Deck 17: Cases

Question 1

What is your mission in life? If you do not have a mission, how might you develop one?

Answer 1

My mission in life is to thrive but not to survive with some passion, compassion, style, and humor. I believe in living for a certain reason. The main motive is to earn money and to help people to live a peaceful life by maintaining respect, integrity, loyalty, and passion among all the individuals.

Question 2

Have you noticed the frequent errors in dealing with business firms, such as billing errors, names spelled incorrectly, and customer problems that were not fixed? What work-habit explanation can you offer for all these errors?

Answer 2

Following work habit errors explanations can be given for billing errors, names spelled correctly and customer problems:
• Billing errors: This problem may occur due to the lack of time assigned for every work. This shows lack of time management, mismanagement, and the lack of concentration.
• Names spelled correctly: This is on the basis of streamlining the business wherein one is required to eliminate the low value in work to the greater extent by concentrating more on activities and adding up value for the customers.
• Customer problems: We have a to-do list wherein we prepare list of works as per the priorities and work accordingly. We have certain time limits wherein we are required to complete our work.

Question 3

With so many tasks being computerized, why bother studying about improving personal productivity?

Answer 3

Although so many things are computerized, there is a need to improve productivity because of the following reasons:
• Improved productivity helps in maintaining focus, discipline, and leverage among all the team members.
• It helps in identifying personal as well as business goals.
• It prevents errors and interruptions.
• It helps in making decisions by making a detailed plan of work according to the priorities.
• Improved productivity helps in evaluating and analysing the results.
Improved productivity improves the following practices among the managers and business owners:
• Disorganization
• Procrastination
• Poor system
• Poor productivity

Question 4

Assume that it is possible to be highly productive even if your work area is cluttered and littered. Why might having an uncluttered, tidy work area still help you in your career?

Question 5

Why might interacting with coworkers, bosses, and customers through social-networking sites result in a productivity drain?

Question 6

Why are good work habits and time management so effective in reducing job stress?

Question 7

Assume you are the human-resource director for a large, diversified company and you want to develop a policy about employee napping to boost productivity and reduce stress. Perhaps you might want to call in a few other managers to help you refine the policy. Plan for several possibilities: (a) how many members of a department or team are allowed to nap at the same time, (b) if you have a formal napping room, who is allowed to use the room at the same time, and (c) what priority will napping have in relation to taking care of urgent tasks.

Question 8

Many time-management experts believe that a major contributor to low productivity is a life cluttered with material possessions. If you have less clutter around you, your concentration and focus will improve. A specific recommendation is to make it a habit to throw out one object every day, including old newspapers, magazines, and e-mail messages. (Selling some of your clutter in a garage sale or on eBay or donating to Goodwill or another charity might be an extra incentive.) Beginning today, throw out something every day from your living quarters or work area. Anything you discard counts, from a few pencils stubs to an obsolete computer tower. By the end of two weeks, see how much progress you have made in reducing clutter. Of more significance, analyze whether your efforts at becoming uncluttered are enhancing your ability to accomplish work. Has this exercise reduced stress and made you feel better?

Question 9

The purpose of this exercise is to help participants understand the difference between constructive and less constructive ways of reducing stress. Needed for the exercise is a whiteboard, a blackboard, an overhead projector, or a computerized method of projecting information on a screen.
For ten minutes, participants suggest as many techniques as possible for managing or reducing stress that they are willing to share with class members. (Some class members might have ways of reducing stress they would prefer to keep private.) Participants speak one at a time. As each new technique is suggested, the audience shouts either "good" or "bad." Based on majority opinion, the moderator places the technique in the good or bad column.
A good technique is defined roughly as one that produces almost all benefits. A bad technique is one that produces short-lived benefits such as a "high" followed by negative side effects. (An example would be getting drunk to escape a major problem.) For some or all of the techniques, people should justify their classifications as good or bad.
After the techniques are listed for all to see, the class discusses any conclusions about the difference between good and bad techniques. The group also discusses why knowing the difference is important.

Question 10

Sean Struggles to Get Started
Sean is the customer-service supervisor at an office-supply business located in Indianapolis. His boss Peg, the director of sales and marketing, assigned him the task of preparing an indepth report as to why the firm has been steadily losing customers. When he first received the assignment, Sean replied, "Give me a break, Peg. We're losing customers simply because many of our customers are shifting to e-commerce. They buy online directly from the manufacturers, or from the major supply companies such as Staples, Office Depot, and OfficeMax."
Peg retorted in a stern tone, "Sean, you are oversimplifying the problem. There are still office supply companies in every city. Most manufacturers do not want to deal with small orders, and companies like Staples have not created a monopoly. Please have that report to me in ten days."
"I've got a lot on my plate, but I will get to it," said Sean. "I'll do what I can to make your deadline."
Sean did not welcome preparing the report. He felt that he was already overloaded with work and that a report would not reveal much that he did not already know. He thought, "Maybe I'll start the report late this Sunday afternoon, right after the Colts have finished playing. That should give me an hour and a half."
The Colts game went quickly, ending just a couple of minutes after 4 p.m. that Sunday. Sean reflected, "What kind of crazy workaholic am I? Why start collecting data on a report now, when I could take Lisa (his daughter) and Max (his Labrador) for a walk. It's a beautiful fall day."
Sean then decided to begin the report Monday morning at 11, sharp. "I'll be in a heavy work mode on Monday." At 10:45 that morning, one of the distribution specialists sent Sean an e-mail message requesting that Sean meet with him ASAP to discuss pricing errors he had found on the company Web site. Sean decided to meet right away because in his mind dealing with an immediate operational problem was more important than writing a report.
Sean then decided to begin working on the customer-loss project at 3 p.m. Wednesday because his schedule was usually light on Wednesday afternoon. When the time came, Sean began to feel nervous. "What should I do to get started? Maybe I'll look on the Internet for some ideas." After inserting the search phrase "Customer loss prevention" into Bing.com, Sean found more than nine million listings. He thought, "Maybe I will read a few dozen of these articles before getting started. Why re-invent the wheel?"
Sean then printed the first ten articles he found and thought, "I will take these home and read them after Lisa is sleeping, and Jan (his wife) has started watching her TV tonight. Besides, the report is not due for another six days. I have plenty of time."
That night Sean fell asleep on the couch before he took the reports from his case.
To what extent does it appear that Sean has a procrastination problem?

Question 11

Sean Struggles to Get Started
Sean is the customer-service supervisor at an office-supply business located in Indianapolis. His boss Peg, the director of sales and marketing, assigned him the task of preparing an indepth report as to why the firm has been steadily losing customers. When he first received the assignment, Sean replied, "Give me a break, Peg. We're losing customers simply because many of our customers are shifting to e-commerce. They buy online directly from the manufacturers, or from the major supply companies such as Staples, Office Depot, and OfficeMax."
Peg retorted in a stern tone, "Sean, you are oversimplifying the problem. There are still office supply companies in every city. Most manufacturers do not want to deal with small orders, and companies like Staples have not created a monopoly. Please have that report to me in ten days."
"I've got a lot on my plate, but I will get to it," said Sean. "I'll do what I can to make your deadline."
Sean did not welcome preparing the report. He felt that he was already overloaded with work and that a report would not reveal much that he did not already know. He thought, "Maybe I'll start the report late this Sunday afternoon, right after the Colts have finished playing. That should give me an hour and a half."
The Colts game went quickly, ending just a couple of minutes after 4 p.m. that Sunday. Sean reflected, "What kind of crazy workaholic am I? Why start collecting data on a report now, when I could take Lisa (his daughter) and Max (his Labrador) for a walk. It's a beautiful fall day."
Sean then decided to begin the report Monday morning at 11, sharp. "I'll be in a heavy work mode on Monday." At 10:45 that morning, one of the distribution specialists sent Sean an e-mail message requesting that Sean meet with him ASAP to discuss pricing errors he had found on the company Web site. Sean decided to meet right away because in his mind dealing with an immediate operational problem was more important than writing a report.
Sean then decided to begin working on the customer-loss project at 3 p.m. Wednesday because his schedule was usually light on Wednesday afternoon. When the time came, Sean began to feel nervous. "What should I do to get started? Maybe I'll look on the Internet for some ideas." After inserting the search phrase "Customer loss prevention" into Bing.com, Sean found more than nine million listings. He thought, "Maybe I will read a few dozen of these articles before getting started. Why re-invent the wheel?"
Sean then printed the first ten articles he found and thought, "I will take these home and read them after Lisa is sleeping, and Jan (his wife) has started watching her TV tonight. Besides, the report is not due for another six days. I have plenty of time."
That night Sean fell asleep on the couch before he took the reports from his case.
What advice can you offer Sean to help him get started on the report about losing customers?

Question 12

Sean Struggles to Get Started
Sean is the customer-service supervisor at an office-supply business located in Indianapolis. His boss Peg, the director of sales and marketing, assigned him the task of preparing an indepth report as to why the firm has been steadily losing customers. When he first received the assignment, Sean replied, "Give me a break, Peg. We're losing customers simply because many of our customers are shifting to e-commerce. They buy online directly from the manufacturers, or from the major supply companies such as Staples, Office Depot, and OfficeMax."
Peg retorted in a stern tone, "Sean, you are oversimplifying the problem. There are still office supply companies in every city. Most manufacturers do not want to deal with small orders, and companies like Staples have not created a monopoly. Please have that report to me in ten days."
"I've got a lot on my plate, but I will get to it," said Sean. "I'll do what I can to make your deadline."
Sean did not welcome preparing the report. He felt that he was already overloaded with work and that a report would not reveal much that he did not already know. He thought, "Maybe I'll start the report late this Sunday afternoon, right after the Colts have finished playing. That should give me an hour and a half."
The Colts game went quickly, ending just a couple of minutes after 4 p.m. that Sunday. Sean reflected, "What kind of crazy workaholic am I? Why start collecting data on a report now, when I could take Lisa (his daughter) and Max (his Labrador) for a walk. It's a beautiful fall day."
Sean then decided to begin the report Monday morning at 11, sharp. "I'll be in a heavy work mode on Monday." At 10:45 that morning, one of the distribution specialists sent Sean an e-mail message requesting that Sean meet with him ASAP to discuss pricing errors he had found on the company Web site. Sean decided to meet right away because in his mind dealing with an immediate operational problem was more important than writing a report.
Sean then decided to begin working on the customer-loss project at 3 p.m. Wednesday because his schedule was usually light on Wednesday afternoon. When the time came, Sean began to feel nervous. "What should I do to get started? Maybe I'll look on the Internet for some ideas." After inserting the search phrase "Customer loss prevention" into Bing.com, Sean found more than nine million listings. He thought, "Maybe I will read a few dozen of these articles before getting started. Why re-invent the wheel?"
Sean then printed the first ten articles he found and thought, "I will take these home and read them after Lisa is sleeping, and Jan (his wife) has started watching her TV tonight. Besides, the report is not due for another six days. I have plenty of time."
That night Sean fell asleep on the couch before he took the reports from his case.
What should Peg do to help Sean accomplish his assignment of preparing the report?

Question 13

Brittany Faces Reality
One year ago, Brittany returned enthusiastically to the work force after 12 years of being a fulltime homemaker and a part-time direct sales representative for beauty products. Brittany's major motive for finding a full-time professional job was to work toward her career goal of becoming marketing manager in a medium-size or large company. To help prepare for this career, Brittany completed a business administration degree over a five-year period.
Another compelling reason for returning to full-time employment was financial need. Brittany's husband owned and operated an appliance and electronics store that was becoming less profitable each year. Several large appliance stores had moved into the area, resulting in fewer customers for Suburban Appliances (the name of the family business). Brittany and her husband Maurice concluded that the family could not cover its bills unless Brittany earned the equivalent of a full-time income.
After three months of searching for full-time employment, Brittany responded to a job board ad for a marketing assistant position. The ad described the position as part of a management training program with an excellent future. Ten days after submitting her cover letter and résumé, Brittany was invited for an interview. The company proved to be a national provider of automobile and homeowner insurance. The human-resources interviewer and hiring manager both explained that Brittany's initial assignment would be to work as a telemarketer. Both advised Brittany that many people were applying for these telemarketing positions.
Brittany would be required to telephone individual consumers and small-business owners and make a sales pitch that would motivate them to transfer their automobile or homeowner insurance to her company. The company supplied a computerized list of names and telephone numbers across the country. Using this list, Brittany could take advantage of time-zone differences to telephone people during their dinner times as well as at other times. Brittany would receive a small commission for each customer who made the switch to her company. Her major responsibility in addition to telephone soliciting would be to enter the results of her conversations into a computer and prepare summaries.
One week after the interview, Brittany was extended a job offer. She accepted the offer despite some concern that the position was a little too far removed from the professional marketing position she sought. Brittany was assigned to a small cubicle in a large room with about 25 other telemarketers. She found the training program exciting, particularly with respect to techniques for overcoming customer resistance. Brittany reasoned that this experience, combined with her direct selling of beauty products, would give her excellent insights into how consumers think and behave. For the first two weeks, Brittany found the calls to be uplifting. She experienced a surge of excitement when a customer agreed to switch to her company. As was the custom in the office, she shouted "Yes" after concluding each customer conversion to her company.
As the weeks moved slowly on, Brittany became increasingly restless and concerned about the job. Her success ratio was falling below the company standard of a 3 percent success rate on the cold calls. A thought kept running through Brittany's mind: "Even if I'm doing well at this job, 97 percent of people I call will practically hang up on me. And I can't stand keyboarding all these worthless reports explaining what happened as a result of my calls. It's a horrible waste of time."
Brittany soon found it difficult to sleep peacefully, often pacing the apartment after Maurice had fallen asleep. She noticed that she was arguing much more with Maurice and the two children. Brittany's stomach churned so much that she found eating uncomfortable. She often poked at her food, but drank coffee and diet soft drinks much more than previously. After six months of working at the insurance company her weight plunged from 135 pounds to 123 pounds. Brittany's left thumb and wrists were constantly sore. One night when Maurice asked her why she was rubbing the region below her thumb, Brittany said, "I push the mouse around so much during the day that my thumb feels like it's falling off."
During the next several months, Brittany spoke with her supervisor twice about her future in the company. Both times the supervisor explained that the best telemarketers become eligible for supervisory positions, providing they have proved themselves for at least three years. The supervisor also cautioned Brittany that her performance was adequate, but not exceptional. Brittany thought to herself, "I'm banging my head against the wall and I'm considered just average."
As Brittany approached a full six months in her position, she and Maurice reviewed the family finances. He said, "Sales at the store are getting worse and worse. I predict that this year your salary will be higher than profits from the store. It's great that we can count on at least one stable salary in the family. The kids and I really appreciate it."
Brittany thought, "Now is the worst time to tell Maurice how I really feel about my job. I'm falling apart inside and the family needs my salary. What a mess."
What aspects of work stress are revealed in this case?

Question 14

Brittany Faces Reality
One year ago, Brittany returned enthusiastically to the work force after 12 years of being a fulltime homemaker and a part-time direct sales representative for beauty products. Brittany's major motive for finding a full-time professional job was to work toward her career goal of becoming marketing manager in a medium-size or large company. To help prepare for this career, Brittany completed a business administration degree over a five-year period.
Another compelling reason for returning to full-time employment was financial need. Brittany's husband owned and operated an appliance and electronics store that was becoming less profitable each year. Several large appliance stores had moved into the area, resulting in fewer customers for Suburban Appliances (the name of the family business). Brittany and her husband Maurice concluded that the family could not cover its bills unless Brittany earned the equivalent of a full-time income.
After three months of searching for full-time employment, Brittany responded to a job board ad for a marketing assistant position. The ad described the position as part of a management training program with an excellent future. Ten days after submitting her cover letter and résumé, Brittany was invited for an interview. The company proved to be a national provider of automobile and homeowner insurance. The human-resources interviewer and hiring manager both explained that Brittany's initial assignment would be to work as a telemarketer. Both advised Brittany that many people were applying for these telemarketing positions.
Brittany would be required to telephone individual consumers and small-business owners and make a sales pitch that would motivate them to transfer their automobile or homeowner insurance to her company. The company supplied a computerized list of names and telephone numbers across the country. Using this list, Brittany could take advantage of time-zone differences to telephone people during their dinner times as well as at other times. Brittany would receive a small commission for each customer who made the switch to her company. Her major responsibility in addition to telephone soliciting would be to enter the results of her conversations into a computer and prepare summaries.
One week after the interview, Brittany was extended a job offer. She accepted the offer despite some concern that the position was a little too far removed from the professional marketing position she sought. Brittany was assigned to a small cubicle in a large room with about 25 other telemarketers. She found the training program exciting, particularly with respect to techniques for overcoming customer resistance. Brittany reasoned that this experience, combined with her direct selling of beauty products, would give her excellent insights into how consumers think and behave. For the first two weeks, Brittany found the calls to be uplifting. She experienced a surge of excitement when a customer agreed to switch to her company. As was the custom in the office, she shouted "Yes" after concluding each customer conversion to her company.
As the weeks moved slowly on, Brittany became increasingly restless and concerned about the job. Her success ratio was falling below the company standard of a 3 percent success rate on the cold calls. A thought kept running through Brittany's mind: "Even if I'm doing well at this job, 97 percent of people I call will practically hang up on me. And I can't stand keyboarding all these worthless reports explaining what happened as a result of my calls. It's a horrible waste of time."
Brittany soon found it difficult to sleep peacefully, often pacing the apartment after Maurice had fallen asleep. She noticed that she was arguing much more with Maurice and the two children. Brittany's stomach churned so much that she found eating uncomfortable. She often poked at her food, but drank coffee and diet soft drinks much more than previously. After six months of working at the insurance company her weight plunged from 135 pounds to 123 pounds. Brittany's left thumb and wrists were constantly sore. One night when Maurice asked her why she was rubbing the region below her thumb, Brittany said, "I push the mouse around so much during the day that my thumb feels like it's falling off."
During the next several months, Brittany spoke with her supervisor twice about her future in the company. Both times the supervisor explained that the best telemarketers become eligible for supervisory positions, providing they have proved themselves for at least three years. The supervisor also cautioned Brittany that her performance was adequate, but not exceptional. Brittany thought to herself, "I'm banging my head against the wall and I'm considered just average."
As Brittany approached a full six months in her position, she and Maurice reviewed the family finances. He said, "Sales at the store are getting worse and worse. I predict that this year your salary will be higher than profits from the store. It's great that we can count on at least one stable salary in the family. The kids and I really appreciate it."
Brittany thought, "Now is the worst time to tell Maurice how I really feel about my job. I'm falling apart inside and the family needs my salary. What a mess."
What suggestions can you make to the company for decreasing the stressors in the position of telemarketer?

Question 15

Brittany Faces Reality
One year ago, Brittany returned enthusiastically to the work force after 12 years of being a fulltime homemaker and a part-time direct sales representative for beauty products. Brittany's major motive for finding a full-time professional job was to work toward her career goal of becoming marketing manager in a medium-size or large company. To help prepare for this career, Brittany completed a business administration degree over a five-year period.
Another compelling reason for returning to full-time employment was financial need. Brittany's husband owned and operated an appliance and electronics store that was becoming less profitable each year. Several large appliance stores had moved into the area, resulting in fewer customers for Suburban Appliances (the name of the family business). Brittany and her husband Maurice concluded that the family could not cover its bills unless Brittany earned the equivalent of a full-time income.
After three months of searching for full-time employment, Brittany responded to a job board ad for a marketing assistant position. The ad described the position as part of a management training program with an excellent future. Ten days after submitting her cover letter and résumé, Brittany was invited for an interview. The company proved to be a national provider of automobile and homeowner insurance. The human-resources interviewer and hiring manager both explained that Brittany's initial assignment would be to work as a telemarketer. Both advised Brittany that many people were applying for these telemarketing positions.
Brittany would be required to telephone individual consumers and small-business owners and make a sales pitch that would motivate them to transfer their automobile or homeowner insurance to her company. The company supplied a computerized list of names and telephone numbers across the country. Using this list, Brittany could take advantage of time-zone differences to telephone people during their dinner times as well as at other times. Brittany would receive a small commission for each customer who made the switch to her company. Her major responsibility in addition to telephone soliciting would be to enter the results of her conversations into a computer and prepare summaries.
One week after the interview, Brittany was extended a job offer. She accepted the offer despite some concern that the position was a little too far removed from the professional marketing position she sought. Brittany was assigned to a small cubicle in a large room with about 25 other telemarketers. She found the training program exciting, particularly with respect to techniques for overcoming customer resistance. Brittany reasoned that this experience, combined with her direct selling of beauty products, would give her excellent insights into how consumers think and behave. For the first two weeks, Brittany found the calls to be uplifting. She experienced a surge of excitement when a customer agreed to switch to her company. As was the custom in the office, she shouted "Yes" after concluding each customer conversion to her company.
As the weeks moved slowly on, Brittany became increasingly restless and concerned about the job. Her success ratio was falling below the company standard of a 3 percent success rate on the cold calls. A thought kept running through Brittany's mind: "Even if I'm doing well at this job, 97 percent of people I call will practically hang up on me. And I can't stand keyboarding all these worthless reports explaining what happened as a result of my calls. It's a horrible waste of time."
Brittany soon found it difficult to sleep peacefully, often pacing the apartment after Maurice had fallen asleep. She noticed that she was arguing much more with Maurice and the two children. Brittany's stomach churned so much that she found eating uncomfortable. She often poked at her food, but drank coffee and diet soft drinks much more than previously. After six months of working at the insurance company her weight plunged from 135 pounds to 123 pounds. Brittany's left thumb and wrists were constantly sore. One night when Maurice asked her why she was rubbing the region below her thumb, Brittany said, "I push the mouse around so much during the day that my thumb feels like it's falling off."
During the next several months, Brittany spoke with her supervisor twice about her future in the company. Both times the supervisor explained that the best telemarketers become eligible for supervisory positions, providing they have proved themselves for at least three years. The supervisor also cautioned Brittany that her performance was adequate, but not exceptional. Brittany thought to herself, "I'm banging my head against the wall and I'm considered just average."
As Brittany approached a full six months in her position, she and Maurice reviewed the family finances. He said, "Sales at the store are getting worse and worse. I predict that this year your salary will be higher than profits from the store. It's great that we can count on at least one stable salary in the family. The kids and I really appreciate it."
Brittany thought, "Now is the worst time to tell Maurice how I really feel about my job. I'm falling apart inside and the family needs my salary. What a mess."
What advice can you offer Brittany to help her reduce her stress?