Suggestions:

Have students work through the questions and decision tree on page 326 of the text. Be sure to note that these are group, not individual, problems. Additionally, suggest that they use Model B which is discussed at the bottom of page 328 and top of 329. It is a good idea to form groups after they have made their individual decisions and obtain a group consensus decision. The suggested correct answers are shown below each case.

Decision-Problem 1*

You have recently been appointed manager of a new plant which is presently under construction. Your group of five department heads has been selected, and they are now working with you in selecting their own staff, purchasing their equipment, and generally anticipating the problems that are likely to arise when you move into the plant in three months.

Yesterday you received from the architect a final set of plans for the building, and for the first time you examined the office facilities that will be available. You were shocked to learn that only four offices will be available and you have a need for six. Furthermore, and for reasons you do not understand, the plans cannot be changed and construction will proceed accordingly. So you are faced with the dilemma of having only four offices to house six people. 

Up to now there have been no obvious status differences within the group.  To be sure, there are salary differences, with your administrative, manufacturing, and engineering managers receiving slightly more than the quality control and industrial relations managers.  Each has recently been promoted to the new position and expects a proper office as a consequence of his/her new status.  From past experience you know that people feel strongly about things which would be indicative of their status.  You are reluctant to do anything which might get their relationships off to a bad start.

Suggested Answer: 	GII
Answers to the questions:	A. no; B. -; C. -; D. yes; E. no
Feasible set:	GII

What Actually Happened (Theoretically)*
The plant manager used Facilitate. After about 20 minutes of discussion, the group (including the plant manager) decided that they would construct two offices in an adjacent building and then rotate the 5 managers through the offices in the main building and the adjacent one. 

Problem-Decision 2

You are a manufacturing manager in a large electronics plant.  The company’s management has always been searching for ways of increasing efficiency.  They have recently installed new production software and put in a new simplified work system, but to the surprise of everyone, including you, the expected increase in productivity was not realized.  In fact, production has begun to drop, quality has fallen off, and the number of employee separations has risen.

You do not believe that there is anything wrong with the software. You have had reports from other companies who are using it, and they confirm this opinion.  You have also had representatives from the firm that developed the software to re-test it, and they report that that everything is operating as promised. 

You suspect that some parts of the new work system may be responsible for the change, but this view is not widely shared by either your supply manager or your immediate subordinates, who are four first-line supervisors, each in charge of a section.  The drop in production has been variously attributed to poor training of the operators, lack of an adequate system of financial incentives, and poor morale.  Clearly, this is an issue about which there is considerable depth of feeling within individuals and potential disagreement between your subordinates.  You seriously doubt that any of your group knows “for sure” the real cause of the productivity drop.

This morning you received a phone call from your division manager.  He had just received your production figures for the last six months and was calling to express his concern.  He indicated that the problem was yours to solve in a way that you think best but that he would like to know within a week what steps you plan to take.

You share your division manager’s concern with the falling productivity and know that your people are also concerned.  The problem is to decide what steps to take to rectify the situation

Suggested Answer:		GII
Answers to the questions:	A. yes; B. no; C. no; D. yes; E. no; F. yes; G. -; H. no	
Feasible set:			CII, GII

What actually happened (theoretically):
The manufacturing manager used GII. The group could not agree after a two-hour meeting. The majority felt that the most likely cause was the new work system introduced along with the new software. They decided to do an experiment to verify this cause and resolve their dispute. Two sections redesigned their work systems. The results proved conclusively to all that the work system was the key variable. 
Decision-Problem 3*

You have recently been appointed vice president in charge of advertising for a large manufacturing company.  The company has 20 sales outlets all located in the Midwest.  Historically, the company has operated in a highly decentralized fashion with each of the outlet managers encouraged to operate with only a minimal control and direction from the corporate office.  In the area of advertising, each of the marketing executives who report to the outlet manager does the purchasing for his/her outlet with little or no coordination with other marketing executives and employing procedures that are far from standardized.

Your position was created when it began to appear to the president that the company was likely to face increasing difficulty in securing “normal” level funding for advertising.  In order to protect the company against this possibility, the present haphazard decentralized arrangement must be abandoned or at least modified to meet the current problems.

You were chosen for the position because of your extensive background in corporate advertising with another firm that operated in a much more centralized fashion.  Your appointment was announced in the last issue of the company magazine.  You are anxious to get started, particularly since the peak selling season is now only a couple of months away. A procedure must be established which will minimize the likelihood of serious advertising gaps, and, secondarily, achieve the economics associated with the added power of centralized purchasing of advertising.

Suggested Answer:	CII
Answers to the Questions: 	A. yes; B. no; C. yes or no; D. yes; E. no; F. no; G. Yes
Feasible set:			CII

What actually happened (theoretically):
The manager used AI and none of the marketing executives responded to his letter asking for product information and proposing a meeting in headquarters.

*Adapted from Vroom, Victor H.  and Jago, Arthur. 1988. The New Leadership.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.