Background

Cool Design and Marketing (CDM) is a local marketing agency that has grown over the pasttwentyyears,andduring thatperiod,CDMhasexpanded intheareasofwebdesignanddigitalmarketing. As part of its rapid expansion, CDM hired several new designers as well asmarketing executives.LeadingthelatterisMrLow,aseniormanagerinthemarketing divisionwho joined CDM in its early days and worked diligently over the years, often clocking longhoursintheofficetilllateatnight.Heexpectsallhisstaff toworkequally hard.MrLowwantstoknowexactly whatall hisstaffaredoingand heconstantlywalksaroundtheofficecubicles to check on them and also to check every detail of all the projects that he supervises. The newmarketing executives and designers who recently joined CDM quickly realised that it is theculturefor everyoneinthemarketingdivision toworklatetogether with Mr Low.

WorkFromHome

Thingschangedabruptly whentheCOVID-19 pandemicstruck.CDM,likemostothercompanies,hadtochangethewayitworks.Almost alltheemployeesarenowrequiredtoworkfrom home (WFH) for an indefinite period of time. Mr Low has to quickly adapt to the newway of working from home and supervising his staff remotely. He constantly wonderswhat his staff are doing and if they are working as diligently as they should. Hence, he trackstheir online presence through the collaboration platform used by CDM. He immediatelyconcludes that staff is not working whenever he sees that the staff's online status is inactive,and he would then sends a message or call the staff to check on him. He is even more anxiousabout the new executives and designers and worries that they are slacking at home. He thusdecided to set up a routine daily meeting for all his staff to report the status of their work andtoaccountforwhattheyplantoaccomplisheachday.Duringsuchdailymeetings,allstaffarerequired to turn on their cameras to register their attendance and to show that they are indeedathome.Inaddition,tomakesurethatstaffarefullypresentatworktilltheendofoffice hours,Mr Low initiates random virtual meetings with his staff even late in the day. He also trackshow promptly staff respond to his messages and regularly emails them to ascertain that theyare actively at work. At the end of each work day, all the staff supervised by Mr Low have toreporttohimtheir progressaswellaswhattheyhaveaccomplishedeachday.Needless tosay,Mr Low manages each project very closely even though everyone is workingremotely.

John,oneofthenewdesigners,isgreatlydistressedbyMrLow'sclosemonitoringofhisdaily work and the need to stand by for his calls and messages that can be lodged at any time. Eventhough his job contract states that his working hours are from 8:30 am to 6 pm, he realises thatall the members of his project group are working well past 9 pm daily, and they seem to expecthimtodothesame.WiththeWFHarrangements,thereisnodefinitetimetostopwork.While his official lunch break is at 12:30 pm, John does not feel at ease to take his lunch break awayfromhiscomputerforfearofmissingMrLow'sfrequent messages.Heis particularlyanxiousaboutensuring hisonlinestatusappearsactiveatalltimes. Heseesthathisgroup.

Members are always active online, and he does not want to appear to be doing other things athomeduring officehours.

Pam joined CMD recently as a marketing executive. She was happy to join CMD as the jobdescription looks promising and gives her autonomy and leadership opportunities. However,sheisdismayed byMrLow'smanagementstyle andhisclosesurveillanceofherwork.Shefeels suffocated by the need to report her project progress daily and, most of all, theloss of productive time, which she has to endure as the meetings are long and rigorous. Shecould not understand Mr Low's obsession with tracking the staff's online presence and why he could nottrust his staff. It causes her so much stress that she unconsciously moves hermouse all the time in case her online status turns to "inactive". She is concerned that Mr Lowwillperceivethatherwork attitudeis poorifheronlinestatus is notactiveallthetime.

Barely two months into the new WFH arrangement, CDM staff are experiencing variousproblems such as insomnia and loss of appetite while many have become irritable as they findit difficult to focus on work. Work tension increased among staff as they feared being heldresponsible for negativeoutcomes of teamprojects. This affects teamcollaboration andundermines the trust and camaraderie that was established before the pandemic. As for thenew staff who just joined CDM before the pandemic, they are disheartened as this is not theworkenvironmentthattheyexpected.Someofthemaredesignersandthoughtthattheywouldbe given the freedom to design in their own time and own ways. They did not expect to bewatchedso closelythat theyfind it stiflingto produceanycreative designs.

ImportantNotes:

• Answer the following questions using concepts covered in this course. You shouldsupport yourviewsbydrawingonevidencefromthecase.Youcanalsomakereasonableassumptions whereyou think thecaselacks detail.
• Youareencouragedtosupport youranswerswithrelevantstudies.
• Your answers should follow an essay format with an introduction, a body, and aconclusion.

Question1

1. Explainthe formalorganisationand informalorganisation,andgiveexamplesoftheway(s)theyarerepresented inthis case.

2. Describetheconceptofthepsychologicalcontract anditssignificanceinorganisationalbehaviour. Discuss how the psychological contract can explain how CDM staff feelabouttheir work environment.

3. Presentthebenefit andissuesofworkingfromhome,focusingonareasofinterestinorganisationalbehaviour.Itisnotnecessarytolimityour answertothecase.