Course study guide
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1 Course Study Guide Course code: INDU 1111 (2015) Course title: Managing the Performance of Individuals Course leader: Dr Max Tookey
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1
Course Study Guide
Course code: INDU 1111 (2015)
Course title: Managing the Performance of Individuals
Course leader: Dr Max Tookey
2
Contents
1. WELCOME
3
2. INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
2.1 Aims
2.2 Learning outcomes
2.2.1 Knowledge and understanding of:
2.2.2 Intellectual skills
2.2.3 Subject practical skills
2.2.4 Transferable skills
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
2.3 LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES 5
3. CONTACT DETAILS 5
4. COURSE CONTENT 6
5. READING LIST 8
6. ASSEMENT DETAILS 9
6. 1 Detailed description of Assessment
9
6.1a Case on organizational psychopathy 9
6.1b Case on emotional labour 11
6.1c Case on psychological contracts
13
7. Other details
20
3
1.Welcome!
Welcome to the course Managing the Performance of Individuals, course code INDU 1111. This
handbook outlines the key details for this course but please also refer to the course Moodle site for
information. This course focuses specifically on the subject Organisational Behaviour (OB) which
looks at the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in
organizations. It interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole
group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by
achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives. Throughout this course a
range of ideas associated with research and theory in the area of OB will be examined, with a view to
throwing light on a crucial area of the business world.
Managing the Performance of Individuals is a level 1 course which forms part one of a suite of
courses where the overarching theme is human behaviour within work organisations. This course is
followed in year 2 by OB2 (Teams and Groups) and OB3 (Leadership) in year 3. If you have any
comments of queries about the module, please feel free to make an appointment with me. I hope you
all enjoy the course, good luck!
Cheers Max (Dr T)
2.1 Introduction to the Course
People play a large role in how businesses are run. From the smallest enterprise to the largest
corporation, organisations are created and designed by people to achieve organisational objectives.
Organisational behaviour (OB) seeks to understand how we can best do this. The more managers and
employers understand human behaviour the more employees can be inspired and motivated. This
course will introduce you to management theory, theories of motivation and management
performance techniques.
2.2 Aims
To prepare students to be effective members and managers of workplace teams; particularly through
understanding the nature of work performance and by having an awareness of the behavioural levers
which managers can apply to improve the performance and job satisfaction of individuals.
2.3 Learning Outcomes
2.2.1 Knowledge and understanding of:
Students will be introduced to the “human dimension of management” and its role in enhancing
performance, looking at the nature of performance and its relationship in enhancing job satisfaction.
The course will also give students a knowledge of the differences between individuals and how this
can affect performance - incorporating some new areas of research associated with individual
differences, This will include emotional labour, psychological contracts in the workplace and the
impact of corporate psychopathy. The course will also include some classic subjects that have
influenced work behaviour, including the study of motivation and research which aims to predict how
people will behave in the workplace. The idea of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and their
effectiveness in enhancing performance will also be studied, along with the formal processes for
monitoring and assessing work performance such as appraisal. Processes for predicting the future
performance of individuals such as psychometric testing will also be examined, along with an analysis
of the tools for improving performance such as job redesign, job enrichment, empowerment and
flexible working.
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2.2.2 Intellectual Skills:
This course will have a wide breadth of outlook. This will include an awareness of the differences
between individuals and the wide range of interventions which can be applied to influence them.
Moreover, students will also need to develop an understanding of the ethical responsibilities of
management in relation to the motivation of their staff teams. Students will also learn to discriminate
between the short term impact and the long term effect of management interventions and will learn
about personal effectiveness in terms of planning their time, researching and working as part of a
team in the preparation of their work.
2.2.3 Subject practical skills:
Students will have a practical knowledge of appraisals, managing reward systems, motivation
techniques and recruitment and selection techniques.
2.2.4 Transferable skills:
The transferable skills associated with this course are associated with critical thinking – for example,
evaluating and criticising theoretical models of motivation. Moreover, students will also learn about
effective information management, communication skills, effective writing through completing
assignments and oral communication through discussion and presentations.
2.3 Learning and teaching activities
The knowledge base of the course will be transmitted through lectures, reading and self-managed
research. Furthermore, understanding will be gained through seminar discussion and tutor
explanation, and intellectual and communication skills will be mediated through tutorial activity such
as group work, debate, problem solving, presentations, case studies etc. Moreover, activities
appropriate to the particular needs and level of the students will be determined through the
professional judgment of the course leader.
3. Contact details
Course leader Room Email address Phone number
Dr Max Tookey QA156 [email protected] 0208 331 8247
Teaching team
Rosemary Briggs
Kay Diment
Catherine Farrant
Dr Jing Luo
Dr David Shaw
Dr Laura WIlliams
Admin Programme Co-ordinator
Alison Draper [email protected] 0208 331 8356
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4. Course Content – all lectures by Dr Max Tookey
Week
beginning
Week
Session
Lecture title and description
Seminar
Reading or
preparation (see
next table for
details of specific
course books)
12/01/15
17
Session 1
Introduction – The Nature and Meaning
of Organisational Behaviour. Looking at:
*what is an organisation?
*what influences behaviour in
organisations?
* ways of conceptualising organisations
* The role of management as an
integrating activity
Introductory
tutorial,
course outline
and
assessment
Mullins (2007)
‘Management and
Organisational
Behaviour’ 8th edition,
Chapter 1, pages 1-17,
Chapter 13, 503-504
19/01/15 18 Session 2 Rationalist approaches to organisations.
Looking at:
* the classical school, the concept of ‘one
best way’
* bureaucracy – Weber
* principles of management – Fayol
* scientific management – Taylor, Ford
Case study:
Gareth
Morgan’s
metaphors
Mullins (2007)
‘Management and
Organisational
Behaviour’ 8th edition,
Chapter 2, pages 1-51
26/01/15 19 Session 3 Humanist and contingency approaches to
managing organisations. Looking at:
*the Humanist approach, The Hawthorne
studies
* the systems approach
* Japanese Management Theory
* Contingency approaches
Mullins (2007)
‘Management and
Organisational
Behaviour’ 8th edition,
Chapter 2, pages 51-73
02/02/15 20 Session 4 The nature and theory of motivation and
performance management. Looking at:
*content and process approaches to
understanding motivation
* Maslow, Hertzberg, McClelland-
content theories
* Vroom, Lawler, Adams- process
theories
Mullins (2007)
‘Management and
Organisational
Behaviour’ 8th edition,
Chapter 7, pages 250-
296
09/02/15 21 Session 5 Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and their
effectiveness in enhancing performance.
Looking at:
* translating theory into practical reward
based management
* performance related pay
Surgery –
assignment
guidance
Mullins (2007)
‘Management and
Organisational
Behaviour’ 8th edition,
Chapter 7, pages 268-
274
6
4. Course Content (cont.)
Week
beginning
Week
Session
Lecture title and description
Seminar
Reading or
preparation (see
next table for
details of specific
course books)
16/02/15
23
Session 7
What is emotional intelligence -an
examination of the relevance of this concept to
the study of workplace behaviour.
Case study :The
business case for
emotional
intelligence
Mullins (2007)
‘Management and
Organisational
Behaviour’ 8th edition,
Chapter 13, pages 493-
501
23/02/15 24 Session 8 An overview of emotional labour at work Case study:
Emotional
Management at
the
Neighborhood
Dollar Store
Fineman.S (2000)
Emotions in
Organisations
02/02/15 25 Session 9 An overview of psychological contracts in the
workplace Case study:
Psychological
Contract is an Implicit
Agreement
Del Campo>R (2007)
“Understanding the
psychological contract: a
direction for the future” Management Research
News Vol. 30 (6) pp. 432-440
09/03/15 26 Session 10 Processes for predicting the future
performance of individuals. Looking at: * The bearing of personality in the workplace
– focusing on nomethic and idiographic
approachs
* types of psychometric testing * reliability and predictive validity
Mullins (2007)
‘Management and
Organisational
Behaviour’ 8th edition,
Chapter 4, pages 134-
157
16/03/15
Possible guest
speaker
27 Session 11 The differences between individuals and how
this affects performance. Looking specifically
at the rise of the corporate psychopath.
Boddy. C (2010)
Corporate psychopaths
and organisational type
Journal of Public Affairs
10 pp300–312
23/03/15 28 Session 12 SUPPORTED OPEN LEARNING SESSION
USING LECTURE SLIDES POSTED ON-
LINE – NO FORMAL CLASSES. An quiz
on different aspects of the course so far will be
posted on-line
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4. Course Content (cont.)
Week
beginning
Week
Session
Lecture title and description
Seminar
Reading or
preparation
(see next table
for details of
specific course
books)
30/03/15
28 Session 12 Revision lecture Exam technique
and practice
Easter Holiday – 3rd
– 24th
April
24/04/15 30 Session 13 Revision lecture Final revision
lecture – course
overview
Exam period 1st-31
st May
5. Reading list
Author(s) Year published Title Publisher
Andrzej, A
and
Buchanan, D
2007 Organizational Behaviour Prentice Hall, Financial
Times
Arnold,J et al 2010 Work Psychology: Understanding
Human Behaviour in the Workplace Prentice Hall
Babula.M 2013 Motivation, Altruism, Personality and
Social Psychology: The Coming Age of
Altruism
Palgave Macmillan
Bloisi, W 2003 Management and Organisational
Behaviour McGraw Hill Education
Bratton, J 2007 Work and Organizational Behaviour Palgrave Macmillan
Mullins.L 2007 Management and Organisational
Behaviour Prentice Hall –
Financial times
Rolinson, D 2008 Organisational Behaviour and Analysis Pearson Education
Watson,T 2005 Organising and Managing Work, (2nd
Edition) Harlow, Prentice-Hall
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6. Assessment Details
Assessment title Weight
towards final
grade
Pass
mark Length Due date Return date Header sheet #
Case based essay
(choice of 1 out of 2) 50% 40% 2000 30/03/15 –
3pm
01/05/15
Examination Structure t.b.d
50% 40% 2hours May 2015 Date t.b.d
6.1 Detailed description of assessment
Please answer one of the following three case studies – 6.1a, 6.1b or 6.1c
6.1a If you want to answer the case study assignment on organisational psychopathy,
please select the following case.
Organisational Psychopathy – the case of Violeta
Violeta is a 30 year old Spanish Woman who spent most of her working life in the United States in
the area of law enforcement. After achieving a good degree in forensic science from a prestigious
East Coast college, she worked as a psychological profiler for the FBI before being head-hunted by
the CIA to train agents in profiling techniques. She subsequently produced a series of books on her
knowledge of this area, and with the royalties she made (together with her salary from the CIA and a
substantial alimony payment from her divorce) reached a stage in her life where she had acquired
some wealth, and was (by some) revered in her area of work
However, it appeared that there were various "skeletons in the closet" about Violeta's
conduct in the past which she appeared to be very good at keeping quiet about. For
instance, there was speculation that she had cheated in her FBI training by manipulating
one of her tutors into writing a large assignment for her. When this was exposed, she
took out a lawsuit, which was subsequently dropped when evidence was presented
against her. It was also suggested that the authenticity of the books which were "ghost-
written" for her was debatable, with many ex-colleagues suggesting that numerous
accounts of her crime-fighting career were "highly embellished". Finally, Violetta
confessed to a friend that that her previous marriage to one of the CIA's top directors
represented an easy way of obtaining a "Green Card" and ultimately full US citizenship,
whilst enjoying the trappings of a financially lucrative relationship.
But Violeta didn't waste any of her time thinking about the past. She realised that the wealth she
accumulated was not enough for her, and she was hungry to exploit her knowledge and experience to
gain a position that would give her more financial security and professional gravitas. Although the
CIA recognised that Violeta could be ruthless and cruel when it came to getting information from
people, she also had a reputation for being absolutely "charming" when it came to winning people
over in high level meetings and important functions. And with these excellent impression
management skills, she managed to secure a meeting with a senior partner from a multinational
professional services and consultancy companies.
While Violeta's work experience was in a slightly different area, she managed to convince the partner
that she would be an asset to the organisation. Having wined and dined him and undergone a "brief
but useful" relationship with him, she was finally offered the position of “senior security consultant” -
where her brief was to utilise her skills and experiences to advise clients, prepare reports, and present
findings on a variety of security related issues.
9
It could be said that Violeta “managed up” very well, and she was very skilled in winning over the
senior partners of the firm, or at least the males, with her charm and intelligence. As friendly as she
was with the male partners, she was far more distant from the female partners, who she regarded as
competitors. However, she treated support staff terribly, and frequently made unreasonable demands.
When a secretary questioned her about the difficulties she was having in preparing a report, she made
it very clear that she would not tolerate any insubordination from “people like her” and rather curtly
said - “don’t you know who I am”?
And while she appeared to initially get along with her peers, some got the impression that her dealings
with her colleagues where more “strategic” than genuine. Indeed, many got the impression that
Violeta’s working relationships were centered on her own “agenda” and what she could get from
someone. Furthermore, on one occasion she blatantly took unreasonable credit for a piece of work
that she actually contributed very little towards. While many of the senior partners where very
impressed by what she had presented, the colleagues who had actually worked with her where
dismayed!
But probably Violeta’s greatest skill was how she dealt with clients, who were often enamored by her.
One on occasion she orchestrated a lavish meeting with an important group of clients in an expensive
five star hotel, and when the chief financial officer of the client company complained about the
additional costs and her demands, she was very convincing in suggesting how these were justified.
However, a senior member of her firm’s financial staff began to have serious concerns about her use
of company money. These included visits to lavish restaurants and trips abroad, which were deemed
to be unnecessary. On one trip she even found the time to get a portrait painted of her, which she
displayed proudly in her office! She was summoned to a meeting to explain her actions, but before
this happened, she launched a complaint of harassment against this staff member. In a fit of rage, she
claimed that her colleague made some wildly inappropriate and personal comments against her that
made her feel very uncomfortable. She additionally threatened to take out a lawsuit, which would
have damaging implications for the reputation of the company. Although none of this could actually
be proved, the staff member was duly sacked, and it seemed that any concerns about Violeta’s use of
company expenses seemed to be forgotten.
Although many of her colleagues were becoming to have serious concerns at working with her, this
did not stop Violeta’s progress through the company. She was popular with senior staff, and over
time she was given the position of partner. Over the years some other incidents emerged about her
conduct – most notably her ability to get extra work from her client groups, and not pay tax on her
earnings (using off-shore bank accounts). But many senior partners thought that she “had what it
took” to generate business for this company, and for now, her future was secure.
Questions
1. Based on what you know about organisational psychopathy, justify how Violeta’s behaviour could
be recognised as “psychopathic”? In your answer, please make reference to at least one of the
suggested articles and other sources you feel are relevant (answer worth 50%)*
2. If someone you knew worked with an individual like Violeta what advice would you give them?
Again, please make reference to at least one of the suggested research articles and other sources your
feel are relevant (answer worth 50%)*
10
6.1b If you want to answer the case study assignment on emotional labour, please select the
following case.
Emotional management at the Neighbour-hood Dollar-store
The Neighbour-hood Dollar-Store is a training business located in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) and
run by Affirmative Industries Nova Scotia. It offers people with disabilities an opportunity to learn to
work in a store that is open to the public. ‘Ready for work’ is the slogan of the programme, which can
be found for example on the letterhead of the store. Trainees (who are called employees in the store,
even if they are unpaid) benefit from a close accompaniment by several job coaches. They learn the
basic principles of the retail (and customer service) industry, as, for example, receiving, pricing,
merchandising, doing cash, doing customer service, inventory etc. The idea behind having a training
business is to provide hands-on experience in a setting that allows mistakes and that gives trainees the
time to get used to the expectations at their own pace.
The different tasks in the store are organized in a somewhat hierarchical manner. Trainees start off in
the backroom receiving items, pricing, then starting to do merchandising in the store at the same time
as being available for customer service. “Being on cash” is the last task employees usually start doing
in the store, it comes after all the other things as receiving, merchandising, closing and cleaning
duties. It therefore signifies a huge step forward for the employees once they are allowed to “do cash”
with real money and real customers (before the “real cash”, there is also a training cash machine with
play money with which co-workers train each other).
In order to achieve this status, the performance on employees is assessed by senior staff at the
Neighbour-hood Dollar-Store, especially with regard to how they management their emotions. An
overview of the performance of three employees is presented below.
“Daniel the reliable”
Daniel (19 years) has had a dishwasher job in a restaurant, but it appears that this previous
employment does not play out in the same way as it did for James. From the very beginning, he is a
very smiling and cooperative co-worker who makes a lot of effort to be on the task and to do things
right (his writing and math skills appear to be weak). He realizes very quickly the implicit feeling
rules of the store, and one can consider that he already possessed skills in presentational and
philanthropic emotion management as he has been always very involved in athletic activity as for
example Ice Hockey or Lacrosse. He learns to blend those skills with pecuniary and prescriptive
feeling rules required in retail.
Daniel has learned over the time how to manage different emotions in the
workplace including boredom and lack of social contact. He is “ready for
employment”, he hopes to keep the job and even move into a better position by
“sucking up” the current job, which leaves him by himself in a basement garage.
He projects himself into a better-paid position, which makes it worthwhile to
retain the current one. It shows that he has also situates himself in a time frame,
managing immediate frustrations and needs for the sake of an improvement in the
near future. This also hints towards the emotional aspect of professionalism.
“Peter the grumpy”
Peter (19 years old) has a broad vocabulary and few difficulties to master the skills required in the
store. It appears that his main challenge definitely lies in managing emotions. The field notes mark
very often “grumpy”, “defensive”, “aggressive”, “rude” or “cranky” about him. During shifts,
especially in the beginning, staff were often wondering if he would just run away or become violent.
However, one could observe how he has set up some strategies to manage overwhelming emotions
(asking to step out, going to the bathroom). Peter was very well aware about how far he could go in
his behaviour, as the investigator could see how much energy it took him to keep things under control,
to do “self-policing”. On the other hand, his rudeness and grumpiness were more difficult to
overcome in interactions with staff and customers.
11
Peter is the one whose emotion management efforts are the most visible, as one can observe in his
face how he tries to control strong and overwhelming emotions. Peter is rather on the level of “surface
acting” than “deep acting” as it is so obvious that he constantly tries to manage his emotions in the
store setting. As an actor, he could be identified rather as a “bad actor” playing the role of a friendly
retail employee. Being in the store and being assigned as a cashier, his management skills are
improving, and he starts to show more often his humoristic side. But this learning process remains
fragile and is complicated by family issues (his father suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and passes
away towards the end of the observation period). This, of course, has a huge impact on his emotion
management in the store, as it signifies to literally ‘leave at home’ another layer of emotions, as
worries and grief. At the end of the year, Peter decides to return to school and take courses in
information technology.
“Neil the invisible”
While, for some trainees, emotion work consists also in recognizing boundaries and in reducing
extroversion in order to respect what can be called “professional boundaries”, for others, rather
introversion and shyness are becoming a challenge. One of those examples would be Neil (24 years)
who the field notes characterize as “shy”, “quiet”, and “looks kind of lost”, which means that he
would stand on the shop floor as if someone had forgotten him there. When he was talking, he was
rather whispering than speaking. Neil slowly overcomes his shyness, as, in retail, it is expected of
him to be available and communicative with the customers, to “speak up”.
His goal can be found posted on the “ladder of success” on a sticky note. Over the year, he starts to
speak louder, and engages in more interactions with the customers. He looks less ‘lost’ while being on
the shop floor (he has learned different ways how to keep busy, e.g. by fixing or reorganizing displays
on the shelves). He also becomes more visible once he starts working as the cashier in the store,
which is a highly exposed part of the store, as it is at the store entrance and elevated from the rest of
the floor. The cashier in the store can usually be seen through the shop window. Standing up there
gives the trainee a certain importance and makes visible his/her progress in the training process. The
trainee is now responsible enough to handle real money and also the pressure that might come with it
– in other words, the trainee is able to manage money as much as emotions in front of the customers.
Neil visibly enjoys this recognition
Questions
1. With reference to the characters depicted in this case, evaluate how effective they are in using
“emotional labour”. In your answer, please make reference to at least one of the suggested articles
and other sources you feel are relevant (answer worth 50%)*
2. Do you think that this case presents a credible account of how emotional labour is used? Again, in
your answer, please make reference to at least one of the suggested articles and other sources you feel
are relevant (answer worth 50%)*
6.1c If you want to answer the case study assignment on psychological
contracts, please select the following case.
Scott Walker’s Psychological Contract
Scott Walker had graduated six weeks ago and his concerted efforts to ensure he wasn’t one of those
graduates left on the shelf at the end of the summer had paid off. He had attended every careers fair
and every employer presentation that had been held at his university, made a nuisance of himself at
the careers centre, read every corporate website and all the promotional material he could and applied
for innumerable graduate development programmes.
12
After having conducted several telephone interviews and attending four assessment centres, Scott had
chosen to accept the offer from Montague Co. over the two other jobs he had been offered. Not only
did Scott want and need a job, he wanted the right job. Montague Co. was a relatively small,
recently-established subsidiary of a larger US corporation seeking to gain a foothold in the UK
consultancy market and already had a handful of important clients, mainly the subsidiaries of other
US multinationals courtesy of its parent company, since it was established two years ago. In each year
since it had grown and having taken on graduates on an ad hoc basis previously, Scott was to be
among its first cohort of graduates on its graduate development programme, and felt excited about the
chance he was given.
Scott recognised that he had many sought after transferable skills that he could apply to a variety of
industries, which he had acquired through a first class degree in business management, and through
extensive working experience. He also recognised his sense of commitment to any one organisation
was not for life, and believed that he had a variety of skills in management and information
technology that could be applied to a wider variety of employers, throughout different stages of his
career. The main reason that Scott had chosen Montague was that he considered the firm to represent
the best match between himself, the type of work he wanted to be doing, the type of company he
wanted to work for and the type of career he wanted to establish. Montague’s website and its
recruitment material had made great play of how dynamic, innovative and ambitious the firm was
and, particularly important to Scott, the fact that it considered itself to be both an ‘employee-focused
employer’ and a ‘socially responsible’ company in how it conducted its own business, the advice it
provides to its clients and the types of clients it sought to work with. For these reasons, in accepting a
position with Montague, Scott had accepted a marginally lower salary than he had been offered at the
two larger consultancies who had offered him a position. Scott had also been swayed by the interview
panel and company representatives he had met at the assessment centre who had placed greater
emphasis on the company only recruiting the ‘best of the best’. On this basis, like anyone Scott had
been flattered to have been selected. In response to Scott’s own question, the interview panel had told
him that 10 graduates were being recruited on to the graduate scheme and that he would be given
plenty of developmental opportunities through the structured training programme itself, international
secondments and informal development opportunities (through coaching, mentoring and support from
his line manager).
However, when Scott had arrived at the offices however he was among only three graduates for the
opening induction. When he asked about this he was told that he was one of the ‘lucky ones’. The
other new recruit that Scott had talked to in the induction had told him that he was simply ‘glad to
have got a job’ following so many knock-backs. Since the formal induction this morning, Scott had
been sat at his desk with little to do. His line manager, Dave, had spent most of that time talking to a
colleague about a new client the firm that Montague had begun to work with, a firm that had recently
been in the news for its association with water pollution off the west coast of Africa. Scott had
overheard Dave saying that ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ and that ‘we need all the business we can get
at the moment’. At 2.30, Dave had left Scott with the instructions to ‘look busy’ as he popped out of
the office on personal business and to tell anyone who asked that he was at a meeting because the
company really frowns on ‘people’s personal stuff getting in the way of work’. Scott had begun to
wonder if he had made the right decision and his mind was not particularly put to rest when one of his
new colleagues told him that he was lucky that Dave even spoke to him given that he wasn’t really a
‘people person’. Scott began to have serious reservations about why he had chosen this job, especially
as he had turn down two other jobs from larger consultancies which offered him a better salary, and
on reflection, more change to develop his career.
Although Scott tried to cover up his feelings, there was no doubt that he was sad, and perhaps a little
confused, about why he had settled for this position at Montague Co, especially as many of his
classmates from university now seemed to be settled in jobs that they liked, and which gave them a
sense of autonomy and achievement. He regretted working for this consultancy, and now felt a little
lost about how his career would now progress.
13
Questions
1. In what ways do you think that Scott Walkers psychological contract was violated? In your answer
please refer to one of the suggested articles and other reading you feel is relevant(50% of the marks).
2. Do you think that this case represents a good way of understanding psychological contract in the
workplace. (50% of the marks).
Individual case analysis instructions:
1. This assignment is due 30th
March 2015 by 3.00pm
2. Read the case study you choose and answer the questions which follow it.
3. Write your answer in a (basic) essay format.
4. Write your answers in proper academic style and particularly ensure you use ‘third person’
narrative, Harvard-style in-text citation and referencing.
5. Use 1.5 line spacing and Ariel or Times Roman 12 font.
6. Utilise at least 8 academic-style resources including those recommended under ‘Additional reading’
(e.g. textbooks, books and journals) to support your points and try to ensure that you use no or only a
small number of internet sources.
7. Do not copy any materials you use word for word (including the case-study) unless you identify
these sections clearly as quotations and provide accurate in text referencing and acknowledgement in
the reference list.
8. If you paraphrase (i.e. rewrite any materials in your own words) you must identify the materials’
sources through in-text referencing and acknowledgement in the reference list.
9. This is an individual exercise please do not work closely with anyone else.
10. Write 2000 words for your answers to all of the questions (excluding the cover page, reference list
and any footnotes or appendices). If you chose the case study on Organisational Psychopathy write
approximately 1000 words for question 1 and 1000 words for question 2. For the case study on
emotional labour write approximately 1000 words for question 1, and 1000 words for question 2, and
for the case on psychological contracts write approximately 1000 words for question 1and 1000 words
for question 3.
11. Please ensure that you keep to the word limits within 10% - therefore each 1000 word section
must be between 900-1100 words.
12. Attach the appropriate Banner header sheet and then upload your report on.
14
Research articles on Psychopathy at work (available on the Moodle website course)*
Babiak.P, Neumann.C and Hare.R (2010) Corporate Psychopathy: Talking the Walk Behavioural
Sciences and the Law 28 pp174–190
Boddy.C (2006) The dark side of management decisions – organisational psychopaths Management
Decision. 44 (10) pp1561-1575
Boddy.C, Ladyshewsky.R and Galvin.P (2010) Leaders without ethics in global business: corporate
psychopaths Journal of Public Affairs 10 pp121–138
Hare.R (1994) This Charming Psychopath Psychology Today January 1994
Tookey. M (2013) What happens when psychopathy invades the workplace. Available at http://www.ageofaltruism.com/happens-psychopathy-invades-work-place/
Further reading
Babula.M (2013) Motivation, Altruism, Personality and Social Psychology: The Coming Age of
Altruism Palgave Macmillan – chapter 7, The special case of psychopathy (Highly recommended!)
Dutton.K (2013) The Wisdom of Psychopaths Arrow
Hare.R (1993) Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Amongst Us Simon &
Schuster
Hare.R and Babiak.P (2007) Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work Harper Collins
Ronson.J (2011) The Psychopath Test Picador
Research articles on emotional labour (available on Moodle)*
Hwa.M (2013) Emotional Labour and Emotional Exhaustion: Does Co-worker Support Matter?
Journal of Management Research Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 115-127
Scott.B and Barnes.C (2011) A multilevel field investigation of emotional labour, affect, work
withdrawal, and gender Academy of Management Journal Vol. 54, No. 1, 116–136.
Research articles on psychological contracts (available on Moodle)*
Rousseau, D.M and Tijoriwala.S (1998), "Assessing psychological contracts: Issues, alternatives and
measures", Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 19 pp.679-95
Rousseau, D. M (2001),”Schema, Promises and mutuality: the building block of the psychological
Contract” Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, 74, pp511-542.
Note:*As first years you are not expected to fully understand all of the complete text of the articles you can use
for both the cases, but there is enough useful material for you to be able to extract some meaningful ideas for
your assignment.
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7. Other Details
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The majority of information relevant to you while you study at the University has been brought
together into your programme handbook. Please refer to your programme handbook for any further
information you might require including methods of submitting assignments, advice and
administrative procedures.
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Managing the performance of individuals Course code (INDU 1111)
Course Leader: Dr Max Tookey
Overview of tutorials
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 12th of January
Introduction to the course
Aims of tutorial are to:
1. establish the tutorial list 2. introduce the student handbook 3. discuss the assessment requirements
Tutor guidance
In most cases your tutorial list will be the combination of 2 PPD1 groups so you will be able to
monitor attendance and control the flow of students into the tutorial. Please ensure you only allow
students into your tutorial who are on the list as in some cases the classes are already quite large.
However, you can use your discretion if you have the capacity to take extra tutees and importantly
they have a good reason for attending your tutorial (i.e childcare etc). Use this session to introduce
yourself and to take them through the tutorial aims.
Tutorial activity
This is an introductory session. You will meet your tutor, receive the course handbook and discuss
course requirements.
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 19th
of January
Gareth Morgan’s metaphors
Aims of tutorial are to:
1. facilitate ways of understanding organisations
2. assess what influences behaviour in organisations
3. explore how Gareth Morgan’s ‘metaphors’ can highlight aspects of organisations
Tutorial activity
1. Read the article ‘Metaphors of Organisation’ by James Lawley
2. Break into groups of 5 and discuss the organisations you work/have worked for and try to create a
metaphor for the organisation. See the example of the spider plant in the article (page 4).
3. Draw the metaphor on a transparency
Feedback to the tutor and the group why you chose this metaphor. As the article suggests ‘let your
imagination run wild, stretch the metaphor’.
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 26th of January
A visit to McDonalds Tutorial activity Read the case study ‘A visit to McDonalds’ before coming to class. In groups answer the following questions:
1. What are the work practices described in the case study that tell you McDonalds are using Taylorist principles?
2. What other companies do you think use these principles to some extent or another?
3. Why do you think the company has been so successful?
4. What do you think it would be like to work for McDonalds in the kitchen or on the counter? What would you like/dislike about it?
5. One or two groups will be asked to feedback their answers and all groups will be asked to comment.
Next week’s reading is particularly challenging so please ensure you read it before discussion in class.
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 3rd of February
Business life is no breeze
Aims of tutorial are to:
1. appreciate differences between individuals
2. understand differences between individual personalities and perceptions on the basis of culture
3. assess the importance of understanding cultural differences in the business world
Tutorial activity
Before class read the article ‘Business life is no breeze’. The article refers to behaviour which is entirely normal and appropriate for the environment in which it originated but which is misunderstood and even offensive outside of that environment.
1. Form a group that has mixed nationalities (maybe not your usual group?) and discuss the behaviours in the article.
2. Analyse the quotes made by international business people in the article and discuss your reactions to the different attitudes.
3. How acceptable are these behaviours in your country?
4. If you are an overseas student tell the group about the cultural differences you have noticed since arriving and studying in the UK?
5. How important is it to understand differences in the world of work?
6. Feedback your observations to the tutor and the group.
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 10th of February
Assignment surgery Aims of tutorial are to:
1. help students to understand and fulfil the requirements of the assignment.
Tutorial activity
This is your opportunity to gain a full and comprehensive understanding of the requirements of the assignment. Arrive at class with questions prepared for your tutor. Materials that will help you formulate questions are:
* Essay marking criteria
* Essay template
* Lecture slides on Emotional Labour, Corporate Psychopathy and Psychological Contracts
* Lecture slides on essay writing
* Lecture slides on referencing
* Useful reading to help you prepare for the assignment
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 17th of February
Scared script of the powerful social actors
Aims of tutorial are to:
1. encourage students to read the Financial Times and other demanding and topical articles
2. introduce new concepts to aid the understanding of business
3. familiarise students with the work of Max Weber
4. begin to explore work as a construction
Tutorial activity
Read the article a least twice before class. In small groups answer the following. Your tutor will facilitate a discussion at the end.
1. What do you think is meant by the statement that Weber’s understanding of society is ‘as a set of structures and social practices’? (paragraph 6)
2. What do you think is meant by the statement of a ‘concept of work that supported identification between one’s vocation (religion) and trade or profession (economic activity)’? (paragraph 6)
3. Do you agree that ‘when we do business, we are building society’? (paragraph 8)
4. Do you agree that ‘present day companies and their managers are aware of their impact on society’? (paragraph 12)
5. Do you think there is a ‘disconnection between actions in a mechanical sense – whether economic, professional or business related – and the “spirit”, that is the purpose or meaning behind the action’? (paragraph16)
6. What did Weber mean by ‘iron cages’? (paragraph 17)
7. How confident are you that business in the 21st century is able and willing to integrate ‘economic, social and environmental aspects’?
8. Consider all of the above within the context of the global economic crisis.
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 24th of February
Identifying a corporate psychopath Tutorial activity
Before class read the article entitled “What happens when psychopathy invades the workplace?”.The article presents an overview of the type of behaviours that organisational psychopaths might exhibit.. After you have read the article, please answer the following questions
1. Discuss the main issues about corporate psychopathy that are raised in this paper?
2. Could you think of any other examples of incidents where psychopathic behaviour has had a detrimental effect on an organisation?
3. How important do you think the study of psychopathy is in understanding human behaviour at work, and what impact will it have?
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 3rd of March
Supported open learning session THIS IS A SUPPORTED OPEN LEARNING (SOL) SESSION USING WEB BASED LEARNING – NO FORMAL CLASSES – THIS SESSION WILL HELP SUPPORT YOUR ASSESSMENTS
This supported open learning session will look at:
1. The formal processes for monitoring and assessing work performance such as appraisal systems – e.g. from the manager, 360 feedback, peer evaluation, self-assessment.
2. The impact of assessment instruments e.g. competences, BARs, subjective judgement on work performance and job selection.
3. The relationship of appraisal to other performance management
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 10th of March
The business case for emotional intelligence
Aims of tutorial are to:
1. understand the different concepts of intelligence
2. assess the value of testing
3. evaluate the contribution of Emotional Intelligence
4. be able to use this to improve performance management of the individual
Tutorial activity
Read the short case studies allocated to your group in ‘The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence’. Refer back to last week’s lecture and in particular slides 12-16 on EQ. Answer the following questions;
1. Why do you think the employees with higher EQ scores perform better?
2. Would you argue that emotional ‘intelligence’ is as important as cognitive intelligence?
Apply the following question to your case studies;
3. Why would emotional self-awareness lead to improved performance?
4. Why would emotional self-regulation lead to improved performance?
5. Why would emotional self-motivation lead to improved performance?
6. Why would empathy lead to improved performance?
7. Why would social skills lead to improved performance?
8. Feedback your answers to the tutor and class
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 17th of March
Psychological contract is an implicit agreement
Tutorial activity
Before class read the article entitled “psychological contract is an implicit agreement”.After you have read the article, please answer the following questions
1. What does this article tell you about the notion of the psychological contract?
2. What does this article tell you about the future of psychological contracts in organisational
studies?
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 15th of April
Using the smart card to keep up standards Aims of tutorial are to:
1. evaluate aspects of intelligence
2. understand how IQ testing is used in the workplace
3. assess the value of IQ test in the workplace
Tutorial activity
Read the article ‘Using the smart card to keep up standards’ before coming to class. In groups work through the following questions;
1. Do you think the agency is right to be so strict in applying the criteria of an IQ in excess of 125 (the average IQ is 100)?
2. What is the danger in using IQ testing as the main criterion?
3. Do you think only practising Muslims can sell products that are Sharia compliant?
4. Apart for a measure of intelligence what other attributes do you think makes for a successful employee?
5. What would you say to Sara Render to persuade her that she may need to reconsider her entry requirements?
6. Your tutor will now give you a hand out with 3 ‘Expert views’. Did you concur with the
experts
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 21st of April
Exam technique and practice part 1
Aims of tutorial are to:
Preparation for the final ‘Managing the performance of individuals’ Looking specifically at areas for revision
Tutorial activity
Bring revision lecture hand-outs to class and ask for tutor guidance on any theories or ideas you need
further help with.
Tutorial activity
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Week beginning the 28th of April
Exam technique and practice part 2
Aims of tutorial are to:
Preparation for the final ‘Managing the performance of individuals’
Looking specifically at exam technique
Tutorial activity
Bring revision lecture hand-outs to class and ask for tutor guidance on any theories or ideas you need
further help with.
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Tutorial activity
Week beginning the 5th of May
Aims of tutorial:
No formal classes. Self-managed revision and exam preparation
Tutorial activity
No formal classes. Self-managed revision and exam preparation
Good luck in your final exam for the ‘Managing the performance of individuals’ course! Best wishes from Dr T and the course team!
