), mastery (learning to do challenging tasks) and with purpose (alignment to lofty goals or vision statements, such as environmental responsibility, really helping customers achieve their goals, etc.) would be good examples. A critical lens will note that a) this is easier said than done, b) may (probably will) involve trade-offs, such as more meaning at lower pay, and c) is difficult to achieve in some industrial settings, i.e., in a Foxconn factory.

On the other hand, it is important to understand that simple managerial acts and positive organisational situations, settings and scenarios can be highly motivating, and such would constitute advanced understanding of motivation and management in practice.

Practical ways to provide meaning at work:

· Provide the ‘why’ we do what we do (purpose)

· Allow, support individuals doing things that challenge them (mastery)

· Help people see the ‘fruits of their labour’ (intrinsic rewards)

· Allow and support people working independently, anywhere/anytime (autonomy)

· Align the mission and vision of the organisation with aspirational goals, i.e., curing cancer, building a better world for customers, acting responsibly in relation to the environment, etc.

QUESTION TWO: 

Drawing upon your experience and observations of the peg board and ball toss exercises (in Week 3 TBL).

Discuss how the principles and practices of scientific management and time and motion studies are related to modern management practices, such as ‘lean’ manufacturing, continuous improvement and managing innovation?  Best answers will draw upon relevant theories, readings, videos, class discussion and business examples.

 [10 marks]    

FOUNDATIONS

Students may take the opportunity to regurgitate lists of Fayol’s 14 Principles or the key elements of Taylor or Fordism, etc, which is fine. These are enduring principles in general, which still inform practice.  

Principles and practices:

· ‘One best way’

· Systematic experimentation

· Quantification of measures (this was explicitly emphasised quite strongly in the TBL)

Having at least one or two of these could be considered a ‘required’ distinction between a low-level answer and an expected answer.

· Details or references to time and motion theorists, studies

· Fayol’s 14 Principles (some may be applicable, only with explanation in their own words)

The basic, obvious take-away lessons from the TBLs in relation to these early theories as they still apply to modern management include, but are not limited to:

· Systematic inquiry (having each individual complete a round with the peg board)

· Quantification of results (timing peg board rounds, and ball toss attempts)

· Documentation (recording times)

· Continuous process improvement (effectiveness and efficiency as moving targets)

ADVANCED 

If students list ‘principles and practices’ of scientific management and/or time and motion studies, to demonstrate critical assessment of these basics, they might comment on the relative applicability, i.e., that, even if the principle still holds, the context and organisational and general context of contemporary management is vastly different than industrial settings in which the early theories were developed.

One key difference is the participatory nature of scientific management versus ‘lean’ manufacturing. In the former, the managers did all the thinking, whereas in the latter, the employees ‘own’ the process and have significant input into process improvement.

Any reference to the machine metaphor, i.e., humans as interchangeable parts of a machine, would be an advanced reading, as we did not discuss this much, but it would be an interpretation of what they witnessed in the TBL exercises.

In the Ball Toss exercise, we developed ambitious targets, i.e., ‘Can you do it faster?’ could be related to Taylor’s ‘one best way’ or lean’s ‘Six Sigma’ concept ( .001 faults)

On the other hand, the use of an open-ended question, ‘Can you do it faster?’ was a modern form of inviting participation rather than the command-and-control approach used by Taylor and others.  

Moreover, while both exercises generated competitive enthusiasm. The Peg Board approach was very structured (3 rounds--individual, team and team with elimination results), while the Ball Toss team really was enthused and energised by their own autonomous creativity sans structure, something that Taylor et al were not concerned with.

A critical thinker might note the change in group dynamics when their team ‘laid off’ workers in order to optimise their results in the Peg Board exercise, i.e., the expendability of labour in scientific management.  

QUESTION THREE: 

Perception is reality. This psychological truth underpins much of management theory and practice.  

Discuss how perceptions can be misleading when it comes to any three (3) of the following situations: meeting someone for the first time, deciding whom you would like to work with in a team, allocating tasks and responsibilities in teams, knowing what motivates a person, finding meaning in work. Best answers will draw upon relevant theories, readings, videos, class discussion and business examples.

[10 marks]   

FOUNDATIONS

This could be a challenging question for some as the core concept is not from the textbook.  It was, however, emphasised throughout several lectures.  Perception was illustrated in each of the scenarios as follows:

· meeting someone for the first time

. First impressions are formed almost instantly and last; the example was given that Harvard MBA student evaluations at the end of a course are highly correlated with their impressions in the first 7 minutes of the course (Yikes!) I told (and kidded) the class that their minds were probably already made up about me as a professor

. 80% of communication is non-verbal and therefore our perception of appearance, visual cues, such as dress, hair, manner, etc.

. We can highly intuitively ‘correct’ or totally wrong about a person when we first meet them

· deciding whom you would like to work with in a team

. Extroverts are often over-rated in teams

. Introverts are often under-rated in teams

. Past performance (like a single-player score) can cloud your perception of how ‘good’ someone will be in the real simulation

. Great solo-player scores will help us win the sim (disproven over and over again)

· allocating tasks and responsibilities in teams

. Quiet person should take notes (introverts take good notes)

. HR should take notes (perception of role)

. Extroverts will be ‘naturally’ good leaders (contrary to evidence)

. Introverts cannot be good leaders (contrary to evidence)

. CFO must make all financial decisions (false understanding of executive teams)

· knowing what motivates a person

. Varies tremendously from person to person, so difficult to generalise

. Easy to mis-judge individual ‘needs’

. Easy to over-estimate ‘valence’ of the goal 

· finding meaning in work

. Hard to know what constitutes meaning, mastery and autonomy for others

. Situations embed their own ‘motivating’ factors, like community service looks terrible, but may make participants feel really good when involved

. ‘Money in muck’ Jobs and businesses that no one wants to do often produce great returns

. Ironically, challenging jobs or tasks are where individuals can feel happiest

. Some jobs have counter-balancing characteristics, i.e., ‘work hard, play hard’

· ADVANCED 

·

· Advanced, critical answers here may delve into the fundamental psychological principle in the question, namely why perception is reality.  We did not cover this explicitly in class, so advanced psychologically or neurological answers are not expected.  If they infer that that is simply how the human brain is wired, that is adequate here.  

·

· A sociological answer is that our personal perception is shaped by our prior experiences, the culture(s) we grew up in and the context of the immediate situation, e.g., are we under time pressure, stressed out, or external variables. 

·

· The latter point is particularly relevant to management practice as when we are stressed or under pressure, we tend to ‘jump to conclusions’ that are ill-founded and/or completely ‘wrong,’ which means that referring to self-regulation (one of the tenants of EQ) would be an excellent advanced answer.

· The fact that perception is reality has implications for how managers approach their work. For example, in practice, successful managers will understand that a) there is seldom one right interpretation of a situation, b) that ‘objective’ truth is elusive in organisations and therefore c) managers should be aware of their own perceptual biases, along with recognising that d) their perception may not be the same as others’ perception, even with the same information.

QUESTION FOUR: 

Connectivity is drastically changing the nature of organisational work and it will continue in the future.  Communication principles may still hold, but they may need to be applied in different ways. Leaders need to maintain ‘focus.’ Managers need to manage ‘attention, not information.’  And, finding ‘requisite connectivity’ is a challenge for teams.

Discuss four (4) skills, attributes and attitudes that will help managers communicate effectively in a world of near-constant connectivity. Where possible, illustrate and justify your answer drawing upon readings, relevant theory, class discussion, business examples and/or personal experience.

 [10 marks]    

FOUNDATIONS

The basics of communication are still relevant, so if students include material/models from the Communication chapter in the textbook, that is fine. However, the question is specifically aimed at ‘skills, attributes, and attitudes,’ which will involve some cross-topic application.

For example, some of the early material on ‘what is management’ includes ‘informational roles,’ which of course technically would apply to communicating in a highly-connected world.  Similarly, generic communication skills still apply, such as:

· Listening

· Understanding cultural differences (which is also based on an attribute of openness)

· Presenting ideas and information clearly and in forms that others can relate to

‘Attention, not information, is the scarce resource’ is a slide title from the lecture.  The point is that in a world of infinite information accessible to almost everyone, the challenge is getting others’ attention to get things done.

In the readings and in lecture, our (Kolb, Collins and Lind, 2008) model of ‘requisite connectivity’ suggests that too little (‘hypo-connectivity) or too much (‘hyper-‘) connectivity is a problem, to which students may suggest remedies in terms of skills, attributes and attitudes. The ideal state of connective ‘flow’ would be the optimal, but generally elusive state, whereas ‘requisite connectivity’ is ‘sufficient for the task or purpose at hand.’

Skills for a connected age

· Keeping up to date with communication (ICT) technologies

· Choosing the right media for the situation, i.e., when is an email OK and when is a face-to-face meeting required (Media Choice Theory)

· Deciding which media are best for your team (e.g., email, WeChat, Facebook, etc) and why; what are the ‘affordances’ (very advanced) or features of each medium that make it better or worse for a situation

· Developing discipline around when to put the smartphone down (a la Simon Sinek’s talk on ‘Millennials in the Workplace’)

Face-to-face communication skills, even as they may be under threat of non-use

Attributes for a connected age

· Emotional intelligence (EQ) is still one distinction between human and machine intelligence

· Asking the right questions, and letting machine intelligence help answer them 

· Resilience, being able to deal with the constant connectivity and yet avoid burnout

Attitudes for a connected age

· Being aware of one’s own connective patterns, i.e., being hyper-connected 

· Develop a personal philosophy of when, why and how much connect and disconnect

· Be sensitive to others’ connective needs and/or preferences

ADVANCED

There were three fundamental theories presented in the lecture that underpin the connected world we live in, namely:

· Information Theory

. Students may refer to the digitalisation of all information in 0s and 1s (binary language)

. Allows everything to be digital

· Socio-technical Systems (now referred to as Sociomateriality)

. Knowing that technologies are socially constructed and any reference to the ‘socio-technical school’ of management theory (started with Tavistock coal mine studies in Britain)

· Social Network Theory

. Based on Milgram’s ‘6 degrees of separation’ experiments

. Granovetter’s ‘strength of weak ties’ hypothesis

Sound demonstration of understanding and application of any of these theories would be considered an advanced theoretical approach to the question.

There were several slides and a reasonable amount of discussion about Artificial (Machine) Intelligence and therefore any issues associated with these technologies may have implications for the skills, attributes and attitudes of managers in a connected age.  Basically, I encourage a humanist perspective on these technologies, which means we (humans) should celebrate and continue to ‘evolve’ with machines, while recognising our unique abilities and attributes in the face of increasing automation.  Students who adopt a technological determinism (technology inevitably ‘makes us’ change) stance weren’t listening.

Critical issues that were discussed and which problemitise and go beyond the simple communication challenges that managers are facing and will continue to face include matters of:

· Personal privacy

· Security of information, data

· ‘Surveillance capital’ (selling data as the new raw material for wealth, e.g., Facebook, Google)