Case Study COMMUNICATING WITH THE MILLENNIALS 1. Take a poll of your class (at least, the Gen-X and Gen-Y members). At school or work, how many regularly (e.g., daily or every few days) send or receive information (not entertainment) using (a) e- mail, (b) instant messages or Twitter tweets, (c) cell phone text messages, (d) reading/writing blogs, (e) visiting/authoring social media sites (e.g., Face book, Instagram), (f) watching/creating online videos (e.g., YouTube)?
My experience is that students thoroughly enjoy polls on topical issues, such as the use of emerging technologies. The larger the class, the more interested students are in the results. The poll can occur through a show of hands in class, but this question is very well suited to "clicker" technology. If your class has mandatory online activities between classes, consider taking a poll online and posting the results in class. Along with these poll results, consider asking students which communication channels are gaining and losing popularity. For example, most students will likely say that Face Book is gaining whereas blogs are losing popularity. There are 40 students in my classroom. According the results of research, there are 38 students use e-mail to send or receive information; 25 students use instant message; 30 students use cell phone text message; 22 students use blogs; 34 students use social network sites; 12 students use online videos.

2. Even within this generation, there are different preferences for communication media. After conducting the poll, ask students who don’t regularly use one or more of these methods why they don’t like that particular communication medium. Ask those who very often use these sources to give their point of view.
This Question offers an excellent opportunity to develop a list of contingencies of communication, including media richness, social acceptance, and amount of effort required. For example, few students in most classes would have posted YouTube videos because it takes time to develop a good quality video and because there may be few situations where that effort is justified. An important part of this question is how often students receive rather than send information through these channels. For example, only few people write blogs, yet many people read them. This is an opportunity to ask the "few" who write blogs or post YouTube videos what motivates them to do so.

3. Companies have been slow and reluctant to adopt social media channels, cell phones text messaging, and similar forms of communication. If you were a senior manager, how would you introduce these communication technologies in the workplace to share information and knowledge more effectively?
This is a good discussion question on strategic communication, in particular how to introduce and reinforce the use of new forms of communication. One key issue is when, where, and who to use the communication channel. As the chapter describes, many companies have struggled to find the right balance of individual freedom to use a communication medium, such as blogs and social networks. This case also identifies the challenges of text messaging in organizations.
Example:
Different methods how to communicate with the Millennial’s? * Millennial and Gen-Y’s are entering the work force * Millennial’s frequent on social media sites to communicate * Baby Boomer generation is unfamiliar with the new means of communication * Millennial’s appreciate authentic communications * Senior managers are trying to figure out a way for everyone to communicate effectively
Alternative #2 * Older generations can hire others to communicate with the Millennial’s.
Alternative #1 * Make a Company Website * Decision * Communicating with the Millennial's * The company’s senior management can't communicate effectively with the millennial employees.
PROS
* saves time * employees can discuss concerns and issues directly * Employees can communicate 24/7 * Employees can help each other * Easier to communicate * Can find out if their employees are actually working or not.
CON
* Every 6 weeks = too long (should be more frequent) * Some might not use it * You would have to train people how to use it. * Seniors may not like it. * Cost money * Not authentic * Can be misused * Monitor the Usage of Technology * Can't monitor everyone at all times * Cost money and time * Would have to buy a laptop and a Smartphone for each employee

Alternative #3 * implement a company website * We would successfully implement this decision by hiring an IT team to make a website for the company.
Implementation
* Lessons Learned * Importance of communications * How to improve communication * Social media is replacing email * Problems with email * Advantages of social media
Case Study RESONUS CORPORATION 1. What sources and contingencies of power existed among the executives and departments at Resonus?
The capacity to influence a team, an individual or the organization is known as power. Power is the potential to change an individual’s behavior or attitudes. There are five sources of power that an individual can use- Legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, expert power and referent power. When the organization bestows power on an individual for a certain role, it’s called legitimate power. The power of a person in a position of authority to reward an individual is called reward power. The ability to punish an individual is called coercive power, while expert power means the capacity to control others by possessing certain skills not possessed by others.

In a team setting when different departments work in tandem and are interdependent on each other, expert power comes into the picture. Just as in the case of Resource Consultants, where a new technology was proposed to be introduced within three weeks. There were differences between the Engineering team is the one, who designs specifications for the Production team, so that the new product can be successfully launched.

Since the Engineering team are experts at managing uncertainties of new technology, since specifications of technical use are prepared by them, they can exercise their power and influence the decision making process. Moreover, by presenting likely problems associated with introducing new technology, the Engineering team would help in preventing uncertainty associated with timely delivery of end products to customers.

Though an individual may possess expert power, it does not necessarily mean that he or she is influential. There are four power contingencies- Substitutability, centrality, visibility and discretion. Substitutability means becoming a valued employee by performing well and ensuring that not too many employees are aware of how a particular thing is done. Centrality is the importance of the power holder depending on interdependence to other teams. Visibility means ensuring that the work done is recognized by the manager, while discretion means exercising judgment and making decisions without the necessity of permission or for following certain rules.

In the case of Resource Consultants the power contingencies exercised by the engineering team is that of centrality. They are the link between the research team and the production team; hence they can exercise their power over the other teams. The Research team is dependent on them for providing specifications, while the production team produces the end product based on the specifications mentioned.
Thus, power can be exercised in different ways. However, the key is to realize the power an individual has over others and using them for the betterment of the organizations.

2. What Influence tactics were evident in this case study? Would you define any of these influence activities as organizational politics? Why or why not?
The capacity to influence a team, an individual or the organization is known as power. Power is the potential to alter another individual’s behavior or attitudes. On the other hand influence behavior that changes another person’s behavior. Several sources of power can be used to influence another person’s behavior.

In this case study, influence tactic found id Silent Authority. This is due to the fact that despite knowing the limitations of trying to introducing new technology in such a short period of time, the Engineering Director accepts the request of the CEO. As the CEO is at a higher authority and power than the Engineering Director and the roles which an Engineering Director is supposed to perform, the influencing tactic used is Silent Authority.

In this study it seems to be a case of organizational politics, since the Research Director to further his interests proposes to the CEO the introduction of a new Nano Processor technology. Though the concept of the technology may be great things like timely delivery to clients have not been taken into consideration. Moreover, consensus was not built along with the Engineering Director to understand the product specifications. Moreover, there was no discussion with the Sales Director as to the market needs.

Thus, there can be several influencing tactics that can be used for getting work done in an organization. However, should be exercised to ensure that power and influence is used for the betterment of the organization than serving self interest.

3. Suppose you are a consultant invited to propose a solution to the product delay problems facing this organization. What would you recommend, particularly regarding power dynamics among the executives and departments?
As a consultant to propose solution to product delays of the organization, the first step that is to make the Research Director realize that though his ideas of various products is excellent, there were several instances of last minute revisions and production change requests. This has lead to loss of credibility among customers. The need of the hour is to collaborate with the Engineering and Sales Director to understand specifications and market needs before further researching on a particular product line.

Since there are several instances when the production team members contact the research members in case of a product design fault, the engineering team can use their expert power to influence the research and production team. Since it’s the engineering team that designs specifications of products they are experts at preventing failure of the product. Hence the engineering team can warn of specific drawback of a particular product beforehand, instead of customers requesting changes. Moreover, any changes in the market can be forecast by the engineering team, which can be passed on to the research team, who in turn would look to develop products as per market needs.

Thus, the solution to the problem faced by the organization can be solves by all the executives working together and setting realistic deadlines of implementing a product.
Case Study CAR WARS AT WOLFSBURG 1. Identify and discuss the sources of conflict between Porsche and Volkswagen executives.
The sources of conflicts between Porsche and Volkswagen executives : * Self Absorbed: Both the companies were expert in their own field. So it was a conflict between the two to establish their dominant position over the other. * Management style: The executive of Porsche emphasizes on lean production by eliminating inefficient car lines and cost cutting operations whereas, the Volkswagen executive believed in spectacular engineering those exceptional profits. * Difference in the vision: The Porsche executive is less harmonious as he believed that Volkswagen would have been more profitable if it would have eliminated less commercially success cars from his product lines where as Volkswagen was more obsessed with its cars as they emphasized on engineering excellence. * Personal interest: Executive of Porsche wants to establish his dominant position by the virtue of his family relationship and his stake in the company where as the executive of Volkswagen was working for the betterment of the company.

2. Describe the conflict handling styles used by Wendelin Wiedeking and Ferdinand Piech. Were they appropriate in this situation?
The executive of Porsche adopted a forcing strategy for the conflict resolution. He took advantage of his dominant position being a family member of the owner of the company to gain the controlling power in Volkswagen. He landed in huge financial crisis as he borrowed a large sum to buy a large part of the share of VK to establish his controlling position. He was using his power to protect his personal interest and was avoiding the welfare of the company. This was obviously was not appropriate in this case as both the company was expert in their own field they could have adopted a collective way of solving the conflict. This would have been positive for both of them as they can develop synergy by using the expertise of each other.

From the point of view of the executive of VK, He adopted a low profile method of solving the conflict as he was confident with his management style and wrong decisions of the executives of the P. He was silently watching the behavior of the P's executive for the right time to hammer the iron. He took over when it was quite visible of the executive of the P that he was not successful in his conflict resolution style and his vision.

The executive of VK adopted the appropriate conflicting strategy as it was not possible to forcefully establish his dominant position as neither he has legal controlling power in the company nor the cars was commercially successful and profitable. So it was a correct decision to avoid the conflict and compromise with the P for the moment and wait for the right time to take over and prove his vision of prioritizing excellence over commercial success.
Case Study A WINDOW ON LIFE 1. Identify the symptoms indicating that problems exist at Lacrosse Industries, Inc.
Symptoms which indicate that company LCI is facing certain problems are elaborated below:

* Mismatch of the visions of the two companies: LCI believe in participative style of leadership; whereas, BAP used to follow bureaucratic style of Leadership. GL, used to visit production plant frequently to assure the quality of production; whereas JV, hardly used to leave his cabin to visit the plant.

* Loss of interest of the employees: The employees of LCI started losing interest in their work as they were evaluated on the basis of records not on the basis of their creativity and innovations. Contrary to this, creativity and innovation were considered to be the most important factors in the evaluation criteria of GL.
Earlier, the employees used to get the opportunity to directly interact with the owner of the company. Besides this, they used to get appreciation and reward for their contribution, which was lacking in the new organization.

* More focus on paperwork than practical application: JV, instead of visiting the production plant personally emphasized on records, administration and sending memorandum to the supervisors for inventory controls, guidelines and procedures.
Earlier the employees or GL used to inspect the quality of the wood and inspect the products, on their own. In the new situation, the employees only require to justify the records, which was a depressing factor for the employees.

* Overtaking the proven strategies of LCI: Highly trained purchasing staffs of LCI were forced to follow the purchasing procedure of BAP, in order to achieve a tradeoff between cost and quality. This resulted in the decrease of inventory cost; but, increased the number of defective products.
All these symptoms confirm the existence of problems at LCI. Earlier, the employees used to get love, affection, and respect for their efforts during the era of GL. There was a sense of belongingness in the industry. They were free to express their opinions and innovative ideas, which were not only heard but also implemented in LCI. All these factors were missing in the new conglomerate leading to several problems.

2. Use one or more leadership theories to analyze the underlying causes of the current problems at Lacrosse Industries. What other organizational behavior theories might also help explain some of the problems?
As per the case, two leadership styles that would suit to the current prevailing problems of the organization are as follows:

* Transformational Leadership style: This is the leadership style where the leader acts as a change agent in the organization. They develop the vision and strategy of the organization, communicate them to the employees, and inspire and guide the employees achieve the objectives.
Earlier company LCI used to be an employee-focused organization. After formation of the conglomerate, the policies and norms of the company faced several changes. Employees could not adapt according to the change that created a lot of problems for the company.
In this situation, transformational leadership style would help the management to influence the desired behavior to the employees. It would help in sustainable growth of the organization. * Managerial Leadership style: This is the leadership style where the leader helps the employees to become more efficient and satisfied in the current situations.
It would enable the management to deal with the problems faced by the employees. Besides this, it would motivate the employees to adjust as per the requirement of new environment.
Problems faced by the employees and organization could be understood by the following organizational behavior theories:

* Communication: The new organization should emphasize on the development of proper communication channels. A proper communication channel would enable the organization to share its vision, strategies and objectives with the employees. It would guide the employees to achieve the company’s objectives.
In this case, if there would be a proper and transparent communication channel between the JV and the employees, the success of the LCI could be transferred to BAP and the minimum 18% return on equity would be achieved.

* Change Management: This process assists an organization to achieve a smooth transformation. As per this process, an organization should communicate the need and benefits of adapting the change to their employees. It would that enable them to achieve a smooth transition.
Earlier GL, the director of LCI, used to follow the participative style of leadership. After formation of the JV, the leadership style was changed to bureaucratic. It created dissatisfaction and conflict among the employees.

3. What should Gilbert Lacrosse do in this situation?