Week 5 Assignment
Organization theory and behavior
OB IN ACTION CASE STUDY: Companies Are Trying to Improve Employee
Attitudes during the Recession
1. Which of Schwartz’s ten values are driving the behavior of managers at Bain &
Co., Home Depot, and Best Buy? Provide examples to support your conclusions.
a. Bain & Co. chose to see the economic downturn as an opportunity to hire
talented personnel, a strategy which will benefit the company in the long
term. This action would help keep employee morale high and give
employees a sense of power. Home Depot chose to focus on
achievement by lowering the profit targets necessary to receive bonuses.
Best Buy gave the employees a sense of empowerment by asking for
their suggestions for cost-cutting measures and making them part of the
solution.
2. How would you describe Steve Ellis’s affective, cognitive, and behavioral
components of his attitude toward managing in a recession? Be specific.
a. The behavioral component refers to how one intends or expects to act
toward someone or something. Steve Ellis’ actions were based on
previously successful acts during the dot-com bust. The cognitive
component reflects the beliefs or ideas one has about an object or
situation. The belief that similar conditions would result in similar
outcomes would result from a cognitive process. The affective component
contains the feelings or emotions one has about a given object or
situation. The enthusiasm and emotional engagement in the statement,
“This is a huge opportunity to grab very talented people,” reflects an
affective process.
3. How are Home Depot and Best Buy trying to increase employee involvement?
a. Home Depot is trying to increase employee involvement through lowering
the sales and profit targets that hourly employees have to meet to receive
bonuses. As a result, the highest percentage ever of in-store employees
received bonuses in the first half of 2009. Best Buy’s approach to
increasing employee involvement includes explicit requests for
employees’ thoughts. It enlists employee involvement by soliciting
suggestions as to how Best Buy can best trim costs. 4. Use Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (Figure 6-3) to analyze how managers
can increase employee performance during a recession. Be sure to explain what
managers can do to affect each aspect of the theory.
The three determinants of intention include attitude toward the behavior
(the degree to which a person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation
or appraisal of the behavior), subjective norm (the perceived social
pressure to perform or not to perform the behavior), and perceived
behavior control (the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the
behavior). Employee performance can be influence through the
information managers provide on a daily basis, organizational culture
values, role models, and rewards that are targeted to reinforce certain
beliefs. More specifically, they can express the belief that employees are
key to success. These factors would likely influence employees’ attitudes
toward performance behavior and their subjective norms regarding
performance behavior. Providing nonmonetary rewards may also serve to
influence perceived behavioral control.
5. Based on what you learned in this chapter, what advice would you give to
managers trying increase employees’ organizational commitment and job
satisfaction in a recession? Be specific.
a. This is a personal opinion question, but students will likely approve of
improved selection, training, and feedback methods currently in use.
However, providing higher-than-average starting wages will also likely be
a key piece of advice coming from students. pressure to perform or not to perform the behavior), and perceived
behavior control (the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the
behavior). Employee performance can be influence through the
information managers provide on a daily basis, organizational culture
values, role models, and rewards that are targeted to reinforce certain
beliefs. More specifically, they can express the belief that employees are
key to success. These factors would likely influence employees’ attitudes
toward performance behavior and their subjective norms regarding
performance behavior. Providing nonmonetary rewards may also serve to
influence perceived behavioral control.
6. Based on what you learned in this chapter, what advice would you give to
managers trying increase employees’ organizational commitment and job
satisfaction in a recession? Be specific.
a. This is a personal opinion question, but students will likely approve of
improved selection, training, and feedback methods currently in use.
However, providing higher-than-average starting wages will also likely be
a key piece of advice coming from students.

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