Management

FINAL EXAM MNGT 5590 online course Instructions Students should write an essay response to each question and provide references from the two course texts (The Heart of Change by John Kotter & Dan Cohen and Organizational Behavior & Management, 9th edition by John Ivancevich, Robert Konopaske & Michael Matteson). I suggest thinking about the organization and structure of your answer before writing it. Using a basic outline first to organize your thoughts is always a good idea. There is not a word count or exact page specification, but I think it will take about a page to develop a good essay. You may want to write it on your word processor (or in longhand first if that is your preferred style) and then put it in the quiz box. I suggest this because in writing an essay like this it is best to write it and then make sure you read it over for both editorial changes and other substantive changes. I find that when I read something for a second time there are always improvements that can be made. This test is worth 30% of the total grade for the course so it is a good idea to make sure you give your best thoughts. Each of the five questions will be worth one fifth of the test grade. Test Questions Q1. Five years ago your older brother, Mike, started a software company to develop business operations programs to help manufacturing companies with things like inventory control. He originally had two employees. The business is now thriving with 150 employees and two branch offices in different parts of the country. Many of the employees are software specialists, but some are in sales and there is of course a clerical support staff, including bookkeepers etc. Two weeks ago Mike had a sudden heart attack and died. Mike was the sole owner of the company. As his only living relative you have inherited the company, and are now the CEO. You have some background in technology, as you have been a newspaper reporter who has written on technology companies and the technology industry for several years. Let us assume that the terms of the will stipulate that you cannot sell the company for three years, so you will be the CEO for at least that long. Based on your readings of the two texts and other readings for the course, how should you begin to think about your role as CEO of this company? How will you view your role as manager and how do you think others, especially the four existing vice-presidents will view you and themselves. How should you think about this organization and your role in it? Note: Remember I will be looking to see how you apply the class readings to this situation, not your natural ability to figure out the future of the company. It is a question about the work of managers in organizations, not about business software. Q2. The Kotter text "The Heart of Change" discusses the eight-stage process of creating major changes in an organization. Assume you are the chief administrative officer of a medium sized private hospital. You have just received advanced word on a forthcoming report from the accrediting agency team who did an inspection visit last month. The report will be critical of the hospital and recommend probationary status prior to a return visit in six months. They cited several areas of operational deficiency. As with any hospital your institution has technical subunits (i.e. nursing staff), administrative subunits (accounting, security, etc.), and there are outside professionals who are an important part of the organization, but not direct employees (i.e. physicians). You know that in the next few weeks a whole series of decisions will need to be made relative to the report and the future of the hospital. Based on the Kotter Model for creating major change in addition to the text readings describe what you think is the most likely decision dynamics that you will encounter in the hospital in the coming weeks. How might you as the chief administrator try to organize decision processes to create the best opportunity for a good outcome six months from now? Note: Remember this question is about organizational decision processes, not the technical aspects of hospital administration. Q3. The use of power and politics often involves ethical issues. What are the criteria that may be used to determine the extent to which a manager's behavior is ethical? Are there ever legitimate exceptions to these criteria? Q4. The degree of employee satisfaction with the organization's reward system will significantly affect how successful the system is in influencing performance. Based on the research literature, what do we know about what influences whether individuals will be satisfied with the rewards they receive? Q5. A stated objective for this course is the premise that "Effective managers can use the ideas taught in this course to understand and influence individuals and groups." (Mngt 5590 Organizational Behavior Syllabus, Course Objectives, page 3). What three or four specific ideas did you learn in this course that could help you to meet this stated objective? Be specific, cite your references and to the extent possible, connect your ideas directly to your job setting. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ANSWERED ALL QUESTIONS. NUMBER YOUR RESPONSES: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, & Q5. HAVE YOU PROVIDED REFERENCES FROM THE TWO TEXTS AND THE OUTSIDE READINGS FOR THIS COURSE THAT SUPPORT YOUR DISCUSSION/RESPONSES TO EACH QUESTION??