Applied Management Midterm

Chapter 1: Self Awareness

What specific techniques were used to bring about the destruction of self awareness among the prisoners? According to the Communist Prison Camp text, “in such prisons the total regimen, consisting of physical privation, prolonged interrogation, total isolation from former relationships and sources of information, detailed regimentation of all daily activities, and deliberate humiliation and degradation, was geared to producing a confession of alleged crimes, the assumption of a penitent role, and the adoption of a Communist frame of reference”.

Social alienation was a key technique the Communists used to “reform” the prisoners of war. Prisoners were held in a cell with other prisoners whose “thought reform” was more developed. The group's goal was to have the less reformed prisoner’s progress to accept the truth about his crimes. To avoid further abuse and mistreatment, prisoners would accept and admit to their “crimes”. Prisoners that adopted their Communist crimes became isolated from their true identity, and made it easier to become a victim of guilt and humiliation. Self-awareness was dangerous to have in these camps since the purpose was to destroy one's identity of themself. Any sign of the “five core aspects of self-awareness (core self evaluation, values, cognitive style, attitude towards change, and emotional intelligence)”, described on page 49 of Developing Management Skills, would have lead to more mental and physical torment.

Chapter 2: Stress

Indicate the main type of stressor(s) Mary experienced on each day she recorded a journal entry. Provide support for your answer.

Chapter 2 of Developing Management Skills, explains stressors and the causes of them. According to page 94, the four key sources of stress are time stressors, encounter stressors, situational stressors, and anticipatory stressors.time stressors can be caused by work overload or lack of control. Role conflicts, issue conflicts, and action conflicts are usually the root cause of encounter stressors. Situational conflicts are composed of unfavorable working conditions and rapid changes, where anticipatory stressors are caused by unpleasant expectations and fear. During the days Mary writes in her journal, she experiences each of the 4 types of stressors.

Tuesday, March 10th, Mary writes, “well, it happened again, I can’t believe my stupid roommate is so stubborn. How many times are we going to argue over her stupid cat using my plants as the litter box? I get so depressed when I argue with her!”. Due to the recurring argument with her roommate, Mary experienced an encounter stressor. A strategy to manage encounter stressors would be to work on her emotional intelligence so that she can work on a solution with her roommate without fighting.

Wednesday, March 11th, Mary writes, “ I received a speeding ticket on my way to school. I have to remember to go a different way to school!”. Mary is experiencing a time stressor, which explains why she was speeding on her way to school. This entry can also be an example of a situational stressor since she mentions that she needs to take another route to school. Mary can manage this stressor by creating effective and efficient time management.

Thursday, March 12th, Mary writers, “I have have a test in Principles of Management next Monday… the first one this semester. I’ve heard her tests are real hard. Gee, I hate multiple-choice tests… I never do well.”. Due to unpleasant expectations and fear from things she has overheard and past experience, Mary is experiencing anticipatory stress. In order to reduce her anticipatory stress, Mary should take a couple deep breaths and set some goals for that class and focus on small wins. Spiraling and doubting herself before the test will add to the stress and wastes energy that she can use to study.

Friday, March 13th, Mary writes, “I can’t believe it’s Friday, the 13th! My boss called this morning and asked me to work tonight. I said yes. After I hung up the phone, I remembered I had a group meeting tonight to discuss a marketing case that has to be presented next Wednesday. I wasn’t able to contact anyone from my group. Gee, I never seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done!”. Mary is experiencing time and situational stressors since she overbooked herself, realized she had prior commitments, and panicked when she wasn’t able to get a hold of her group members. To prevent this problem from happening again, Mary needs to manage her time more efficiently and effectively, and redesign her work/schedule.

Chapter 3: Motivation

Explain the most appropriate theory or model of motivation that can be used to explain or understand the motivation problem in this pharmaceutical firm. In addition, describe the management style that appears to apply to Harry Mitchell.

The most appropriate model of motivation that can explain the problem at the firm would be the performance diagnosis from page 296 of Developing Management Skills. “The performance diagnosis model offers a systematic way for managers and subordinates to pinpoint collaboratively the causes of dissatisfaction and performance problems… this diagnostic process helps managers focus their attention on improving the selection, job design, performance evaluation, and rewards-allocation systems”. This model helps determine if an employees poor performance is rooted in seven problems: perception, resources, training, aptitude, expectations, incentives, and salience. A perception problem comes from a manager and employee having different opinions on how the employees is performing at work. Recognizing a perception problem can help clarify goals and expectations the employee should be meeting, and then going from there. A resource problem can stem from an a lack of resources that the employee would need to perform their job as expected. A lack of resources can include cooperation from other employees, support, and physical materials. Training problems are caused when an employee doesn’t have enough knowledge to correctly execute their job. Training problems can happen when organizations is experiencing a work overload so employees do not have the time to properly train their employees. Aptitude problems happen when a position is not meshing well with an employees skill set. Managers can look into three of the five principle tools: refitting(changing the job requirements to fit the employee's skills), reassigning( moving the employee to a new position), or release (letting the employee go). Expectation problems can come from a lack of communication regarding what the organization is expecting and the goals that have been set for the position. Incentive problems can stem from a lack of equity between employees. Salience problems can be caused when an employee doesn’t feel as if a reward doesn't have importance to them.

Using the performance diagnosis model can help get to the bottom of the motivation problem, Harry Mitchell, the vice president of operations, needs to focus on the the employees rather than the bottom line. On page 283, the book has a table that shows “what workers want, ranked by subgroups”. The table lists interesting work, full appreciation of work done, feeling of being in on things, job security, good wages, promotion and growth in organization, good working conditions, personal loyalty to employees, tactful discipline, and sympathetic help with personal problems as the top ten “wants” for employees.

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