ADM501 – GROUP BC3C (updated August 14th 2007)

1 Siti Norlida Badiauzaman (2007272382)
2 Nur Aini Abdul Majid (2007272396)
3 Fazlianaliza Wan Jusoh (2007272458)
4 Nur Adila Md Nazabudin (2007272374)
5 Nurul Ain Ashmawi (2007272504)
6 Syazwanie Suhaimi (2007272572)
7 Nurunnikmah Munir (2007272424)
8 Mohd Suhaimi Daud (2007272402)
9 Mohd Rafiee Ab Rahman (2007272524)
10 Mohd Asrul Ismail (2007272522)
11 Shafazila Azani (2007272492)
12 Masrina Shamsudin (2007272394)
13 Faziah Dol (2007272456)
14 Siti Hajar Shikh Hassan (2007272489)
15 Siti Nuraini Rusidi (2007272528)
16 Umi Faten Mohd Saidun (2007272508)
17 Nor Syahidah Awang Mad (2007272438)
18 Suraiya Safie (2007272462)
19 Innaskuliana Nasir (2007272502)
20 Siti Jalilah Mohd Tubin (2007272446)
21 Nor Nadiah Mohd Sharifuddin (2007272564)
22 Ummu Syafiqah Kamarudin (2007272498)
23 Muhammad Syafiq Hafiz (2007272698)


Umi Faten Mohd Saidun (Date of seminar: August 14, 2007)
“The changing workforce is one of the emerging trends in organizational behavior. Describe how the workforce is changing and briefly identify two consequences of these changes for organizations.”

UMMU SYAFIQAH KAMARUDIN (Date of seminar: August 14, 2007)“Telecommuting has been identified as an important trend in organizational behavior. Discuss three organizational behavior topics that are influenced by telecommuting.”

SITI NORLIDA BADIAUZAMAN (Date of seminar: August 14, 2007)
“Explain how the three levels of analysis of OB are related.”

FAZLIANALIZA WAN JUSOH (Date of seminar: August 14, 2007)
“Describe why managers require knowledge of OB.”

INNASKULIANA NASIR (Date of seminar: August 21, 2007)
“The sales office of a large industrial products wholesale company has an increasing problem that salespeople are arriving late at the office each morning. Some sales reps go directly to visit clients rather than showing up at the office as required by company policy. Others arrive several minutes after their appointed start time. The Vice-President of sales doesn’t want to introduce time clocks, but this may be necessary if the lateness problem isn’t corrected. Using the MARS model of individual behavior, diagnose the possible reasons why salespeople may be engaging in this ‘lateness’ behavior.

NUR ADILA MD NAZABUDIN (Date of seminar: August 21, 2007)
“Employees in the company’s warehouse are making numerous errors in inventory control and breaking items shipped. An analysis of the situation reveals that individual competencies are poorly matched with the job requirements. Describe three different strategies that would potentially improve this person-job matching.”

NURUL AIN ASHMAWI (Date of seminar: August 28th, 2007)
A supervisor receives regular information about a sales employee’s performance (e.g. sales volume, incomplete paperwork, etc.) and must complete a performance appraisal of the person’s work. The supervisor has a complete description of the employee’s job but has never worked in the field as a sales representative. Moreover, the supervisor is relatively new to this job and therefore has little experience observing or appraising the performance of salespeople. What attribution error is likely to occur under these conditions and what effect would it have on the performance appraisal results?

SYAZWANIE SUHAIMI (Date of seminar: August 28th, 2007)
“You are a senior executive in a large pharmaceautical firm and have just hired a chemist who is recognised as a ‘rising star’ in the industry. Your organization has spent a lot of money recruiting this person and hopes that the chemist will stay with this firm for many years. As with many scientists, however, the new hire seems to have very little loyalty to or identification with any firm. Explain in detail (with action plan examples pertaining to this incident) four (4) strategies that would try to increase this employee’s loyalty to this organization.”

Nurunnikmah Munir (Date of seminar: August 28th, 2007)
“A senior executive in your organization read an older organizational behavior textbook, which concluded that there is no more than a very weak relationship between job satisfaction and job performance. The senior executive now believes that it is a waste of time and money to have ‘happy workers’. Instead, the executive is recommending find ways to improve productivity without any consideration for employee wellbeing (beyond legal requirements). The company president is concerned that the executive’s information may convince other members of the management committee to take a similar harsh view. Provide three different arguments why companies should try to maintain a reasonable level of job satisfaction among employees in this organization.”

Nor Nadiah Mohd Sharifuddin (Date of seminar: September 4th, 2007)
“Your organization wants to improve employee motivation. Employees already have strong P-to-O expectancies and the outcome valences are quite favorable for strong performance, but they seem to have a low E-to-P expectancy. Identify three distinct types of strategies that would potentially increase employee motivation by improving the E-to-P expectancy.”

Nur Aini Abdul Majid (Date of seminar: September 4th, 2007)
“HypCorp has just introduced a performance-based reward system for all production employees. The plan pays employees a team-based bonus based on the reduction of labor costs per unit in the production department. Describe three strategies to ensure that this (and other) performance-based reward systems is effective. Your answer should also breiefly state the type of reward system used by HypCorp.”

Mohd Suhaimi Daud (Date of seminar: September 11th, 2007)
“The Director of Nursing at Smalltown General Hospital claims that several nurses are experiencing job burnout. Describe the three components of this job burnout that should be evident from these nurses. Your description of each component should include an example related to nursing. Also briefly identify two possible characteristics of nursing that might have contributed to this job burnout.”

Mohd Rafiee Ab Rahman (Date of seminar: September 11th, 2007)
“Head-Office employees at Acme Widgets have had heavy workloads over the past years, due mainly to downsizing and increased demand for widgets. Acme’s CEO wants to introduce a stress management program that would control the consequences of his stress. Describe three types of stress management programs that would help employess to cope more effectively with the physiological and/or psychological consequences of stress. Your answer should also briefly state the specific benefits that each type of program provides.”

Siti Jalilah Mohd Tubin (Date of seminar: September 11th, 2007)
“You have been given the unique opportunity to develop a ‘greenfield’ site for a new production facility. A greenfield site means that the entire operation is new, including employees, structure and practices. You want to ensure that the new plant supports self-directed work teams, unlike other company facilities that mainly focus on individual performance. Describe four different elements of the organizational and team environment that you need to consider that influence team effectiveness.”

Mohd Asrul Ismail (Date of seminar: September 11th, 2007)
“You work at an advertising firm where a senior executive has suggested that advertising staff should rely more on e-mail to communicate with clients rather than frequently visiting them in person. The executive has even suggested that this proposal might increase creativity because clients could communicate their ideas to staff members more often than through personal visits. The reason for this recommendation is that it is expensive and time-consuming to visit clients. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this idea (using e-mail rather than personal visits to interact with clients). Be sure that your answer considers emotional contagion, media rechness and other factors related to these two communication channels.”

Shafazila Azani (Date of seminar: September 18th, 2007)
“You are a new employee in a professional position, such as accountant or corporate attorney. Your organization is located in Los Angeles and employs several hundred people with various backgrounds (representative of Los Angeles’s diversity). Soon after joining this organization, you discover that the company does not apply certain technology or practices that are now recommended by most people in your profession. Under these circumstances, identify three different types of influence tactics that you might use effectively to have senior management introduce these technologies or practice. Your answer should present these types of influence in your order of preference, and you should explain why these general tactics would be acceptable and effective in this situation.”

Suraiya Safie (Date of seminar: September 18th, 2007)
“You have just been hired as a brand manager of shampoo for a large consumer products company in Kuala Lumpur. Your job mainly involves encouraging the advertising and production groups to promote and manufacture your product more effectively. These departments are not under your direct authority, although company procedures indicate that they must complete certain tasks requested by brand managers. Describe the sources of power you can use to ensure that the advertising and production departments will help you make and sell shampoo more effectively.”


Nor Syahidah Awang Mad (Date of seminar: September 18th, 2007)
“NewTel is a telephone company with a policy of filling positions through promotoins rather than hiring from outside. Until recently, the company had a strong engineering focus and tended to promote people into senior executive positions from the engineering areas. Consequently, almost all of the company’s 14 senior executives joined the company over 20 years ago in junior engineering positions. There is increasing pressure on NewTel to become more marketing and service oriented, so four people were hired one year ago from consumer products and retail firms to fill new senior executive positions in marketing and service management. The external hires were necessary because employees were not sufficiently qualified. Now there are signs of tension among senior executives, particularly during budget deliberations where there is limited discretionary spending on new corporate activities. The four new hires have been frustrated in their attempts to have the companyput more money into marketing and customer services instead of technology investment. What conflict management strategies could be applied at NewTel to minimize dysfunctional conflict among these senior executives?”


Ummu Syafiqah Kamarudin (Date of seminar: September 25th, 2007)
“Southern Industrials LLC wants to develop a competency-based approach to executive selection. Which leadership perpspective mainly applies to this practice? Also, based on leadership research, identify four ‘competencies’ that Southern Industrials will probably identify in effective executives.”

Masrina Shamsudin (Date of seminar: September 25th, 2007)
“Executives at CelCorp, a major telecommunications company, are concerned that its organizational structure is ineffective. The company currently has a functional structure in which employees are grouped by specialization: manufacturing, marketing, research, administration, etc. CelCorp has manufacturing plants in six countries throughout the globe, marketing operations in several dozen countries, and research and developments centers in three countries. The company makes three distinct products with approximately equal revenue: mobile telephones, satellite communication systems and Internet routers. Recommend a new organizational structure for CelCorp and justify your decision.

Siti Nuraini Rusidi (Date of seminar: September 25th, 2007)
“Rather than producing a standard product or service for the marketplace, Protege Engineering completes special projects for clients. These projects require between six months and two years to complete and demand highly specialized knowledge in engineering, production management and computer science. Most of the 600 employees working for Protege Engineering have university degrees in these fields; a few have doctorates. Identify the best organizational structure for Protege Engineering and justify your recommendation.”

Faziah Dol (Date of seminar: October 2nd, 2007)
“A friend is thinking about applying for a technical or managerial job opportunity at a large computer network firm. However, past experience has made your friend aware that it is important to ensure that the company’s dominant values are aligned with his or her own. Identify three (3) different types of artifacts that your friend should consider when deciphering the culture of the computer network firm. Your friend is a job applicant, so your answer should relate to the experience of being recruited into an organization.”

Muhamad Syafiq Hafiz (Date of Seminar: October 2nd, 2007)
"A major consulting firm is offering a special service whereby it is able to determine the organization's dominant culture and some of its subcultures. The firm says that it does this by statistically analyzing the words and phrases in the company's annual reports, news releases and public speeches by the company's senior executives. The consultancy claims that this is an effective way of identifying the organization's culture because it does not collect any information inside the organization and, consequently, doesnt take time from any employees. Discuss the merits and limitations of this consultancy's ability to determine an organization's culture."


Siti Hajar Shikh Hassan (Date of seminar: October 2nd, 2007)
“ACME Building Supplies is about to introduce a new customer service program that will effect all of its 200 sales and service employees. Job duties will be changed and the employee reward system will be altered to fit this new customer focus. Moreover, the company wants to improve the efficiency of work processes, thereby removing some of the comfortable (and often leisurely) routines that employees have followed over the years. Describe three types of forces resisting change that the company will potentially experience during this change process.”