• A manager at a marketing firm notices that two of the members of their advertising team (Sheila and Ben) seem to be putting in less effort when it comes to writing a report for their client than the others in the group. The manager has overheard Sheila saying things like Tom is better at developing graphs than I am, so Ill just let him create them for the report and with all these people, they dont need me to get this job done. On the other hand, Ben has also been heard stating things like no one will be able to tell whether Ive contributed anything because this is a group report and Ive written so many of these reports, Im not learning anything new.

Discuss how the manager should improve the engagement of these two team members to ensure the whole group is working to the best of their ability for the client. Justify your suggestions through the application of your suggestions to the given scenario and by referring to what you have learnt about individuals performances in groups.

• You are a member of the human resources department of a bank. The company needs to recruit a Chief Financial Officer. The bank has identified personality traits that they believe a good financial officer should demonstrate.

Discuss which personality profile would best fit this role. You must base this decision on Eysencks Typology of Traits Theory and justify your choice through application to this scenario. The traits the bank identified are listed below:

• Analytical: Examines information, tasks, and problems in detail to identify relevant information and cause-effect relationships
• Assertive: Must be able to influence managers and peers to achieve outcomes in the companys best interest.
• Organised: Ability to efficiently schedule own and/or others time and actions to accomplish goals.
• Persuasive: Utilises appropriate interpersonal styles and methods off communication to gain agreement or acceptance of an idea, plan or activity.
• Rapport building: Ability to meet people easily and be liked; to get along well with people and to put them at ease; and to actively and quickly build good relationship.
• Results orientated: Focussed on achieving the end results of a process, demonstrating personal accountability and commitment.
• Stress tolerance: Stability of performance under pressure and/or opposition.
• Tenacious: Staying with a position or plan of action until the desired objective is achieved or is no longer reasonable attainable.

• It is important for a persons leadership style to fit their organisational context. Mickey is looking for a management position. He has learnt he has a pacesetting leadership style. Suggest a workplace environment where Mickey could consider working. This organisation should be one where a pacesetting leadership style would be most appropriate. Justify your choice by applying Golemans pacesetting leadership style to the organisation you have suggested for Mickey.

• The COVID-19 Pandemic has meant that many businesses had to adapt to working online with technology, including professions, which have traditionally been thought of as requiring employees to physically be at their place of work, such as teaching.

Consider how an international college in the United Kingdom would have needed to adjust to their external environment during the pandemic by applying a retrospective PESTLE analysis to your own example.

• Margaret, an employee who you manage at a logistics firm, has been feeling very negative about her work lately and has been under-performing. When meeting with her to discuss her performance, you learn that Margaret feels frustrated and believes that the team she works with does not support her enough. She feels that she is often left to capture all of the customers data by herself. She also believes that the deadlines she is given for her tasks do not give her enough time to complete her assigned work to the best of her ability. Further, she has been struggling to use the new software system the company introduced and believes this is because she has not received sufficient training. It should be noted that the other members of her team have not complained about the training and seem to be comfortable using the new software after receiving the same training.

Consider what type of locus of control do you think Margaret has. Discuss how her locus of control may be impacting on her attitude towards work and note strategies you could implement to help Margaret change her attributions, so she feels more empowered at work, based on what you have learnt about perceptual attributions.

• Evidence-Based Management is an important aspect of Human Resource Management. Andrew, a human resources director at a make-up company, has found that less than 25% of the staff at his organisation are attending the weekly training events he has been hosting to help them adjust wo working online. He would like to implement an evidence-based management solution to encourage the staff to attend. He is not sure whether the staff are not reading weekly newsletter e-mails he sends out about important upcoming training sessions, or if they do not believe the sessions are important to them, or whether the staff do not feel there will be any consequences for their lack of attendance. He thinks that his staff are not reading his e-mails and he wants to make sure that they do, so that he can increase attendance at his training sessions.

Discuss how Andrew should proceed to find an evidence-based solution to the problem he is facing at the events for the cosmetics company where he works. Justify your points using what you have learnt about evidence-based management in the introduction to organisational behaviour and by applying this to the given scenario.

• Stereotypes can negatively impact on our interactions with others, but these can also disadvantage us and our positions. For example, organisations in most countries face an aging population, as life expectancy increases. Many employers will thus rely on people working beyond the traditional retirement age. However, older workers are stereotyped as less motivated, poor performances, expensive, with poor technology skills and a limited ability to learn. Research has shown these perceptions to be false. As an employer, how can you reduce such perceptual errors?