Solution Manual for Organizational Behavior A Skill-Building Approach 3e Christopher P. Neck with Ca

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All Cases For Organizational Behavior A Skill-Building Approach 3e Christopher P. Neck Chapter 1-16

Case Notes Chapter 1: Why Organizational Behavior Matters Summary CVS Health, a leading provider of health services, decided to cease all sales of tobacco products. This decision would cost the corporation about $2 billion in reduced sales revenue.

Analysis Although tobacco products amounted to $2 billion in annual sales, the corporation decided that the sale of such products was incompatible with its mission. The management believed that the short-term loss in revenue would benefit the health of its customers and the communities.

Sometimes a business must do what is right despite the cost.

Case Questions 1. Describe the big decision that CVS Health made. How does it relate to the text?

CVS had to balance profit against the well-being of its customers. This was both an ethical decision and a bottom-line decision. Selling tobacco products sent a message to the corporation’s employees as well as to its customers. On the other hand, tobacco products produced about $2 billion in annual revenues. But, the sale of tobacco products conflicted with the corporation’s mission.

2. How does the text describe ethics, and how do they plan a role at CVS Health?

Ethics are morals that guide behavior. While ethics involve moral decision making, the answers are never black and white. While management’s decision would result in short term pains (lost revenues), it would benefit the health of their community. CVS’s approach was not limited to its sale of tobacco products, but rather it extended to ensuring that its suppliers guarantee ethical sourcing.

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Case Notes Chapter 2: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Summary Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (CBRE) is the largest commercial real estate services and investment firm in the world. CBRE employs more than 100,000 people worldwide who serve clients in 100 countries. Their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the workplace and the marketplace have been widely recognized in recent years.

Analysis This case explores how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has been an increasing focus of conversations about organizational behavior and corporate culture as workers seek to be more visible, empowered, and represented in their industries. At the same time, consumers are increasingly aware of how a brand’s values compare to their own when making purchasing decisions. CBRE is a leader in corporate DEI, not just within its workforce but also in regard to its suppliers and marketplace stakeholders. The large brokerage created a new chief diversity officer role in June 2020 and promoted Tim Dismond to be its first officeholder. While many organizations may relegate DEI responsibilities to the realm of human resources, ancillary to strategic business decision-making, CBRE made DEI coequal to the company’s most important functions. CBRE is also promoting DEI in the marketplace by engaging in social-justice-focused philanthropy and by pledging to spend $1 billion with diverse suppliers in 2021 and to grow that annual spending to $3 billion by 2025.

Case Questions 1. How does CBRE Group promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the marketplace, outside its workforce?

CBRE promotes DEI in the marketplace beyond its own workforce in several areas. For example, it engages in social-justice-focused philanthropy. However, its most substantial commitment to DEI outside its workforce is through its spending on diverse suppliers. In October 2020, they committed to spending $1 billion with diverse suppliers in 2021 and to grow that spending to $3 billion by 2025.

2. What did CBRE do differently than most organizations when creating Tim Dismond’s role and establishing a diversity officer?

While many organizations relegate DEI responsibilities to the realm of human resources, ancillary to strategic business decision-making, CBRE made DEI co-equal to the companies most important functions. As a member of CBRE’s Executive Committee, Dismond is one of 12 global executives who set the company vision and report directly to Bob Sulentic, CEO and president of CBRE.

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3. Do you know the kinds of suppliers your favorite companies use to manufacture and deliver their products and services? Research a company you admire and see how they stack up against CBRE and others with a seat at the Billion Dollar Roundtable.

Answers will vary. The comparison to CBRE should take into account CBRE’s commitment to using diverse suppliers.

Case Notes Chapter 3: Personality and Individual Differences Summary Adobe Inc. is an American software company best known for its flagship Photoshop image editing software, Creative Cloud subscription suite, and the development of the Portable Document Format (PDF) file format. While the technology products at the heart of Adobe’s business have changed over the decades, the company’s commitment to its employees persists. They place consistent emphasis on equipping employees to own and drive their careers, while also helping others to be successful.

Analysis The case examines Adobe’s focus on building culture and helping its employees build the skills and knowledge necessary to advance in their careers. As CEO Shantanu Narayen stated: Adobe’s values are to be genuine, exceptional, innovative, and involved. When our mission and these values align with our employee’s personal values and aspirations, then they can do their best work and the company is better for it.

The Adobe for All in Action steps proposed at their 2019 summit outline five steps (Appreciate the unique, Amplify others, Enhance the team, Rethink routine, and Open up) that employees can take to help others be successful and make their teams more dynamic and inclusive.

Case Questions 1. Think of a team you were on that didn’t value individual differences. Which of the Adobe for All in Action steps could you take to foster collaboration as a leader?

Answers will vary but should refer to the Adobe for All in Action steps.

2. Do you know someone who can only “talk tech,” like Alberto De Caro did prior to joining Adobe? How would you encourage them to develop their soft skills as a manager?

Answers will vary but should relate to the importance of soft skills to effective management.

3. Do you think that focusing on employees as individuals the way Adobe does could be an element of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well?

Instructor Resource Neck, Organizational Behavior 2e SAGE, 2020 Answers will vary. Proponents could argue that Adobe’s focus on employees as individuals as driven support for their efforts to become leaders in gender pay parity and ethnic pay parity between employees from underrepresented demographic groups (URM) and non-URM employees in the U.S., which are efforts in service of corporate social responsibility.

Case Notes Chapter 4: Perception and Learning Summary For its first few years, Visual Catch, the creative consultancy that became Catch&Release, was focused only on the creative side of discovering found content for production shops. Founder Analisa Goodin perceived an opportunity in the market to think bigger, and rebranded the firm as Catch&Release which was “born to do it all—content curation, clearance, licensing, indemnification—all powerd by Curation IntelligenceTM,” the company’s AI.

Analysis This case demonstrates some of the key concepts and theories discussed in this chapter on perception and learning. Founder Analisa Gooden speaks about how ongoing, incremental learning and adaptability played a key role in the growth and success of the business. Goodin said “what you need to do is just figure out the smallest little ways that you can validate that what you’re doing is solving a need and just keep growing it up from there.”

Case Questions 1. Advertisers employ many perceptual distortions to persuade consumers to buy their products.

Do you think the perceived authenticity of found content in more honest advertising? Why or why not?

Answers will vary but should refer to perceptual distortions discussed in the chapter.

2. How did Catch&Release benefit from social learning while shifting from being a service provider to being a product-based revenue model?

As Catch&Release transformed from a service provider to a product-based revenue model, they established deep relationships with their customers and held open conversations with the team about how to solve customer pain points, which paid significant dividends in raising funds to develop their technology.

3. Analisa Goodin’s artistic background allowed them to cultivate a sense of self-efficacy and ability to self-regulate. How do you think these contributed to their success as a founder?

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Self-efficacy and the ability to self-regulate are important aspects of success. First, self-efficacy is our personal belief in our own ability to perform certain tasks or behaviors. Without selfefficacy, one might lack the confidence to take the smart risks necessary to grow a business or succeed as a founder. Similarly, self-regulation, the process in which we set goals that create a disparity between a desired state and our current state, aids in prompting the kind of goalsetting and achieving necessary for a founder’s success.

Case Notes Chapter 5: Emotions, Attitudes, and Stress Summary Zoom CEO Eric Yuan says employee happiness is his number-one priority. Zoom delivers on its promise to employees by cultivating a caring culture in many ways, including competitive compensation, stock and health care benefits; flexible work-from-home policies; charitable contribution matching; and support for self-learning.

Analysis Happy, fulfilled workers are more productive to their employers, whereas workplaces defined by stress and burnout suffer from high employee turnover and can quickly earn a reputation as an undesirable place to work. Eric Yuan was influenced by his earlier experiences with a difficult work environment to make Zoom an inspiring place to work and a culture that cares deeply about its employees and customers.

Case Questions 1. How did personal experience with workplace stress inform Eric Yuan’s goals and leadership style when they founded Zoom?

Eric Yuan refers to how early experiences with frustration and stress at Cisco Webex informed his goal to make Zoom an inspiring place to work and a culture that cares about its employees and customers. For example, he shares the experience of trying to address unhappy Cisco Webex customers’ complaints through the development of a more user-friendly app, only to have the company respond that “the user is not the customer.” This led to him realize it was not the kind of company he wanted to work for over the next 20 years, so he left to establish Zoom Video Communications and create a company culture that is as supportive as it is innovative.

2. Much of Zoom’s “deliver happiness” culture is intended to transform distress to eustress at the company. Do you believe it’s effective? Why or why not?

Answers will vary but should refer to the positive impact that eustress can have on performance.

Skeptics might argue that simply declaring an organizational culture is a “culture of happiness” may not be enough to make it so. However, proponents would point to the many programs

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designed to eliminate stress and cultivate employee satisfaction at Zoom, as well as the topspot rankings of employee happiness in workplace surveys.

3. Describe how Zoom’s employee wellness programs promote organizational commitment among its workforce.

Zoom’s employee wellness programs consistently earn top spots in rankings of employee happiness and workplace satisfaction. The question “Do I feel happy or not?” that Yuan asks employees to ask themselves each day to determine whether or not to come into work, is one example of how employees would make an active commitment to the organization each day.

Case Notes Chapter 6: Motivation: Concepts and Theoretical Perspectives Summary Caribu is an educational entertainment platform for families. Founder Maxeme Tuchman’s family background motivated her to make education equitable and accessible.

Analysis Caribu’s dedication to distance learning paid great dividends during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, Caribu suspended the app’s paywall (unlimited subscriptions are typically $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually). As a result, the platform saw its use base grow over 10 times in one day. Apple named it an App Store Best of 2020 app, and as of this writing Caribu has over 1 million users across more than 200 countries and territories.

Case Questions 1. Maxeme Tuchman’s motivation to make education equitable and accessible stems from a family background. Can you think of a principle from your upbringing or ancestry that inspires you similarly and that you would use to motivate your team as a startup founder or manager in an organization?

Answers will vary but should relate a motivating principle to your background or past experiences.

2. Do you have children or small younger siblings? If you were a director at Caribu, how would you motivate your team members who were not first-generation college students or Jewish Cuban Americans like Maxeme Tuchman?

Answers will vary but should refer to strategies for motivating team members who may not have the same background as founder Maxeme Tuchman.

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3. Can you think of a use case for an interactive educational video chat app like Caribu besides keeping families connected?

Answers will vary but should envision a use case for an educational video chat app other than keeping families connected.

Case Notes Chapter 7: Motivation: Practices and Applications Case Study: Sephora Summary Beauty product retailer Sephora is extremely committed to its employee experience and the company consistently tops rankings of best workplaces. At Sephora, every facet of the employee experience journey—from training to recognition and rewards—is designed to make employees feel special, fostering development of deeper levels of loyalty and engagement among employees.

Analysis This case demonstrates the importance of supporting intrinsic motivation to improve employee engagement and customer experience. Sephora set itself apart in customers’ minds by establishing a unique shopping experience, supported through Sephora’s theatrical nomenclature for staff and parts of the store. Sephora ensures that customers have a positive experience in their stores by carefully cultivating the employee experience and nurturing a strong sense of belonging among employees, focusing on five key needs that foster employee loyalty.

Case Questions 1. How does Sephora’s employee experience journey cultivate employees’ intrinsic motivation?

Sephora encourages intrinsic motivation, which is the performance of tasks for our own innate satisfaction, by encouraging a growth mindset through the employee journey (Train Me, Include Me, Reward Me, Inspire Me, Grow Me). Employees are encouraged to continue to grow professionally through ongoing training and to continue to innovate and contribute to their company culture.

2. Give an example of how Sephora satisfies workers’ need for competence.

Student responses will vary. By providing ongoing training opportunities from initial onboarding through continual professional development, Sephora is satisfying the workers’ need for competence. This is also highlighted in the first maxim of its five key employee needs: “Train Me: I have the skills and knowledge I need to be successful.”

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3. Do you think the whimsical titles for staff and parts of the store at Sephora qualify as an example of job design? Why or why not?

Student responses will vary. Sephora’s use of theatrical nomenclature is an example of job design. By referring to associates as “cast members” and managers as “directors” there is an embodiment of the experience of shopping as entertainment that is built into the job design.

Case Notes Chapter 8: Teams Summary PepsiCo is a leading food and beverage company that generated $79.5 billion in revenue in 2021. With nearly 309,000 employees worldwide, effective teams are essential to PepsiCo’s continued success. The case discusses the role team cohesion plays in boosting performance.

It focuses specifically on the role played by PepsiCo’s program lead for the company’s Senior Leader Development Center (SLDC), Matt Del Giudice, Psy.D., M.B.A. His program at the SLDC proved effective in prompting leaders to change behaviors and enjoy better team cohesion and elevated performance as a result. A follow-up study of his program at the SLDC indicated that over 90% of participants showed improvement in key leadership metrics.

Analysis The PepsiCo case gives a clear indication of how to support teamwork in an organization. Team leaders need to know how to support team cohesion and encourage open communication and feedback. The SLDC created this focus on team formation and cohesion among leaders to boost performance across the organization. Organizations need to support and develop the team-building and team-maintaining resources like the SLDC for people to successfully work together.

Case Questions 1. Describe some of the process losses Del Giudice diagnosed with the leaders and teams at PepsiCo and how the problems were remedied.

Process losses are factors that detract from team effectiveness. For example, the case describes Del Giudice cautioning a leader about their intimidating communication style because it was impeding the team’s effectiveness. The leader ultimately changed their communication style and realized that nurturing relationships and building trust was key to performing at a higher level. He also found some teams were too streamlined and operating in silos, failing to effectively collaborate with key stakeholders and leading to project delays. Del Giudice strove to get the teams quickly back on track by training one member of each group on team formation

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and project strategy, and those members in turn influenced the rest of their team members and communicated progress to senior leader.

2. How many suboptimal contextual elements and team characteristics can you identify in the description of the innovation teams that Justin Wells and Matt Del Giudice partnered together to improve?

Team size was one factor identified: some teams were too large to be effective, while some were too streamlined. The skills and abilities of the team members became a factor with the toosmall teams, as well, as they did not include participation or input from specialized critical stakeholders.

3. How can the behaviors Tina Bigalke and Christine Daugherty advocate lead to process gains and effective teams?

Bigalke and Daugherty advocated for challenging the status quo. Bigalke, PepsiCo’s global chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, advocated for communicating freely and engaging with empathic curiosity to promote progress. By speaking authentically and engaging in courageous decisions, Bigalke argued that leaders could move beyond the surface to foster stronger relationships that inspire teams and people to deliver results. Daugherty, PepsiCo vice president of global sustainable agriculture and responsible sourcing, similarly looked to drive positive change by facing unfamiliar challenges. Daugherty argued that progress demands getting into a place where you are uncomfortable, as the alternative is stagnation.

Case Notes Chapter 9: Decision Making, Creativity, and Innovation Summary Ray Kroc created McDonald’s in 1940 and built it into a chain with 37,000 locations worldwide, only 3,000 of which were company owned. However, all restaurants, company-owned or franchised, subscribe to Koch’s mantra of quality, service, cleanliness, and value. With that end in mind, restaurant managers must hire the right people, obtain the right resources, and execute a plan to provide customers with consistent, high-quality food and service. The company has spent decades on specialization, innovation, and decision making to create the world’s largest fast-food chain.

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Analysis McDonald’s management was faced with the challenge of ensuring that all 37,000 locations provided the same quality of burgers, fries, and beverages. The food was to taste the same in all its restaurants. The owners of the 34,000 franchised restaurants need to be committed to the corporation’s mission and goal of quality, service, cleanliness, and value. The case describes the decision-making processes Kroc used to achieve this. He chose a path of persuading both his franchisees and suppliers to buy into his vision and working not for McDonald’s but for themselves, together with McDonald’s. Kroc believed that once he defined his mission, it was possible to make the decisions necessary to support it.

Case Questions 1. Why is McDonald’s uniquely challenged when it comes to decision making?

McDonald’s operates about 37,000 restaurants worldwide, 34,000 of which are franchised.

Although the franchised restaurants are independently owned, with the operators paying startup costs and yearly franchise fees, the company is challenged to ensure that all McDonald’s restaurants maintain consistent quality, service, cleanliness, and value. Management is faced with making decisions that recognize the goals of the individual franchisee owners, while the franchisees must make decisions that are consistent with the corporation’s mission and goals.

2. What department at corporate McDonald’s is in charge of making strategic decisions, and how many areas of focus does it have?

The corporation’s Operations Management (OM) unit is responsible for making strategic decisions that support the company’s position as the largest fast food chain in the world. OM has 10 areas of focus.

3. What were Ray Kroc’s four original goals, and why are they still useful today?

Kroc’s four goals are quality, service, cleanliness, and value. These goals provide focus for each of the 37,000 restaurants. Decisions are made with reference to these goals and remind managers that customers have other choices. Customers expect the quality of the food, the service provided, the restaurant’s cleanliness, and the value received to be consistent at all locations.

Case Notes Chapter 10: Ethics and Social Responsibility in Organizations Summary JetBlue, founded in 1998, aimed to be the highest rated airline in terms of consumer satisfaction, focusing on better amenities and friendlier staff rather than the bottom line. In the

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winter of 2007, a major ice storm caused JetBlue to cancel over 1,000 flights, leaving customers stranded during the holiday season. To restore customer confidence, JetBlue rebuilt its infrastructure (reservation and employee communication systems) to handle similar crises in the future.

Analysis JetBlue was not the only airline affected by this storm. Passengers from many airlines were stranded, sleeping in airports. However, JetBlue had a reputation of putting customers first. It could have joined other airlines in blaming the weather, claiming that there was nothing it could do. But instead, founder David Neeleman took responsibility for how the crisis was handled. He launched an investigation into how this situation could have been handled differently and developed systems focused on overdelivering in the future.

Case Questions 1. Describe the options that JetBlue had when faced with the ice storm crisis.

JetBlue could have taken the easy path of determining that this was an unavoidable situation, something that happens in the airline business—bad weather causes airports to be closed, flights to be canceled, and passengers left stranded. This is what most other airlines would have done, but JetBlue aimed to do better.

Another option would have been to offer stranded passengers hotel and food vouchers to ease their discomfort, settling claims silently. Instead, JetBlue took responsibility, launched an investigation into what they could have done better, and then developed new systems to overdeliver in easy times and hard. This was an expensive option but was aimed at rebuilding consumer confidence.

2. What can any business learn from the mistakes that JetBlue made?

It is tempting for businesses to develop systems that work well in normal” times. JetBlue’s mistake was not to plan for crises—such as a major ice storm that closed air traffic. JetBlue learned to get in front of the situation if it wished to regain consumer confidence and loyalty.

From this, other businesses can learn to plan for the worst and to develop an infrastructure that will operate in crisis situations.

Case Notes Chapter 11: Effective Communication Summary Effective communication is critical in the transportation industry. Stagecoach Group, the largest bus and coach operator in the UK, introduced a robust employee experience app and a reliable new radio network to deliver a safe, dependable experience for passengers and drivers.

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Analysis Between Stagecoach Manchester’s modern, feature-rich DMR system and the Group-wide Blink app, Stagecoach leverages effective, real-time communication with its drivers to deliver a highquality experience to passengers.

Case Questions 1. Give an example of how Blink facilitates upward, downward, or lateral communication at Stagecoach Group, and how that results in better employee outcomes.

The Blink app allows employees to communicate with colleagues, which is an example of lateral communication at Stagecoach Group. The app led to better outcomes for employees in a variety of ways. For example, a managing director learned through the app that drivers were facing issues with city center routes and was able to change the routes the same day, improving service for passengers and drivers alike.

2. Describe how Stagecoach’s implementation of Blink increased the channel richness of the company’s internal communication.

Channel richness is the degree to which a communication channel allows us to easily communicate and understand information sent between people and organizations. Adopting Blink increased channel richness for Stagecoach Group by allowing employees to access critical information, communicate with colleagues, and view company news. It removed barriers to access timely information that was more difficult to access via the company’s 19 intranet sites and allowed managers to listen to employees and respond immediately.

3. Ricky Sickelmore’s story of the managing director who changed the routes after reading drivers’ feedback is an example of how Blink absorbed communication that would previously have occurred on the grapevine. Do you think the app is better described as a formal or informal communication network in that instance? Why? Considering Ricky Sickelmore’s story of the managing director who changed the routes after reading drivers’ feedback, the Blink app might be better described as a formal communication network. Formal communication networks represent the transmission of messages established and approved by the organizational hierarchy, and the exchange of information about routes via the app introduced by management could be considered in line with managers’ expectations for official use of the app. Similarly, downward communication of new route changes from the managing director is in line with the typical downward flow of communication within formal networks.

Case Notes

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Chapter 12: Trust, Conflict, and Negotiation Summary California grape growers support the state’s wine industry that produces 85% of the United States’ wine. A unique set of challenges nearly brought the California wine industry to a standstill in 2020, as COVID-19 reduced tourism and restaurant sales while a record-breaking wildfire season threatened to eliminate the entire 2020 vintage.

Analysis Growers and buyers of the 2020 harvest faced difficult negotiations to determine how each party shared fire and smoke risk in purchasing contracts. Some buyers focused on the long term and sought ways to share the fire and smoke risk with their suppliers.

Case Questions 1. Describe a novel antecedent of conflict that arose between the growers and wineries in their grape purchase contract disputes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

A record-breaking wildfire season led to smoke exposures on grapes in vineyards near the fires.

Winegrape purchase contracts had long addressed quality loss due to smoke exposure, but testing processes and quality standards were poorly defined and inconsistently applied. This led to distrust and conflict between growers and buyers.

2. Some wineries that chose a conflict management strategy of cooperation succeeded in 2020.

Now that AGG and CAWG growers have regrouped and developed a collaborative plan to resolve quality standards disputes, do you think that strategy will work for them again in the future?

A winery may save money in the short term by taking a competitive strategy and rejecting grapes or cancelling a vintage, but if they ruin a relationship with their growers, they threaten their supply of grapes for the following year.

3. Do you think the integrative bargaining that Pete Richmond and the wineries that Silverado Farming Company contracts with will reap benefits beyond their continued supplier agreement?

Why? Answers will vary. An argument in favor of Richmond’s integrative bargaining with wineries leading to future success is that it ensures shared values between the stakeholders, thereby improving likelihood that they will be able to work together in a mutually beneficial manner as supplier and buyers for years to come.

Case Notes

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Chapter 13: Leadership Perspectives Summary Hambi Ulakaya, a Turkish immigrant, is founder and leader of Chobani. He took considerable risks starting and growing this business. For example, he purchased an old Kroger cheese manufacturing plant and hired all the recently fired employees. His philosophy is to make a quality product using only natural, healthy ingredients. His endeavor has paid off in that now Chobani has over 20% of the yogurt market.

Analysis By his actions, Ulakaya shows that he genuinely cares about his employees—paying them significantly more than they had earned at Kroger and giving every employee an ownership stake in the company. His management approach has resulted in low turnover, thus reducing the costs of hiring and training new employees. He has proven to be more than just a manger— he is actually a different kind of leader.

Case Questions 1. How has Ulakaya’s different approach to running a business been his most valuable attribute?

Ulakaya is a risk taker. He is willing to produce an outstanding product while treating his employees as equal partners, offering them a stake in his company and paying them aboveaverage wages. He differentiated his product from that of his likely competitors.

2. Could there be any potential weaknesses associated with Chobani’s corporate philosophy?

The higher costs of labor and ingredients makes Chobani more expensive. Customers are willing to buy his products and pay a premium for the higher quality. In a weaker economy, customers may choose less expensive yogurts. Additionally, Chobani must have a succession plan in place in the event that Ulakaya is no longer able to lead the company.

3. Why might a leader not necessarily be a good manager? And vice-versa?

A leader creates a vision and influences others to achieve this vision, while a manager’s role is to ensure the smooth running of operations. Some leaders are able to create a vision and inspire followers but are totally unable to take care of the day-to-day operations or to maintain stability. Likewise, a manager may have excellent administrative skills but not be able to create a vision or inspire followers.

Case Notes

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Chapter 14: Influence, Power, and Politics Summary Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz has written that “employees are the true ambassadors of our brand,” and the company has been harnessing the influential power of its employees, known as partners, online by encouraging them to post about their jobs on TikTok and other social media platforms. In addition to its employee influencer program, Starbucks also measures “customer connection” scores at every location to measure the impact of employees as brand ambassadors.

Analysis In Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul, three-time Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz writes,” Employees are the true ambassadors of our brand, the real merchants of romance and theater, and as such the primary catalysts for delighting customers.”

Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971, Starbucks boasts over $29 billion in annual revenue and Starbucks’ iconic green twin-tailed siren adorns nearly 35,000 locations in 83 countries and territories worldwide.

Case Questions 1. Organizational and personal power are typically inward focused between employees and managers. Describe a way in which Starbucks turned its power outside, facing customers.

The Starbucks influencer program is an example of using personal power, which comes from within an individual and is independent of the level of position they hold within the organization, by having its employees use their authentic voices on social media to persuade customer interest and loyalty.

2. How are the beliefs of Generation Z consumers changing companies’ behavior in influence and marketing?

The digital native Generation Z values transparency, authenticity, and online influence, according to a recent McKinsey & Company report. Starbucks’ use of employees rather than celebrities as the cornerstone of their influencer program is an example of how Generation Z’s desire for authenticity is changing corporate strategies behind marketing and influence.

3. The case contrasts examples of commitment (to the employee influencer program) and resistance (to the customer connection score requirements). Think about a time you saw different influence tactic outcomes among your coworkers. How did your manager respond?

How would you try to bring employees to compliance or commitment?

Answers will vary but should refer to elements of commitment and resistance.

Case Notes

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Chapter 15: Organizations and Culture Summary Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot co-founder and CTO, was once a skeptic about the value of organizational culture, but he came to realize that culture is the secret ingredient to growing a large organization. It is what ensures that people will make decisions aligned with a company’s strategy and values even when leaders are not present. He came to obsess over culture like a product because “culture is a product,’ and published HubSpot’s Culture Code in 2013 to describe a virtuous circle of building a culture as a company builds its product.

Analysis HubSpot’s commitment to defining and publishing its Culture Code leaves no room for debate about its internal values and behaviors, nor the possibility of “culture fit” being used as a shield to hire a homogenous workforce.

Case Questions 1. Do you agree with Dharmesh’s supposition that culture is a product? Why or why not?

Answers will vary. Shah argues that HubSpot’s employees are the customers of its culture “product” and used many elements of product development methodology to develop and refine its organizational culture.

2. Have you been a member of an organization with a great culture statement? How do you think it was put into practice?

Answers will vary, but should provide examples of how a culture statement that was put into practice, if applicable.

3. Have you ever been on the wrong end of a “culture fit” hiring or firing decision? Would a clearer explanation of that organization’s values have helped in the situation?

Answers will vary. Shah said that when you have an organization that does not have a clearly defined culture, you are really saying that you hire people just like yourself when you say you “hire for a culture fit.”

Case Notes Chapter 16: Organizational Change and Structure Summary As a company, General Electric can trace its roots back to Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent light bulb. To remain a viable, successful company, GE has had to constantly adapt, becoming an innovator in technology, investing in many new businesses, and

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redesigning old ones. Today, GE has products in diverse markets, including home appliances, industrial technology, and financial services

Analysis Despite some setbacks during its history, including the 2008 financial crisis, GE has prospered by constantly adapting to external forces. Specifically, GE invested heavily in research and development to ensure that they were always in front of the pack in their relevant technology. It has faced internal resistance to change and focused on getting employees to see the need for change. Nevertheless, GE’s future success is in doubt as it faces dividend cuts, pension liabilities, and being dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Index.

Case Questions 1. Name two transformations that GE has undergone since the turn of the century.

In 2000, Jeff Immelt replaced long-term CEO Jack Welch. Under his leadership, GE transformed GE Capital and other business units to emphasize supporting GE’s core industrial activities. GE doubled its investment in R&D to ensure that they are at the front of the pack in their technology.

2. What is an external force? Describe one which GE had to react to.

An external force is an event or trend in the outside world. These may include customers’ demographic characteristics, technological advancements, customer and market changes, social and political pressures, or generational changes.

GE had to react to the financial crisis of 2008.

3. Why is GE an open case?

In 2018, GE was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Index, despite being an original member of this index, which was created in 1896.

GE has the biggest pension deficit of any company on Standard and Poor’s 500 Index. Their deficit in 2018 is over $28 billion. GE has cut their shareholder dividends. To adapt to these problems, GE will have to raise capital and sell off business units.