Running head: OB CASE STUDY #1 1

Manuel Rivera OB Case Study #1

MGT361 - Organizational Behavior Siena Heights University

5/28/2013

OB CASE STUDY #1 2

Question #1: Schwartz’s Value Theory

Schwartz’s Value Theory is his belief that values are motivational in that they “represent

broad goals that apply across contexts and time,” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, pg. 152). Reading

the case study and then comparing the Definitions of Values and Motives in Schwartz’s Theory

on page 153 of the textbook, I have determined that the managers of Bain & Company, Home

Depot, and Best Buy are exhibiting the Benevolence value the most. Benevolence is described as

the preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent

personal contact (helpful, honest, forgiving, loyal, and responsible) (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013,

pg. 153).

The managers from Bain & Company knew that in the times of a recession/lay-off, you

could secure the most talented people. Doing this, keeps some employees working and keeps the

company productive and profitable. To add on this, Home Depot’s assistant managers were

given extended stock grants and store employees were given lowered sales and profit targets so

they can still be qualified for yearly bonuses. This assisted in the highest percentage of

employees receiving bonuses in the first half of the year. To further my determination, Best Buy

opened up communications between employees and upper-level management (executives).

Surveys were available online for employees to recommend ways to reduce cost versus reducing

workforce (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, Pg. 177).

Question #2: Steve Ellis

Steve Ellis’ is nothing if not an opportunist. As written in the text, when other companies

were downsizing during the recession, Steve was hiring; not only hiring, but hiring competitively

the talent that was downsized. He knew that he could take advantage of the recession by

scooping up talent at a minimal cost. The recession didn’t seem to negatively affect Steve, quite

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the opposite. He was thriving on it. This lends heavily to the affective and cognitive components

of his attitude. In this instance, Steve’s behavior about the situation seemed controlled and

calculating. He knew that with the retention, talented workforce would be downsized and thus he

could get them for a lower salary. This action of scooping up the talented workforce for a

minimal salary lends itself to Steve’s behavioral component of his attitude.

Question #3: Employee Involvement

Employee involvement is critical to the success of any good business, especially during

downsizing. According to the text, as the housing market crumbled, Home Depot cut jobs in its

corporate offices as well as closed 15 locations. In order to boost morale, the Chairman wanted

to set realistic company goals. Additionally, they extended restricted stock grants to assistant

managers and lowered sales and profit targets that hourly employees have to meet to receive

bonuses. These actions could lead to higher employee involvement.

In the aspect of employee involvement, Best Buy went about it in a more direct way.

When Best Buy stock dropped more than 40% in a month, the company decided to solicit cost

saving ideas direct from the employees themselves (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, pg. 177). Using

online surveys, Best Buy received over 900 cost saving measure to assist in the overall

profitability of the company. John Pershing, executive vice president for human capital said,

“When you know you can make a difference and you’re part of a solution, it can change your

mind completely,” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, pg. 177).

Question #4: Ajzen’s Theory

Ajzen’s Theory is divided into three parts, Attitude toward the behavior, Subjective

Norm, and Perceived behavior control. In order for managers to increase employee performance

during a recession, managers need to address all three aspects of the theory. Let’s begin with

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Attitude toward the behavior. The text describes this as the degree to which a person has a

favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the behavior in question. Employees are naturally going

to be on edge when a recession and downsizing occurs. Job security is a very important aspect to

job satisfaction. A way that managers can increase employee performance in this part is to keep

open and transparent communications with their employees. Employees understand and feel

more secure when communications are not vague or kept from them. The sense of organizational

involvement or commitment goes a long way with employees during downsizing. Secondly,

Subjective Norm is referred to as the perceived social pressure to perform or not to perform the

behavior; in essence, peer pressure. I think managers could get their key employees involved in

communications to other employees. When there is a “buy-in” from more veteran or trusted

employees to the goals of the company, other employees are more willing to fall in line and

accept the changes. This lends itself directly to the second part of Ajzen’s theory. The final part,

Perceived behavioral control refers to the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior

and it is assumed to reflect past experience as well as anticipated impediments and obstacles.

Managers will need to address the fact that the wanted behavior may not be easily implemented

because of the employee’s past experiences in similar situations.

Question #5: Advice to managers during a recession

Some advice I would give to managers during a recession would be to stop, think, and

reflect on possibilities before implementing changes. More often than not, many businesses will

have the knee-jerk reaction and start downsizing as the major way to cut costs. As Steve Ellis

show us, that move may not be the best. To survive, and better yet thrive during the time of a

recession, employee engagement is key. Make sure your employees feel part of the decisions;

Best Buy did this with their online surveys. Try and keep as much morale going as possible,

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whether this is done with financial incentives or not like Home Depot did with lowering sales

goals. Finally, above all else, I would say that open and transparent communication is essential,

as Edward E. Lawler III, director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of

Southern California said.