Please read the case study below, and answer ALL of the questions which follow in Part A. You should refer to the information about the company mentioned in this case material to respond to the questions which follow. You may also refer to your course textbook, and course notes. Do not consult any other sources for this section of the exam.
Motivation Key for Success: The Case of Xerox
As of 2010, Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) is a $22 billion, multinational company founded in 1906 and operating in 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, and employs 130,000 people. How does a company of such size and magnitude effectively manage and motivate employees from diverse backgrounds and experiences? Such companies depend on the productivity and performance of their employees. The journey over the last 100 years has withstood many successes and failures. In 2000, Xerox was facing bankruptcy after years of mismanagement, piles of debt, and mounting questions about its accounting practices.
Anne Mulcahy turned Xerox around. Mulcahy joined Xerox as an employee in 1976 and moved up the corporate ladder, holding several management positions until she became CEO in 2001. In 2005, Mulcahy was named by Fortune magazine as the second most powerful woman in business. Based on a lifetime of experience with Xerox, she knew that the company had powerful employees who were not motivated when she took over. Mulcahy believed that among other key businesses changes, motivating employees at Xerox was a key way to pull the company back from the brink of failure. One of her guiding principles was a belief that in order to achieve customer satisfaction, employees must be interested and motivated in their work. Mulcahy not only successfully saw the company through this difficult time but also was able to create a stronger and more focused company.
In 2009, Mulcahy became the chairman of Xerox’s board of directors and passed the torch to Ursula Burns, who became the new CEO of Xerox. Burns became not only the first African American woman CEO to head a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) company but also the first woman to succeed another woman as the head of an S&P 100 company. Burns is also a lifetime Xerox employee who has been with the company for over 30 years. She began as a graduate intern and was hired full time after graduation. Because of her tenure with Xerox, she has close relationships with many of the employees, which provides a level of comfort and teamwork. She describes Xerox as a nice family. She maintains that Mulcahy created a strong and successful business but encouraged individuals to speak their mind, to not worry about hurting one another’s feelings, and to be more critical.
Burns explains that she learned early on in her career, from her mentors at Xerox, the importance of managing individuals in different ways and not intentionally intimidating people but rather relating to them and their individual perspectives. As CEO, she wants to encourage people to get things done, take risks, and not be afraid of those risks. She motivates her teams by letting them know what her intentions and priorities are. The correlation between a manager’s leadership style and the productivity and motivation of employees is apparent at Xerox, where employees feel a sense of importance and a part of the process necessary to maintain a successful and profitable business. In 2010, Anne Mulcahy retired from her position on the board of directors to pursue new projects.
Case Study Materials extracted from: Anonymous. (2017) Organizational Behaviour. Minnesota: University of Minnesota. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24926/8668.1501
Describe the style-counselling leadership dimensions developed from the Ohio studies. Using this way of categorising leadership styles, explain what type of leadership Ursula Burns seems to follow and justify why you would categorise her style in this way using information from the case study.
(15 marks)
Burns explained that she learnt about “the importance of managing individuals in different ways and not intentionally intimidating people but rather relating to them and their individual perspectives” from her mentors at Xerox. Explain what this kind of learning process is called and how it typically works. Apply the process to Burns’s experience.
(15 marks)
Consider whether the staff at Xerox belong to a strong group. Discuss what makes this group strong or weak by drawing on examples from the case study.
(15 marks)
PART B: LONG QUESTIONS (50 marks)
Please answer 5 of the following questions.
Nestle is working “to ensure good suppliers of high-quality coffee [by working] with non-governmental organizations to provide over 50 000 small coffee producers and cooperatives in eight Latin American countries with loans, plant stock, fertilisers and pesticides, and technical advice and training – thus supporting its supply chain, and benefiting farmers” (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2019: 64). Explain why this is an example of Corporate Social Investment and what would motivate Nestle to engage in this kind of investment.
marks)
Tara was working on a marketing report with three other colleagues. It was important to her that their report was of a good quality because she wanted to apply for a promotion in the department and continue working with them. One of her team members, Khalifa seemed disengaged from the group and was not committed to producing a good report. He believed that no one would notice his individual contributions and so he would be able to get away with doing very little. The night before the report submission deadline, Tara received Khalifa’s section of the report. His work was not edited and he had failed to include data to support his points. She stayed up all night to edit his section and add the required data. The report was commended by their boss. After investigating who worked on the different aspects of the project, the boss learnt that Khalifa did not complete his section of the report to the required standard and that Tara had to step in to ensure that it was done on time.
Explain Tara and Khalifa’s behaviours in relation to compensation and social loafing. You should also suggest ways that their boss could ensure that Khalifa does not behave in this way for future projects.
(10 marks)
A vacancy exists for a Production Manager at the Theatre where you work as a Human Resource Manager. The successful candidate is expected to be responsible for the production aspects of the Theatre.
Discuss which personality profile would best fit this role. You must base this decision on the Big Five Theory of Traits, explaining which traits the person should be high or low on and justify your choices through application to this scenario. The traits the company prefers are listed below:
Lead the SAST production team
Planning and supervising all aspects of production activity
Work closely in collaboration and partnership with the SAST’s production teams to deliver a professional standard of theatre production expected from the SA State Theatre.
Be the first and major point of contact with relevant designers, directors and technicians.
Preside over production meetings and ensure that notes are taken and distributed in a prompt fashion.
Co-operating and liaising with managers and staff, to ensure that overall business strategies of the State Theatre are realised.
Able to multi-task, work calmly under pressure and meet tight deadlines consistently;
Strong organisational and logistical skills including IT and administration.
(10 marks)
It is important for a person’s leadership style to fit their organisational context. Lee is looking for a management position. He has learnt he has a Democratic leadership style. Suggest a workplace environment where Lee should consider working. This organisation should be one where a “Democratic” leadership style would be most appropriate. Justify your choice by explaining why Goleman’s “Democratic” leadership style is suited to the organisation you have suggested for Lee.
(10 marks)
The COVID-19 Pandemic has meant that many businesses had to adapt to working online with technology, including professions, which have traditionally been thought of as requiring employees to physically be at their place of work, such as those who work in the field of medicine.
Consider how a General Practitioner Doctor in the United Kingdom would have needed to adjust to their external environment during the lockdowns in the pandemic by applying a retrospective PESTLE analysis to their practice.
(10 marks)
A comprehensive academic review found that: “Physically attractive individuals are more likely to be interviewed for jobs and hired, they are more likely to advance rapidly in their careers through frequent promotions, and they earn higher wages than unattractive individuals” (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2019, para. 3). What is the name of this perceptual bias and how can its effects be reduced?
(10 marks)
Evidence-Based Management is an important aspect of Human Resource Management. Amina, a manager of the academic support team at a leading university, has noticed that her staff are struggling to adapt to teaching online. She would like to implement an evidence-based management solution to help the staff adapt to teaching online. She is not sure whether the staff are reluctant to teach online or ther are just uncertain of how to do it. She wants to make sure that everyone is aware of how to use the teaching software and of strategies for engaging learners in online lessons.
Discuss how Amina should proceed to find an evidence-based solution to the problem she is facing regarding helping her academic support team adjust to teaching online. Justify your points using what you have learnt about evidence-based management in the introduction to organisational behaviour and by applying this to the given scenario.
(10 marks)
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