FORUM C QUESTIONS 25 APRIL 2015 10-12NOON

1. You have been hired as a consultant to improve communication between

engineering and marketing staff in a large high-technology company. Use
the communication model and the four ways to improve that process to
devise strategies to improve communication effectiveness among
employees between these two work units.
2. An organization comes into being when people can communicate with
each other. Discuss the benefits and limitations of communicating with emails among team members.
3. Explain why men and women are sometimes frustrated with each others
communication behaviors.
4. Suppose that you are part of a virtual team and must persuade other team
members on an important matter (such as switching suppliers or altering
the project deadline). Assuming that you cannot visit these people in
person, what can you do to maximize your persuasiveness?
5. In your opinion, has the introduction of e-mail and other information
technologies increased or decreased the amount of information flowing
through the corporate grapevine? Explain your answer
6. Identify and describe three reasons why employees join informal groups in
organizational settings.

7. Identify 4 potential constraints of team-based decision making and

creativity.
8. Identify and describe the "five C's" of member behavior in effective teams.
The "five C's" model includes: cooperating, coordinating, communicating,
comforting, and conflict resolving.
9. A large financial institution is losing market share to savvy upstart
companies and it has asked its top marketing executive to identify the
main reasons for their sliding performance. Describe three barriers that
might cause the marketing executive to poorly identify the problem(s) and
include an illustrative example for each barrier.
10. WesTech Components wants to hire several people for jobs requiring a
high degree of creativity. Identify three individual characteristics that
WesTech should consider when selecting job applicants who have a high
potential for creativity.

11. A consumer products company wants more creativity in its research and
development operations. The company has spent large amounts of money
on creativity training sessions that have helped somewhat, but the VP of
research and development believes that the fundamental conditions must
be altered to foster more creativity. Describe three conditions (other than
training) that this organization should establish to increase the level of
creativity in its research and development operations. Briefly explain how
each condition might improve creativity.
12. Creative Finance Ltd. wants to introduce practices that would enhance
creativity among employees in solving some of the financial institution's
ongoing work process problems. Identify and describe three types of
activities that encourage creativity including a specific example of things
that might be done in each activity.
13. ClamCo, a large energy company, was once a bureaucratic organization
that valued long service and promotions through a steep hierarchy. After
several years of difficult change, it is now a much flatter organization that
places more responsibility with self-directed work teams. Explain what
changes ClamCo probably would have made to align its reward system
with this new corporate philosophy.
14. Describe a reward system that would best motivate employees to learn
several jobs. Identify potential disadvantages of this reward system.
15. The chief executive officer of a mid-sized manufacturing company has
hired you to design the work site and to make any other changes
necessary for employees to feel more empowered. Briefly define
empowerment and describe three important conditions you would ensure
to improve empowerment among the employees.

CASE: TREETOP FOREST PRODUCTS