Assignment Week 7

Chapter 16:

1. What happens in the absence of control?

2. Would you expect more clan control with standardized jobs or creative positions?

Chapter 17:

3. According to Francis Bacon, “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”  What does this have to do with technology and innovation?  What does it have to do with competitive advantage?

4. What examples of technological innovation can you identify? What forces led to the commercialization of the science behind these technologies? Did the capability exist before the market demand or was the demand there before the technology was available?

Chapter 18:

5. Review the methods for dealing with resistance to change.  Generate specific examples of each that you have seen and analyze why they worked or failed to work.

6. In what ways do you think the manager’s job will be different in 20 years from what it is today?  How can you prepare for that future?

Assignment Week 6

Please answer the following questions and submit as a Word or PDF document through Canvas:

Chapter 13:

1. Give some examples of situations in which you wanted to do a great job but were prevented from doing so. What was the impact on you, and what would this teach you as you try to motivate other people to perform?

2. Set some goals for yourself, considering the discussion about goal setting in the chapter. (Hint: SMART)

Chapter 14:

3. Consider the various roles that members have to perform for a team to be effective. Which roles would play to your strengths and which to your weaknesses? How can you become a better team member?

Chapter 15 (Case Study):

Best Trust Bank

Case Summary:

Best Trust Bank has grown to become one of the world’s top 25 banks with 73,000 employees in 47 countries.  The company has built a reputation based on integrity and Paul Wysinsky, Vice President for Human Resources, says that one of the biggest challenges that Best Trust Bank faces is poor communication.  He is considering a new training course on preparing a clear written communication for managers in the company.  Although he records videos, speaks at company events, leads town hall meetings, and has a live video feed to allow employees to post questions and ideas, he still struggles with the amount of information that is not communicated effectively among all of the employees. 

Case Discussion Questions:

4. How has the media richness of Paul’s communications changed since the days he was a teller?

5. What sender and receiver skills are described in this case? Which ones needs improvement?  Offer one suggestion for improving the weak skills.

6. How might Paul improve upward communication and the communication culture more generally at Best Trust?

7. As the case study indicates, there appears to be a lack of clear communication occurring between the middle managers and top management.  The company’s future growth and development depends on clear upward communication to identify and resolve issues as they occur.  Identify the advantages achieved by using an effective two-way communication process versus only a one-way process.