Management theory

      SCENARIO 1: Suppose you manage a team of seventy-five individuals. Your team members come from nine different countries in Asia, Europe, and South and Central America, and they are split almost evenly by gender. Ages range from 25 to 61. In the past, you had a very robust rewards and recognition budget to help keep your team motivated, and your team has always been high performing and productive. However, your organization is going through very lean times and your rewards budget has been completely eliminated. Additionally, the company has laid off whole teams based on their lack of productivity. You realize how critically important it is now to keep your team motivated and producing tangible results. Take on the role of a manager of this organization. Articulate 10 no-cost motivators. Be detailed and creative with your ideas. Some critical factors to consider as you create your no-budget program include: 1. What can you do to make the work more meaningful for such a diverse group?2. Are there basic needs that almost everyone will respond to? If so, what are they? What can you do to motivate for them? Review the variety of needs theories in the text for ideas.3. What resources might be available to you to help guide your motivation efforts of such an extremely diverse team? Be sure to consider age diversity as well as ethnic diversity. (Chapter 3) SCENARIO 2: As sustainability movements gain momentum worldwide, more companies are revising their mission and vision statements to address environmental and social issues. Some companies are “going green” because it is fashionable and profitable to care about the environment and social injustice. When it comes to sustainability and strategic planning, some industries face a bigger challenge than others. Chemical companies, for instance, tend to be associated with pollution, poison, and profits. Modern chemical companies may engage in safe, responsible practices, but the industry’s checkered past has led to this negative stereotyping. So how do companies like DuPont or Dow Chemical strategically position themselves in a world that demands increasing accountability from businesses? Choose one of the four major chemical companies (Dow, DuPont, BASF, and Union Carbide) and research their current market strategy. (Chapter 5) As you conduct your research, be sure to do the following:1. Identify the mission, vision, stakeholders, and long-term and short-term strategic goals of the companies.2. Determine how the companies address environmental sustainability in their mission and vision.3. Describe any social components of the companies’ strategies.4. Outline any particular areas that these companies should focus on when doing environmental scanning as part of the strategic planning process. Function 2: Organizing Governments, as mechanistic organizations, tend to be very bureaucratic and centralized in their decision making and power structure. Organic organizations, in contrast, are more decentralized in their decision making and power structure, and they are designed to be highly responsive to threats and opportunities. Many governments are spider organizations. However, some governing bodies are starfish organizations that are more organic in their structure and operate with less formality, allowing more flexibility in decision making. 1. Research McAllen or Mission or Pharr or your hometown city government. Determine if it is a spider or a starfish organization. Make a short list of organizational qualities that qualifies it as either a spider or starfish. (Chapter 9)    McAllen or Mission or Pharr “in Texas” Function 3: Leading Richard, a young Asian American who recently graduated with honors, has joined a prominent consulting firm. He is a brilliant, enthusiastic, highly motivated entry-level associate. The buzz around the office is that an exciting new client is to be pitched. This project could mean significant revenues, and careers could be made from success on this venture. Richard has been invited to join the team making the presentation to the client in three weeks, and he will have a significant client-facing role in this project if the bid is accepted. Richard is surprised about this assignment because he is so new to the organization. He speaks to his mentor, a partner in a different division, who explains to Richard that the CIO in the prospective company is an Asian American man. How do you proceed if you are Richard? Write a short paragraph describing how you would handle the situation. (Chapter 4) Consider the following questions in your response: 1. Is Richard being stereotyped by his company as someone the client CIO can “relate” to because they are both Asian American?2. If you were Richard, would you perceive that your inclusion on the team is a result of your race?3. How might this translate into an ethical dilemma for Richard and/or his company? Student responses will vary. One reality in life and in organizations is that diversity exists and organizations, if they want to succeed, try to match their workforce or human resources to that of their customers/clients. An advantage of this is that in doing so, they are able to understand the needs and thinking including the emotions and values of their customers.   Function 4: Control Control processes take many different forms in organizations. Some organizations define their vision and mission, set goals and objectives related to the vision/ mission, and then, literally, “go about their business” in order to meet those stated goals and objectives. At any point in the business process, control systems can be applied to measure quality, efficiency, and profitability. In addition to being an educational facility, your school is a business. Therefore, it controls and measures, among other things, the quality of the faculty it hires and of the students it admits by setting performance standards for both. (Chapter 12) 1. Identify the various control processes STC has implemented to ensure quality, efficiency, and profitability. For instance, research the metrics and standards of STC. What is the minimum GPA needed for graduation? The minimum GPA for your major? What other metrics does STC use to control students’ academic outcomes? Social outcomes? Ethics? Other?STC “South Texas College”