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MGT430 Assignment 1 Case Studies

The document describes a situation where a marketing manager, Rochelle Beauport, is unexpectedly offered a lateral transfer to a marketing research role instead of a promotion. Beauport believes this is due to discrimination as the only woman of color in her department. She must decide whether to confront her boss or leave the company. The document also describes a restaurant general manager, Diana Gillen, who is waiting to hear if she will be promoted to district manager after being passed over previously due to perceived politics. She worries her strict management style may also be holding her back from promotion.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
55 views4 pages

MGT430 Assignment 1 Case Studies

The document describes a situation where a marketing manager, Rochelle Beauport, is unexpectedly offered a lateral transfer to a marketing research role instead of a promotion. Beauport believes this is due to discrimination as the only woman of color in her department. She must decide whether to confront her boss or leave the company. The document also describes a restaurant general manager, Diana Gillen, who is waiting to hear if she will be promoted to district manager after being passed over previously due to perceived politics. She worries her strict management style may also be holding her back from promotion.

Uploaded by

2021614372
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MGT430—INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 1

CASE STUDY 1

Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations


Syd Gilman read the latest sales figures with a great deal of satisfaction. The vice
president of marketing at Hy Dairies, Inc., a large midwestern milk products manufacturer, was
pleased to see that the marketing campaign to improve sagging sales of Hy’s gourmet ice
cream brand was working. Sales volume and market share of the product had increased
significantly over the past two quarters compared with the previous year. The improved sales of
Hy’s gourmet ice cream could be credited to Rochelle Beauport, who was assigned to the
gourmet ice cream brand last year. Beauport had joined Hy Dairies less than two years ago as
an assistant brand manager after leaving a similar job at a food products firm. She
was one of the few women of color in marketing management at Hy Dairies and had a
promising career with the company. Gilman was pleased with Beauport’s work and
tried to let her know this in annual performance reviews. He now had an excellent opportunity to
reward her by offering her the recently vacated position of market research coordinator.
Although technically only a lateral transfer with a modest salary increase, the marketing
research coordinator job would give Beauport broader experience in some high-profile work,
which would enhance her career with Hy Dairies. Few people were aware that Gilman’s own
career had been boosted by working as marketing research coordinator at Hy several years
before.
Rochelle Beauport had also seen the latest sales figures on Hy’s gourmet ice cream and
was expecting Gilman’s call to meet with her that morning. Gilman began the conversation by
briefly mentioning the favorable sales figures, and then explained that he wanted Beauport to
take the marketing research coordinator job. Beauport was shocked by the news. She enjoyed
brand management and particularly the challenge involved with controlling a product that
directly affected the company’s profitability. Marketing research coordinator was a technical
support position—a “back room” job—far removed from the company’s bottom-line activities.
Marketing research was not the route to top management in most organizations, Beauport
thought. She had been sidelined.
After a long silence, Beauport managed a weak, “Thank you, Mr. Gilman.” She was too
bewildered to protest. She wanted to collect her thoughts and reflect on what she had done
wrong. Also, she did not know her boss well enough to be openly critical. Gilman recognized
Beauport’s surprise, which he assumed was her positive response to hearing of this wonderful
career opportunity. He, too, had been delighted several years earlier about his temporary
transfer to marketing research to round out his marketing experience. “This move will be good
for both you and Hy Dairies,” said Gilman as he escorted Beauport from his office.
Beauport was preoccupied with several tasks that afternoon but was able to consider the
day’s events that evening. She was one of the top women and few minorities in brand
management at Hy Dairies and feared that she was being sidelined because the company didn’t
want women or people of color in top management. Her previous employer had made it quite
clear that women “couldn’t take the heat” in marketing management and tended to place women
in technical support positions after a brief term in lower brand management jobs. Obviously
Syd Gilman and Hy Dairies were following the same game plan. Gilman’s comments that the
coordinator job would be good for her was just a nice way of saying that Beauport couldn’t go
any further in brand management at Hy Dairies. Beauport now faced the difficult decision of
whether to confront Gilman and try to change Hy Dairies’ sexist and possibly racist practices or
to leave the company.

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MGT430—INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 1

Discussion Questions

1. Apply your knowledge of stereotyping and social identity theory to explain what went wrong
here.

2. What other perceptual errors are apparent in this case study?

3. What can organizations do to minimize misperceptions in these types of situations?

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MGT430—INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 1

CASE STUDY 2

Workplace Emotions, Attitudes, and Stress


Diana Gillen had an uneasy feeling of apprehension as she arrived at the Cobb Street
Grille corporate offices. Today she was meeting with her supervisor, Julie Spencer, and regional
director, Tom Miner, to learn the outcome of her promotion interview for the district manager
position. Diana had been employed by this casual dining restaurant chain for 12 years and had
worked her way up from server to general manager. Based on her track record, she was the
obvious choice for the promotion; and her friends assured her that the interview process was
merely a formality. Diana was still anxious, though, and feared that the news might not be
positive. She knew she was more than qualified for the job, but that didn’t guarantee anything
these days.
Nine months ago, when Diana interviewed for the last district manager opening, she
thought her selection for the job was inevitable. She was shocked when that didn’t happen.
Diana was so upset about not getting promoted then that she initially decided not to apply for
the current opening. She eventually changed her mind—after all, the company had just named
her Restaurant Manager of the Year and entrusted her with managing its flagship location.
Diana thought her chances had to be really good this time.
A multi-unit management position was a desirable move up for any general manager
and was a goal to which Diana had aspired since she began working in the industry. When she
had not been promoted the last time, Julie, her supervisor, explained that her people skills
needed to improve. But Diana knew that explanation had little to do with why she hadn’t gotten
the job—the real reason was corporate politics. She heard that the person they hired was some
super star from the outside—a district manager from another restaurant company who
supposedly had strong multi-unit management experience and a proven track record of
developing restaurant managers. Despite what she was told, she was convinced that Tom, her
regional manager, had been unduly pressured to hire this person, who had been referred by the
CEO.
The decision to hire the outsider may have impressed the CEO, but it enraged Diana.
With her successful track record as a store manager for the Cobb Street Grille, she was much
more capable, in her opinion, of overseeing multiple units than someone who was new to the
operation. Besides, district managers had always been promoted internally among the store
managers and she was unofficially designated as the next one to move up to a district position.
Tom had hired the outside candidate as a political maneuver to put himself in a good light with
management, even though it meant overlooking a loyal employee like her in the process. Diana
had no patience with people who made business decisions for the wrong reasons. She worked
very hard to avoid politics—and it especially irritated her when the political actions of others
negatively impacted on her.
Diana was ready to be a district manager nine months ago, and thought she was even
more qualified today—provided the decision was based on performance. She ran a tight ship,
managing her restaurant completely by the book. She meticulously adhered to policies and
procedures and rigorously controlled expenses. Her sales were growing, in spite of new
competition in the market, and she received relatively few customer complaints. The only
number that was a little out of line was the higher turnover among her staff.
Diana was not too concerned about the increasing number of terminations, however;
there was a perfectly logical explanation for this. It was because she had high standards—for
herself and her employees. Any employee who delivered less than 110 percent at all times
would be better off finding a job somewhere else. Diana didn’t think she should bend the rules

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MGT430—INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 1
for anyone, for whatever reason. A few months ago, for example, she had to fire three otherwise
good employees who decided to try a new customer service tactic—a so-called innovation they
dreamed up—rather than complying with the established process. As the general manager, it
was her responsibility to make sure that the restaurant was managed strictly in accordance with
the operations manual and she could not allow deviations. This by-the-book approach to
managing had served her well for many years. It got her promoted in the past and she was not
about to jinx that now. Losing a few employees now and then—particularly those who had
difficulty following the rules—was simply the cost of doing business.
During a recent store visit, Julie suggested that Diana might try creating a friendlier work
environment because she seemed aloof and interacted with employees somewhat
mechanically. Julie even told her that she overheard employees refer to Diana as the “Ice
Maiden” behind her back. Diana was surprised that Julie brought this up because her boss
rarely criticized her. They had an unspoken agreement: since Diana was so technically
competent and always met her financial targets, Julie didn’t need to give her much input. Diana
was happy to be left alone to run her restaurant without needless advice.
At any rate, Diana rarely paid attention to what employees said about her. She wasn’t
about to let something as childish as a silly name cause her to modify a successful
management strategy. What’s more, even though she had recently lost more than the average
number of employees due to “personality differences” or “miscommunications” over her
directives, her superiors did not seem to mind when she consistently delivered strong bottom
line results every month.
As she waited in the conference room for the others, Diana worried that she was not
going to get this promotion. Julie had sounded different in the voicemail message she left to
inform her about this meeting, but Diana couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was. She
would be very angry if she was passed over again and wondered what excuse they would have
this time. Then her mind wandered to how her employees would respond to her if she did not
get the promotion. They all knew how much she wanted the job and she cringed at how
embarrassed she would be if she didn’t get it. Her eyes began to mist over at the sheer thought
of having to face them if she was not promoted today.
Julie and Tom entered the room then and the meeting was under way. They told Diana,
as kindly as they could, that she would not be promoted at this time; one of her colleagues
would become the new district manager. She was incredulous. The individual who got promoted
had been with the company only three years—and Diana had trained her! She tried to
comprehend how this happened, but it did not make sense. Before any further explanation could
be offered, she burst into tears and left the room. As she tried in vain to regain her composure,
Diana was overcome with crushing disappointment.

Discussion Questions

1. Apply your knowledge of the four emotional intelligence dimensions to discuss the likely
reasons why Diana wasn’t offered a promotion.

2. What skills does Diana need to develop to be promotable in the future?

3. What can the company do to support her developmental efforts?

END OF CASE STUDY

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