BUS272 TB

444 Part 4 Sharing the Organizational Vision
OB at Work
Group Task
Break into groups of 5 or 6 people. Now imagine that your whole group is lost. Write down your own answers first, and
then compile your group’s answers by reaching consensus approach to reach each decision. Once the group comes to
an agreement, write the group decisions down on the same sheet of paper that you used for your individual answers.
You will have approximately 20 minutes for the group task.
Scoring Your Answers
Your instructor will provide you with the correct answers, which are based on expert judgments in these situations. Once
you have received the answers, calculate (A) your individual score; (B) your group’s score; (C) the average individual score
in the group; and (D) the best individual score in the group. Write these down and consult with your group to ensure
that these scores are accurate.
(A) Your individual score __________
(B) Your group’s score __________
(C) Average individual score in group __________
(D) Best individual score in group __________
Discussion Questions
1. How did your group (B) perform relative to yourself (A)?
2. How did your group (B) perform relative to the average individual score in the group (C)?
3. How did your group (B) perform relative to the best individual score in the group (D)?
4. Compare your results with those of other groups. Did some groups do a better job of outperforming individuals
than others?
5. What do these results tell you about the effectiveness of group decision making?
6. What can groups do to make group decision making more effective?
7. What circumstances might cause a group to perform worse than its best individual?
ETHICAL DILEMMA
Five Ethical Decisions: What Would You Do?
Assume that you are a middle manager in a company with
about 1000 employees. How would you respond to each
of the following situations? 120
1. You are negotiating a contract with a potentially
very large customer whose representative
has hinted that you could almost certainly be
assured of getting his business if you gave him
and his wife an all-expenses-paid cruise to
the Caribbean. You know the representative’s
employer would not approve of such a “payoff,”
but you have the discretion to authorize such an
expenditure. What would you do?
2. You have an autographed CD by Sam Roberts and
put it up for sale on eBay. So far, the highest bid
is $74.50. A friend has offered you $100 for the
CD, commenting that he could get $150 for it on
eBay in a year. You know this is highly unlikely.
Should you sell your friend the CD for what he
offered ($100)? Do you have an obligation to tell
your friend you have listed your CD on eBay?
3. Your company policy on reimbursement for
meals while travelling on company business is
that you will be repaid for your out-of-pocket
costs, which are not to exceed $80 a day. You
don’t need receipts for these expenses—the
company will take your word. When travelling,
you tend to eat at fast-food places and rarely
spend in excess of $20 a day. Most of your
colleagues submit reimbursement requests in the
range of $55 to $60 a day regardless of what
their actual expenses are. How much would you
request for your meal reimbursements?