CASE - 1

Overview of Case 1

• 1st case is based on Albertsons, which is a huge grocery and drug store company.

• Company hired Larry Johnston during its fall of profits.

• When Johnston was in GE, he successfully sorted out a serious problem by initiating important changes and with the help of a training specialist named Ed Foreman.

• Ed Foreman provided motivation and attitude training program called the Successful Life Course.

Overview of Case 1(cont’d)

• The objective of this particular program is to grow confidence, team work and most importantly improving the employees’ attitude.

• This program was also applied to Albertsons. • Program acted as a critical bridge linking

employees with customers and also influenced positively Albertson’s profitability.

• Foreman’s program brought success at companies like Allstate, Milliken & Co. and Abbott Labs.

Question 1: Explain the logic as to how foreman’s 3-day course could positively

influence Albertson’s profitability?

Solution to Question No.- 1

• Albertsons is a grocery and drug company and deals with customer acquisition and retention. It’s business contains a huge opportunity for customer service. By establishing an energetic and committed workforce or “associates”, it can gradually move towards increased profitability. This is exactly what the Foreman’s 3-day course was designed and intended for.

Cause & Effect analysis of different parts of the program

• Providing inspirational handouts positive impression about the program

• Yoga concentration towards the training program• Working on their confidence level positive attribute

about the product and service• Explaining “attitude” and motivation for optimistic

attitude come out positively while serving the customers

• Lecture on diet and exercise physical fitness of the employees

• Working on team spirit greater cooperation among the employees

Content of course Benefit

Yoga, mind control relaxation exercise, climbing hill

Mental well-being

Lecture on diet, exercise Physical well-being

Group hugs, team spirit Emotional well-being

Question 2: Johnston says, “positive attitude is the single biggest thing that can change a business.” how valid and generalizable do

you think this statement is?

Solution to Question No.- 2• Attitude: Evaluative statements or judgments concerning

objectives, people or events.• In other words, it is the predisposition or a tendency to

respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, object, person or situation.

• Positive attitude is held to be a significant factor in changing a business performance. It helps in the following manners-– Increases confidence – Helps in maintaining better customer relationship– Ensures in making the best use of the potentials of the

associates– Makes the workers to deliver better performance in course of

work

Solution to Question No.- 2(cont’d)

• But the statement cannot be said as a valid and generalizable statement as the positive attitude is claimed to be the single biggest factor that can change a business. Certainly, there are other factors involved that help in turning on a business.

Question 3: If you were Johnston, what could you do to evaluate the effectiveness of

your $10 million investment in Foreman’s training program?

Solution to Question No.- 3

• The effectiveness of the $10 million investment in Foreman’s training program can be evaluated by assessing the following things:– Efficiency of the employees– Team-spirit for better co-operation – Communication skill with the customers for delivering

better service.– Confidence level of the associates– Positive attitude– Retention of higher profit.

Question 4: If you were an Albertsons employee, how would you feel about going through Foremans’s course? Explain your

position.

Solution to Question No.- 4

• Starts each morning at 6 am.• inspirational handout followed by yoga like

stretching• March up hill, chanting “I know I can”• Lectures on attitude• Lectures on diet and exercise• Group hugs, team activities• Mind control relaxation exercise

CASE - 2

Overview of Case 2

• 2nd case incident revolves around some individuals working at different professions and their satisfaction at their jobs even their long hour work week.

• John Bishop, an investment banker is a little skewed to the workaholic, but realistically, expecting 90 to 100 hours a week is not at all unusual to him.

• Irene Tse, head of the govt. bond trading division at Goldman Sachs shows enthusiasm towards her job and never desires to quit her work even for a day.

Overview of Case 1(cont’d)• Tony Kurts, managing director at Capital Alliance

Partners & his girl friend Avery Baker, senior vice president of marketing for Tommy Hilfiger, have to travel to different locations and maintain hectic work schedule which cause difficulties maintaining their relationship. But even so, they both like their jobs.

• David Clark, the vice president of global marketing for MTV also travels around the globe to promote the channel and to keep up with the global music scene. He also has work pressure and can hardly spend time with his son. But the demand of these jobs to others motivates him to do their work.

Overview of Case 1(cont’d)

• Many individuals would balk at the prospect of a 60 hour work week with constant traveling and little time for anything else. But these job can also be satisfying to some individuals.

Question 1: Do you think that only certain individuals are attracted to these types of jobs, or it is the characteristics of the jobs

themselves that are satisfying?

Solution to Question No.- 1• I think that the characteristics of the jobs

themselves are not that satisfying because they are-– Highly time consuming– Often very stressful– And these sort of jobs keep the employees away from

their families.

• Thus, only certain individuals are attracted to these types of jobs. These employees hold certain characteristics like-– They are workaholic

Solution to Question No.- 1(cont’d)

– Mostly they give higher priority to professionalism than their personal life.

– They find their jobs appealing to others.– The job offers higher status in the society.

• Example: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2004, only about 17%of the managers worked more than 60 hours per week.

Question 2: What are some characteristics of these jobs that might contribute to greater

levels of job satisfaction?

Solution to Question No.- 2

• John Bishop-advancement opportunities, salary, as well as independency

• Irene-independency, challenging and stimulating characteristics of the job

• Tiny Kruz- in a high rank and gets a high amount of salary and travels to exotic locations

• David Clark- traveling around the globe to promote the channel (finds it interesting), getting a high salary.

Question 3: Given that the 4 individuals we just read about tend to be satisfied abut their jobs, how might this satisfaction relate to their job performance, citizenship behavior, turnover?

• Job performance: Job satisfaction of the employees are positively related with their performance . Each of the individuals serves for the respective organizations to the best of their sincerity and effort.

• Citizenship Behavior: Citizenship behavior is the discretionary behavior that is providing job performance beyond expectation and speaking positively about the organization.

John Bishop and Irene Tse are willing to provide job performance even more than they currently do and expose positively abut their work.

though job satisfaction of tony Kurtz and David Clark brings excellent job performance, they are neutral about citizenship behavior. They don’t seem outperform themselves, neither do they come out with voluntary positive exposure to others.

• Turnover: Job satisfaction of these individuals are negatively relative with turnover.

John Bishop and Irene are highly motivated by their work. They would serve for the organization even more beyond expectation; let alone withdrawal for the job.

Kurtz and Baker are satisfied with their jobs because of the opportunity of traveling to exotic locations. Although their hectic work schedule makes it difficult to maintain their relationship, they won’t quit the job.

David Clark is satisfied because of the perceived demand for his job to others. That’s why he is unwilling to quit the job.

Question 4: recall David Clark’s statement, “there are plenty of people who would love to have this job. They are knocking on the door all the time.” how might Clark’s perceptions of

having a job that many others desire contribute to his job satisfaction?

Solution to Question No.- 4