PowerPoint Presentation
Case Study
Al ruskin
Presented By (Group 2) Toulick kebba Vijay ChanthySynopsisAl
Ruskin, a Harvard Business School graduate who passed out 3 years
earlier, drops in one Sunday afternoon to see one of his
professors. He works for Amalgamated Industries for the last 3
years, albeit in various positions and departments.He is currently
working in the Market Research Division for the company.
He is here to discuss with his professor about his job and the
situations and issues that he is facing at his workplace with his
supervisors and the top management .
The divisional hierarchyBefore we go further, we need to look at
the divisional hierarchy of the department where Al Ruskin
works.The Market Research Division is broken down into four
different sections. Each section has around 6 people who report to
one section chief who in turn report to a couple of assistant
managers in the division.The assistant managers report to a manager
in the division who in turn report to the Vice President.
Vice PresidentDivision ManagerAssistant ManagersSection
ChiefSection ChiefSectionSectionSectionSectionThe Problem .Al is
not satisfied with what is happening around him .He is NOT HAPPY
with the fact that the supervisors behave more like analysts than
as managers.He is NOT HAPPY with the fact that the supervisors dont
include the analysts while taking important decisions on the work
done by the analysts.He is NOT HAPPY with the fact that higher
management doesnt trust the work done by the analysts and in turn
tries to redo the work already done, hence wasting valuable time.
This further dissatisfies the analysts in that they are not being
able to gain the confidence of the higher management.He is NOT
HAPPY with the fact that important decisions regarding him were
taken without even consulting him or taking him into confidence.He
is NOT HAPPY with the fact that there is too much unnecessary work
pressure at the workplace. He is NOT HAPPY with the fact that he
thinks that all the supervisors are busy in competing with each
other instead of taking care of the immediate team they are
responsible for.
Objectives .Q1. Attempt a casual analysis of Al Ruskins behavior
by making use of an appropriate framework from behavioral
sciences.
Q2. Suggest remedial measures and provide rationale for the
same.
Analysis of Al Ruskins behaviour .Behaviour is the outer
manifestation of the inner psychic processOrganizational behaviour
is the study of how people behave while in groups and as
individuals. Much of what a manager does has to do with trying to
get people to work as effectively as possible. It can involve
trying to motivate an individual worker or it can involve trying to
understand how to get workers who are part of a team to interact
with one another in such a way that they are able to work more
efficiently and effectively.Therefore, having an understanding of
Als behaviour is vital to this study.We will take up various
concepts to try to understand the reasons behind Als behaviour
.
Personality traits .Low job satisfaction Al definitely suffers
from low job satisfaction. One of the reasons is that the senior
management doesnt trust the work of the employees. They will sit
down and double cross the work submitted to them. Lack of trust has
a negative impact on the employees. The other reason given is that
there is always a situation of crisis for every job that comes in
even when its not needed.
Arrogance He has passed out of Harvard Business School. So he
has an air of superiority around him. He mixes with only the people
who has passed out of the same school. Also he has the belief that
because he is from Harvard, he can do a better job than anyone
else. Also he believes that the way he deals with situations is
better than anyone elses.
Personality traits continued .Cognitive Dissonance Al has
certain preconceived ideas based on which his behaviour is
determined in the workplace. So when he is faced with contradictory
ideas and thoughts, he feels uncomfortable and thinks of quitting
his job.
Negative Emotionality - Though Al enjoyed working as the field
analyst, since he joined the headquarters, he does not share a good
rapport with his boss. This has led to a negative emotional impact
towards the organization.
Though the above traits suggest the critical side of Als
personality, he does have positive personality traits as well. He
helps the local team in the district office when he was posted
there showing traits of a good team player as well.
Remedial measures .Being more Responsible He blames all of his
problems on others. He needs to start owing up and take
responsibility for his actions. He should concentrate on his
drawbacks and try to improve himself rather than finding faults
with others.
Change in Perception Al has a stereotypical perception that
nothing good is going to happen in the organization. This
perceptual disruption needs to be changed. He needs to take it upon
himself to make his and his teams perception change for the
positive towards the benefit of the organization.
Greater team spirit He needs to motivate his team to work
towards a common organizational goal. He needs to develop
interpersonal skills within his team and help his current team the
way he did for the team on the field.
Remedial measures continued .We also need to consider what needs
to be done by the organization to improve the situation.Setting
high expectations The managers currently does not trust the work
done by the employees. They re-evaluate the work submitted by the
people. This creates low morale among the people. The managers
should instead create an environment of high expectations from the
employees. This will motivate them to do better in their work.
Collective Paradigm In this ever changing environment,
organizations need to go through a paradigm shift to sustain. To
bring in this shift, the biggest challenge is to convert individual
paradigm to collective paradigm. So
Remedial measures continued .the managers need to concentrate on
this. They need to understand the behaviour of the employees and do
the necessary changes for not only the individual success but the
overall organization success as well. They need to align the
individual thought process with that of the organization. Only then
will the organization succeed.
Thank You
