MNA 3240 Case study 1 Assignments

Assignments
.broward.edu/d2l/lms/dropbox/user/folder_submit_files.d2l?ou=169851&db=166672″>Case: “Managing Motivation in a
Difficult Economy”
ERA OF THE DISPOSABLE WORKER
Learning Objectives: Define organizational
behavior (OB); Show the value to OB of systematic study; Demonstrate the
importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace; Describe the manager’s
functions, roles, and skills; Identify the challenges and opportunities
managers have in applying IB concepts; Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to
OB
Learning Outcomes: Define organizational behavior and identify
the variables associated with its study; Describe the factors that influence
the formation of individual attitudes and values; Apply the study of perception
and attribution to the workplace; Define diversity and describe the effects of
diversity in the workforce; Describe the nature of conflict and the negotiation
process; Describe best practices for creating and sustaining organizational
cultures; Describe best practices for creating and sustaining organizational
cultures; Describe the components of human resource practices
The Scenario
The great global recession has claimed many victims. In many
countries, unemployment is at near-historic highs, and even those who have
managed to keep their jobs have often been asked to accept reduced work hours
or pay cuts. Another consequence of the current business and economic
environment is an increase in the number of individuals employed on a temporary
or contingent basis.
The statistics on U.S. temporary workers are grim. Many, like
single mother Tammy Smith, have no health insurance, no retirement benefits, no
vacation, no severance, and no access to unemployment insurance. Increases in
layoffs mean that many jobs formerly considered safe have become “temporary” in
the sense that they could disappear at any time with little warning. Forecasts
suggest that the next five to ten years will be similar, with small pay
increases, worse working conditions, and low levels of job security. As Peter
Cappelli of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School notes, “Employers
are trying to get rid of all fixed costs. First they did it with employment
benefits. Now they’re doing it with the jobs themselves. Everything is
variable.”
We might suppose these corporate actions are largely taking place
in an era of diminishing profitability. However, data from the financial sector
is not consistent with this explanation. Among Fortune 500 companies, 2009 saw
the second-largest jump in corporate earnings in the list’s 56-year history.
Moreover, many of these gains do not appear to be the result of increases in
revenue. Rather, they reflect dramatic decreases in labor costs. One equity
market researcher noted, “The largest part of the gain came from lower payrolls
rather than the sluggish rise in sales…” Wages also rose only slightly during
this period of rapidly increasing corporate profitability.
Some observers suggest the very nature of corporate profit
monitoring is to blame for the discrepancy between corporate profitability and
outcomes for workers. Some have noted that teachers whose evaluations are based
on standardized test scores tend to “teach to the test,” to the detriment of
other areas of learning. In the same way, when a company is judged primarily by
the single metric of a stock price, executives naturally try their best to
increase this number, possibly to the detriment of other concerns like employee
well-being or corporate culture. On the other hand, others defend corporate
actions that increase the degree to which they can treat labor flexibly, noting
that in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, it might be necessary
to sacrifice some jobs to save the organization as a whole.
The issues of how executives make decisions about workforce
allocation, how job security and corporate loyalty influence employee behavior,
and how emotional reactions come to surround these issues are all core
components of organizational behavior research.

Questions
1.
To what extent can individual
business decisions (as opposed to economic forces) explain deterioration in
working conditions for many workers?
2.
Do business organizations have
a responsibility to ensure that employees have secure jobs with good working
conditions, or are their primary responsibility to shareholders?
3.
What alternative measures of
organizational performance, besides share prices, do you think might change the
focus of business leaders?
4.
If you were to study this issue
from an organizational behavior perspective describes the study you would
implement? What input and output variables would you look at and why?