VIBE( 3.1)- By Merrill White, QUT International College
QUESTIONS
1. Explain why Sam’s decision not to consider job sharing or part-time staff for the manager’s position could be viewed by Sarah and Julie as either unintentional or intentional discrimination.
2. What can Sam do to get Sarah and Julie motivated and engaged in the long term?
3. How could job design and job enlargement be used to improve both staff motivation and the operational effectiveness of Vibe?
4. What factors wold you consider in Sam’s situation if you were developing a succession plan for Vibe?
CASE APPLICATION: “IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE’ ( 3.2)
QUESTIONS
1. ‘You can’t train people to be team players’. Give arguments in support of and against this statement.
2. How might the team-building exercises such as the ones briefly described contribute to making a team more effective?
3. Is there a risk that exercises like this can be seen as just “fun” exercises that are enjoyable but have no other value? If so, how do you think that this can be overcome?
4. Using your creativity and knowledge of the characteristics of an effective team, suggest team-building exercises that would help a team achieve at least one of the characteristics of an effective team.
5. Describe the characteristic you chose, and then describe the exercise you would use to help a team develop or enhance a particular effective team characteristic.
CASE APPLICATION: JIMMY POSSUM FURNITURE ( 4.2)
QUESTIONS
1. According to the case scenario, has good decision making contributed to the success of Jimmy Possum furniture?
2. The decision to branch out from manufacturing into retailing was a major one. What decision-making process do you think could have been used to help in making this decision?
3. What are the most important criteria to the Spaldings as they make decisions about the company?
4. Explain how would you characterise the conditions surrounding Jimmy Possum Furniture as conditions of certainty, risk or uncertainty?.
5. What have the Spalding’s learnt from the experiences of other organisations in order to become better decision makers?
6. Looking at the “Decision-making styles”, how would you describe the decision taken by Margot Spalding?
