...considering the current structure and allocation of resources, identifying any potential challenges transitioning into a new environment, and then determining solutions to meet the needs of the organization within the confines of its new culture. As Walmart expands its operations into China, it is critical that leadership identifies organizational changes needed before establishing operations in that country. Current Structure and Organizational Design Walmart’s current organizational structure has the business broken into three segments- U.S., international, and Sam’s Club- all under the Walmart Stores, Incorporated umbrella. Each division has its own leadership team whose President is accountable to the President of Walmart Stores. Each division runs as its own independent business, giving them more flexibility to make decisions to directly impact the business within their division. Additionally, each division maintains its own real estate, human resources, marketing, and procurement/distribution departments. Overarching leadership across the three divisions include the Chief Information Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and several other senior executive positions (Walmart, n.d.). At the store level, there are also several levels of management starting with the store or general manager. This manager has several assistant managers who oversee support and department managers. The department managers have assigned departments throughout the store that they manage as a “store within...
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...MGMT 301 Section DL1 & 001 The exam will have 25 multiple choice questions (3 pts each) and 2 short answer/essay questions (15pt & 10 pts). When you are responding to short answer/essay exam questions, keep the following in mind: • Use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation • Provide ample justification for all answers • Integrate knowledge gained from course material • Provide evidence for all assertions or claims • Apply course concepts Grading Short Answer/Essay Questions: Grades for written work will be awarded based on the level of understanding you demonstrate as follows: • A/A+ level: The correct explanation and application of concepts. Demonstrates an understanding of multiple factors that affect organizational behavior and integrates different levels of analysis in responses. Answer flows logically and is easily understood and concise • B/B+ Level: The correct explanation of the concepts along with a demonstrated ability to diagnose an applied situation using relevant course concepts. Answer flows logically and is easy to follow. • C/B- Level: Correct explanation and application of the concepts. • C-/D/F Level: Responses are partly or wholly missing or contain obvious mistakes You know you can improve your exam answer if: • You would have answered the questions in the same way before taking the course (i.e., no application of course concepts) • You do not provide a clear justification or rationale for your answer...
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...AT&T: Becoming a Leader in Network Expansion Introduction The American Telephone and Telegraph Company’s (AT&T) history goes back to the year of 1875 when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. In the 19th century, AT&T became the owner of the Bell system company. The bell system was well known for the best telephone service in the country. The first telephone exchange, operating under license from Bell Telephone, opened in New Haven, CT in 1878. Within three years, telephone exchanges existed in most major cities and towns in the United States, operating under licenses from what was now the American Bell Telephone Company. In 1882, American Bell acquired a controlling interest in the Western Electric Company, which became its manufacturing unit (The History of AT&T, 2010). In 1984, bell systems decided to break into eight companies by agreement with U.S. Department of Justice and AT&T. The fundamental principle, formulated by AT&T president Theodore Vail in 1907, that the telephone by the foundation of the new technology of nature and that will operate mainly on the efficiency as a monopoly by providing universal service in the United States. AT& T began restructuring and downsizing in 1995, more than a decade after breaking up the Bell System to settle a Federal antitrust suit (Lander, 1995). Robert Allen aggressively sought to undertake a turnaround of the organization by, among other things...
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...Psychomotor: Apply the concepts to real-life situations and work conditions and be guided by the knowledge acquired in developing good corporate governance policies relating the rights of the employees. Definition of terms: Authorized Causes refers to the grounds of dismissal s to the grounds of dismissal that are allowed by law on grounds of business or organizational necessity (Atienza, 2004). Casual Employment refers employment which is neither regular, nor for a fixed period nor seasonal (Labor Code). It is one where an employee is engaged to perform a job, work or service which is merely incidental to the business of the employer, and such ob, work or service, is for a definite period made known to the employer at the time of the employment (Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code). Constitution refers to the standard of validity for all acts, both public and private. It is a written instrument that serves as the fundamental or supreme law of the land (Carmelo, 2005). Corporate Governance refers to a system whereby shareholders, creditors and other stakeholders of a corporation ensure that management enhances the value of the corporation as it competes in an increasingly global market place (De Leon, 2008). Fixed-term/Project/Seasonal Employment refers to engagement of employees for fixed period or specific project or undertaking the...
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...Case1: "Lessons for 'Under Cover' Bosses" This exercise contributes to Learning Objectives: Define organizational behavior and identify the variables associated with its study, Explain the relationship between personality traits and individual behavior, Describe the factors that influence the formation of individual attitudes and values, Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace, Apply the study of perception and attribution to the workplace; 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, and Describe the components of human resource practices; AACSB Learning goals: Communication abilities, Analytic skills, and Reflective thinking skills Executive offices in major corporations are often far removed from the day-to-day work that most employees perform. While top executives might enjoy the perquisites found in the executive suite, and separation from workday concerns can foster a broader perspective on the business, the distance between management and workers can come at a real cost: Top managers often fail to understand the ways most employees...
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...SAGE India website gets a makeover! Global Products Enhanced Succinct Intuitive THE Improved Interactive Smart Layout User-friendly Easy Eye-catching LEADING WORld’s LEADING Independent Professional Stay tuned in to upcoming Events and Conferences Search Navigation Feature-rich Get to know our Authors and Editors Why Publish with SAGE ? World’s LEADING Publisher and home and editors Societies authors Professional Academic LEADING Publisher Natural World’s Societies THE and LEADING Publisher Natural authors Societies Independent home editors THE Professional Natural Societies Independent authors Societies and Societies editors THE LEADING home editors Natural editors Professional Independent Academic and authors Academic Independent Publisher Academic Societies and authors Academic THE World’s THE editors Academic THE Natural LEADING THE Natural LEADING home Natural authors Natural editors authors home World’s authors THE editors authors LEADING Publisher World’s LEADING authors World’s Natural Academic editors World’s home Natural and Independent authors World’s Publisher authors World’s home Natural home LEADING Academic Academic LEADING editors Natural and Publisher editors World’s authors home Academic Professional authors Independent home LEADING Academic World’s and authors home and Academic Professionalauthors World’s editors THE LEADING Publisher authors Independent home editors Natural...
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...Organizational Theory Taxonomy Organizational Theory Taxonomy Title and Theorist Name | General Description | Example of Theory | Other Attributes | Agency Theory, Jensen & Meckling, 1972-1976 | The agency theory applies classical economic thinking to problems of organizational control and design (Tosi, 2009). Agency theory offers a useful way of understanding the complex authority relationship between top management and the board of directors. An agency relationship is when one personal “the principal” delegates decision-making authority or control to another “the agent” (Jones, 2010). | In 2005, Time Warner came under attack because top management had made many acquisitions such as AOL that did not led to increased innovation, efficiency, and higher profits which creates an agency problem that the agency theory addresses (Jones, 2010). | Agency theory views a firm as a legal entity that serves as a nexus for a complex set of formal and informal contracts among different individuals. A typical firm consists of the shareholders or the boards of directors are principals, and top managers or CEOs are agents (Jones, 2010). Agency theory dictates that principals will try to bridge the informational asymmetries by installing information systems for monitoring (Shapiro, 2005). | Contingency Theory, Burns & Stalker, 1961 | The contingency theory shows how some organizational designs will adapt to the environment, depending on the nature of the environment. The contingency...
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...Introduction What is organizational change? Organizational change occurs when a company makes a strategic effort to improve the performance of the organization or functions of the organization, such as a group or a practice. The goal of organizational change is to increase the effectiveness of the change effort, while decreasing employee opposition and the cost associated with the change. Change is inevitable in today’s business community if an organization wants to remain competitive and to increase profits. With an increase in globalization and advancements in technology, companies are forced to make changes if they want to stay in business. Unfortunately, most change efforts fail due to resistance and lack of support. Most people are afraid of change, and managers have to be very skilled in getting the employees to commit to implementing the changes. Successful change efforts are based on individuals at the organization responding positively to the transformation. So what can an organization do to bring about successful change? Research suggests that change is more effective when it’s driven from within by the upper management team of the organization. Employees are more than likely to buy into the effort if they feel it’s being supported by the top brass. If the employees get a sense that upper management is not championing the cause, then they will not support it. In addition, the change effort must also tie in with the culture of the organization. Management must find...
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...Decision making Individuals, in and out of an organization, have different attitudes towards many circumstances they face in life. With these attitudes towards an object or situation, whether positive or negative, the individual will have a set behavior for a certain circumstance, thus saying that behavior follows attitudes; which were assumed by researchers in the late 1960’s. But one researcher, Leon Festinger , argued that it is the other way around, that attitudes follow behavior and that people change what they say so it does not contradict what they do. Yet recent research, based on Festinger’s Moderating Variables, show how strong moderating variables tend to strengthen the link and prove that attitudes do in fact predict future behavior. Attitudes and behavior in this sense are intricately related. Managers must understand this complicated relationship in order to measure and determine job satisfaction and its relationship to employees’ job attitudes, involvement and satisfaction in order to optimum productivity. Attitudes are thoughts about a particular object in which then is reflected emotionally through an individual finally realizing a certain behavior. They reflect how we feel about something. Researchers have assumed that attitudes have three components which are; cognition component – the aspect of an attitude that is a description of or belief in the way of an attitude – affect component – is the emotional or...
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...Organizational studies encompass the study of organizations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. For instance, one textbook[1] divides these multiple viewpoints into three perspectives: modern, symbolic, and postmodern. Another traditional distinction, present especially in American academia, is between the study of "micro" organizational behaviour — which refers to individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting — and "macro" strategic management and organizational theory which studies whole organizations and industries, how they adapt, and the strategies, structures and contingencies that guide them. To this distinction, some scholars have added an interest in "meso" scale structures - power, culture, and the networks of individuals and i.e. ronit units in organizations — and "field" level analysis which study how whole populations of organizations interact. Whenever people interact in organizations, many factors come into play. Modern organizational studies attempt to understand and model these factors. Like all modernist social sciences, organizational studies seek to control, predict, and explain. There is some controversy over the ethics of controlling workers' behavior, as well as the manner in which workers are treated (see Taylor's scientific management approach compared to the human relations movement of the 1940s). As such, organizational behaviour or OB (and its cousin, Industrial psychology) have at times been accused of being the...
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...ROWE Program at Best Buy Tracey D. Battle Strayer University Leadership & Organizational Behavior BUS 520 Professor Bruce Macdonald December 12, 2011 Abstract Best Buy introduced the ROWE Program to reduce stress and overwork in their employees at their headquarters. The agenda basically allows you to work from anywhere, any hours you choose, as long as the job gets done. The staff at Best Buy’s headquarters generally worked long hours until the ROWE curriculum was introduced. Member of staff burnout and turnover was high. After the ROWE Program’s implementation, productivity has increased and voluntary turnover has decreased. Jody Thompson pioneered the Result-Only Work Environment (ROWE) in the Best Buy Corporation. This action was instrumental in introducing the concept of culture Rx. Culture Rx offered a customized consultancy services as per the needs of the clients with ROWE as its core philosophy. Organizational society depends upon the sharing of core values among the maximum numbers of people in any organization. There was minimum sharing of values among the employee members in the Best Buy managerial culture. The negative environment prevailing in the organizational premises inhibited the bonding among the human resource. There was not much time available for employees to interact with each other. A survey was conducted to know the attitude of staff participating in ROWE. It was found that their “feelings of pressure” and sense of “working hard” had...
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...Improving Organizational Performance Kyle Petty PSY/428 July 27, 2011 Dr. Jerry Punch Improving Organizational Performance The Airdevils is a stunt organization whose quality of performance has plummeted in past two years. The founder, Celsey, has made some assumptions that the performance decline is a reflection of the heavy recruitment throughout the year and the unfamiliarity between the team members. Celsey was confident that the team members of Airdevils would resolve matters with passage of time; however, after two years the problems surfaced, matters have become worse and the time had come to figure out the root cause of the problems. Celsey administered the Job Description Index (JDI) survey to Airdevils employees and the results reflected a very low-level of job satisfaction, especially the stunt performers (Apollo Group Inc, 2005). The organization, through an outside consulting firm progresses through four phases to address and improve employee’s job performance. In phase one the Airdevils hired Dream Teamworks (DT) to assist in identifying the reason for the low job satisfaction in the stunt performers group. After interpreting the JDI survey DT concluded the cause of low job satisfaction among stunt performers was the lack of exciting challenges in their current job profiles. The main driver for this is the rigid organizational structure that has evolved...
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...it be paid? Can there be a distinct difference regarding the pay scale for high performers, as compared to that of lower performers? Would it be a better idea if the company were to provide stock options and stock bonuses for the employees of the company? It is a good idea for a company to create an excellent and practical compensation plan for their employees. The choices that are available are numerous, like for example, a company can choose to pay their workers a fixed salary, or they could decide to pay through commission, or pay extra rewards and benefits, or they can hold competitions, where the winner could win extra bonuses, or the company could combine one or more of these methods in their compensation plan. However, the management must keep in mind the basic factor, that the design of the plan must at...
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...affects that labor relations have on organizations, as well as, discuss the affects of changes in employees organizational performance. Last, this paper will look at unions of today and answer the question, are they still relevant in the U.S.? Defining Unions and Labor Relations Unions support the best interest of the employees in an organization. Employees pay to join unions as unions can help employees get what they deserve within the organization. According to the textbook, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, Second Edition (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhert, & Wright, 2007), unions are defined as “organizations formed for the purpose of representing their members’ interests and resolving conflicts with employers” (p.459). Labor Relations is the interaction and decision making process between management and unions. According to Fundamentals of Human Resource Management (Noe, et al., 2007), “labor relations is a field that emphasizes skills managers and unions leaders can use to minimize costly conflicts and disagreements” (p.459). Unions use a collective bargaining process to resolve issues that arise between the employees and the management team. Instead of employees arguing with management, getting upset and going on strike, unions will be the voice of the employees and speak for the employees. According to the textbook, to Fundamentals of Human Resource Management (Noe, et al., 2007), “in collective bargaining, a union negotiates on behalf of...
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...GM 591: Leadership and Organizational Behavior Case Study The Forgotten Member Group Development The stage I believe the group is at is the “Storming Stage”. The reason I picked this stage is because from reading the case study it seem as if the team was in conflict with one of the members Mike. In the textbook on page 168 it tells us that the storming stage is where high emotions and tension among the group members happens. Also, this is the stage members’ different attitude starts to develop on the team and from the case study reading you could see that Mike was the trouble maker and could not or would not make any of the meetings. Understanding the stages of group development would have assisted Christine in many ways such as she would have been able to talk with Mike before the problem escalated to the team as a whole. For example in the case study it stated that Mike would send Christine his brief notes for her to discuss at group meetings. Christine should have told Mike he needs to be at the meeting because that what was expected of him as team member and that she would not read any notes. To me this would have made Mike feel he had to show up so he does not let the team down. Also, she would have been organized by knowing the stages and she would keep the team moving in the right direction. For example in the first meeting Christine would have known to let everyone know what was expected of them and stop the actions of...
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