TYPE THE DOCUMENT TITLE 1

Organizational
Behavior
Mid-Term Exam

2011
 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

Organizational Behavior
Mid-Term Exam January 3rd, 2011

Part 1

VIDSOFT TRIANGLE

Background Information

Vidsoft Technologies is an Internet company based in Sunnyvale, California;

formed in mid-1996.
Primary Vidsoft develop enterprise software to solve the procurement needs
for its customers.
Company went public in June 1999, growing rapidly in revenues and
employees. (From $50M to over $250M and from 500 to over 2,000
employees worldwide)

Keith Nash is the chief executive officer of Vidsoft, a charismatic person who
develop a culture to encourage the employees to speak their minds; also he
promoted the teamwork and the culture to hire people friendly and can
interact well with others and encourage his managers to hire people that
were better than them.
This attitude change until the company went public due the high demand of
resources, managers had to relax their criteria selection.

Alaji Babatunde is a Nigerian immigrant who went to United States to attend

college; he graduated with a degree in computer and information science
and a MBA in Darden.
Before start working at Vidsoft he worked in various high technology
companies. He started in 1998 to work with Vidsoft beginning as technical
support manager and after a while as a senior technical support manager.
He started working with his staff with a micromanagement style, taking care
of every detail but after the company start growing he realize that a next
level staff will be necessary, changing his reporting structure adding new
managers positions; promoting one of his engineers, Jennah Li and holding
off the other position.

Jennah Li is a Chinese descent that grew up in Hong Kong, immigrated to

United States after graduating with a degree in environmental management.
She worked in several technology companies before start working at Vidsoft.
Babatunde hired her due her skills in managing customer relationships. She
 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

is a very hard worker and a team player and she has gained the admiration
of the rest of the engineers; also she was awarded the best team player
award for two consecutive quarters.

Alex Hsu is a Chinese descendent who grew up at the Bay Area. He has a
degree in computer engineering from Berkeley. Hsu is the first one from a
large family to graduate with a science degree even when he was not
mathematically inclined, he forced himself to thing as engineer; feeling that
thinking in a structured and logical thinking he will be climbing company
position faster. He started at Vidsoft as a technical support engineer.
Babatunde hired him with some reservations about his ability to work as a
team player but with the expectations to bring variety experiences into the
team.
Hsu is a hardworking individual, not the top performer but above customer
satisfaction scores; also very private since he did not participate in many of
the group’s non work-related activities.

James White started with Vidsoft since the beginning. He is a mechanical

engineer and was the first person to be hired to run the Technical Support
department, responsible also for hire all the employees that eventually
became managers. He is a very focus person trying to achieve his personal
and departmental goals, for that reason he could make everything at
possible to help his employees to succeed on their tasks.
He hired Babatunde due his MBA training since he has not a very no
nonsense approach to management and even when Babatunde had a
limited managerial experience. He spent a long time coaching Babatunde on
how to lead a team and how to hire the right people.

Situation
 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

Alex Hsu has requested to Babatunde to be transferred to the support group

from the other product line, the one has not a manager assigned yet, since
he do not want to report to Jennah Li for several reasons:
- He did not respect Li since she did not have a technical
background, so he will not learn to respect her either.
- He claimed he joined the company due he was expecting to work
directly with Babatunde from he was impressed and respected due his
technical and experience background.
- He expressed his frustration due the inexperience at managing
people from Li.

Babatunde decided Li should know about this and asked Hsu if he approve
this since at the end she is her manager; Hsu accepted and Babatunde
spoke with Li.
Li was surprised and shocked since Hsu never showed a hint about his
feeling on the regular meeting, during this meeting she started to cry; she
felt she had failed and she was not doing her job correctly.
Babatunde decided to have a three way meeting with Li and Hsu to expose
the differences; after several meetings during the next couple of weeks both
parties still were in the same spot: Hsu still want to be transferred to the
other support group and Li as her manager, do not want to approve Hsu be
transferred since it will be viewed negatively on the rest of the staff.
Now Babatunde need to decide what to do: accept and transfer Hsu as
requested or support Li decision to keep it on her staff.

Analysis

Babatunde put himself in a difficult spot at the moment he chose Jennah Li

as a manager, knowing her lack of experience leading people.
As Warren Bennis and B. Nanos wrote about leadership; “a great part of the
organizations are over-administrated and under leadership.”
This mean that one person maybe could be a great manager, capable to be
fair and well organized within a company but be devoid of the abilities of a
good leader to motivate his own employees. On the other hand also one
person could be a great leader, efficient and capable to motivate and be
admired by his people but with the lack of the administrative tools to manage
that energy he generate on others.

Probably Jennah Li have the right abilities to be a great manager: she is a

hard working person, task oriented, team player, she has the perseverance
to learn new tasks; but still have not developed the correct set of abilities to
 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

be a good leader, to motivate all of the team players in her staff and for that
reason Alex Hsu which he has demonstrated to be a non team player, has
not taken the hook for her abilities.

Hersey and Blanchard authors of the situational leadership model, recognize

that the variables that intervene in one situation are many. For them a leader
should adapt his style to the follower maturity, based on how ready and
willing the follower is to perform the task. On this case Jennah has look into
that, read Alex situation and act accordingly, it applies for Babatunde as
well.

Now Babatunde has to take a decision based in one person who has not
been well qualified (due Alex it is not a team player and it is not the top
notch employee) and a good manager who her lack of experience managing
people put her on this situation since Li has not learnt yet how to handle
situations like this.

How can this situation be best resolved?

Babatunde should take into consideration the following statements

before take a decision:
- Some leaders are born some others are developed.
Clearly Jennah Li is one of those to be developed; she has the drive,
the strength and the motivation even when she still is immature as a
manager. Babatunde will need to take enough time with her on
coaching her as James White coached him when he also started as a
manager.

- Alex Hsu has been the only one person on the Li’s staff to
complain about her but also he has been the only one who has showed
to be a non team player. Probably the arguments he said about Li
background could be valid but it has been only one month since she
took this new task so he need to let her to settle and develop as a
manager before start judging her.

- The decision to appoint Jennah Li as a manager was from him,

even when he consensus the decision with his boss James White, and
the decision to hire Alex also was his decision too so he is at the end
the responsible for both actions; depending what he decide it could
have a negative impact upward and downward on the organization.

So that Babatunde should have done since the beginning is to reject Alex
Hsu request to be transferred.
 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

Working in a company required to all employees to adapt to the different

changes and these changes include to whom as employee you will be
reporting.

It is not valid for Hsu to said that he accept to work for Vidsoft because he
was expecting to work directly with Babatunde only; things change and he
has worked for Babatunde for 7 months and now the organization require a
change. Now a new reality is for Alex to have a new manager that was
assigned by the organization like it or not, with the background credentials
liked by all or not; and he needs to adapt to that…. or leave the company.

On the other hand he needs to realize that he is not indispensable since he

is not the best performed on his job and his not the team player the
organization want it to be.

Also Babatunde should be very clear with Alex Hsu that he needs to talk first
with Jenna Li since she is his direct manager, he cannot skip the chain in
command just because she did not like it and moreover when that person is
just starting on the new position.
I will agree that a skip in the chain of command can be done when there is a
delicate subject to be treated like an ethical situation but not as this situation
is.

Babatunde did a mistake in my opinion on establish a triangle meeting with

Li and Hsu; he as the senior manager should explain to Hsu the reason to
support his decision to reject his request of transfer and support his decision
to chose Li as a manager.
Alex is also starting his working life since he just graduated from college and
he must learn too to adapt to the different changes in the organizations. In
other words he need to learn and adapt, and when the time is the right one
and his performance is well recognized then and just then, he can put on the
table his demands.

On this case Babatunde should not be working as mediator but as a leader,

taking fast decisions, well supported and giving proper feedback to the
parties involved.
A good leader should trust on his decision but most important, a good leader
is able to motivate his people and to convince them in a voluntary manner to
do and pursuit the company objectives.
A good leadership from Babatunde can convince his team about the reason
why Jennah Li was assigned as a manager even though her weaknesses.
This can make the difference on their support or sabotage of her work.
 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

Babatunde also need to learn that Jennah will need his support since she is
starting fresh without any experience managing people and situation like this
one will happen again and she need to learn how to handle correctly.

In some organization sometimes when they appoint someone in a new

position, beside the official announcement for the organization, they gather
the personal involved and explain to them the reason of the decision in order
to avoid misunderstanding and to confirm the support to the new appointed
person.
Babatunde knowing the Li’s background and her lack of experience
managing people probably should have done a meeting with the rest of the
team explaining the reason he has to assign her as a manager and
requesting to all their support to her.

I was thinking to leave Jennah outside of the discussion since I need to

consider her as manager in training but it is fair to mention that Li must learn
about this experience too on how she must be addressed next time; speak
directly with the people and let them know she will be there for them open to
hear all their doubts and work on her weakness to be a better manager and
leader for them.

It is important into the organizations to establish training programs for new

manager and why not, experience managers as well about leadership,
coaching and feedback because in one way or another they will need to use
these talents and abilities with their people and the way they express, the
way they react and the way they act; will have an impact into their
organizations.

Part 2

What are the principal distinctions between transactional and

 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

transformational leadership?

Transformational Leaders occur when leaders motivate others (employees)

in such a way they raise above more motivation and morality as expected.
The transformational Leader recognizes and empowers the persons in the
organization, transform their beliefs, aptitudes and feelings between them
influencing in the organizational culture changing it.

The Transactional leaders occur when leaders show to the employees what
they expect from them and the rewards they will get if they accomplish the
agreed targets. The transactional Leader motivates his employees by
rewards and they consider them as a resource to achieve the final targets.

There are some characteristics between the transformational leadership and

the transactional leadership, based on the findings of several surveys (1):

A Transformational Leader has:

Charisma: Provides vision and sense of mission, instills pride, gains respect
and trust.
Inspiration: Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus efforts,
expresses important purposes in simple ways.
Intellectual Stimulation: Promotes intelligence, rationality, and careful
problem solving.
Individualized Consideration: Gives personal attention, treats each
employee individually, coaches, and advises.

A Transactional Leader has:

Contingent Reward: Contracts exchange of rewards for effort, promises

rewards for good performance, recognizes accomplishments.
Management by Exception (active): Watches and searches for deviations
from rules and standards, takes corrective action.
Management by Exception (passive): Intervenes only if standards are not
met. Laissez-Faire: Abdicates responsibilities, avoids making decisions.

So the transformational Leader considered the employee as a person not as

a resource as the transaction leader does.
The transformational leader looks to harness the needs and values of his
employees, the transaction leader interchanges rewards per goals.
The transformational leader motivate his employees to overcoming their self
interests over the organization goals and to create a conscience on their
employees about the good and the bad and try to support them more as
 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

expected.
The transactional leader seek to balance and resolve the problems
applying punishments when are necessaries, the control is a key factor of
his leadership and set targets establishing contracts between the leaders
and the employees putting attention to interpersonal relations.

How does transformational leadership create a higher level of moral

aspiration for followers and leaders alike?

The transformational leaders create a dynamic into the organizations at the

moment he start motivating the employees, he create the energy who move
the masses and which is the necessary to create the changes.
He develops the abilities of his employees and uses them to achieve the
organizational targets, so he reaches superior levels of satisfaction among
them, creating a better influence and efficiency for the organization.
The transformational leader seek the employees excels on their jobs, so the
employees feel motivated and committed with the organization and inspired
them to transcend.

This is the reason why the transformational leadership creates a higher level
of moral aspiration due its high relation with the human and personal needs
on the employees, self-esteem and personal development.

Bibliography
 Organizational Behavior – Mid-Term Exam

Bennis, W. y B. Nanus (1995): Líderes: las cuatro claves del liderazgo

eficaz, Ed. Norma, Colombia.

Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H, (1999) Leadership and the One-Minute

Manager, William Morrow

Bass, B. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New

York, The Free Press.

Robbins/ Judge (2009). Organizational Behavior, Pearson International

Edition , 13th edition.

(1) Internet Article: From Transactional to Transformational

Leadership: Learning to Share the Vision, wrote by Bernard M. Bass
From Transactional to Iransformational Leadership: Learning
to ...