Management Exam Notes Case Study Notes A Fallen Star

SWOT

Strengths
Positive Outlooks and Goals for company growth in the Future Long History of Successful projects at home Endeavour has incentives to bring in new talent Seeks to atone for past mistakes through using a business analyst Large Skill base amongst employees Strong Reputation Locally

Weaknesses
Branching into areas without enough knowledge of the land or culture Wrong focus to compete with local rivals by expanding overseas resulting in loss of power at home Inexperienced staff Staff being placed into roles in which they are unsuitable (Mike) POOR HRM Risking a lot of resources and time by throwing university graduates into challenging first time projects Staff Retention issues Heavy reliance placed upon one man (Mike) Company expanding too quickly to keep control of Reward System Non-existent Putting too much Organisational power into the hands of one man who cannot handle the pressures of such powers (Mike) Lack of Employees with appropriate leadership skills Lack of Leadership and Teamwork all around Poor Organisational Structure/Job Design Inappropriate managerial strategies

Opportunities
Easy access to a vast skill supply Steady Job and Project supply due to the Reputation of Endeavour and nature of the industry Availability of outside expertise in overseas operations (Contractors)

Threats
Large amounts of competition at home and overseas Unknown international environment (regulations; political risks (expropriation)

Problem Definition Table for the Case Study

Primary Problems Poor Job Design/ Organisational Structure Inadequate planning strategies (Poor managerial tactics) Lack of Leadership and Teamwork Secondary Problems

Branching overseas without enough local knowledge Wrong Focus in competing with home rivals by moving overseas Throwing University graduates into challenging first time projects (Inexperienced Staff) Staff Retention Issues Reward System Non Existent Company Expanding too quickly Staff being put into unsuitable roles (Mike) Too much organisational power in the hands of one man (Mike) Poor HRM (Mike)

Case Study Recommendations:

Group activities and Brainstorming Sessions (For Leadership and Teamwork) Implement an effective reward system (Based on Quality of Work, not Quantity) focusing on Intrinsic Rewards OVER Extrinsic awards first. (For Job Design/Organisational Structure) Set up strategic alliances with overseas companies to gain mutual strategic advantage to avoid allow full access to foreign countries expertise whilst avoiding cultural and language barriers. This recommendation assumes that Endeavour Pty Ltd are fully aware of the risks of strategic alliances (Expropriation & Disagreements) (For Poor Managerial Strategies) Employ an exchange programme with overseas workers and within companies to promote teamwork and bring diversity to Endeavour, this is also a good strategy for establishing good relations with overseas clients and giving a chance to foreign upper management to assess business potential and opportunities (For Poor managerial strategies & Teamwork) Implement a mentoring programme to combat the issue of poor teamwork, leadership and staff retention issues, the mentoring will be predominantly focused on developing personal values rather than technical. (For Lack of Leadership and Teamwork and Job Design)

Reducing Resistance to Change: Lewins Change Theory: o Unfreezing: Raising Awareness of the need for Change E.G: Attitude Surveys, E-mails, Letters etc o Change: Implementing changes and learning needed for new behaviours E.G: Communicate and Involve employees in these changes Refreezing: Reinforcement of new changes and behaviours in addition to maintaining them. E.G: Reward Systems, Employee performance appraisal systems to influence those who adhere to the new changes

Force-Field Analysis: o A method involving analysing the two types of forces driving forces and restraining forces that influence any proposed changes, then assessing how best to overcome resistance Driving Forces: Factors Pressuring for a particular change Restraining Forces: Factors Pressuring against a change

Motivational Theories applicable to the case study:

ERG THEORY: o Defined: Theory that argues that there are three levels of individual needs; existence, relatedness and growth Existence: Needs that include various material and physiological necessities such as Food and Water, in addition to Work Needs such as Pay and Physical Woking conditions Relatedness: Needs addressing our relationships with significant others, such as families, friends, work groups and professional groups Growth: Needs that require creativity and innovation, along with the desire to have a productive impact on our surroundings

Applied: Existence: Is being fulfilled because employees are getting paid concurrently Relatedness: Is NOT being fulfilled due to the fact that there is a deep rooted lack of teamwork, there are conflict between team member and has lead to turf wars. In addition to the leader of the projects (mike) being unapproachable and hard to communicate with Growth: Is NOT being fulfilled due to the fact that there is no POSITIVE SYNERGY between TEAMS and LEADERS , Mike is also a main reason why there is no room for growth, this is resulting in employees leaving

EXPECTANCY THEORY: o Defined: A theory arguing that we consider three main issues before we exdpend the effort necessary to perform at a given level. STAGES: EFFORT -> PERFORMANCE -> VALENCE

EFFORT: Our assessment of the probability that our efforts will lead to the required performance level PERFORMANCE: Our assessment of the probability that our successful performance will lead to certain outcomes VALENCE: Our assessment of the anticipated value of the various rewards

Applied: EFFORT: Due to the fact that Mike has been described as a hard person to deal with and is never satisfied with results employees and engineers are less likely to put in the effort required to reach a satisfiable performance level, given the fact that with Mike in charge there is no satisfiable performance level PERFORMANCE: It is evident in the case study that even though some employees are putting in good performance levels they are still getting dismissed due to the fact that mike has an inability to work with others. I cant believe how weak people are. Therefore the performance outcome is extremely low and employees are less likely to attain a satisfiable level of performance because there is no favourable outcome that can result from it. VALENCE: Valence is practically non-existent in the case as there is no effective reward system in place for employees to look to take advantage of or look forward to. This has resulted in a complete lack of valence amongst staff.

Leadership and Becoming a better Leader Theories:

PATH GOAL THEORY: o Defined: Theory that attempts to explain how leader behaviour can positively influence the motivation of job satisfaction of subordinates Relevant Behaviours: Participative Leader behaviour: Leader behaviour characterised by consulting with subordinates, encouraging their suggestions and carefully considering their ideas when making decisions. Achievement Oriented Leader Behaviour: Leader behaviour involving setting challenging goals, expecting subordinates to perform at their highest level and conveying a high degree of confidence in subordinates

Applied: Aimed predominantly at Mike, these two leadership behaviours would improve Mikes quality of leading as it would show to his subordinates that he cares about the suggestions they have in addition to him being able to establish clear but challenging goals which subordinates will appreciate if he also has a high degree of confidence that they will be able to achieve those goals. In the case study, obviously Mike isnt an appropriate or experienced enough leader, so instead of replacing him which would lose critical knowledge and skills, a Leadership theory like Path Goal theory can be applied to point him in the correct direction of how he should treat employees and achieve maximum results at the same time.

Tannunbaum & Schmidts Continuum of leader behaviours: o Defined:

ATTRIBUTION THEORY:
o Defined: Theory attempting to explain how individuals make assumptions or attributions about the causes of anothers or their own behaviour.

Applied: Self Serving Bias is the tendency to perceive oneself as responsible for success and others for failure, Mike has shown to be susceptible to this bias, this has lead him to dismiss fellow employees unnecessarily in addition to him making rash decisions which has cost the company in excess of 150$ million dollars for that project. It would also seem that Mike has fallen victim to the fundamental attribution error in the sense that he has underestimated the value and importance of the Chinese contractors as business partners; once again this can be seen as one of primary causes to the $150 million overrunning costs. HALO EFFECT: o Defined: Tendency to use a general impression based on one or a few characteristics of an individual to judge other characteristics of that same individual.

Applied: Mike is a person who can be seen to be seen as applying the halo effect negatively to himself and his peers as he addressing and identifying employees as being weak when in reality they arent,

this perception is caused by Mike have a lack experience in dealing with other employees in the same field who he feels arent as intelligent as he is, this is resulting in a negative halo effect. This is resulting in many dismissals and is a contributing factor to the $150 million dollar cost overrun and fellow employees lack of motivation.

Additional Notes:
Reward System Suggestions: o Focus on INTRINSIC over EXTRINSIC rewards Intrinsic: Sense of Achievement Challenge and Growth Extrinsic: Bonus, Promotions Awards

BASIC FLOW OF IDEAS TO SOLVE ENTIRE CASE STUDY Motivational: o Expectancy, ERG Leadership: o Path Goal Reward System: o Intrinsic and Extrinsic rewards, Focusing on Intrinsic

CONCLUSION: Applying and implementing these three things will Solve mainly the issues of Staff Retention and Leadership and Teamwork. It will also change the perception that all the employees have of Mike as a leader.