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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Dear Fellow OB Teachers…
We are a diverse (my editor cautioned me not to say “motley”) crew, and, because of all
the excellence in this diversity, I would not in the least way presume to suggest to you
how to teach your class. Therefore, my goal in creating this textbook and Instructor’s
Manual has been to provide a range of materials from which you can choose.
To cite but two examples, this book enables extensive experiential learning if that is your
preference. And it meets the needs of less experienced and more experienced students
(some exercises and cases challenge the latter) should you happen to teach both kinds. If
there is a teaching angle that I have neglected, please let me know so I can improve the
next edition.
If You Are an Experienced Instructor…
Whether your classroom style leans more toward lecture-discussion or toward
experiential learning, this textbook gives you plenty of options. Your choices for each
chapter are listed as Classroom Options in the appropriate section of this Instructor’s
Manual. For instance, you can use the videos and some of the very short exercises to
enhance your lectures. Alternatively, there are enough cases and exercises here for you to
design an entirely experiential class.
Note that Classroom Options include some materials (called Valued Added) which are
not in the textbook itself. These include exercises, videos, cases, and handouts.
If You Are a First-Time Instructor…
I do have some advice for those of you who are walking into the classroom for the first
time. I am fairly sure that it’s not particularly radical, and that students will appreciate
your following at least some of it. So here goes…
Plan your class meetings for variety
When you are designing a particular class session, aim for variety. In addition to
textbook-based lectures accompanied by your own material and insights (students really
value your expertise), use the films included here to bring the business world into your
classroom and the exercises to bring your students into the learning process. For each
chapter, consult Classroom Options in this Instructors' Manual.
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Plan your lecture to be concise; tell stories
Look at the Preview for each chapter and choose the questions (chapter sections) you
want to focus on. Review the PowerPoint slides and choose the slides that support your
focus.
For each Preview question, develop a supplementary story of your own. Plan to develop
at least two or three such stories per class session. Material from the end-of-chapter
section “Apply What You Have Learned” can also be folded into your lecture. The
segments World Class Companies and Advice from the Pro’s are especially useful.
Focus your coverage, and telegraph that focus
Assign your students to read the questions (again, chapter sections) you do not cover in
class (either because you did not plan to cover them, or because you ran out of time in
class.) Be assured that this textbook includes many examples and applications that will
help your students make sense of, and see the relevance of, what they will read on their
own.
Note, however, that the chapters are detailed and thorough. Based on workload
considerations, you may not want students to read every section, or every word of every
section. Should you want to do so, there are basically two ways to help students focus
their reading. One is to instruct them what to read (“read only these sections”); the other
is to instruct them how to read (“Cover only the main topics and terms” or “Cover only
these particular topics and terms [you name them].”)
Our chapter summaries can help you focus your coverage effectively because, for each
section, they summarize the most important topics and list the key vocabulary terms.
This approach (in contrast to the approach that lists key terms alphabetically at the end of
the chapter) allows you to easily emphasize or deemphasize material. For example, you
might want to test more of the terms and concepts that you have lectured on, and fewer of
those that the students cover by themselves. A glance at the chapter summary will let
you—and your students— know which terms and concepts you mean.
For example, in Chapter 2 it would make sense to lecture on the first three sections (What
is your personality?, How is the Big Five personality profile used in organizations?, and
What is your emotional style and why is it important in organizational life?) and ask your
students to study the last two sections independently. (What cognitive abilities contribute
to your personal style? What values and attitudes contribute to your personal style?) On
an exam, you would probably choose to draw more questions from the earlier sections,
and you might want to rely on the chapter summary to direct students to the questions and
terms you will emphasize from the latter two sections.
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
At the same time, it is entirely reasonable to hold students responsible for all the material
in a chapter (which is what I do.) What I tell my students is that those who want an “A”
must be able to answer detailed questions and make detailed applications, whereas those
who will settle for a “B” can afford to be a bit more general in what they learn. And I let
them know that the material covered in class will be more heavily represented on the
exam.
Add your own value
To help you customize your course, use the Value-Added elements listed in Classroom
Options.
Choose a couple of backups in Classroom Options
Choose and prepare one or two backup activities in case your media fail, your lecture
falls short, or the class discussion takes a direction that you want to reinforce.
Design your first three classes carefully
Because of the vagaries of class scheduling and semester beginnings in general, it is often
not advisable to cover a lot of material in the first class. Instead, use the class to establish
a particular climate—one that emphasizes that the class will be interactive, applied and
contemporary. One way to structure this first class is to:
1) Before doing anything else, gather pre-course data on what your students know about
OB topics by having them complete the form “Preliminary description of your life in
organizations,” available in the Value-Added section of the Chapter 1 Instructors' Manual
material (and also appended to the Sample Undergraduate Syllabus below). Explain that
you will return these descriptions at the end of the course to help them evaluate what they
learned.
2) Ask students to read the syllabus, then use the Value-Added team exercise : The
Boundaryless Classroom
3) If time, briefly introduce the course by lecturing on Chapter 1: What is organizational
behavior, and what kinds of business challenges does it address?
Also, give students name cards for the semester. The cards are useful for you, but also
for other students throughout the semester.
In class two:
1) Lecture on the first two or three sections of Chapter 1: What is organizational
behavior, and what kinds of business challenges does it address? (continued from your
first class). What economic and social issues challenge today’s organizational leaders?
What organizational processes help companies compete in the modern economy?
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Include one or both of the chapter opening films, Nidek and IQ Solutions, which
emphasize managing international and diverse workforces, respectively.
2) Use the short case Netflix.
In the third class:
1) Review the previous lectures briefly, especially to orient any new students. Lecture on
the remaining sections of Chapter 1: What will your career be like in modern
organizations? and How will mastering OB help you in your career? Use the fun exercise
Is Geography Destiny?
2) Do Career Anchors and Values
3) If time, do your choice of:
Which OB skills are most important in which industries?, or…
The Young President’s Vision, or …
Address the Stereotypes of Millennials in a Job Interview.
Assessment
Again, for new instructors, my advice is to use both exams and papers. Exams motivate
students to read the book and do some analysis; papers motivate them to analyze and
apply what they have read. Some students prefer one, some the other: Using both
generally satisfies both constituencies.
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Sample Undergraduate Syllabus
Here is a sample syllabus you can adapt for a three-session-per-week undergraduate
course. Using this syllabus you will:
—cover all of the chapters in the textbook
—emphasize working in and leading teams (using the Connections Project).
—emphasize ethics by giving a quiz on the Ethics Module
—administer 2 longer exams and one quiz
—grade one long paper (by individuals: You might also adapt this paper to be a
group paper.)
To use this syllabus:
1) Replace the underlined material with your own.
2) Reposition the class days to suit your calendar
3) Note that the exercise Preliminary Description of Your Life in Organizations is
appended to the sample syllabus. However, before you copy the syllabus you may want
to expand this section to several pages that students can detach from the syllabus and
hand in to you during the first class.
4) Examine the Class Plan that accompanies the syllabus for classroom activities, and
select your lecture material accordingly, depending on the topics you want to cover and
the amount of time you want to devote to lecturing.
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Organizational Behavior
Professor Wonderful
Semester Q, YEAR
CONTACT ME AT EMAIL ADDRESS (Put THE COURSE NUMBER in the subject
line please to be sure to get my immediate attention.).
My office is PLACE. Office hours are DAYS AND HOURS
and by appointment.
My personal website is WEBSITE. See ONLINE PACKAGE for class notes and
announcements.
REQUIRED READINGS
Rae André, Organizational Behavior: An Introduction to Your Life in Organizations
(PrenticeHall, 2008)
COURSE OVERVIEW AND GOALS
Welcome to OB! In this course you will have opportunities to: read some interesting
material that will give you many ideas on how to manage yourself and others…take some
tests that will help you to understand your own personality in the context of your future
career…meet and manage a team of students, from which you will learn something about
yourself and the politics and practicalities of work teams.
This course is about managing people in organizations. It covers how human systems are
organized, structured, and controlled (the macro level) and includes psychological
approaches to individual, interpersonal, and group behaviors (the micro level). The
purpose of the course is not to teach you “one right way” of management, but rather to
give you the tools with which to diagnose organizational situations, formulate plans of
action, and implement these plans.
In the organizations you will work for, the cost of human resources often totals 70% or
more of the cost of doing business. This number is probably increasing, especially in
information and technology-based industries. In addition, something like 80% of your
time as a manager will be spent working with and through others. For these reasons
alone it is essential that you become as skillful as possible in the area of managing human
resources…which includes yourself. So come ready to participate.
PRACTICE-ORIENTATION OF THIS CLASS
The course will be run as a professional organization might be run. (Think IBM.)
Professional demeanor and high performance are expected of all students.
The class includes many in-class case analyses, simulations, and exercises, and company
and career-related outside assignments. The more involved in these that you are, the more
you draw on practical experience both inside and outside of the classroom, the more
feedback you will gain and the more you will take away from the course about your
personal management style and career goals. School is a relatively low-risk environment
in which to practice management techniques and to discuss management issues. I hope
you will take every advantage of this opportunity to learn through practice, and I will
make every effort to help you to do so.
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You will have many practice-oriented assignments:
1) First, you, personally, will lead a “project team,” for at least one period, and you
will be a member of about four other project teams.
2) Second, you will draw on your work and life experience as you analyze your
personal managerial style and goals.
3) Third, the course includes a substantial number of cases and experiential
exercises.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. CLASS PARTICIPATION (15%) Your class participation grade will be determined
by the quality of your class contributions, including completing your Information Form
fully and on time (5%), and such factors as your class participation and group work
(10%).
Although desirable and important for your participation grade, class attendance is not
always mandatory. However, class attendance is mandatory for certain classes as
indicated by the “grey” blocks on the syllabus. Because it is crucial that you come to
these classes, missing any one of them will automatically reduce your course grade by
two percentage points. I will of course accept important excuses that can be documented
(illness, death in the family, traffic court, and the like.)
2. ETHICS QUIZ (5%—This quiz can only improve your grade) PLUS TWO
EXAMS (25%) each.
3. THE CONNECTIONS PROJECT AND PAPER (30%)
The Connections Project is so named because in it you will be making connections
between the textbook theory, the reality you experience in our in-class projects, and the
behaviors of yourself and your classmates. You will lead and be a part of various project
teams and will write a paper about your experiences.
Your paper should include these two parts, along with the appendix:
Part 1) A commentary/diary on the Connection groups you have led and been a
member of, including your role and the role of others (For Summer 1 there will be
6 formal projects). For example, the day you lead you will discuss the behavior of
others in the group and include a discussion of your own leader behaviors, while
on other days you will focus on both your behaviors as a group member and on
the behaviors of the leader and other group members. Each daily analysis should
draw on the theory that we have covered to that point in the course, including the
readings for the day of the project. Do not describe the content/problem itself at
all, but rather describe the process you used to deal with it! I am looking for a
description of the psychology of your group and your insightful application of
appropriate course concepts. I recommend 2-3 paragraphs (300 word minimum,
no maximum) for each Connections Problem. It is a really good idea to write
these shortly after attending the Connections class.
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GRADING
An A-range paper will make extensive use of multiple course concepts (including
but not limited to personality factors, group roles and processes, motivation,
stress, one-to-one interaction, cross-cultural issues and leadership) and will
illustrate these by examples from your group’s process; it will demonstrate how
your style and observational capability of self and others have evolved during the
term; a B-range paper does what the A-range paper does but somewhat less
effectively; a C-range paper discusses group process to some extent but fails to
give convincing examples of it, and probably relies too much on description of the
project; a D-range paper is one that describes the project you did on a given day
and hardly discusses the group process.
MISSED CONNECTIONS CLASSES
If you miss a Connections class you must include the following in your final
Connections paper:
a. An analysis of the case or exercise that was covered that day (minimum
300 words).
b. A write-up of your group’s process, based on interviews with your
group members (300-word minimum).
Part 2) Imagine you are about to have an interview with a company that
emphasizes team work. Describe to the interviewer how the group experience
you have gained during this project will help you to be effective in the company
(200-word minimum, no maximum).
Appendix: Feedback forms from all participants for the day you lead. Append
a) a list of all participants for that day and whether or not they gave you
the written feedback. AND if they did not, please provide an explanation
of your attempts to entice them to do so. Please make a reasonable
attempt, and document that. You will lose points if you don’t attempt to
get the feedback, and they will lose points if they do not provide it.
b) all of their forms.
Checklist for your papers
Papers must be typed, double-spaced.
Number every page.
Make sure they are securely bound.
Please do not right-left justify the margins of your papers.
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Use course concepts. This paper will be judged in large part on how well you apply them
to help you learn.
Your papers should be carefully written not only as to content but as to style, grammar,
punctuation, and spelling. These “count.”
ADDITIONAL COURSE POLICIES
If I accept a late assignment …To be fair to all, papers received after class on the due
date will be subject to a third of a grade (3 point) reduction for every day that they are
late. (Papers turned in after class on the day they are due lose 3 points, those turned in the
next day lose 6 points, etc. However, Saturday and Sunday are only counted as one day.)
When delivering late assignments to my office, always be sure a secretary signs them in
and dates them. If you don’t do this, the day I find the paper wherever you leave it is the
day it is officially received.
Occasionally, because of some unforeseen reason, I may have to change this syllabus.
Thank you in advance for your flexibility!
Grading scale
A 93+ (94)
C+ 78-80 (79)
A- 90-92 (91)
C 75-77 (76)
B+ 87-89 (88)
C-72-74 (73)
B 84-86 (85)
D 67
B- 81-83 (82)
E 62
No pass-fail grades will be given.
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Course Content
READINGS FOR
THE DAY
1. Syllabus and
Preface for
Students.
2. Chapter 1
Why Mastering
Organizational
Behavior Is
Essential to Your
Career
3. Continued
4. Chapter 9
Groups and Their
Influence
5. Continued
Homework assignments due, exams, and
special announcements
Groups will be
formed today.
6. Chapter 10
Improving Team
Decision Making
7. Continued
8. Chapter 2
Your Style and
Personality
Group
assignments
Connection #1:
To be announced
DUE
1) —Information Form (5% of your grade;
late or incomplete forms lose points; forms
with photos that are not stapled onto the
sheet or electronically integrated are
incomplete. ) Fully complete the Information
Form attached to this syllabus. To do this you
will have to know your personality type. To
discover it, web search for IPIP-NEO. You
may do either the short or the long version;
while the longer version has a slightly higher
validity, the shorter version is excellent. DO
NOT TAKE THE MBTI. YOU MAY NOT
SUBSTITUTE MBTI RESULTS FOR THE
IPIP-NEO.
2) If not completed on Day 1, the
“Preliminary description of your life in
organizations”
9. Continued
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10. Chapter 2:
The Rebel
Billionaire
11. Chapter 3
Decision Making
12. Continued
13. Ethics Module
Connection #2:
The Rebel
Billionaire
Group quiz on the Ethics Module
14. Chapter 4
Fundamentals of
Motivation
15. Continued
Google, Inc.
(Chapter 3)
16. Chapter 5
How to Motivate
Individuals in
Their Jobs
17. Chapter 5:
Volvo: The
Uddevalla Plant
Connection #3:
Group quiz on
the Ethics Module
Connection #4:
Google, Inc.
(Chapter 3)
Connection #5:
Volvo: The
Uddevalla Plant
(Chapter 5)
18. Chapter 6
Health and Stress
at Work
19. Continued
**Special Note: For an exercise on
managing stress using deep muscle
relaxation and guided imagery, you are
going to lie on the floor. To stay warm and
clean, bring something to lie on.
20. Chapter 7
Communication
and Interpersonal
Relationships
21. Continued
Motivating
Innovation at
Samsung
(Chapter 5)
Connection #6
Motivating
Innovation at
Samsung
(Chapter 5)
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22. Chapter 8
Cross-cultural
Relationships
23. Continued
24. Exam:
Chapters 1-10
25. Chapter 11
The Challenge of
Leadership
26. Continued
27. Continued
Exam #1
Homework due today: Learn your roles for
Connection #7.
28. Chapter 12
Leadership Roles
and Skills
29. Continued
30. Chapter 13
Power and
Influence
31. Continued
32. Chapter 14
Conflicts Good
and Bad
33. Continued
34. Chapter 15
Designing
Effective
Organizations
35. Continued
36. Chapter 16
Organizational
Structure as a
Design Tool
37. Chapter 17
Organizational
Culture
38. Continued
39. Chapter 18
Changing
Organizations
40. Continued
Connection #7:
Intercultural
Negotiation
(Chapter 8)
Connection #8 :
To be announced.
Connections Paper Due
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41. Chapter 19
OB Is for Life
42. Continued
43. What did you
learn this
semester? (What
more would you
like to learn?)
44. Presentations
45. Presentations
Exam Week
Individuals read
and comment on
their own
“Preliminary
description of
your life in
organizations” to
inspire
presentations
Groups present
Groups present
Final exam (Exam #2): Chapters 11-19
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Preliminary Description of Your Life in Organizations
20 minutes
Name:
Course Section:
Date:
Please answer the questions below. Use technical terms to the extent that you are
comfortable doing so (for example, if you know your Myers Briggs personality type, or
what sort of a leader you are, use those terms.)
Note to late-entering students: This form is due the same day your Information Form is
due.
1. I would describe my personality and style as:
2. My leadership qualities are:
3. When interacting with another person on the job I tend to:
4. In general, I do/do not get along with my bosses because…
5. When working in a group, my best and worst characteristics are:
6. My experience in groups leads me to believe that groups are:
7. My experience in organizations leads me to believe that organizations are:
8. I do/do not want to work in a large company (more than 500 employees) because:
END OF SYLLABUS
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Class Plan for Instructors: To Accompany the Sample
Undergraduate Syllabus
READINGS FOR
THE DAY
Homework
assignments
due, exams,
and special
announceme
nts
Group
assignm
ents
1. Syllabus and
Preface for
Students.
CLASS PLAN FOR INSTRUCTORS
Relax and enjoy being with your students.
Students write “Preliminary description of your life
in organizations” for 20 minutes.
Lecture on Chapter 1: What is OB and what kinds of
business challenges does it address?
The Boundaryless Classroom
Lecture on Chapter 1: What economic and social
issues challenge today’s organizational leaders? What
organizational processes help companies compete in
the modern economy.
2. Chapter 1
Why Mastering
Organizational
Behavior Is
Essential to Your
Career
Videos: Nidek, IQ Solutions
Netflix
Review lectures to date (catch up if needed). Lecture
on Chapter 1: What will your career be like in
modern organizations? How will mastering OB help
you in your career?
3. Continued
Is Geography Destiny?
Career Anchors and Values
Begin lecture on Chapters 9 and 10. Teach these two
chapters as a unit.
4. Chapter 9
Groups and Their
Influence
Video: Work groups at Student Advantage.
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Lecture, continued.
5. Continued
Video: Corporate Coaching International
6. Chapter 10
Improving Team
Decision Making
Groups
will be
formed
today.
Class Demonstration: A Group Process Fishbowl
(from Chapter 10)
Lecture, continued, being sure to have covered
groupthink before doing the case The Virtual Work
Team. Consider showing the film Groupthink (CRM
Learning: 22 minutes. Not included in our video
package.)
The Virtual Work Team (Chapter 10)
Instructor forms the Connections Project groups
randomly. Groups meet and create lists of the leaders
for their Connections Projects, up through Project 6
(assuming groups of 5 or fewer people.) Add cell
phone numbers and emails to the lists (best to create
two lists, one for the group and one for the
professor.)
7. Continued
Connect
ion #1:
To be
announ
ced
Use any project for leaderless groups, such as a
survival exercise or a tower-building exercise.
Or, consider a group case write-up of How to Build a
Cross-cultural Team (Chapter 9). Or, try The
Apprentice on Steroids (Chapter 11).
Hand out the Information Forms (from Value Added:
Chapter 2) to be completed as homework for the next
class.
8. Chapter 2
Your Style and
Personality
Collect the information forms Lecture 30 minutes,
including Video: Amy’s Ice Creams
Due
1) —
Information
Form
2) If not
completed on
Day 1, the
“Preliminary
description of
your life in
organizations”
The Personality Interview (25 minutes)
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Lecture, continued.
9. Continued
Big Five Differences.
10. Chapter 2:
The Rebel
Billionaire
Connect
ion #2:
The
Rebel
Billiona
ire
Different Personalities—Different Treatment?
Probably devote the entire class to this project. With
this and other cases used in the Connections Project
(not all projects are cases), students write out answers
to the questions at the end of the case.
You subsequently “grade” their papers for content
and neatness, ranking them from best to worst.
Always return your “grade” at the next class.
Announce the top three teams, and, having stapled
the projects together in order from best to worst, pass
the pile around the class so students can see the full
results and your comments.
In this particular instance, require groups to debrief
their process extensively (if time, reporting out to the
full class on anything particularly interesting)—in
future classes this will not be as necessary, but at this
point they need the practice.
11. Chapter 3
Decision Making
Lecture
Video: Swiss Army (Victorinox)
Fit the Process to the Decision
Lecture
12. Continued
What can Citigroup teach Hewlett Packard about
Ethical Decision Making?
13. Ethics Module
Group quiz
on the Ethics
Module
Improving Customer Service in a
Telecommunications Company
Connect See Instructors' Manual for a sample 20-question
quiz.
ion #3:
Group
quiz on
the
Ethics
Module
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Videos: Assyst, American Apparel
14. Chapter 4
Fundamentals of
Motivation
Lecture
Reinforcement and Punishment
The McClelland Consultants
Connect Emphasize that students must use course concepts to
describe the decision making at Google.
ion #4:
Google,
Inc.
(Chapte
r 3)
Good jobs, bad jobs
15. Continued
Google, Inc.
(Chapter 3)
16. Chapter 5
How to Motivate
Individuals in
Their Jobs
Lecture
Videos: Doc Martens, Kinetics
Connect Requires 30-40 minutes when done as part of the
Connections Project. Be prepared with other material
ion #5:
if teams finish early.
Volvo:
The
Uddeval
la Plant
(Chapte
r 5)
Lecture
17. Chapter 5:
Volvo: The
Uddevalla Plant
18. Chapter 6
Health and Stress
at Work
Companies with Award-Winning Wellness Programs
What’s in a nap?
19. Continued
**Special
Note: For an
exercise on
managing
stress… .
bring
something to
lie on.
Video: What Stress Does to Your Body
Progressive Relaxation
Visualization: Moonlight
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Lecture
20. Chapter 7
Communication
and Interpersonal
Relationships
Video: Communicating in the Global Marketplace
The Mayo Clinic
21. Continued
(briefly)
Connect
ion #6
Motivat
ing
Innovat
ion at
Samsun
g
(Chapte
r 5)
Motivating
Innovation at
Samsung
(Chapter 5)
Finish lecture/exercises for Chapter 7.
Consider: Effective Listening.
Continue on to the Connections Project. Samsung
requires groups to use divergent thinking.
Lecture
22. Chapter 8
Cross-Cultural
Relationships
Video: Global Business and Ethics (There are two
other Value-Added videos to consider, also.)
Lincoln Electric’s Cultural Lessons from
International Expansion
Video: Global HRM: The Case of Sam Lafayette
23. Continued
Lecture with a focus on the international assignment.
Culture Shock in the Classroom
The Internationalable Employee
24. Exam on
Chapters 1-10
25. Chapter 11
The Challenge of
Leadership
Exam #1
Lecture
Video: Marie Alexander, President and CEO, Quova,
Inc.
Choose Carly Fiorina’s next job
Continue lecture.
26. Continued
Consumer Products Inc. Hires a Consultant
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Spend up to 30 minutes teaching the roles for the
next class Connections project “Intercultural
Negotiation.”
27. Continued
Homework
due today:
Learn your
roles for
Connection
#7.
Connect
ion #7:
Intercul
tural
Negotia
tion
(Chapte
r 8)
It is impossible to cover all the roles in the chapter in
a brief lecture.
28. Chapter 12
Leadership Roles
and Skills
If you lecture on authentic leadership: use the
video: John Tu, Kingston Technology Company
If you lecture on CEOs managing meaning for their
company, use the video: The Crimson Controversy:
Lawrence H. Summers, President, Harvard
University
Levi Strauss & Company
29. Continued
Connect
ion #8 :
To be
announ
ced.
See “The Connections Project: Day 7.” In the
Instructors' Manual. Adapt to your needs.
Ask for volunteers (1-5) to lead for the day. Take
them outside of the classroom, and tell them you
want to invest $200 in a KIVA company (you must
have in-class access to kiva.org), but you would like
some guidance about how to choose one company
over another. Their job is to 1) inform the class
about what KIVA is, and then 2) organize the class to
give you some guidance. This is an ambiguous,
difficult assignment because the leaders must quickly
come up to speed on KIVA as well as figure out how
to lead the entire class.
Another approach would be to tell students in
advance what the project is. This would reduce some
of the ambiguity, which may be a good thing.
If you want to give your class something a bit easier,
ask for volunteers but give them a case from the
textbook to analyze with the entire class. Consider
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Robert Haas, Levi Strauss & Company (Chapter 12)
or The Apprentice on steroids (Chapter 11).
Video: Nepotism:
What do Donald Trump, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Dr.
Phil have in common?
30. Chapter 13
Power and
Influence
Lecture
The Walt Disney Company
Sharing power at the top
31. Continued
Students will be tired from writing their papers!
Show Obedience (This film may be rented, but most
schools already own a copy.)
Connections
Paper Due
Or use Grow Your Network and/or Should You Play
Politics?
Lecture with a focus on individual-organizational and
other higher level conflict.
32. Chapter 14
Conflicts Good
and Bad
Video: Labor Relations
Southwest Airlines and Continental Airlines
Lecture with a focus on interpersonal conflict.
33. Continued
Video: Bertelsman: Paul and Sylvie Go Head to
Head
Guide your employees with dialogue: A roleplay
Note: The Virtualiens is very interesting, but you
would need to assign it to your groups outside of
class as homework, and discuss it today.
Video: Total Entertainment Restaurant, Inc.
34. Chapter 15
Designing
Effective
Organizations
Lecture: emphasize the Connor (contingency) model
of organizational design. Consider Chapters 15 and
16 as a unit.
Handout: Summarizing the Organizational
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Characteristics of Enterprises and Bureaucracies:
EBiz and PharmCo
35. Continued
The Baker and Eiger companies (an Integrative Case)
36. Chapter 16
Organizational
Structure as a
Design Tool
Lecture
Video: SAS Institute, Inc.
Dell, Inc.
Or
Analyze the design of an organization you know well
(Requires an organizational chart of your university.)
Videos : Show Army Boot camp and either Patagonia
or Starbucks to exemplify different cultures.
37. Chapter 17
Organizational
Culture
Lecture
Daimler-Benz and Chrysler
38. Continued
Arthur Andersen
Video : Student Advantage, Inc.
39. Chapter 18
Changing
Organizations
Lecture
BP
40. Continued
Basic Chemical Company:
Organizational Diagnosis
Lifeway Foods: Small, Youthful, and Successful
Lecture
41. Chapter 19
OB Is for Life
Video: Channeling Human Resources: Showtime
Design the Professor’s Research
Video: Honest Tea
42. Continued
Current Controversies in OB
Keep on Learning
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
43. What did you
learn this
semester? (What
more would you
like to learn?)
Comme
nts on
“Prelim
inary
descript
ion of
your life
in
organiz
ations”
44. Presentations
Groups
present
Groups
present
45. Presentations
Exam Week
Exam on
Chapters 11-19
Final exam
(Exam #2)
xxv
Allow 15 minutes for individuals to write comments
on their preliminary descriptions. (Ask them to do
this by question number, on a paper that they hand in
to you.)
Devote the rest of the class to group time for
developing their presentations. The purpose of these
presentations is to celebrate the class and what
students learned here, and to give students one more
time to practice presenting. The presentations are
required, but not graded. Examples of presentations
include Jeopardy-type quizzes, and skits representing
course concepts.
How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Graduate (and Advanced Undergraduate) Materials
Classroom Options vary from simple and easy to complex and challenging. Some are
best for students who have more rather than less work experience. Some require students
to master the theories of the course quickly and thoroughly, and to apply them readily in
real life and perhaps internationally. Here is a list of the more challenging materials that
you might choose for a more advanced course:
Across All Chapters
The Ethics Module
Chapter Materials
Chapter 1
The Young President’s Vision
Chapter 2
How Executive Coaches Analyze Personality-Role Fit
Chapter 3
How Hollywood Producers Decide Which Writer Is Creative
What Can Citigroup Teach Hewlett Packard About Ethical Decision Making?
Chapter 4
Integrative Case: International Rose Growers, Inc.
Integrative Case: Western Distribution Center
Chapter 5
Defend Your Position: Do Stock Options Motivate Executives to Do More for Their
Company’s Shareholders?
Motivating Innovation at Samsung
Chapter 6
Companies with Award-Winning Wellness Programs
Chapter 7
Etiquette for Electronic Communication
Job Interview Preparation Questions
Chapter 8
Video: Global HRM: The Case of Sam Lafayette
Lincoln Electric’s Cultural Lessons from International Expansion
Intercultural Negotiation (Originally “The Owl”)
Research the PRC
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How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Chapter 9
How to Build a Cross-Cultural Team
Recognizing Teams and Their Power
Chapter 10
World-Class Companies: Japanese
When Crowds Are Better Than Groups
The Virtual Work Team
Chapter 11
Video: Marie Alexander, President and CEO, Quova, Inc.
Consumer Products Inc. Hires a Consultant
Tom Peters on Talent
Chapter 12
Video: The Crimson Controversy
Video: John Tu, Kingston Technology Company
How to Interview Executives for Integrity
Three Discipline Dilemmas
Chapter 13
Grow Your Network
Feature Length Film: Prisoner of Honor
Chapter 14
Southwest Airlines and Continental Airlines
Guide Your Employees with Dialogue: A Roleplay
Chapter 15
Integrative Case: The Baker and Eiger Companies
Integrative Project: Company Design Analysis: An Integrative Project for Teams
IDEO Product Development (longer version)
How Do Executives Achieve an Optimal Organizational Design?
Stuffed Shirts and Widgetry: A Roleplay
Chapter 16
Is a Flatter Organization a Better Organization? Do the Math.
Asea Brown Boveri (ABB)
Chapter 17
Arthur Andersen
Daimler-Benz and Chrysler
xxvii
How to Use This Instructor’s Manual
Chapter 18
BP
Basic Chemical Company: Organizational Diagnosis
Clarifying Your Assumptions About Change: Defend Your Position
Chapter 19
Keep on Learning
Current Controversies in OB
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How Do You Lead A Virtual Team?
Table 10.4 shows some of the things that managers can do to assist virtual project teams to
succeed. The behaviors are organized according the first four stages of group process.83 As
you can see, some of these recommendations would be valid for any team, whereas some
are particularly tailored to the needs of the virtual team.
How Do You Lead a Multicultural Team? A Virtual
Multicultural Team?
hybrid culture
A culture which a manager
encourages a multinational team
to develop in which rules,
expectations, and roles are
understood and shared by all
members.
In what might be called a “rush to structure,” some multicultural teams dive right into their
task without addressing how their cultural differences will affect how the group does its
work.84 Such teams are likely to have serious problems, and even to fail. However, multicultural teams that take the time to develop effective working relationships by understanding their differences are even better than monocultural teams at identifying problems and
generating solutions to those problems.85
Sometimes a manager encourages a multinational team to develop a hybrid culture, in
which rules, expectations, and roles are understood and shared by all members.86 Such a
culture may induce members to empathize with each other, develop common goals, and
improve communication. More research needs to be done on how teams that have formed
hybrid cultures would change and adapt over time. However, experts recommend that teams
should avoid both too much homogeneity and too much heterogeneity.87 In other words,
developing a team culture is productive, but ignoring all differences is counterproductive.
If part of getting a multicultural team off to a good start is addressing its cultural differences, what differences should a manager focus on? Among the main differences to deal
with are the following:
1. Consider how the purpose of meetings is perceived. In a joint venture between British
and German firms, the Germans were always well prepared for meetings because they
value technical competence and expect to demonstrate it.88 The British, on the other
TABLE 10.4 What Managers Can Do to Assist Virtual Teams
In the Forming
Stage. . .
In the Storming
Stage. . .
In the Norming
Stage. . .
In the Performing
Stage. . .
• Offer a
realistic preview of
what it is like to
work in a virtual
team.
• Develop a clear
team mission.
• Develop a definite
team identity.
• Seek advice from
team members who
have team
experience.
• Obtain top
management
support.
• Offer at least some
face-to-face team
building.
• Provide conflictresolution training.
• Help the team to
resolve its conflicts
by getting directly
involved.
• Assign to the team
an individual who
can coach members
in the skills for
managing virtually.
• Clearly specify the
team’s task
requirements.
• Clearly specify what
individuals are
accountable for, and
when their work
must be completed.
• Establish procedures
for sharing
informationm.
• Clarify norms
for dealing with task,
social, and
organizational
factors.
• Be sure that the
departmental and
company culture
support the virtual
team.
• Establish sponsors
for the team within
the organization.
• Support the team
with resources.
Source: Adapted from S. A. Furst, M. Reeves, B. Rosen, and R. S. Blackburn, “Managing the Life Cycle of
Virtual Teams,” Academy of Management Executive 18 (2), May 2004:6–20.
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CHAPTER 10 • IMPROVING TEAM DECISION MAKING
2.
3.
4.
5.
hand, being generalists, expected to gain information with which to develop a broader
perspective on the project. They asked a lot of naïve questions that irritated the Germans. This team took nearly a year to get up to speed.
Think about what developing “a sense of purpose” might mean in different cultures.
Although in the United States we often prefer explicit goals and objectives, in highcontext cultures such as Japan this approach may be considered naïve because so much
of the context of the decision will change. Also, clearly articulating a vision robs it of
its subtlety and sophistication. Vision is seen as something more intuitive than tangible.
Weigh how, and even whether, to develop an agenda.89 Germans depend heavily on
agendas, to the point where their reluctance to deviate from an agenda troubles Americans who might like to go back and revisit a topic that has already been covered.
French managers clearly dislike the one-item-at-a-time approach. They prefer to consider all issues simultaneously because they may be interrelated. They have many
balls in the air at the same time.
Discuss how ideas about leadership differ, and which styles will be used. German
group leaders gain their position because of their technical competence, whereas in
France leaders are chosen because of the power and political influence they hold in
their organization.90 In the United States, we often emphasize choosing a group leader
based on interpersonal competency.
Finally, language is a key issue. When not speaking in their native language, participants may feel uncomfortable. Not only is there an issue of understanding,
there is an issue of power. Defining the language that will be used by the team is
one way in which management keeps power. People who speak that language are
often seen as “in” the group, whereas others are seen as “out.” Some recommendations for managing language issues in multicultural teams include asking participants to speak slowly and request clarification of their points.91 Also, when
someone gets frustrated trying to make a point in a language not their own,
encourage them to speak in their native language and have it translated.
Special Issues of Multicultural Virtual Teams
Because many virtual teams work globally, recognizing cultural influences is particularly important. For example, cultural views of time are based on different ethnic and
national orientations, and they may affect how team members perceive deadlines and
define team success.92
When interactive problem solving is an important role of the team, it may be important to make a deliberate effort to build team cohesion. Some companies deliberately
understaff a team in order to force it to work together. Most, however, develop explicit
processes for team building. For example, a transatlantic team at Wellcome, a British pharmaceutical company, planned to work together on a project for three years.93 Within its
first three months the team met together for two days on three occasions. At the first meeting the team developed a vision, whereas at the second it defined goals and assigned work.
The third meeting was devoted to process issues. The team members completed questionnaires about things such as what language they preferred to work in to sort out interpersonal problems that might arise, and what strengths each individual brought to the team.
Later the team conferenced regularly by telephone and met face-to-face every quarter. This
start-up was considered quite successful because the team had developed mutual understandings and a recognizable working pattern.
Of course, leadership style is also an important variable in global virtual teams.
One study discovered that in global teams from Europe, Mexico, and the United
States, highly effective virtual team leaders acted as mentors and exhibited a high
degree of empathy toward other team members, while at the same time they were able
to assert their authority without being seen as inflexible or overbearing. Also, the
effective leaders were found to be very good at providing regular, detailed and
prompt communication with their peers, and in articulating responsibilities to the virtual team members.94
For a summary of ideas on how to manage a multicultural virtual team, see Table 10.5.
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TABLE 10.5 Managing Multicultural Virtual Teams
To successfully manage a multicultural virtual team:
Choose team members who are self-sufficient, responsible, and adaptable.
Train them in teamwork, including cross-cultural aspects.
Train them in the technologies they will use, and make sure the technology is reliable at all sites.
Build the team by developing relationships among team members, preferably with face-to-face
meetings, which are especially important in multicultural teams.
Establish a communication plan that regularizes communication patterns, including how often
to communicate.
Where languages differ, emphasize written communication for the regular meetings rather than
phone or conference calls. (People are usually more comfortable reading and writing, rather
than speaking, a second language.)
Pay attention to status differences, including those related to language, ensuring that individuals in the minority are heard.
Source: Based on information in S. Canney Davison and K. Ward, Leading International Teams. (London:
McGraw-Hill, 1999):156; P. J. Caproni, The Practical Coach (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,
2001):270–271.; S. C. Schneider and J. Barsoux, Managing Across Cultures (Harlow, England: FT Prentice Hall,
2003); S. Murray, “Virtual Teams: Global Harmony Is Their Dream,” The Financial Times, May 11, 2005,
http://financialtimes.com. Accessed May 18, 2006.
In Conclusion
You now know a great deal about how to coach a team. See the overview in Table 10.6 for
a summary of the characteristics of high performance teams, which should now be familiar
to you. If you find that you actually enjoy learning about group process, and are eager to
learn more (such as attending an off-site team-building session), you are well on your way
to becoming an effective manager in a team-based company.
TABLE 10.6 Overview: High-Performance Teams
Their design
Their process
Their outcomes
Small
Clear boundaries
Task skills
Interpersonal skills
Cohesion
Group process
Clear and energizing goals
Constructive conflict
Creativity
Expression of feelings
Revolving leadership
Empowerment
Ethical decision making
Manager as coach
Organizational process
Team rewards
Performance appraisal
reflects group contribution
and effectiveness
Decision-making excellence
Implementation
effectiveness
Personal growth and
satisfaction
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Apply What You Have Learned. . .
World Class Companies: Japanese
When it comes to group decision making, Japanese companies sometimes do things very differently than U.S. companies. For example, nemewashi is the Japanese practice of
informally sounding out people’s ideas about a project or a
course of action before a formal proposal is drawn up.95
When practiced before a meeting, nemewashi ensures that
when members meet in person, the group will exhibit consensus rather than disagreement. Exhibiting consensus at a
meeting is desirable in the Japanese culture.
The way it works is that before the meeting, one or two
employees interview all the invited participants to obtain
their views. These employees are chosen for their neutrality
on the project or action. Oftentimes it is the youngest
employees who interview all the others. By circulating
among the participants they not only get to know them and
their views better, they also get to be known themselves.
Japanese believe that it is outside of the meeting that
they are most likely to get people’s true feelings (referred to
as honne). By assessing views beforehand, the influence of
false fronts (referred to as tatemae), through which people
in a meeting are likely to express face-saving or socially
acceptable ideas, is avoided. Also, they believe, outside the
meeting people who have strong objections to the project or
action, or who have new ideas, can air them without worry-
ing about what others, especially their superiors, may think.
Finally, the technique of nemewashi assures that everyone’s
opinion will be taken into account, and it saves face for people whose ideas are not accepted.
After their first interviews of all participants, the interviewers coordinate all of the participants’ views in a written
document. Then they circulate that document among the
participants again and again, until all of them can agree to it
and sign off on it. At the actual meeting, the “decision” is
less like a discussion and more like an announcement.
The term nemewashi originally meant the binding up
of the roots of a tree to ready it for transplanting. Today the
term describes in poetic fashion how some Japanese groups
coordinate their ideas and achieve consensus even before
they meet.
Discuss
1. Although the practice of nemewashi is quite different from the process of group decision making used
in the United States, it still helps to build teams.
Why?
2. Could nemewashi be adapted to the U.S. culture?
How would it improve upon traditional team decision making? What would be its drawbacks?
Advice from the Pros
When Crowds Are Better Than Groups
In his book The Wisdom of Crowds writer James
Surowiecki tells the story of the hunt for the U.S. submarine Scorpion, which disappeared in 1968 on its return to
Newport News after a tour of the North Atlantic. The Navy
knew the sub’s last reported location, and it had a vague
idea of how far it might have traveled after that last contact.
Still, this left it to search a circle 20 miles wide and thousands of feet deep. The task seemed hopeless.
A Naval officer came up with a novel plan for locating
the ship. He made up a series of scenarios for what might
have happened and assembled a team of men that included
mathematicians, submarine specialists, and salvage men.
However, instead of asking them to consult together to figure
out the sub’s whereabouts, he asked each of them to wager
how likely each of the scenarios was, offering bottles of
liquor as prizes. The men bet on a large variety of factors,
such as why the sub ran into trouble and the steepness of its
last descent. The officer assembled all the guesses, then,
using a statistical technique called Baye’s theorem, which
calculates how new information about an event changes a
person’s earlier expectations of how likely the event was, calculated the group’s collective estimate of the sub’s location.
Of course, no one piece of information held by any
one man could come close to accurately making such a
prediction. How accurate do you think the summation of
the team’s predictions was? Author Surowiecki points
out that economists have long been familiar with the
phenomenon of groups being smarter than the most
intelligent people in them. In 1906, British scientist
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Francis Galton observed some 800 people in a weightjudging competition at a local fair. Individuals guessed
the weight of a fat ox, slaughtered and dressed, to try to
win a prize. The crowd guessed that the ox would weigh
1,197 pounds. It came in at 1,198.
Voodoo economics, or the wisdom of crowds?
Although crowds do not always make the best decision, they typically beat all but a few individuals. Four conditions that characterize wise crowds are:
1. Diversity of opinion, with each individual having at
least a touch of private information (totally unsubstantiated opinions must not be included).
2. Independent opinions, uninfluenced by other individuals.
3. Decentralized opinions, such that individuals draw
on local, specialized knowledge.
4. A final aggregated opinion, using some means to turn
the individual opinions into a collective decision.
Should your company develop new product X? Perhaps it
should let a team of experts decide, using the process described
above. Not convinced? Consider that the Scorpion was found
220 yards from where the group responses predicted it would be.
Discuss
1. In the chapter you learned that perhaps groups are
more useful for making satisficing rather than optimizing decisions. Discuss the wisdom of crowds in
light of this finding.
2. Where might the wisdom of crowds apply in business and organizational life?
Based on J. Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are
Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,
Economies, Societies, and Nations (New York: Doubleday, 2004).
Gain Experience
I. Class Demonstration: A Group Process
Fishbowl
A group of five students meets in front of the class (as in a
“fishbowl,” with other students looking in on them) to do
the following task. Using the form below on task and maintenance roles and effective group process, the other students observe and analyze the group process.
The task:
Discuss: Some people think that professors should
actively encourage quiet class members to speak up, for
instance by calling on them even though they do not raise
Task and Maintenance Roles
1. Information-giver
2. Opinion-giver
3. Elaborator
4. Summarizer
5. Orienter
6. Recorder
7. Encourager
8. Gatekeeper
9. Compromiser
10. Standard-setter
Name:
their hand. Others feel that students who want to be quiet
should be allowed to, and that giving quiet students extra
help is unfair. Decide where your group stands on this issue
and write down a two-sentence “Open letter to professors”
stating how you believe professors should act toward quiet
students. Your task is finished when you give this letter to
your professor.
Group Process Observation Form
During the discussion, put a mark next to each behavior that
you observe. Afterward answer the questions below.
Name:
Name:
Name:
Name:
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Definitions
1. Information-giver: offers facts, generalizations, or examples.
2. Opinion-giver: evaluates other group members’ ideas.
3. Elaborator: develops suggestions with examples and rationales, proposes how a suggestion might work out.
4. Summarizer: summarizes group ideas or approaches to this point in the discussion.
5. Orienter: defines the position of the group with respect to its goals.
6. Recorder: records the group decisions.
7. Encourager: praises others and agrees with them.
8. Gatekeeper: encourages quiet members and helps set limits on talkative members.
9. Compromiser: changes his or her own position or admits an error
10. Standard-setter: expresses standards for the group to achieve.
Additional Questions
Who talked the most?
Who talked the least?
Were tentative and creative ideas encouraged?
Were feelings as well as ideas expressed?
Was the decision reached by consensus?
How might the group process have been improved?
II. Can You Keep This Group on Point?
The class breaks up into groups of five. Each group includes
one leader, one consultant, and three followers. The task of the
group is to come up with a recommendation of a person to be
your university commencement speaker, along with a rationale
for the choice and a list of alternatives. The group will discuss
for about five minutes.
Leader Role
You are the leader of a group. Can you keep the group on point?
Think about how you will use the following techniques 1-5:
Technique
Reinforces an on-task comment by answering it.
Reinforces an on-task comment by making eye contact
with the speaker.
Reinforces an on-task comment by building on it.
Restates the objectives of the meeting.
When an individual goes on a tangent, summarizes the
discussion to that point, and then asks someone else to
comment on your summary.
When someone goes off-task, asks them a yes/no question, and then asks someone else an open-ended question.
Uses a notepad to collect information and keep people
on track.
1. Reinforce on-task comments: Answer them,
make eye contact with the speaker, and build on
them.
2. Restate the objectives of the meeting.
3. When an individual goes on a tangent, summarize
the discussion to that point, and then ask someone
to comment on your summary.
4. When someone goes off-task, ask him or her a
yes/no question, and then ask someone else an
open-ended question.
5. Use a notepad to collect information, so people can stay
on track with the ideas that are being expressed.
Consultant Role
Your job is to take note of how well the leader uses the
techniques for keeping a group on track. You may also
occasionally help the leader to do a better job, by suggesting to them how they might use a particular technique. Use this form:
How often used. . .
(use hatch marks)
Examples of when the leader
used this technique
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Follower Roles
Follower Number 1: This follower pretty much goes along
with the leader, although is somewhat distractible (about 10
percent of the time).
Followers Number 2 and 3: These followers are more interested in having a good time than in making this decision,
although they are still professional to their boss and are not
totally against doing it (they cooperate about 60 percent of
the time).
III. Brainstorming Versus Nominal Group
Technique
The class is divided into an equal number of groups of four
or five. Half of the groups will use brainstorming to develop
their ideas, and half will use the nominal group method.
1. Do the task: In groups, your task is to come up with a list of
six ways your university could improve student life
(life beyond academics, including dorms, socializing,
meals, travel, entertainment, etc.). You must use the
method assigned to your group—either brainstorming
or nominal group technique. (Go back to the chapter
descriptions to see how to run your group.)
2. Share and vote: Write down your six items on the board
for the entire class to see. After all lists are generated, students will vote on the one they think is has
the best ideas—that is, serious ideas that could
really be implemented if a reasonable amount of
resources became available.
Discussion
1. Describe the process the groups actually used.
2. Which groups were more efficient?
3. Which groups produced the best ideas?
IV. Leading and Following in a Virtual Team
(A project for outside of class)
The purpose of this exercise is to investigate the role of
leadership in virtual teams. In this project all of your team’s
interactions must be through e-mail. No face-to-face or
phone conversations are allowed. You will receive your
team assignment from your instructor by e-mail.
V. Sociogram Demonstration
Two groups of seven students each write their names on
two pieces of paper. Put the first set of seven pieces in
one container, and the second set of pieces in another.
Select a name from the first container (the choosers), and
then one from the second container (the chosen). Throw
away the first name, replace the second name in the second container, and record that the first name chose the
second name.
Draw a bull’s eye with the number of concentric circles
matching the largest number of times anyone is chosen,
plus one. In the outside circle write a zero, and the names of
the people who were never chosen. In the next circle write
“1” and the names of those who were chosen once, and so
on until you complete all circles. Then draw arrows from
every single chooser to the person they chose.
Discuss
1. What might a sociogram such as this one tell us
about the relationships among these people?
2. In this demonstration, individuals were chosen by
random drawing. But consider what might happen if
the choosers were given some criterion on which to
choose. For example, they might be asked to choose
the person they would most like to work with on a
group project, or they might be asked to choose the
person they would most like to lead their group.
How could a manager use this process? What cautions would you advise?
3. Which other student would you most like to have in
your professional network? Seven students volunteer to create a sociogram using this question. After
they have created the sociogram (your professor
may ask them to do this outside of the classroom
using pseudonyms), discuss the results and how
they felt about the experience.
Can You Solve this Manager’s Problem?
The Virtual Work Team
T. A. Stearns is a national tax accounting firm whose main
business is its popular tax preparation service for individuals. Stearns’ superior reputation is based on the high quality of its advice and the excellence of its service. Key to the
achievement of its reputation are the superior computer
data bases and analysis tools that its agents use when counseling clients. These programs are developed by highly
trained individuals, usually lawyers and tax accountants
who picked up programming skills on the side.
The programs that these individuals produce are highly
technical both in terms of the tax laws they cover and the
code in which they were written. Perfecting them requires
high levels of programming skill as well as the ability to
understand the law. New laws and interpretations of existing laws have to be integrated quickly and flawlessly into
the existing regulations and analysis tools.
The work is carried out in a virtual environment by
four programmers in the greater Boston area. Four work
sites are connected to each other and to the company by email, telephone, and conferencing software. Formal meet-
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CHAPTER 10 • IMPROVING TEAM DECISION MAKING
ings among all of the programmers take place only a few
times a year, although the workers sometimes meet informally outside of these scheduled occasions.
The following paragraphs describe the members of the
virtual work team.
Tom Andrews is a tax lawyer, a graduate of State University and a former hockey player there. At 35 years old,
Tom has worked on the programs for 6 years and is the
longest-standing member of the group. Along with his design
responsibilities, Tom is the primary liaison with Stearns. He
is also responsible for training new group members. Single,
he works out of his farm in Southern New Hampshire where
in his spare time he enjoys hunting and fishing.
Cy Crane, a tax accountant and computer science
graduate of State University, is 32 years old, married with
two children, ages 4 and 6. His wife works full time in a law
firm in downtown Boston, while he commutes from his
kitchen to his home office in their home in the Boston suburbs. In his spare time he enjoys biking and fishing.
Marge Dector, tax lawyer, graduate of Outstate University, is 38 years old and is married with two children,
ages 8 and 10. Her husband works full time as an electrical
engineer at a local defense contractor. She lives and works in
her suburban Boston home, and she enjoys golf and skiing.
Megan Harris, tax accountant and graduate of Big
Time University, is 26 years old and single. She recently
relocated to Boston to take advantage of the wide range of
opportunities in her field and to enjoy the beauty of New
England. She works out of her Back Bay apartment.
In the course of their work, these four people exchange
e-mail messages many times every day, and it is not unusual
for one of them to step away from guests or children to log
on and check in with the others. Often their e-mails are
amusing as well as work-related. Sometimes they help each
other with the work, as, for example, when a parent with a
sick child is facing a deadline. Tom occasionally invites the
others to visit with him on his farm, and once in a while
Marge and Cy get their families together for dinner. About
once a month the whole group gets together for lunch.
All of these workers are on salary, which, according to
company custom, each has negotiated separately and
secretly with management. A major factor in their commitment to the job is its flexibility. Although they are required
to check in regularly during every workday, they could do
the work whenever they want to. When they get together,
they often joke about the managers and workers who have
to be in the office during specific hours, referring to them as
“face timers” and to themselves as “free agents.”
When the programmers are asked to make a major
program change, they often develop programming tools
called macros, which help them to do their work more
efficiently. These macros greatly enhance the speed at
which a change can be written into the programs. Cy in
particular really enjoys hacking around with macros.
For example, on one recent project, he became obsessed
by the prospect of creating a shortcut that could save
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him a huge amount of time. One week after he had
turned in his code and his release notes to the company,
Cy bragged to Tom that he had created a new macro that
had saved him eight hours of work that week. “The
stripers are running,” he had said, “And I want to be on
the beach.” Tom was skeptical about the shortcut, but
after trying it out in his own work, he found that it actually did save him many hours.
T. A. Stearns has an employee suggestion program that
rewards employees for innovations that save the company
money. The program gives an employee 5 percent of the
savings generated by their innovation over a period of three
months. The company also has a profit sharing plan. Tom
and Cy feel that the small amount of money that would be
generated by a company reward would not offset the free
time that they gain using their new macro. They want the
time either for leisure or for other consulting, and furthermore, they agree that because the money comes out of profits,
the money is really coming out of the employees’ pockets
anyhow. There seems to be little incentive to share their
innovation macro with management.
They also believe that their group could suffer if management learns about the innovation. They can now do the
work so quickly that only three programmers might be
needed. If management were to learn about the macro, one
of them would probably lose their job, and the remaining
workers would have more work thrown at them.
Cy and Tom decide that there is not enough incentive
to tell the company about the macro. However, they are just
entering their busy season and they know that everyone in
the group would be stressed by the heavy workload. They
decide to distribute the macro to the other members of their
group and swear them to secrecy.
Over lunch one day, the group sets for itself a level of
production that it feels would not arouse management’s suspicion. Several months pass, and they use some of their extra
time to push the quality of their work even higher. The rest
of the time gained they use for their own personal interests.
Dave Regan, the manager of the work group, picked
up on the innovation several weeks after it was first implemented. He had wondered why production time had gone
down a bit, while quality had shot up, and he got his first
inkling of an answer when he saw an e-mail from Marge to
Cy thanking him for saving her so much time with his “brilliant mind.” Not wanting to embarrass his group of employees, Dave hinted to Tom that he wanted to know what was
happening, but he got nowhere. He did not tell his own
manager about his suspicions, reasoning that since both
quality and productivity were up he did not really need to
pursue the matter further.
Then one day Dave heard that Cy had boasted about his
trick to a member of another virtual work group in the company. Suddenly the situation seemed to have gotten out of hand.
Dave took Cy to lunch and asked him to explain what was happening. Cy told him about the innovation, but he insisted that
the group’s actions had been justified to protect itself.