Module 1 – Case
INTRODUCTION TO
MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING
Assignment Overview
Management is the art and science of coordinating the
efforts of others toward the accomplishment of an organizational goal or
mission. As such, management encompasses
systems of reporting relationships, authority structures, communication
systems, and decision-making practices. There are many roles that managers
play. The background reading discusses the different levels of management and
the types of contribution each level makes.
The point is made that organizations are hierarchies and that
hierarchies lend themselves to better organization and control.
However, sometimes hierarchies can become too inflexible and
overly bureaucratic. The assigned video
clip from the movie, “Catch 22” demonstrates how upper-level managers can embed
policies into organizations with little considerations of their effects
“downstream.” As you watch this video,
take some notes of examples you see of the following:
Bureaucratic Behavior
Rules, policies, and procedures
Conflict between individual goals and management goals
Means-ends inversion
Case Assignment
View the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yeGMaT3PvI
Read the following article from the Trident University
Library about the limitations of hierarchy:
Cable, J. (2012). For innovation to flourish, “Bureaucracy
must die”. Industry Week/IW, 261(6), 54.
Hint: Just copy and
paste the title of the article into the Library Access search box on the
Trident University Portal page. Do not
include the author’s name or publication; the article title is all you need.
After reading the above article, background material, and
reviewing your notes on the video, consider the following questions:
Are there examples of “bureaupathology” (excessively
bureaucratic behavior) in this scene?
What examples can you give?
Are there conflicts between Yosarian’s personal goals and
those of the hierarchy?
Has the “means” displaced the desired ends (means-ends
inversion)?
What do you predict would be the effect of this situation on
the ability of all parties involved to be flexible and respond to challenges in
an innovative manner?
Now, write a 3- to 4-page paper, not including the cover and
reference list, discussing the film clip and the above questions. A good way to organize your paper would be to
divide it into the following sections:
Introduction that briefly describes the situation depicted
in the clip. (one paragraph)
A description of the rules and policies regarding the
required number of missions and rotations, and why this is an example of
bureaupathology.
How hierarchical decision-making can lead to means-ends
inversion.
Commentary on a situation where you experienced means-ends
inversion or excessive bureaucracy and how it affected your work, and your
ability to be flexible and innovative in your approach to making decisions and
solving problems.
A conclusion summarizing your main argument and suggesting
one way that organizations can avoid the negative effects of hierarchy, and
foster innovation.
Support your arguments with references to the background
readings and use specific examples from the clip to illustrate your main
points.
Turn in your assignment to the case Dropbox in TLC. Be sure to review your TurnItIn Originality
report. If the score is over 20%, you
may be copying too much material from the internet or other sources and you may
need to contact your professor and arrange to revise and resubmit the paper.
Assignment Expectations
Case reports are to be prepared in Microsoft Word and should
be 3-4 pages in length, in addition to a cover page (course name and number,
module number, session name, student name, and date prepared) and reference
list – double-spaced, 12 pt. type, Times New Roman font.
Report content should include a brief introduction to the
assignment, background information about the organization being studied, and
some preliminary discussion of the concepts or theories being applied in
addressing the questions or tasks proposed in the assignment. Use subtitles,
bullets, and tables to improve presentation values. Attention is to be given to
citing sources of information in-text (within the body of the paper) as well as
in the end references section of your paper. In-text citation and end reference
formatting instructions are available at
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/. Submit your report in the
Case Dropbox for this module on or before the date due, as indicated at the TLC
Homepage.
All case papers in this class will be evaluated using the
criteria as stated in the Case rubric. The following is a review of the rubric
criteria:
Assignment-Driven: Does the paper fully address all aspects
of the assignment? Is the assignment
addressed accurately and precisely using sound logic? Does the paper meet
minimum length requirements?
Critical Thinking: Does the paper demonstrate graduate-level
analysis, in which information derived from multiple sources, expert opinions,
and assumptions has been critically evaluated and synthesized in the
formulation of a logical set of conclusions? Does the paper address the topic
with sufficient depth of discussion and analysis?
Business Writing: Is the essay logical, well organized and
well written? Are the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary appropriate? Are
section headings included? Are paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts the
primary means of responding, or is justification/support instead conveyed
through excessive use of direct quotations?
Effective Use of Information: Does the submission
demonstrate that the student has read, understood, and can apply the background
materials for the module? If required, has the student demonstrated effective
research, as evidenced by student’s use of relevant and quality sources? Do
additional sources used provide strong support for conclusions drawn, and do
they help in shaping the overall paper?
Citing Sources: Does the student demonstrate understanding
of APA Style of referencing, by inclusion of proper citations (for paraphrased
text and direct quotations) as appropriate? Have all sources (e.g., references
used from the Background page, the assignment readings, and outside research)
been included, and are these properly cited? Have all sources cited in the
paper been included on the References page?
(Citation and reference style instructions are available at
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/.)
Timeliness: Has the assignment been submitted to TLC
(Trident’s learning management system) on or before the module’s due date?
Module 2 – Case
PLANNING AND CONTROL
Assignment Overview
http://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.GOmLhIg8ZvGub1NkALaJzgEsDH&pid=15.1Few
companies are in the news or generate as much controversy these days as
Uber. When they were founded eight years
ago, few would have predicted that the simple idea of providing a mobile phone
app that connects passengers with drivers would have grown to a business of
over six billion in revenue that operates in 570 cities worldwide. While their service has become very popular
and is still growing, they still face huge challenges. If you check out the latest news on Uber, it
is a solid bet that they’ve gotten into some type of controversy regarding
their practices or business model.
Case Assignment
For this assignment, you will be conducting a SWOT analysis
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) for Uber. You’ve all read about SWOT analysis in the
background readings, but most of you have probably never conducted one
yourself. Here are the steps to take
when doing your research on Uber for your SWOT analysis:
Start out by conducting the “SW” portion of your
analysis. Remember that strengths and
weaknesses are internal to the company.
For this part of the analysis, you only need to look within Uber. Do they have enough money from investors to
operate and expand their business? Are
they profitable, or losing money? Is
their technology high quality, or does it need a lot of improvement? Is their brand name and public relations
strong or weak? These are just a few
examples of what to look at when conducting your internal analysis of
Uber. Do your research primarily through
a search of reputable news sources such as Business Week, Wall Street Journal,
Forbes, etc. Take careful note of what
internal aspects of Uber are strengths, and which ones are weaknesses.
Next, conduct the “OT” portion of your SWOT analysis. Remember that opportunities and threats are
external to the firm. Is there a growing
or shrinking market for their service?
Is regulation going to become more favorable to Uber, or less
favorable? Are they facing lawsuits? If
so, how serious are they? Are there new
markets or products they could offer in the future? For this part of your SWOT analysis, use a
combination both of specific articles on Uber in the business press as well as
IBIS World’s industry report by Brian Saylor on Taxi and Limousine Services in
the US #48533. The business press should provide the latest developments in
Uber’s external opportunities and threats, and IBIS World will give you the
“big picture” in terms of the total market for taxi-type services as well as
trends in this industry.
Once you have finished your research on Uber, write up a
four- to five-page paper with the following items:
Provide an overview of your SWOT analysis with one to two
paragraphs each for your discussion of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats. Make sure to include at
least one reference to a recent article on Uber for each of the four aspects of
SWOT analysis, and for the discussion of opportunities, make sure to include
some information from IBIS world. The total length of this answer should be two
to three pages, with citations to at least three recent articles on Uber.
Prepare a table that summarizes the results of your SWOT
diagram. Each quadrant should have a few
bullet-points that summarize the key points for each aspect of your SWOT
analysis of Uber. Here is an example of
a SWOT analysis diagram that was conducted for IKEA, which is of course a much
different company; but this diagram should give you an idea of what to include
for your table for Uber:
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/advertising-campaigns-start-to-finish/section_11/db00f32f1e74f061df27f5df6ea8c2b6.jpg
Finally, now that you’ve conducted a SWOT analysis, suppose
you’ve been given $1,000 on the condition that you have to bet all of this
money for or against Uber succeeding in the next two years. Will you bet they continue to grow and
overcome any threats and weaknesses? Or
do you think they will crash and burn?
There is not a right or wrong answer to this question, as nobody can
predict the future. But regardless of
what bet you will make, you need to explain the logic and reasoning for your bet. Why do you think the strengths and
opportunities outweigh the weaknesses and threats or vice versa? Give at least three reasons for your bet, and
explain the reasons with respect to specific information you found in your SWOT
analysis. And no – you can’t hedge by
betting $500 on each outcome. You need to predict success or failure and place
all your money on this outcome. Your
answer to this part of the assignment should be one to one and a half pages.
Assignment Expectations
This assignment will be graded using the same grading rubric
as in Module 1. Additional considerations
in preparing your assignment:
Case reports are to be prepared in Microsoft Word and should
be 3-4 pages in length, in addition to a cover page (course name and number,
module number, session name, student name, and date prepared) and reference
list – double-spaced, 12 pt. type, Times New Roman font.
Report content should include a brief introduction to the
assignment, background information about the organization being studied, and
some preliminary discussion of the analytical tools (situation analysis and
SWOT analysis) being applied in addressing the questions or tasks proposed in
the assignment.
Use subtitles, bullets, and tables to improve presentation
values. In this case, a suggested
structure for the assignment might be
Introduction
Situation Analysis
SWOT Analysis
Discussion
Conclusion
Attention is to be
given to citing sources of information in text as well as in the reference list
at the end of reports. Citation and
reference style instructions are available at
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/.
Submit your report in the case dropbox for this module on or
before the due date, as indicated in the TLC Homepage.
Module 3 – Case
ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE
Assignment Overview
Based on your background readings related to organization
structure (Boundless, Chapter 2) and the case reading below, consider the
following business case and answer the questions. A typical auto dealership
has, perhaps, a hundred or so employees engaged in new (possibly two or more
different brands of both trucks and cars) and used vehicle sales, service,
finance (loans and leasing), personnel (human resource policies, evaluation,
payroll and benefits administration), marketing and advertising, and other
business concerns (budgeting, accounting, facilities, etc.).
Case reading
Healey, T. (2016). A
guide to dealership structure.
http://automotive.about.com/od/Retail/a/We-Take-A-Look-At-The-Basic-Structure-Of-An-Automotive-Dealership.htm
Case Assignment
Visit a local car dealership. Most managers love to talk to students about
their businesses, but be sure to call ahead and talk to the general manager to
explain the purpose of the visit and arrange a time. Request a 10-minute interview
to discuss such questions as:
How many employees in how many departments?
Who heads these departments and who do they report to?
What kinds of decisions are made at the corporate
headquarters and what kinds of decisions do they make at the dealership?
Any other questions you have that will help you complete
your assignment.
When you have completed the readings and conducted your site
visit:
Draw an organizational chart for this dealership. Identify
the various management positions or titles on the chart and indicate the
positions/jobs that would report to each.
SmartDraw.com (https://cloud.smartdraw.com/) provides free
examples, though others are also available via Google. PowerPoint also has templates for
organizational charts you can use.
Explain the current organizational structure in terms of
requirements for (1) specialization (e.g., accounting vs. the body shop) and
(2) decentralization, in other words, “downstreaming” authority to department
heads for advertising, for example.
Make one recommendation for a change in the organizational
structure that will improve productivity or efficiency, and justify that
recommendation.
Assignment Expectations
This Case Assignment is graded according to the same case
rubric that has been used in Modules 1 and 2.
In addition:
Case reports are to be prepared in Microsoft Word and should
be 3-4 pages in length, in addition to a cover page (course name and number,
module number, session name, student name, and date prepared) and reference
list – double-spaced, 12 pt. type, Times New Roman font.
Report content should include a brief introduction to the
assignment, background information about the organization being studied, the
organizational chart, and your discussion of organizational structure in terms
of the concepts or theories being applied in the assignment.
Use subtitles, bullets, and tables to improve presentation
values.
Attention is to be given to citing sources of information in
text as well as in the reference list at the end of reports. Citation and
reference style instructions are available at
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/.
Submit your report in the Case dropbox for this module on or
before the date due, as indicated in the TLC Homepage.
Module 4 – Case
LEADERSHIP
Assignment Overview
Many approaches to leadership stress the role of charisma in
effective leadership. This raises the question of “To what extent is charisma a
personality characteristic that people are born with and to what extent can
individuals develop their own capacity to be charismatic?” In other words, can people LEARN to be
charismatic?
Richardson and Thayer (2000)* have answered this question in
the affirmative and proposed that individuals can become charismatic by practicing
the following actions:
Develop the specific persona or aura of the charismatic
leader—by maintaining an optimistic view; using passion as a catalyst for
generating enthusiasm; and communicating with the whole body, not just with
words.
Draw others in – by creating a bond or a link, a mutual
rhythm, and a “likability factor” that inspires others to follow.
Bring out the greatness in others – by inspiring appropriate
emotions.
*Richardson, R.J. & Thayer, S.K. (2000). The Charisma
Factor: How to Develop Your Natural Leadership Ability. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
This case is designed to help you explore your own charisma
and develop your ability to use charisma to lead others. To do this, you will
engage in an experiential activity, where you will actively try to project
charisma and discover for yourself whether you can learn to inject the power of
charisma into your own leadership style.
To begin this exercise, view several videos of charismatic
speeches on the internet. Here are some
examples, but you may select others:
Malala Yousafzai – The right to learning should be given to
any child https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu3aQMxkrc4
Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have A Dream Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vDWWy4CMhE
Dr. Maya Angelou – I Am Human https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePodNjrVSsk
The Speech that Made Obama President https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFPwDe22CoY
President Ronald
Reagan “Tear Down This Wall” Speech at Berlin Wall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei1HnWwzmNk
Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address (Especially
after 9 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc&t=620s
Then, take a minute to write down you own definition of
charisma, based on what you saw in the videos.
Now you are ready to complete the assignment.
Case Assignment
This assignment has two parts. The first is a video you will
create and the second is a template on developing charismatic leadership that
you will fill out and submit with your video.
Part 1: Create a
video
Step 1 – Create a situation and compose a speech. The nature of the situation is up to you.
There are examples in the videos above, but it will make the assignment easier
if you identify a situation you feel passionate about. In composing the speech, try to incorporate
Richardson & Thayer’s three characteristics of charismatic behavior.
Consider:
What would you need to do to create an aura of charisma?
How can you create a bond that inspires?
How can you convey emotion?
Step 2 – Make a video
It might be easier to make a video before a small audience
so you can try to connect with them better – that is hard to do when making a
speech to yourself! However if you are
unnerved by speaking in front of others, you do not have to.
The ideal speech would be about 2 minutes long, but no
longer than 3 minutes.
Remember, the objective is to portray charisma. Be creative
and have fun!
Part 2: Complete the
Charisma Assessment Template
Access the Module 4 Case Assignment – Presentation. Fill out all sections.
Submit both the completed template and the video in the TLC
dropbox on or before the deadline for this module.
Directions for uploading videos to TLC:
Transferring a video from your phone to your computer is
easy. Here are some instructions if you need
them.
You can also try Zoom, which saves the file to an MP4 format
that you can upload into D2L. Zoom
requires registration, but it is free.
This presentation must be submitted in video format (Webcam
or Smart Device). Please submit an e-ticket via the TLC homepage if you have
problems uploading due to file size. Note: TLC courses only support the
following media formats: SWF, MPG, MPEG, RM, MP3, MP4, M4V, M4A, AVI, WAV, RAM,
ASF, MOV, and RA.
Assignment Expectations
This assignment calls for two separate submissions:
A video in YouTube or Zoom format, 2-3 minutes long
Completed Charisma Assessment Template based on the form to
be found in Table of Contents/Presentations, following Module 4 and above the
Boundless Textbook.
Submit these files in the Case Dropbox on or before the date
due, as indicated on the TLC hompage.
