PART A

Case Study 2: Mira

Mira just graduated. She was thrilled and can’t wait to start on a job. She has big dreams
and plans to buy a property before the age of 30. Owning her own property means she is
independent and self-reliant. She was also aiming for a salary of RM 3,000 a month and as
such worked really hard in University to obtain high CGPA while being active in athletics
and toastmasters where she represented her university at regional level. Regardless she
found it hard to find a job with that salary as the current pandemic has crippled the
economy sector and baseline for salaries has reduced by 20 percent or more. To make
matters worse, many Malaysian’s were losing their jobs as companies were downsizing to
reduce cost, making it very difficult to negotiate for higher salaries. Some companies even
had to close down as they couldn’t sustain operations. Looking at the situation, Mira
decided to take up any suitable job even if the salary was lower than what she expected.
She finally got a job as a Management Trainee with a starting salary of RM 2,200. As her
parents live in a different state, she has to find an accommodation in KL and she also has
plans of joining a fitness club as she is an active person. Mira is still fired up to achieve her
dreams but feels doubtful at times if she can really make it.

Assignment Questions

1. A) What are the key information that is important for Mira’s dream house purchase
consideration?

Thinking Factor Information

Hat

Blue Mira has a

The Big Picture and dream of
End Desired Outcome purchasing a
property
before the
age of 30.

White Facts and Data Salaries have

reduced by
20%
Some
 companies
even had to
close down
because they
could not
sustain
operations
Current
pandemic

Green Opportunities Got a job offer

as a
management
trainee

Black Risk Factors Starting salary

of RM2200
She has to find
her own
accommodat
ion in KL
Plans to join a
fitness club
Hard to find a
job

Yellow Positive Aspects Despite the

pandemic
she is able to
get a job
with a salary
of RM2,200

Red Emotions In the

beginning
she was
excited and
hopeful that
she would
be able to
find a job
 that pays
well, over
RM3000, so
she could
afford her
dream house
by the age of
30. Now,
because of
the
pandemic,
she feels
demotivated
as she could
only get a
job with a
salary of
RM2200
which she
feels is not
up to par
with her
CGPA

(5 marks)

B) Which of the following decision would you advise Mira to undertake based on a budget
and 6 factors consideration? Provide justification/rationale for the decision advised

i) Decision 1: Mira lives a drastically prudent minimalist lifestyle where she cooks
her own meal, stays at home mostly and visit friends in their house or at mediocre
restaurants, wears basic fashion clothing and avoids unnecessary purchases so she
can maximize her savings every month
ii) Decision 2: Mira learns a valuable skill like programming, web designing or
digital marketing and works part time in addition to her management trainee job
whereby she works on average 18 hours a day. She uses the main salary for her
expenses and part time salary for savings to buy her house. (my answer)
iii) Decision 3: Mira drops her decision to buy her house in 30’s instead delay the
purchase to the age 40 or beyond and embraces the fact that her lower salary and
 exorbitant house prices is the reason she can’t purchase a house as per her initial
plan

We would advise her to pick decision 2 which is to learn a valuable skill like
programming, web designing or digital marketing and to also work part time in
addition to her management trainee job where she works on average 18 hours a day.
Her salary from being a management trainee would be used for her expenses and the
salary from her part time job would be saved up to buy her house. We think that this
would be the most appropriate because she has nothing to lose by learning these extra
skills as it may be useful for her future job applications once the pandemic is over. By
picking decision 2 her chances of buying her dream house by the age of 30 is higher.
With the skills learnt she will be a more reliable employee and she will be better
prepared to work in a larger workfield in order to gain a higher salary in the future,
which again helps Mira to be able to achieve her goals.
(5 marks)

Some key considerations and thoughts in choosing the decision and providing justification for
Question 2:

● Mira wants to manage her expenses well. She wants to maximize her savings to achieve
her goal of buying a house before she turns 30. Mira has to look for a room to rent in
Kuala Lumpur as her family are in Sabah. She has to pay her education loan RM 350
monthly. Help Mira draft her budget.
● What would you advise her to eliminate and too add
● Take some time to compare, and reflect upon your own personal situation with Mira’s.
What will you do?

2. As a team, reflect on the following:

A) Identify the hats that your group used the most and the least. Explain why.
(5 marks)
White hat- Mira considered the fact that she wanted her dream house by the age of
30 and she has a job to maximise her savings to reach her goal.
Red hat- she is going to feel very stressed because it's hard to find a job with the
current pandemic and she is also frustrated because she feels she should have a
better job with a better pay with her high CGPA. less pay, but still the same
amount of expenses
 Draft budget: left with 1850, and she needs to save up, 1000 each month, left 850,
daily expenses, reduce take out and try to cook more at home, should consider
home workout which usually costs a fortune
Yellow hat- even with the pandemic she is still optimistic and can get a job
Least (green)- we’re focusing on evaluating her problems and not ways to fix them
(not her therapist)

B) In the future, how would you improve your group decision making process by
adopting all the 6 Thinking Hats in a more balanced approach? Explain your
answer. (5 marks)

- Try our best to include all the 6 hats because we would get a better picture of what's
happening and how to react to it
- Able to evaluate feelings but dont be too dramatic be rational
- Benefits (yellow)
- Blue and green, focus more, if we want to come up with the bigger picture and end
result, a creative solution,

PART B
1. Reflect on your team’s leadership approach in completing Part A. Based on your
understanding of Leadership Styles, identify the leadership style(s) applied and describe how
it was used to achieve your team’s goal with clear examples. You may tag the leadership
styles to one or more members in your team. TGC 6.2, TGC 6.5 (group recognize and
appreciate leadership styles employed by team members in working towards a shared
goal)

Our team definitely showed a diverse form of leadership, which is why we were able to
get the assignment done quickly with no misunderstandings. For example, Lavanya from
the very start gave out coaching leadership by asking us to try out different ideas and give
out clear instructions in order to start the group work. Joo En on the other hand, was the
pace setter of the group as she made sure we did not get off track with the discussion and
made sure our answers were of good quality. Xi Xi was constantly giving great feedback
and allowed the discussion to flow smoothly thus, creative ideas were generated. Ker Jiun
was constantly thinking ahead and in a way the green hat of the group because when we
faced a challenging question, especially for case study because she has a better
understanding of the hats compared to the rest of us , she was able to think outside the
box. Jin Long and Ezzeldeen corporated and indirectly, allowed us to have some team
building

(10 marks)

2. Map out the key activity or activities that team took to go through the first 3 stages of
team development according to Bruce Tuckman. Explain the outcome of each key activity.
TGC 6.3 (group identify strategies to build and maintain cooperative relationships by
actively participating within a group)

Forming Storming Norming

i) we check up on i) we have i) it is really

each others’ work conflicting ideas effective to do a
progress and get especially on zoom call as we
to know each Question 2 part a) can get
other, and chatted because we all everyone’s idea
on WhatsApp have different and the discussion
ways of thinking is more personal
and we were all rather than if we
given a chance to were to text out
ii) took account of voice out our our answers.
other member’s ideas and then
schedules come up with the
best idea
ii) we got to know
each other better
and we are able to
ii) we were able to ask each other for
find a similar time their thoughts and
slot for our zoom opinions
meeting to discuss
our answers easily
and working as a
team

(10 marks)