Expert answer:Organisational Behavior Case Study Report thoeires
Expert answer:Please see the attached file for assignment details. I only need the body of report – do not include introduction, conclusion and recommendations. Body of report to be 800 words with at least 5 references from peer reviewed journal articles in Harvard style. In body of the report, we need overview of case study and issues identified – linking them to organisational behaviour theories. From the case studies file, we are working on case study number 3 : Steel plant accident. Please do research on the case and provide a quality report. Produce a report drawing on two or three of the OB theories. Body (800 words)Overview of the case study.Issues identified (an issues statement).
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assignment_2__case_study_team_report.pdf
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ONLINE CASE STUDIES
CASE STUDY
1
WANDERING AROUND
THE WORKPLACE
ANANDA WICKRAMASINGHE, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND
UNIVERSITY
Dr Dias is the CEO for a large private hospital located in the
capital of a South Asian country. This hospital is a franchise of
an international hospital chain, and the main hospital and
office is located in India. Dias is a qualified MBBS doctor with
additional administrative qualifications. Before he accepted
the current position, Dr Dias functioned as the head of a large
state hospital for children and maternity.
The hospital of which he is currently CEO is somewhat
different from his previous workplaces. It is managed by a
board of directors appointed by major shareholders, and the
business is publicly listed. There are 700 employees in this
organisation and there is a considerable number of doctors
who are consultants or who work on either a contract or a
job-availability basis. When Dr Dias assumed his job as CEO,
the hospital was making losses and its ownership was
transferring from an overseas company to a local businessman.
Within a year, ownership of the organisation changed again,
this time to a powerful politician who owned several
businesses.
Dr Dias has a unique style of management and he always
interacts with employees at all levels, whereas the culture of
management is usually based more on hierarchy, favouritism,
social class and patriarchy. Surprisingly, Dias was also educated
and has experience within such a culture, even though he
obtained his postgraduate training in Australia.
Dias usually comes to the office early in the morning to
organise his work for the day. Before finishing his day he
habitually completes all incoming work, and then plans for the
next day. He is a very organised person and he has open-door
policy towards his employees. One doctor commented: ‘he is
such a dedicated character, like I haven’t seen anywhere else
I’ve worked’.
As a practice, Dias visits places in the hospital without
prior notice. He chats to all staff and people informally. At
first when he started managing like this, employees did not
like it because they thought he was coming to observe closely
how they were working. However, gradually he managed to
change this perception, and employees even started waiting
for him in order to talk to him and even discuss their issues
and grievances. In this way, Dias managed to create an
environment that motivated people to engage in productive
work practices and which enabled him to stay in touch with
employees at all levels of the organisation. Even a cleaner
once commented: ‘When he started to visit regularly and
without knowing, we were so scared and thought he is coming
for inspection and check whether we are working, but later we
realised we can talk to him personally, and tell our concerns.
We did not have that in anywhere we worked.’
A doctor also commented that: ‘I observed that he
frequently comes around five minutes before we finish our
1
shift. He seems independent in his management practice and
walking around routinely. When I asked him about his
practices one time, he said that he believes that being in touch
with his employees on a daily basis has remarkable impact on
his capacity to understand and getting to know what is going
on the hospital. He didn’t want to be sitting in his office as “the
boss”; he wants to be with the employees to grasp and feel
what they are doing, and how they are doing, and what
difficulties they are having. Only then can you know your
employees and operations, and only then can you help to
make them better.’
Nonetheless, most senior managers of the hospital are
working as usual and do not seem to follow what the CEO is
doing. While they support his direction and actions as the
CEO, and they align with his commitment and passion for
excellence, they do not share Dias’ style or hands-on passion
for the workplace. A senior manager stated that: ‘…as he is
being an exemplar and walking around in the hospital, we
sometimes feel ashamed, it is obvious that we probably should
follow his example. Beyond this, when he asks us to do things
we can’t say no, even we want to because he is twice effective
and productive as us and we would look like poor employees.’
Another doctor who worked for this hospital also
recalled: ‘He goes around talking to people: patients, families
and employees. While he is working, he is also looking for poor
work behaviour and observing the quality of work. I saw many
times that he purposely touches staircases and beds and even
goes to toilets to see whether they are well cleaned. Normally
others cannot easily notice what he is really doing. For
example, one day while going to the surgery section, I saw him
touching the staircase and look at his hand, and then he
courteously called for a cleaner and asked to bring cleaning
stuff. The cleaner was scared and brought them as instructed.
Dr Dias started to clean the staircase and the cleaner was so
embarrassed and begged to be able to continue the cleaning
herself, but he maintained a very warm smile and completed
the cleaning. I was so surprised about that situation and how
he did it. I never saw cleaners doing a half job after that. Now
they are very serious about their responsibilities, and their
work quality’.
As time went on, employees became used to the CEO’s
daily routine. In fact, they now feel that the CEO is friendly
and supportive, and that this really helps them to undertake
their work roles in the best way that they can. Within the first
year of his employment at the private hospital, Dias
succeeded in making the business profitable. The customer
orientation of the business has also dramatically improved. A
significant number of overseas surgeons and consultant
doctors are now working for the hospital and continue to be
attracted to apply for positions there. Although the workplace
is not free from internal and national politics, Dias takes a
strategic approach to these issues in order to meet the
expectations of internal and external stakeholders, and more
often than not creates a positive and lasting change in
problem areas. He is an inspirational, down-to-earth and
friendly character who works with respect and dignity.
2
ONLINE CASE STUDIES
CASE STUDY
2
ADVERT CO.
BY RACHEL MORRISON, AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF
TECHNOLOGY
Sue Yan and George Thong were transferred on a two-year
contract from the Indonesian office to the Auckland (NZ)
office of Advert Co., a large graphic design and advertising
company. Both Sue and George very were enthusiastic about
their new role in Auckland. They were also happy with the pay
increase they would receive. They would continue to get their
usual salary, which was equivalent to NZ$260 per week, as well
as an accommodation allowance of NZ$200 per week and a
one-off relocation bonus of NZ$3000.
However, not long after arriving in New Zealand, Sue and
George find out that the local New Zealand employees in the
same department, doing exactly the same job, are earning
nearly NZ$900 per week.
Within a few weeks of realising the difference in the pay
scales, Sue begins to post personal items home to Indonesia
using the company postal service. She also surfs the internet
during work time and takes long lunch breaks. Sometimes she
delegates part of her workload to her local colleagues,
reasoning that if they are being paid more, then they should
also do more work. George, on the other hand, is very
impressed with the level of relevant qualifications held by the
locals. Most have at least a business degree, whereas George
and Sue only finished high school in Indonesia. He is also aware
that what his colleagues do is really helped by the fact that
most have English as their first language. George continues to
work as hard as he can for Advert Co.
Another reason why George feels grateful for his job is
that, on his first day in Advert Co., he was given a general
intelligence test, in which he scored very poorly. The test was
in English (George’s second language) and he spent much of
the time during the test making sure he correctly understood
the meaning of the questions. Consequently he did not
complete much of the test. George has always been very good
at arithmetic and has a sharp and logical mind, yet he got
many of the numeracy and reasoning questions wrong due to
his confusion with and misunderstanding of the wording of the
questions.
Sally Jones was hired at the same time as George and Sue.
She is the sort of person who gets stressed easily and worries
about things. She really wants to make a good impression in
her new job and is keen to make the most of this new
opportunity. In the first few weeks in her new job she often
turns up to work half an hour early and is happy to stay late in
order to make sure that she keeps on top of her workload. She
is surprised that others in her team often seem to complain
about their own workloads and regularly miss deadlines. Most
arrive at work late and, though they seldom leave early, they
will take very long lunch breaks, chat with each other, talk on
the phone to their friends and surf the internet. Although they
keep themselves separate from the rest of the organisation,
they all get on very well together, and there is a pleasant and
friendly atmosphere in the team. They will cover for each
other if someone is ‘pulling a sickie’ and exaggerate to
management about how long tasks really take so that they can
work slowly and take plenty of breaks. Sally really wants to be
liked by her workmates; she is a naturally shy person and
sometimes finds it difficult to make friends. It does not take
long for Sally to realise that she has to fit in with the rest of
her team if she wants them to like her. She particularly
admires Olive, a fun-loving, vivacious and popular designer
who always seems to be surrounded by friends. As a result—
although it goes against her nature—Sue soon begins to relax
about her own deadlines and to go out for extended lunches
with her colleagues. She and Olive become firm friends, and
although she is not happy about not being very productive at
work, she decides that she loves working for Advert Co. more
than ever.
Two months later
Management begins to notice that the members of Sally’s
team are not working very hard. The managers meet to discuss
what might be done to improve performance. They decide to
renovate the office in which the team works. They improve
the lighting in the office, put in new air-conditioning units and
give all the staff new computers. Although Sally’s team works
a little more efficiently for a few weeks, the change doesn’t
last long and the staff soon go back to their old ways.
Four months later
Because performance still has not improved significantly in
Sally’s team, management decides to initiate a performancebased reward scheme. A system is set up whereby goals and
expectations are communicated to the team with a memo on
the noticeboard in the hall outside the office. The goals that
the team is required to achieve in order to get rewards are not
only significantly more challenging than the level at which the
staff are currently performing, but they also include more
ambiguous requirements such as to ‘improve work quality’ and
to ‘try hard’. For example, the staff are expected not only to
design new layouts for many of the print advertisements of
Advert Co.’s clients, but also to learn how to use the brand
new computer software required for the redesign. No proper
computer training is given and not a single team member
manages to master the new computer software before the
first deadline passes.
Although some members of Sally’s team really did try hard
to learn the new software and meet the targets set by
management, the only way that performance is measured is by
whether or not the final product arrives to the clients on time.
The quality of the work and the time required to complete
each job is not taken into account.
Eventually, after a lot of hard work, the team does manage
to meet a set of goals. However, when it is time (a month
later) for staff to receive their rewards, the team discovers
that, to create a perception of fairness, all employees receive
exactly the same reward: an alarm clock with the company
logo on it. Not only can the team members now spend all day
at Advert Co., but they can also wake up to the company first
thing in the morning!
Sally’s team members are so upset that all their hard work
has come to nothing more than an alarm clock each that they
decide to send a letter complaint to management via email.
The staff try to be reasonable in their email. They outline all
the extra work they have had do to learn the new computer
software and they explain that the clocks are not very
ONLINE CASE STUDIES
rewarding. The person who receives the email is Tom Jones.
Tom is already quite frustrated with Sally’s team and before he
even opens the email he thinks to himself about all the extra
time and energy that has been expended on the team, and
how irritating it has become. The staff don’t work hard and
always seem to be moaning.
When Tom reads the email and sees that these same
employees are complaining yet again—about a special reward,
3
no less!—he angrily writes a reply and sends it off to the whole
team without really thinking or reading it over. The team is so
surprised and outraged to receive the negative reply that the
staff all walk off the job, resulting in the loss of two very
valuable accounts for Advert Co. The conflict soon escalates
and Advert Co. is considering taking action against several
members of Sally’s team, including Sally.
4
ONLINE CASE STUDIES
CASE STUDY
3
STEEL PLANT
ACCIDENT
BY ROBIN CHENG, TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY, MALAYSIA
Ian Seah, the production manager, was still in mourning. The
conscientious manager of an established steel company in
Malaysia had tendered his resignation three months ago. Until
then, Ian had taken great pride in the fact that the steel plant
had remained accident-free during his 15 years of service.
In the last five days of Ian’s tenure, the process of melting
scrap metals was in progress as usual. All the employees have
to cope with intense heat at work, as aluminium melting
furnaces burn at a temperature of 1000°C. The job is very
perilous, as even a 0.0001 mm drop of liquid from the furnace
will burn right through human skin.
Then, the steel plant situated in the northern region of
Malaysia exploded. This was the last thing that anyone had
expected to happen under the watch of the meticulous plant
manager. The magnitude of the explosion was so great that it
had caused a big hole in the roof of the plant. When the
incident happened in the late afternoon, there were more
than 89 employees working in the plant. Many employees
suffered minor burns despite wearing safety glasses and
gloves. One of the employees, from China, did not recover. He
died as a result of 60% burns to his body. The steel production
halted for one month. The relevant authorities, consisting of
the police and the Energy Information Agency Administration
(EIA), conducted a thorough investigation of the explosion.
However, nobody could ascertain what actually happened
during the production process.
Despite the psychological trauma of the experience, all
the employees resumed work. The employees worked in three
shifts: 7 am–3 pm, 3 pm–11 pm and 11 pm–7 am. Of all the
three shifts, Ian was most troubled by his night-shift
employees. As the supervisor was not strict, the night-shift
employees would get their colleagues to punch their
attendance cards for them. Many of them would log in on
time, but they would leave the plant and come back at 5 am.
Ian had conducted several rounds of consultations with the
employees and encouraged them to rotate the work shifts.
However, no one was willing to take up the offer as the night
shift allowance was higher than those for the day shifts. Ian
proceeded to assign the uncooperative employees to the day
shifts anyway. However, every time Ian rescheduled his
employees’ work plans, the night-shift workers would retaliate
by complaining to their union. The night-shift employees
blamed the company for victimising them. The union would
then contact the company to find out how the company had
discriminated against its employees. The meetings between
the union, Ian and the HR manager were unpleasant and
unfriendly. There was always an air of tension, as the union
would tend to protect its members. On a few occasions, the
union would conduct demonstrations in front of the factory
together with the group of unruly employees. These events
attracted a great deal of interest from the news media in
Malaysia, causing much embarrassment to the company when
it was then accused of discriminating against its employees.
The steel produced by the company was to be delivered to
the construction and property development industry in
Malaysia, the Asia–Pacific region and Middle Eastern countries.
However, the coordination between the purchasing and
delivery departments was poor. There was always a delay in
the delivery of the raw materials due to the company’s
suppliers or because of late payments to suppliers by the
company. This caused the production schedule to be
interrupted, the company to suffer ‘down time’ as the
employees would be idle while waiting for raw materials to
arrive, and additional costs to be incurred when employees
were then required to work overtime. Yet when the sales
orders were received, the delivery of steel was required within
the same week. It was therefore difficult for Ian to plan the
production schedule. As a result, the company’s clients would
receive their goods one week later, and the company would
be charged a 0.1% liquidated agreed damages (LAD) penalty
per day on each purchase order.
ONLINE CASE STUDIES
CASE STUDY
6
RESONUS
CORPORATION
BY STEVEN L. MCSHANE, THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN
AUSTRALIA, BASED ON AN EARLIER CASE WRITTEN BY
JOHN A. SEEGER
Frank Choy is normally a quiet person, but his patience has
already been worn thin by interdepartmental battles. Choy
joined Resonus Corporation, a hearing-aid designer and
manufacturer, eight months ago as director of engineering.
Production of the latest product has been delayed by two
months, and Choy’s engineering services department (ESD)—
which prepares final manufacturing specifications—is taking
the heat as the main culprit for these delays. Similar delays
have been occurring at Resonus for the past few years. The
previous engineering director was fired after 18 months; the
director before him quit after about the same amount of time.
Bill Hunt, CEO of Resonus for the past 15 years, responded
to these problems by urging everyone to remain civil. ‘I’m sure
we can resolve these differences if we just learn to get along
better’, he said whenever a dispute broke out. Hunt disliked
firing anyone, but he felt the previous engineering director was
too confrontational. ‘I spent too much time smoothing out
arguments when he was here’, Hunt thought to himself soon
after Choy was hired. ‘Frank, on the other hand, seems to fit
into our culture of collegiality.’
Hunt was groomed by the company’s founder and took
great pride in preserving the organisation’s family spirit. He
also discouraged bureaucracy, believing that Resonus
operated best through informal relationships between its
managers. Most Resonus executives were similarly informal,
except Jacqui Blanc, the production director, who insisted on
strict guidelines. Hunt tolerated Blanc’s formal style because
soon after joining Resonus five years ago, she discovered and
cleaned up fraudulent activity involving two production
managers and a few suppliers.
The organisational chart shows that Frank Choy oversees
two departments: ESD and research. In reality, ‘Doc’ Kalandry,
the research director, informall …
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