MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam Faculty / Dept: Department of Management and Marketing Subject Code: MGMT90140 Subject Name: Management Competencies Instructions to Students: This examination contributes 60% to the final subject mark. This examination paper includes 2 sections: Section 1: Section 2: Contains an essay question. You are required to answer one question. This section accounts for 20 marks and has a 750 (+/-10%) word count limit. Contains a case description with ten items (emails or voicemails) for your attention. You are required respond to each of these items. This section accounts for 60 marks and has a total word count limit of 2100 words. This document contains the take home exam questions. A separate document (MGMT90140 2016 Semester One Exam Template.doc) has been provided for your responses. Please answer all two sections in the response sheet, save it and submit it via Turnitin before the due date and time. Theory Section: In addition to the two sections in this paper you are also required to log on to the LMS and complete twenty multiple choice questions on the theory covered this semester. Note: the theory cover material from the text book, seminars and the additional readings. Once you start the multiple choice questions (online quiz) you will have one hour to complete them. Please ensure you have a reliable internet connection before starting the quiz. You are required to answer all twenty questions. This section accounts for 20 marks. Students please note, on the cover of the assignment response sheet you will be asked to declare that your response does not involve any plagiarism or collusion. That includes not discussing the questions or your responses with anyone. You are reminded that you are operating under exam conditions. You are also asked to agree not to share the contents of this assessment with anyone. Plagiarism Plagiarism is the act of representing as one's own original work the creative works of another, without appropriate acknowledgment of the author or source. Collusion Collusion is the presentation by a student of an assignment as his or her own which is in fact the result in whole or in part of unauthorised collaboration with another person or persons. Collusion involves the cooperation of two or more students in plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct. For examples of plagiarism, collusion and academic misconduct in group work please see the University's policy on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism: http://academichonesty.unimelb.edu.au Plagiarism and collusion constitute cheating. Disciplinary action will be taken against students who engage in plagiarism and collusion as outlined in University policy. Proven involvement in plagiarism or collusion may be recorded on my academic file in accordance with Statute 13.1.18. Page 1 of 9 MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam Section 1: Reflective Section (20%) In this section of your exam you need to write a reflective piece which focuses on your skills in the two competency areas that you identified would benefit from development. You need to describe what activities you have undertaken and how you assessed your skill in this area at the end of semester. You also need to reflect on what impact the activities have had on your skills, what you have learnt and how this will inform your practice going forward. This will constitute 20% of the mark for this exam. The word count limit for this section is 750 words (+/-10%). Please write your reflective piece in the space provided in the Exam Response Sheet. Page 2 of 9 MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam Section 2: Case Incident (60%) Instructions: Please read the scenario below and review all ten items awaiting your attention. You need to respond using the template provided in the Exam Response Sheet. Your total word count in this section needs to be 2100 or fewer words. Background information: EasyBooking Solutions designs and develops easy-to-use online booking and shopping systems for businesses. It also upgrades customers' existing systems and provides system maintenance. EasyBooking Solutions has customers in the following industries in Australia: airlines, health/hospital, consumer products, and hospitality and tourism. The company has also begun to work with important international clients. EasyBooking Solutions is based in Australia and has grown rapidly since its inception just over a decade ago. Its revenue, net income, and earnings per share have all been above the industry average for the past several years. However, competition in this technologically sophisticated field has grown very rapidly. Recently, it has become more difficult to compete for major contracts. Moreover, although EasyBooking Solutions' revenue and net income continue to grow, the rate of growth declined during the last fiscal year. EasyBooking Solutions has 150 employees who are divided into several operating divisions with employees at four levels: non-management, technical/professional, managerial, and executive. Non-management employees take care of the clerical and facilities support functions. The technical/professional staff perform the core technical work for the firm. Most managerial employees are group managers who supervise a team of technical/professional employees working on a project for a particular customer. Staff who work in specialized areas such as finance, accounting, human resources, and law are also considered managerial employees. The executive level includes the 8 highest-ranking employees at EasyBooking Solutions. There is an organization chart in Figure A that illustrates EasyBooking Solutions' structure. In this exercise, you will play the role of Ashley Taylor, Vice President of Operations for Hospitality and Tourism Services. You learned last Wednesday, June 8, that your predecessor, Belinda Smith, has resigned and gone to Internet Ideas Inc. You were offered her former job, and you accepted it. Previously, you were the Group Manager for a team of 12 software developers assigned to work on the Health Services database project in the Health and Hospital Services Division. You spent all of Thursday and Friday and most of the weekend finishing up parts of the project, briefing your successor, and preparing for an interim report you will deliver in London on June 17. It is now 7 a.m. Monday, and you are in your new office. You have arrived at work early so you can spend the next two hours reviewing material in your in-basket (including some memos and messages to Belinda Smith), as well as your voice mail and e-mail. Your daily planning book indicates that you have no appointments today or tomorrow but will have to catch a plane for London early Wednesday morning. You have a full schedule for the remainder of the week and all of next week. Page 3 of 9 MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam Figure A: Partial Organisational chart for EasyBooking Solutions CEO Kiley Harris Executive Assistant Lara Williams V.P. Operations V.P. Operations V.P. Operations Airline Services Health and Hospital Services Hospitality and Tourism Services Luke Roberts Consumer Products Services Varsha Lal Belinda Smith Chris Kogan V.P. Operations C.F.O V.P. V.P. Hayley Anderson Public Relations Human Resources Steve Berardi Lydia Lynn Group #1 Manager Group #2 Manager Group #3 Manager Group #4 Manager Group #5 Manager Group #6 Manager Group #7 Manager Group #8 Manager Ayesha Zaborsky Billy Yang Charlotte Xavier Daria Wood Eleanor Van Fabian Underhill Gary Teel Harriet Surray Technical staff Technical staff Technical staff Technical staff Technical staff Technical staff Technical staff Technical staff Customer Service Manager Iain Rogers Office assistant Janita Quinn Customer support team Page 4 of 9 MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam Item #1: Email To: Ashley Taylor From: Lara Williams, Executive Assistant to CEO Date: Friday 10th June Hello Ashley, I know that in your former position as group manager in the Health and Hospital Services Division you probably met some of the group managers in the Hospitality and Tourism Services Division, but I thought you might like some more personal information about the crew you have inherited, so I've typed up a report and dropped it on your desk. These people will be your direct reports on the management team. They are a tricky bunch to manage as I am sure you will soon find out. Anyway let me know if you need anything else and good luck!!!! Item #2: Folder on your desk marked \"For Ashley's eyes only\" with a typed page inside which has the following information: Group #1: Ayesha Zaborsky, 33-year old American female, married (Harry), one young son from her first marriage. She seems to be a rising star in the company and a "woman of action" but there are rumours (in the coffee room) that she is looking around for a new job that might not be within EasyBooking Solutions. Group #2: Billy Yang, 43-year old single, Chinese male with two school aged children who he has custody of. He has some experience in France and India. I hear from coffee-station gossips that he is a tough manager and has quick temper. He is always the first person in the office in the mornings and often the last to leave. Group #3: Charlotte Xavier, 58 year old, white female. She's been with the company for a long time and has a depth of experience in your division but I personally think she lacks motivation and talk around the company is that she is looking to retire. She is very secretive about her personal life and between you and me, I suspect that she has a problem with alcohol, in fact sometimes she looks positively hung-over when she comes in to work. Group #4: Daria Wood, 38-year old female from Canada, married (Australian-born Indian Aditya) with a baby daughter. While it has not affected her job or work attitude in the past, she loves gambling and often goes to the casino after work for a quick game. A few of her clients have complained that she sometimes takes a long time to respond to their emails and her team appears to lack direction. Group #5: Eleanor Van, 35-year old Vietnamese female, married to a doctor (Tom). She has recently come back from maternity leave. She speaks three languages (Vietnamese, Cantonese and Korean) and, before her daughter was born, travelled extensively on projects. She has been a strong manager who gets the most out of her team but my guess is that it will be hard for her to balance work and home life now that she has a child. Especially given that Tom also has a busy job. Her team members secretly told me that she is regularly going home earlier than normal since she got back from maternity leave. Page 5 of 9 MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam Group #6: Fabian Underhill, 45 year old, white male, single. I often see him flirting with the young female programmers at work. He is an outgoing person who is always the centre of attention at the office functions. He spent a lot of time in Brazil and Central America before joining EasyBooking Solutions. He is an average manager who seems to have trouble keeping his staff on schedule. Group #7: Gary Teel, 38 years old, white male, married (Laura) but no children. Gary and Laura go to Church every Sunday. He has high moral standards and often scolds colleagues who do not follow company procedures. He is a strict manager who never smiles and I personally think that his team members are scared of him. Group #8: This position is vacant since Harriet left. Customer Services: Iain Rogers, a 38-year old divorced male, who was originally from New York. He's been in the role for 10 years and used to do a good job but seems to have lost interest lately. There is talk about the office that he is suffering from depression but no one dares to ask him. I've heard from Gary (Iain and Gary are good friends) that Iain has a girlfriend in Texas and he really wants to move back to the States. Office Administrator: Janita Quinn, 41-year old, white female, single. She is not very good at following procedures at work and I think she probably only got this job because she is the cousin of one of our directors. This has often caused trouble for teams and that has led to some friction with the managers. In fact the other day I saw her and Gary having a big argument at the water cooler. They were yelling at each other at the top of their voices and after Gary stormed off, rumours are that Janita started crying. Item #3: Voicemail From: Steve Berardi (VP Public Relations) to all executive team members Date: Friday 10th June URGENT Attention all executive team members, a critical matter has just come to my attention regarding the Hospitality and Tourism Service Group. It appears that one unnamed employee from our company has given away confidential information to the media and has implied instances of workplace bullying. We all need to meet ASAP to discuss how to address this issue. Please attend a planning meeting at 9am Tuesday 14th June. Item #4: Email To: Ashley Taylor From: Ayesha Zaborsky Date: Saturday 11th June Hi Ashley It's Ayesha here from Group 1. I wish to make a time with you to discuss my performance and the possibility of a promotion. I have not only been outstanding in my management of my Group but I have also been stepping up to manage Group 4. I've had a lot of informal Page 6 of 9 MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam complaints from Group 4 members about their manager Daria, so I have been spending extra time working with the team to help meet their deadlines. I believe my ability to manage two groups is significant and valuable to the company. Cheers Ayesha Item #5: Email To: Belinda Smith From: Billy Yang Date: Wednesday 8th June Hi Belinda It's Billy again from Group 2, the problem with my group is still going on and I am at the point where I can't work with them. Group 2 technicians are not only lazy, but they won't go the extra mile and are generally unresponsive to my demands. I'm doing all the work. It's ridiculous and I should be compensated for all my overtime. I've put a request into building services as well for a new office away from my team as the sight of them just makes me angry. I feel my team are unreasonable and I want to know my options for reprimanding or removing some members from my team. Billy Item #6: Email To: Ashley Taylor From: Mike Robinson, Group 3 Technical Staff member Date: Saturday 11th June PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL I hesitate to write this email but I feel that someone has to bring up this issue. Our Group 3 team is experiencing a lot of issues and we seem to be falling apart and so I really felt it is the only option. The main issue is that our Manager Charlotte Xavier is often absent from the office and I and the other members of our team find that we are unable to get any guidance from her in relation to the important Hamilton Hotel booking and database project that we are working on. When Charlotte is in the office, we often see her surfing the internet and in meetings, we often find her not paying attention to the discussion. As you can imagine this impacts everyone's participation in meetings and is now beginning to impact our work on the project. I feel that it does not matter to Charlotte whether we complete the project on time or whether we achieve the objectives of the project. I am very concerned as the Hamilton Hotel booking and database project is nearing the deadline and I fear that we won't get everything done in time. Motivation and commitment to the project in the team is at an all-time low. I feel let down by the organisation and I am on the verge of resigning. I am writing to you as the last attempt to set things right. Page 7 of 9 MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam Item #7: Email To: Ashley Taylor From: Daria Wood Date: Sunday 12th June Dear Ashley, Welcome aboard and I am really looking forward to working with you. I wanted to let you know of a great business opportunity that I have just learnt about. In an industry conference that I attended two weeks ago, I was approached by a courier company to see if we would be interested in partnering with them on a project to develop an online shopping and delivery system for a large corporation based in mainland China. I am very excited about the possibilities that this project could offer for us to expand our business. I know that Kiley has stressed the need for us to develop new business opportunities/initiatives given the competitive pressures that we as an organisation face. In our last strategic planning meeting, we agreed that we should pursue market development through geographical expansion and new product development. However, there is not much time to put the proposal together. As a start, we have to put together a preliminary proposal to present at a joint meeting with the courier company in two days which would then form the basis for a combined proposal to be submitted in a week's time. Belinda, your predecessor was very interested, but she left soon after I had discussed this opportunity with her and so no work has been done so far. I was hoping to set up a meeting with you to discuss this further. If we win this contract, this could be very lucrative for us. Item #8: Email To: Ashley Taylor From: Gary Teel Date: Friday 10th June Dear Ashley, Welcome to the new position in Hospitality and Tourism Services. I'm sorry to bring this disturbing issue to your attention but I believe it is important you deal with this matter urgently before your travel overseas next week. Today, I had Lucy, one of our young programmers in my department stop by my office, to complain about receiving unnecessary advances from Fabian. She was so distressed I had to reassure her that our firm has strict policies to protect employee safety and rights and any breach of our high ethical standards are dealt with seriously. If only Fabian would focus on his work as much as he does on the girls in the office, we might actually see some work results from his team of technicians for change. Instead, with his flamboyant boastful stories of his past exploits in Brazil and Central America he often loiters around the ladies in the office, harassing several of our female staff members. This is not the first time I have heard about Fabian's distasteful remarks offending the girls who report to me. I'm afraid if you do not talk to him as a matter of urgency, it won't be long before we are slapped with a sexual harassment suit by one of our less tolerant female Page 8 of 9 MGMT90140 Management Competencies Semester One 2016 Exam employees. I hope you have a word with Fabian quickly before we are all dragged through the mud due to his wayward ways. If I were you, I would fire him before he causes any further damage to the clean image of our firm. Item #9: Voicemail To: Ashley Taylor From: Janita Quinn Date: Friday 10th June Hi Ashley, this is Janita. I really need to speak to you urgently as I feel that I just can't continue like this. Belinda had asked me to develop a reporting, scheduling and filing system in order to improve our current systems and to provide effective support to the Managers in their project management roles. While I think these systems are much better than what were in place in the past, I am finding it very difficult and frustrating as none of the Managers other than Gary and Daria are using the system and so now we have a mix of old and new systems being used which is confusing to say the least. I feel that all the effort that I put into developing the new systems is going to waste. I have had a few arguments with some of the Managers on this, but they don't see this as an important issue and this is not the first time something like this has happened. I am getting very frustrated by the attitudes of the Managers and I want you to do something about it. I will drop by your office sometime tomorrow. Bye. Item #10: Voicemail To: Belinda Smith From: Iain Rogers Date: Wednesday 8th June Hi Belinda, I just found out that our request for a training budget to effectively run the new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has yet to be approved by the financial services. In the meantime, my customer support team are inundated with complaints from our clients. Unless we train them to use the CRM properly, it's not fair to blame them for the recent escalation in client complaints. The technical team installed the new system without providing any training support whatsoever. As a result, inevitable errors made on the unfamiliar CRM package has caused a series of customer issues as my team were coping with a steep learning curve almost entirely by trial and error! I have had half my customer support team receive abusive calls from irate clients while the other half are threatening to quit! I have spent this entire week trying to keep some of my most dedicated customer service personnel from leaving for the competitors! Please do something ASAP before we begin to lose some of our best people. I am tired of being blamed for a problem we did not cause! --- end of paper --- Page 9 of 9