Assignme nment nt 3 OB 550 - Assig
Curtin Business School
5698 Organisational Behaviour 550 Assignment 2 - Individual Analysis: Assessing and Developing Yourself as a Manager
Contents Description
Page No.
Introduction
01
Part 1 : Self-Assessment Self-Assess ment using Self-Assessment Self-Assess ment Exercise
01
Individual Process Group: Emotional Intelligence (EI)
01
Team Process Group: Leadership Skills
02
Part 2 : Overview of relevant literature
03
How Religion contribute to Emotional Intelligence Development
03
Leadership in Islam
05
How Emotional Intelligence Intelli gence contribute to Project Management(PM)
06
Part 3 : Applications and limitations
06
References
08
Appendices
09
Appendix-01: Copies of the Assessments Assessments
5698 Organisational Behaviour 550
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OB 550 - Assignment 3
PART 1 : Group Case Study Review 2.
What were the key choice points where either of them could have done things differently? Provide clear recommendations about how things could have been done differently.
Jamie Turner is a middle age executive and decided to join Modern Lighting Industries Inc. (MLI) for better job prospect. Jamie Turner appointed as Vice President of Marketing and Sales and future President as promised by Pat Cardullo. Pat Cardullo is an interim President at Modern Lighting Industries Inc. (MLI) and also as President at Triple S Company. Triple S Company bought over Modern Lighting Industries Inc. (MLI) after it founder died and struggling with financial problem. However, after six months joining Modern Lighting Industries Inc. (MLI), the young manager‟s future at the company is in serious jeopardy. Turner had big issues with Pat Cardullo the President of the company, Turner and Cardullo seems not having common understanding in all issues related to the company. This essay will identify the key points on how both of them could have done things differently in order to work together in the company. One of the actions Jamie Turner has done wrongly is he Jamie Turner approved large sales of excess-inventory halogen bulbs at below the break-even point without getting any concern from the president or any other management level. This obviously was an abused of power. Turner on the first place should present the proposal of any sales strategy or plan to the management level or committee level. The decision of large sales should be made by the management as a whole rather than by one person in the company. On another situation Jamie Turner worried about the impending cash flow problem at MLI brought by Swenson. Jamie Turner highlighted the issue to Julie Chin and Cardullo but none of them could see the problem. Jamie Turner on the first place should not interfere with other department operation and again should focus on the marketing and sales operation. This is clear example that Jamie Turner try to run the company as if he is the president. This will obviously tarnish the relationship between Jamie Turner and the president. Jamie Turner should also respect any decision made by the president or come out with another solutions rather than kept complaining on the decision made by the president, Jamie Turner should have focused on the marketing and sales strategy and operation and respect the decision.
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However on the other hand, Pat Cardullo do has an issue in term of management skills and communication skills. Pat Cardullo has an attitude problem where he tends to get angry in addressing any issues. For example, Pat Cardullo angry with Tim Kelly when Tim Kelly didn‟t provide an immediate answer to Pat Cardullo‟s probing question. Pat Cardullo should control his emotion and respect all the staff under his control. Good relationship between staff and management is one of the key successes of the company. On the other situation, Pat Cardullo seems not listening to the idea and proposal from the staff and tend to come out with his own decision impacted the performance of the company, for example in the case of set pricing matters. Pat Cardullo rejected the proposal made by Jamie Turner and decided to continue with the plan to increase the margin which end up with negative result and impacted the company sales. Pat Cardullo should listen to the idea from the staff under his control in this case Jamie Turner. As a VP of Marketing and Sales and with some experience and well educated executive, Jamie Turner should know what the best for the company in term of marketing and sales strategy. As a good president, Pat Cardullo should trust the decision made by Jamie Turner in the case of larger sales and new pricing scheme issues. As a conclusion, both Jamie Turner and Pat Cardullo should initiate basic understanding on what to expect from each other. Both have important roles and responsibilities in the company that need to be executed. Better communication need to be established between Jamie Turner and Pat Cardullo and all communication issues need to be addressed immediately in order to avoid more major breakdown. Pat Cardullo should voice all the issue related to the Jamie Turner‟s decision rather than keeping quiet and decided to blow at the later stage. Jamie Turner‟s effort to try to clear all the issue should be appreciated.
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OB 550 - Assignment 3
3.
How, if at all, should Turner approach Cardullo at the end of the case? Provide clear recommendations and explain your rationale on the suggested approach.
It is best for Turner to make an attempt to win Pat Cardullo favour again as how he was in the earlier stage. When an employee made a request to meet over a meeting for a specific company agenda, it is the duty of the superior to oblige and accept the meeting invitation. Hence Turner may start by inviting Cardullo to the formal meeting between the two of them and be prepared with all the details & figures that he would expect Cardullo to be interested in and bring up. Turner must be prepared to be bombarded with Cardullo‟s probing questions, in other word, Turner must know what to expect. Turner may try to get Cardullo interest by first stating firmly about „management by objectives and the importance of good communication‟ between the two of them. Turner may further add that „control and marketing are the most important functions‟ in the organisation and plead to Cardullo to listen. Once Cardullo is settled in, Turner may explain the objectives of their meeting that is to acknowledge each other responsibility and expectations. It would be good for Turner to apologise on : 1) the leak information on inventory levels in Kansas, and Turner should have investigated the issue and solved it 2) his approval on sale of excess inventory halogen bulbs-Turner may admit that he should seek Cardullo‟s view and approval before embarking on the approach as they had agreed that Cardullo should retain pricing control over large orders. Sales portfolio – too much too soon Chicago sales force – respect turner, not so much with cardullo Overwhelming task – 1st mistake – turner approved sale of excess inventory halogen bulbs. 2nd – not solving the leak info issue within his people 3rd As a staff reporting to the President, Jamie Turner may first apologise to Pat Cardullo for the troubles and issues in the company. This is to gain some attention from Pat Cardullo and to avoid an aggressive respond from Pat Cardullo during the meeting. Jamie Turner should then 5698 Organisational Behaviour 550
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OB 550 - Assignment 3
begin with an explanation on the objective of the meeting. This is to ensure Pat Cardullo know what to expect from the meeting and know what to respond to Jamie Turner. Jamie Turner should use simple approach to Pat Cardullo. He can do this by using simple, colorful, metaphors, illustrations, and examples to strengthen his case/action plan for better communication among all senior and middle managers. This will persuade Cardullo that Turner‟s ideas can aid in meeting company objectives. Short term
Cardullo and Turner should meet so Cardullo could convey his expectations to Turner in line with Turner‟s job description. It would define their respective roles and responsibilities in the company. Turner should express his concerns about any perceived leadership deficiencies. Turner may express a willingness to work with Cardullo regarding his leadership style in an effort to meet Cardullo‟s management objectives. Turner and Cardullo should consider meeting together each week to ensure that goals and expectations are being achieved. In the short term, these meetings can avert potential problems that may arise with regard to responsibility and expectation. Turner should recognize his limits within his job and delegate responsibility as needed. With an understanding of his job description, Turner should delegate responsibility as needed to improve efficiency in the office. Turner should speak with Cardullo regarding outbursts in front employees. Turner should suggest the importance of the “Praise in public, censure in private” model
Long term Cardullo should stay in Chicago full time as how his boss had suggested. With Cardullo staying in Chicago full time, he then can scheduled regular meetings more often with senior managers to resolve problems with regards to long term goals of company. Long term goals affect the long term profitability of a business. Turner should take a management survey to establish the company informal networks by mapping employee relationships between departments (see article p. 106 “Informal Networks: The Company) Team building exercises to establish trust between departments. 5698 Organisational Behaviour 550
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OB 550 - Assignment 3
Risks and Responses Cardullo‟s non-compliance: Persuade Cardullo that suggested changes to the work plan would help achieve company goals and improve morale. Lack of “buy -in” by subordinate employees: Communicate goals clearly, get buy-in early from subordinates, and listen to their feedback. Collective support is crucial to the success of any organization “The Necessary Art of Persuasion – Conger". Turner should make a very persuasive argument for the changes needed to meet Cardullo‟s objectives. Turner should use vivid illustrations and examples in their simplest terms, backed up by factual data from business models that are a proven formula for success. As a conclusion, Jamie Turner approach cannot be materialised if Pat Cardullo didn‟t accept the idea and didn‟t try to make any changes on his attitude like what he did to Jamie Turner previously. Jamie Turner always optimistic towards changes in the organisation but Pat Cardullo on the other hand seems not willing to make an effort to change. Conflict between Jamie Turner and Pat Cardullo cannot be resolved without intervention by the higer management. Alan Oliver decision to come and check the situation at the MLI is a good effort made by Alan Oliver to resolve the issue. Alan Oliver seems to be best person to resolve the issue between Jamie Turner and Pat Cardullo. It is now depend on Alan Oliver to come out with good decision for the betterment of the company.
PART 2 : Individual Reflection on group and team processes
Teams and groups have become the order for today‟s organizations (Steward 2006). This is because evidences show that working in teams and groups produce better outputs than an individual possibly can (Daft 2005). But, it would be wrong to assume that all teams produce better results. There are so many dynamics that are essential in understanding to work in groups (DeChurch and Mesmer-Magnus 2010). Individual members bring in their own perspectives that have been shaped by their culture, education, personality and so on (Castca
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et al. 2001). It is the effective integration and application of these varying perspectives that teams can capitalize on to produce better outputs. Team Broken Promise had diverse members. Personally, my experience of working in this group had been enriching and successful. Everyone was well understanding and conscious of the presence of other members. The following reflection accounts for the success of our group. 1. Did your team perform well? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes, our group did perform very well as team in the end. We must admit that team would not be able perform well without commitment and continues communication between team members. On the first stage after a team being formed, team members did had some issues on direction and action needed to perform the task, however after the first two meetings, when we decided to table out all the pla n strategies and roles and responsibilities, we seems the team begin to perform well and manage to finish all the task and successfully presented the result during class presentation. The use of technology seems to be the main contributor to the successful and better communication between team members.
2. What role did you play in helping the team reach its goal (a successful class presentation, productive class discussions, learning from each other etc.)?
To be honest, I didn‟t play important roles as a te am member and didn‟t contribute any ideas to the research on the topic. Most of the ideas contributed from the most experience team member, since our research mostly related to the real life office working issue which I didn‟t have any experience working real life offi ce working at the moment. Most of the time I can say I‟m a learner rather than contr ibutor. However, my roles basically more on the technical aspect for the research such as develop slide presentation, making an arrangement for room meeting booking in the library. Since every team member ass igned with specific topic to be presented during the pres entation, I made my own initiative to practise the before the presentation, this is to ensure presentation is successfully.
3. What were the strengths and weaknesses of your team’s output (i.e. the presentation, what worked particularly well, what we could have done differently, class based discussions and activities?)
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Our team aim to provide interesting presentation by providing some important key issues that none has heard before. This like make participant wanting to listen more and more and providing question during Question and Answer session. Our team objectives were fulfilled by the response our team received during Question and Answer ses sion. Many of the participant agreed that the topic we presented can be considered as an important topic in the real working environment. However we strongly believe that we can do more in term of individual presentation. Most of us including myself tend to read the presentation slide rather than summaries the key point in the presentation slide. Lack of presentati on and communication skills in English can be determined as a main aspect of the weakness in the group. Majority of team member come from different country with inadequate English exposure. This can be improved by practising English language in daily life, even tho this will take some time to see the result, however overall our team managed to performed well presentation and were able to end the presentation on time. All in all, the presentation was informative, interesting and interactive and well managed on time. This was achieved through the constant effort of all members.
4. What have you learnt about yourself during this unit that will be useful in future group work (either in a study or work setting)?
Obviously as a leaner in the team, I learnt a lot of things related to organisational study, management and some personal characters skills. Time management and team work skills can be considered the most useful thing I have lear nt during the group project work. Definitely this can be useful during my working life in the future. As a team, selection of good team leader is the key aspect together with team commitment and effort in order to execute any task given. Clear direction and support from each team mem ber is the assurance of team that always on track. Participation and contribution of ideas, information or technical aspect from each team member will ensure the successfulness of the team.
5. Anything else you have learned about working in diverse teams?
Since my team member mostly from international countries such as India, Oman , Australia and Malaysia, definitely I can learn many thing from them in term of the culture, personal interest and some language slang from each team member. In which will added some value to my communication skills in the future.
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In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm that working in this team was s o much joy and source of learning. It enriched my personal experience to work in teams in future. For a team to succeed, it is essential to understand group members and to set group norms. Successful teams build on knowledge and creativity of members. Thus, there is need to respect opinions. Communication plays an important role in determining respect and trust for members in a team. The factors underpinning the success of Team Broken Promises were proper planning, commitment of the members and trust amongst the members.
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