Assignment for MBA701

MBA 701 - ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIORASSIGNMENT BRIEF

You may choose to answer either Assignment A or Assignment B.

Assignment A

You have just been hired as a top level manager of a large company that employs 2000 employees of a culturally diverse background. Most of the employees work at the company headquarters but 500 of them work at two branches away from headquarters. Although there is some use of teamwork, most tasks in this company are performed individually. The organizational chart displays 5 layers of management. The overwhelming majority of managers are men. Your limited presence with the company has not given you the opportunity to fully familiarize yourself with the company’s culture.You have been hired to replace the previous manager who was laid off due to the poor financial performance of the company during the last few years. During this time, company sales and profits have fallen and employee turnover has risen. Although your medium to long term goal is to improve the company’s financial performance, you understand that you must make decisions regarding what actions need to be taken now to introduce the necessary changes that will help to turn things around. Your immediate agenda is to determine the possible causes of the declining sales and profits and increasing levels of employee turnover.To this end, you are to prepare a comprehensive essay/report (synthesizing organisational theories and using micro and macro models) to thoroughly discuss the factors that influence individual, group and organisational performance critically examining the potential causes of the company’s worsening performance. You are then required to recommend and explain specific measures that can be taken to improve individual, group and organizational performance, critically analyzing their potential effectiveness. Your proposed measures must take into consideration all aspects of organizational behavior. This necessitates that all potential causes of inadequate performance are considered.In answering this assignment, you should make appropriate references to recent empirical evidence identifying any conflicting evidence that may exist in the literature. You are also encouraged to effectively challenge existing theory and its practical applicability to real life situations. Your essay should demonstrate confident, detailed and informed knowledge of organizational behavior as well as comprehensive understanding of the complexity of the

determinants and consequences of behavior in organizations. Your work should be analytical in style and critical in interpretation displaying evidence of original thought and not merely reproducing theories without individual reflection, analysis and evaluation.

(Please refer to the additional guidance note below.) 

Assignment B

Synthesizing organisational theories and using micro and macro models, you are to prepare a comprehensive essay/report to critically examine the factors that you believe influence individual, group and organisational performance at your workplace. You are then required to recommend, explain and justify specific measures that can be taken to improve individual, group and organizational performance, critically analyzing their potential effectiveness. Your proposed measures must take into consideration all aspects of organizational behavior as well as the characteristics of your workplace including organizational structure and culture.In answering this assignment, you should make appropriate references to recent empirical evidence identifying any conflicting evidence that may exist in the literature. You are also encouraged to effectively challenge existing theory and its practical applicability to real life situations and in particular to your workplace. Your essay should demonstrate confident, detailed and informed knowledge of organizational behavior as well as comprehensive understanding of the complexity of the determinants and consequences of behavior in organizations. Your work should be analytical in style and critical in interpretation displaying evidence of original thought and not merely reproducing theories without individual reflection, analysis and evaluation.

(Please refer to the additional guidance note below.) 

Guidance Note:In answering your chosen assignment, you should consider all the factors that could influence individual, group and organizational performance. You should consider all material, theories, models and research findings covered in each topic. When considering individual behavior, you must refer to values, attitudes, perception, attribution, learning and motivation in determining the potential causes of individual behavior and how to change it. Bearing these factors in mind, in considering group behavior, you must reflect on the dynamics of groups and teamwork, including how they are

assessed and rewarded. When organizations experience problems such decreasing profits and rising labor turnover, in addition to the above factors, one must also consider other issues such as decision making procedures, communication, leadership styles, organizational politics and power struggles, and organizational structure and culture.As you proceed through the learning material and activities for each topic, reflect on how they relate to this assignment and take notes appropriately. When you begin answering the assignment, try to organize your report in a structured way.