Running Head: FINAL CASE ASSIGNMENT 1

Final Case Assignment

Dulce Perez

South Texas College

ORGL 4341 – Management Theory I

Dr. Kristina Wilson

7/01/2018
FINAL CASE ASSIGNMENT 2

Function I

Being the manager of seventy-five employees from ages 25 to 61 is no easy task,

especially when these employees come from nine different countries such as Asia, Europe,

and South and Central America. It is important to keep employees motivated in order to see

good results in the workplace, but how does one motivate employees when the business is

going through lean times and there is no more reward budget to give?

According to the book “Management A Focus on Leaders, Chapter Three” there are

many ways employees can be motivated and demotivated in the workplace (Mckee, 2014).

As explained, different cultures are motivated differently, this includes personality, gender,

and age. Therefore, it is important as leaders to observant and take every employee under

consideration when making decisions; which according to 3.10 in the book, this type of

leadership is called empathy (Mckee, 2014).

In order to keep all employees motivated there are three theories one must know, which

are hierarchy of needs, ERG theory, and the two-factor-theory. Abraham Maslow’s

hierarchy of needs theory explains how employees are motivated with only self-motivation,

which means they are motivated by satisfying their human needs. The ERG Theory created

by Clayton Alderfer states how employees are motivated by existence, relatedness, and

growth. The last theory called the two-factor-theory created by Frederick Herzberg, states

how employees can be motivated and demotivated based on motivators and hygiene factors

– meaning employees can be both motivated and demotivated based on high-order needs

and physical/psychological aspects (Mckee, 2014).

Therefore, as the leader of a business I would familiarize myself with the ten

motivational theories, which are hierarchy of needs, ERG, two-factor, three-needs, equity,

expectancy, goal-setting, self-determination, operant conditioning, and the social learning

FINAL CASE ASSIGNMENT 3

theory. By familiarizing myself with all ten, I am expanding my knowledge in order to

understand people and the different ways they can be motivated.

Function II

According to “Management a Focus on Leaders, Chapter Nine” There are two types of

organizations, which are called starfish and spider. The spider organization is more of a

hierarchy, decisions are made by the most important people in the chain of command. The

reason this organization is called spider is because it works as one, the head of the spider

tends to be the most important, while the legs of the spider are the rest of the employees.

The leader tells the rest what to do, which works as a chain of command, going down to the

front-line staff, while the starfish organization is completely different. The starfish

organization is more united, employees including leaders help each other succeed (Mckee,

2014).

By my research I have realize the government in McAllen works more as a spider

organization. Starting at the top is the mayor, Jim Darling which is the head of the spider

who gives order until they reach the front-line staff. Following the mayor are the six city

commissioners who are in charge of the tax rates, policies, budget, pay rates, and even

identify local issues. The city commissioners in my point of view are not the head nor the

legs of a spider, they are more like in between. They still take order from the mayor, but

also give order to other front-line staff.

Function III

For a business to succeed there must be respect and understanding in the workplace

and anything said or done can be misinterpreted by any individual. Therefore, it is

important to be careful with one’s actions and think before speaking. For example, in the

case of Richard, who is an Asian American young man who works for a consulting firm
FINAL CASE ASSIGNMENT 4

and was asked by his mentor to take on the task of speaking to an Asian American CEO.

Although this may seem normal to many, if I were to put myself in Richard’s shoes I would

feel stereotyped.

We live in a country where there is a lot of diversity, therefore Richard’s case may

seem normal to many, but what makes me think otherwise is not the fact that Richard was

asked to speak to an Asian American CEO, but the fact that Richard’s Mentor referred to

the CEO as Asian American. That is where stereotyping and prejudice happen.

According to the book “Management A Focus on Leaders, Chapter Four”

stereotypes and prejudice are characteristics of poor communication. Stereotyping is when

someone is negatively bias and judges other, while prejudice is linked to stereotyping and is

usually an irrational attitude towards another individual (Mckee, 2014). The fact that

Richard’s mentor referred to the CEO as Asian American makes him bias; there are many

ways the mentor could have told Richard about the assignment without having to mention

race. If I were Richard, I would perceive that my inclusion on the business is because of my

race, but I also believe that could be a great opportunity to show my capabilities.

I believe it is important to have variety in a business for it to succeed, it is always

good to have different minds thinking together because it helps employees open their minds

to new experiences and think differently. Although, if employees are stereotyping others

based on race, gender, and other differences the probability of having problems at work and

creating a hostile environment become very prone to happen. Therefore, I do believe

Richard’s mentor must change his/her way of thinking.

Function IV

According to “Management a Focus on Leaders, Chapter Twelve” the control

process is a system which establishes standards, it is a way of achieving one’s goals and
FINAL CASE ASSIGNMENT 5

monitoring one’s progress. The control process is good for organizations for many reason,

it helps organizations measure and compare one’s performance, which helps the

organization correct past errors and develop new strategies (Mckee, 2014). Therefore, every

organization and business have a control process, for instance colleges and universities.

For every college and university, student performance is very important. Institutions

must see how many students graduate per year and try to bring the numbers up in order to

be recognized as good institutions. Therefore, institutions must find ways to help and make

students succeed. For example, at South Texas College one must take the TSI exam to be

accepted, another requirement would be a minimum GPA of 2.0 in order to graduate, if

students do not meet those requirements, they are forest to either take the classes again and

get better grades or take more classes to bring up their GPA.

Although, different programs have different requirements. For example, to be in the

bachelor’s program and graduate one must gave at least a 2.5 GPA. The nursing program

on the other hand tends to be one of the strictest programs at South Texas College, students

are required to take the HESI test to be in the program and must have at least a 3.0 GPA,

which means they must all classes with A’s and B’s.

Another way South Texas College controls students’ academic outcomes would be

with exams. As I mentioned before, for a student to be accepted at South Texas College

students must take the TSI exam. Although, taking the exam does not mean they must pass.

For those students who score less than the required score, remedial classes are mandatory

and are meant to prepare students for college level materials. But, the TSI is not the only

exam students must take. There are many exams depending on what program students want

to join, and there are other exams for students who are not high school ready, these exams

are the ACT, SAT, GED, and Pearson Vue.

FINAL CASE ASSIGNMENT 6

Reference

McKee, Annie. (2014). Management: Focus on Leaders. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Person
Education.