MGMT 600-Motivation and Culture
Unit: Motivation and CulturePowerPoint Presentation: 8â10 slides (250 words per slide of speaker notes)Assignment ObjectivesReflect upon organizational situations from a variety of participant perspectives, and use the concepts of organizational behavior to analyze the situation.The vice presidents (VPs) are reading the information about theories of motivation that you sent them. You know, because they have been asking questions, most of which revolve around expatriates. These questions from the VPs tell you that they are now ready to address cultural differences and how they relate to preparing staff for cross-cultural work environments. You are at work on Monday morning when the phone rings.”Hello?” you say.”Hello, this is Della Lane calling for Jared Smith. Please hold while I connect you.””Good morning,” he says. “I’m glad I caught you in the office.””Hi, Jared,” you say. “How are things going with staff motivation?””Good,” he says. “That’s actually why I’m calling. I’m getting the VPs and managers together next week to talk about expatriates. Can you join us?”Sure,” you say. “I can have that PowerPoint presentation about culture and diversity ready by then. Want me to present it?””That would be great,” he says. “Just do it the same way you did last timeâ8 to 10 PowerPoint slides including title and reference slides, with a minimum of 250 words of speaker notes per slide.””Okay,” you say. “The presentation will explain cultural differences, intercultural differences, and culture and diversity. I’ll include a slide about steps that managers at CMA should take to prepare expatriates for assignments overseas, too.””Good,” he says. “I can use that as a springboard for further discussion.””Very good,” you say. “Are you meeting at the usual time and place?””Yes,” he says. “Plan to get here about 20 minutes beforehand so we can go over everything.””It’s on my calendar,” you say. “I’ll see you then.”Refer to the following scenario as you progress through the PBL process.Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Scenario: Cameron Mechanical & Automation, Inc. (CMA)Cameron Mechanical & Automation, Inc. (CMA) is a fictional company that has been in business and operating inthe Silicon Valley since 1998. The company began as a successful Internet-based company (dot-com) andexperienced great success with the introduction of high technology. The company also experienced decline withother dot-coms in 2001. As a result, CMA restructured and focused on its primary products; that is, computercomponents. The early changes in the company were done quickly to downsize. Although many other companiesfailed during this time, CMA managed to move forward.CMA rebounded and continued to manufacture and sell its components to computer manufacturers worldwide.The company structure was divided into product divisions, with each division focused on specific components. Forthe company, this structure was meant to streamline sales and delivery worldwide.In 2008, the economy had an effect on company profits, but the chief executive officer (CEO), Jared Smith, was in aposition to focus on several internal strategic areas, including structure, work design, motivation, conflict, andcompany culture as a whole. To stay profitable, the company had to eliminate several management positions in aneffort to flatten the organizational chart. Many of the responsibilities fell to the employees, and many peopleresisted the change.As the economy recovers, CMA continues to rebuild. Since 2012, the company has been divided into a functionalstructure that includes four departments: Research and development (R&D), marketing, production, and finance.Each department is headed by a vice president who has responsibility over each of the functional areas. Thecompany currently sells components to computer manufacturers. As technology continues to advance, the CMAR&D department and its vice president, Kevin Adams, are feeling pressure to keep up with the competition.However, because of the differentiation and separation between the departments, the CEO is concerned thatcommunication is hampered.In the last employee satisfaction survey, the CEO became aware of growing feelings of mistrust between employeesand managers. Hiring practices are also under scrutiny and criticism, because allegations of nepotism have beenleveled at the company. For these reasons and others, employee turnover and absenteeism is on the rise in all fourdivisions. Staffing problems have made it difficult to meet customer expectations as the demand for companyproducts grows.Because of the current structure and culture, the vice presidents who run each division of the company haveautonomy and are able to use different leadership styles. For example, the vice president of marketing, Jim Stevens,uses a more democratic leadership style, while the vice president of production, Melissa Simons, is adamant thather autocratic or transactional style is the only way to get results. Each leadership style has advantages, but the lackof consistency between divisions may be causing problems for the company as a whole. Further, the CEO isconcerned that the workforce may not be as diverse as it should be, but he is not sure how to address the issue.The CEO has hired you as an external organizational development consultant to help him identify problem areasand to understand where changes should be made within the company. Over the next few weeks, you will also beworking with the CEO and managers in all four divisions of the company to help establish these changes. Yourvarious responsibilities will also include talking with employees at each level of the company to get a betterunderstanding about underlying problems.So far, you are seeing inconsistencies in leadership practices in each of the departments, and you are concernedthat while the company is trying to improve its communication protocol, the different leadership styles may becreating confusion. For example, when you talked to one of the production employees, Sonja Diaz, she explainedthat she had many ideas for helping to streamline the production process, but feels she cannot share them becauseof the transactional leadership. In the marketing department, one sales rep, Jerry McVie, felt that he was not being challenged with his current goals and is even considering leaving the company to join one of the competitors. Lackof communication between the divisional leaders might also be the cause of conflict between the departmentsbecause they operate in silos. This separation between divisions may also be having a negative effect on middlemanagement staffing issues.
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