Last Manager Standing: The Management Game
Presented by: El Primero
Table of Contents………………..……..2 Introduction of Project……………3-4 Intro to Characters………………..5-11 Milestones…………………………...12-15
Table of Contents:
Project Execution…………..…....…..16 Episodes……………………………...17-32 Conclusion of Management……....33 Reflection………………………..….34-35 Recommendations…………………...36 Citations………………………………….37
Introduction of Project: The goal of the project is to show that management concepts can be applied in any arena, not just in an office. We want to be able to teach others around the world about management in a not so boring way. Through our TV show we will be applying concepts and in this booklet, we will describe the concepts in depth. Our hope is anyone will be able to pick up this book and be able to learn new things about management. Our TV show will present these concepts in the form of a game show. The game show will be called Last Manager Standing. This game show will show management concepts through questions posed to the two teams participating in the game show.
Why A Game Show? ●
The game show format works well for our target market, which is: ○ Anyone interested in management ○ Managers themselves ○ 18-35 years old ○ Anyone wanting to further their education
●
By using the game show format, we’re able to present two sides to complex scenarios and let the viewer decide which is the best.
Introduction to Characters
Characters Overview - Characters were very important to the overall show. A gameshow needs an entertaining host and a colourful bunch of characters to keep the audience interested. - Because of the game show format we wanted to represent different management styles with the individuals on each team. Each team was comprised of two managers. Team A’s managers represent two bad styles of management. On Team B we wanted to represent two good styles of management. - Both teams contrasted each other, so that bad management and good management practices were clearly defined. - Carrying the show we had Yurika, our host. He presented all the management questions to the teams and carried the show along.
Hope- Team A -
The “Demanding Boss�
-
Expects her employees to do all the work and do it perfectly every time.
-
Takes micromanaging to a new level by controlling all employes day to day activities.
-
Only gives negative feedback.
-
During the game show Hope and her teammate Krysta shows off these bad management skills through the answers to the questions. She leads the answers to the questions and overpowers her teammate with her controlling nature.
Krysta- Team A
-
The “Lazy Boss�
-
Radically hands off to the point of doing absolutely nothing.
-
As long as the work is getting done she doesn't care what to employees are doing and lets them get away with whatever they want to do.
-
As long as the work is getting done she doesn't care what to employees are doing and lets them get away with whatever they want to do.
Yurika- Host -
The Host
-
Cheesy comedic host that every game show needs. Yurika also presents and helps the audience understand the management concepts being presented in the show.
-
Head of the show and guides the audience and teams through the questions while adding some comedic value along the way.
Desiree- Team B
-
The “Understanding Boss�
-
Easy going boss letting good employees choose how they want to work as long as work gets done and is up to par.
-
She is a utilitarian boss and has made a point to know all her teams roles so she can help in any way possible.
-
Puts a lot of trust and value in her team's opinions.
-
Because Desiree is so team oriented her and her teammate Samantha are able to trust and work off each other's knowledge when presented with the questions.
Samantha- Team B -
The “Empathetic Boss�
-
Connects with her employees and see them more as just workers but as fellow human beings. Which creates a respectful and positive environment.
-
Has a high ethical standpoint as a manager and doesn't let anything ethically questionable happen in her workplace.
-
Creates a task oriented workplace that is able to maximize profits.
-
During the show she uses her ethical standing to work through dilemmas with her teammate Desiree.
Paul- The Producer Picture here:
-
The Mastermind behind the Last Manager Standing
-
Filmed, recorded, and edited the show.
-
Conducts interviews outside the show with the host Yurika
Behind the Scenes
Target Market The target audience for “Last Manager Standing� is college students between the ages of 18-35 that live in the United States of America.
Initial Concept Development: At the beginning of this project all the group members collaborated to create a team charter. This charter was used to establish our group vision, our expected roles of participation, code of conduct, and our chosen method of communication. For communication we decided it would be best to collaborate on group Google documents, texting on a Facebook Messenger chat, and finally meeting once a week after class. Another hurdle that we conquered was choosing the vision that we would use to create Last Manager Standing. This process began by creating our individual storyboards. Each group member developed their own concept and from those six concepts we chose the game show idea. We chose this concept for many reasons, including: easy communication to the viewers, the flexibility of the game show to include various management concepts, and the uniqueness of the concept so that it could stand out amongst the other shows.
Execution of the Project -
To execute this project we first started by coming up with 100 ideas of shows that would best show the concepts of management. We finally landed on the idea of a game show called Last Manager Standing.
-
We created a storyboard and added concepts of how the show will work along with our characters profiles and teams.
-
We filmed the trailer for our show as well as doing an interview style presentation with Yurika as the interviewer and both team including the producer Paul and the interviewee for the midterm.
-
We produced a detailed script and outline of every episode making sure to put emphasis on the managerial concepts being presented to each team and how the different management styles will influence each team's answers.
-
When filming time came we chose to film each team's dialogues separately for every episode. This cut down the time each team member had to spend in front of the camera. Yurika the host then filmed all the questions and dialogue. Paul then put everything together in post editing.
Episodes
What does each episode have to do with management? This series is to be used to learn about management if you want to be a better manager, and are unable to take a management course. Between the episodes and this section of the booklet, you will be on your way to being a great manager. This section in the book talks about the concepts that you see in the episodes. This section will take you episode by episode and explain what management concepts you saw and why they are important to being a good manager.
Episode One: Introduction Yurika, the host, begins the show by introducing each of the Teams and individual character profiles. Team A will consist of Hope and Krysta and Team B will have Desiree and Samantha. Yurika then goes on to explain how the game show will work. He will present a question to both teams, they have a short period of time to deliberate, and then they present their answers. After both teams have explained their answers, the audience will have an opportunity to vote on which team made the best decision. At the end of the show, Yurika will tally all of the votes to determine who is the Last Manager Standing!
Link to Episode One
Episode One Cont.: Concepts ●
●
●
●
The Leader Role- 14 ○ This role involves influencing or directing others. (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.14) The Disseminator Role- 14 ○ The manager not only receives information, but sends it. (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.14) The Negotiator Role- 16 ○ Managers are often called upon to make accommodations with other units or other organizations. (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.16) Interpersonal Skills- 19 ○ Skills such as sensitivity, persuasiveness, and empathy are important at all levels of management. (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.19)
Concepts Portrayed In The Episode ●
●
●
●
The Leader Role-14 ○ Every contestant takes part in the leader role. They are all managers from different companies and they all have experience directing their employees. The Disseminator Role- 14 ○ Every manager gave us an example by telling us about themselves and how they manage their employees. Being able to properly communicate information is an important part of being a manager. The Negotiator Role- 16 ○ The contestant know that throughout the show that they will have to work with their teammate to get the best possible answer. Being able to do this without a lot of resistance is something a good manager is capable of. Interpersonal Skill- 19 ○ Samantha and Desiree explained that they use these skills when managing their employees. Hope and Krysta take a different approach with their employees. Interpersonal skills are important because they make you as a manage better liked and you are able to get more done.
Episode Two: Ethics In this episode, both teams will be presented with a dilemma that will test their ethics. They have received an additional box of supplies in their shipment, what do they do with it? Team A, noticeably arguing, decides to keep the box. Team B on the other hand, decides to keep the box but alerts the driver of the mistake and offers to pay for it. Team A seems to have made an unethical decision whilst Team B seems to find a compromise that makes everybody happy.
Link to Episode Two
Episode Two Cont.: ●
Concept Managerial Ethics 29 ○
●
Study of morality and standards of business conduct (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.29)
○ ○
Ethical Dilemma ○
●
●
Having to make a choice between two competing but arguably valid questions (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.31)
In The Episode Managerial Ethics
●
Ethical Dilemma ○
Moral Rights Approach ○
Examines the moral standing of actions independent of the consequences (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.30)
○
●
Team B mentions mentions that keeping the box is unethical. By knowing that they understand that there are moral standards to follow. Each team had to chose to keep the extra box of supplies, or they could tell the delivery driver the mistake. Both choices are valid, but only one is ethical.
Moral Rights Approach ○
Team A portrays this because they do not care about the consequences if they were caught ‘stealing’ the extra box.
Storyboard Episode Three: Gender Focus After the commercial break, Yurika presents the Teams with their second question. This question delves into a popular current event topic, gender focus. The two teams are presented two almost identical interviewers, their only differences being that the male candidate has better references than the female candidate. Which candidate do the teams hire? Team A decides to hire the female candidate merely for the fact that she is a woman and pay no mind to her qualifications. Team B, however, decides to hire the male candidate do to his stellar references.
Link to Episode Three
Episode Three: ●
Concept Gender Focus ○
●
●
Extent to which people in a country value masculine or feminine traits (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.64)
○ ○
Interviewing ○
Interviewer asks candidates a standard set of questions about qualifications and capabilities related to job performance (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.176).
In The Episode Gender Focus
●
Team A chose the female candidate just because she was a girl. Team B chose the male because he had better references to back him up.
Interviewing ○
○
Two candidates had to attend an interview to obtain a certain job. Based on how the interview went would determine if they got the job or not. Their interviews were both outstanding, but the male had a good set of references to set him just above her.
Episode Four: Planning a Budget Yurika provides the teams with yet another challenging question to deliberate. The teams are asked how they plan and use a budget. Team A unanimously agrees that they do not have a want or a need for a “silly budget�, they exude a deluded confidence about their answer. Team B then goes on to explain that they find a budget to be necessary for success in their businesses and go on to describe all of the helpful guidelines that budgets provide.
Link to Episode Four
Episode Four Cont.: Concepts ●
Planning- 113 ○
A decision making process that focuses on the future of an organization and how it will achieve its goals.(Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.113)
○
●
Concepts Portrayed In The Episode ●
Planning (113) and Budgeting (124) ○
○
Budget- 124 ○
A tool used to quantify and allocate resources to specific activities.(Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.124)
○
The teams are faced with the challenge of planning a budget. Team A doesn’t feel having a plan or budget is important, but Team B feels differently. Team B cares about the future of the company and wants to work toward goals and uses planning and budgeting to achieve them. Team A wants to get a paycheck and go home. They are not looking out for the future of the company.
Episode Five: Resource Allocation In this episode, the teams will be faced with an intriguing new challenge. They are provided the following situation: Hire one full-time employee or hire two part-time employees for one position in the company. After an interesting deliberation, Team A decides to hire one full-time employee to do the job, and even hinted about overworking this employee. Team B decided to hire two part-time employees for the position, explaining that having two employees for one position provides more flexibility for the employer and less stress for the employees.
Link to Episode Five
Episode Five Cont.: Concepts ●
Hiring/Selecting- 174 ○
●
Concepts Portrayed In The Episode ●
Successful selection is a function of effective planning, analyzing, and recruiting as well as applying appropriate selecting techniques.(Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.174)
○
Job-sharing- 181 ○
Situation in which two people share the same job by each working part-time.(Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.181)
Selecting- 174
●
Team A chose to hire one person because they didn’t want to have to train two people, but this person will be full time so they will have to pay benefits and possibly overtime. If they did not plan accordingly they could exceed their budget.
Job-sharing- 181 ○
Team B decided to hire two part-time employees because they used careful planning in their budget and with two employees, not benefits or overtime has to be paid.
Episode Six: Power and What You Do With It Yurika presents the final determining question to both of the teams in this episode. He simply asks them how they intend to use their power as managers, for good or for evil?! Team B describes that they want to use their influence as managers to help inspire and motivate employees to be the best that they can be, and to help strengthen their relationships. Team A discusses that employees are there to make the managers lives easier, so they would use their power to make sure it stays that way.
Link to Episode Six
Episode Six Cont.: Concepts ●
Power- 210 ○
●
The capacity or ability to influence.(Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.210)
Motivation- 241 ○
A set of forces that energize, direct, and sustain behavior.(Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.241)
Concepts Portrayed In The Episode ●
Power (210) and Motivation (241) ○
Power and Motivation should go together. The power you possess should be used to motivate your employees. Team B described just that with their response. Team A however had a different approach. Team A wanted to use their power to make their employees do the things that they didn’t want to do, not motivate them.
Storyboard Episode Seven: Final Interview of Winning and Losing Teams
The winner will be decided by the audience, America, actually voting on our episodes. The votes will be collected by using our Google Survey, so that our viewers can remain anonymous and vote from the comfort of their own homes! Once Yurika tallies the votes he will proclaim who is the Last Manager Standing! The winning team will receive the coveted Golden Stapler as the grand prize. After show interviews will be conducted to portray the feelings and reactions of the teams.
Final Voting Available on Google Survey Link to Episode Seven
Episode Seven: ●
Concept Communication (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012,
●
p.305) ○ Encoding- constructing a message ○ Decoding- interpreting a message ○ Noise- interference with transmitting a message
●
●
○ ○
Nonverbal Communication (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.306) ○ Nonverbal actions (dress, gestures, facial expressions, handling utensils) send significant messages.
Teams(Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p.272) ○
A group with high interdependence, strong sense of members’ personal responsibility, and coordinated interactions.
In The Episode Nonverbal Communication
●
The winning team jumping up and down, smiling shows excitement and happiness. Team B showing disappointment and anger to the other team shows that they were not satisfied or happy with the results.
Teams ○
Both members for the separate teams had to interact and depended on each other to help facilitate answers. They were both held responsible for either winning or losing.
➔
General Conclusion of Management
➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔
Can be used in any environment Requires many different skills Concepts are easy to learn Can be fun There are definitely good and bad ways to manage Not everyone is fit for the position
Reflection
Group Reflection: This was a group project done over the course of a semester (16 weeks), we were assigned our groups and this is how we felt about the project/working together: Overall, we agree that our weekly meetings went well. We enjoyed the group we are working with and we finished what needed to be done. A few things we could improve on is not getting off topic in our meetings so much and turning documents in early (by a day) instead of waiting last minute. On the other hand, El Primero works well together, and we haven’t had any issues. Considering our separate and busy lives, we believe we did a great job. We are all excited for everyone to see the output of our project.
Recommendations To Future Students - Get ideas on paper as soon as you can in the semester. It's better to have too much inspiration than not enough!
- Utilize tools that everyone in the group can use. We used collaborative tools like Google Drive, Google Docs, & Facebook Video Chat
- We have learned that communication is key to success in this class. Even a smooth sailing group can get derailed quickly without constant contact.
Citations Hilt, M.A., Black, S., & Porter, L. W. (2012). Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. (Hitt, Black, Porter, 2012, p. )