MGMT Asia Pacific 3rd Edition Williams Solutions Manual

MGMT Asia Pacific 3rd Edition Williams
Solutions Manual
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MGMT Asia Pacific 3rd Edition Williams Solutions Manual
McWilliams and Williams MGMT3 Instructor manual
Chapter 3
Organisational
environments and cultures
Learning objectives ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 65
Terms ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 67
Lesson plans -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68
Lesson plan for lectures -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68
Lesson plan for tutorials -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 71
Workplace management video assignment-------------------------------------------------------- 74
Media quiz: questions and solutions ----------------------------------------------------------------- 76
Assignments and activities -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 79
Management team decision --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 79
Student exercise -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 79
Instructor notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81
Practice being a manager ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 84
Student exercise -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 84
Instructor notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 86
Additional assignments and activities --------------------------------------------------------------- 88
Video activities ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 89
Review questions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 91
© Cengage Learning Australia 2016 64
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Learning objectives
1. Discuss how changing environments affect organisations.
Environmental change, complexity and resource scarcity are the basic components of
external environments. Environmental change is the rate at which conditions or events
affecting a business change. Environmental complexity is the number of external factors
in an external environment. Resource scarcity is the scarcity or abundance of resources
available in the external environment. The greater the rates of environmental change,
environmental complexity and resource scarcity, the less confident managers are that
they can understand, predict and effectively react to the trends affecting their
businesses. According to punctuated equilibrium theory, companies experience periods
of stability followed by short periods of dynamic, fundamental change, followed by a
return to periods of stability.
2. Describe the four components of the general environment.

The general environment consists of events and trends that affect all organisations.
Because the economy influences basic business decisions, managers often use
economic statistics and business confidence indices to predict future economic activity.
Changes in technology, which transforms inputs into outputs, can be a benefit or a
threat to a business. Socio-cultural trends, like changing demographic characteristics,
affect how companies run their businesses. Similarly, socio-cultural changes in
behaviour, attitudes and beliefs affect the demand for a business’s products and
services. Court decisions and new federal and state laws have imposed much greater
political/legal responsibilities on companies. The best way to manage legal
responsibilities is to educate managers and employees about laws and regulations and
potential lawsuits that could affect a business.
3. Explain the five components of the specific environment.

The specific environment is made up of the five components shown here. Companies
can monitor customers’ needs by identifying customer problems after they occur or by
anticipating problems before they occur. Because they tend to focus on well-known
competitors, managers often underestimate their competition or do a poor job of
identifying future competitors. Suppliers and buyers are very dependent on each other
and that dependence sometimes leads to opportunistic behaviour, in which one benefits
at the expense of the other. Regulatory agencies affect businesses by creating rules
and then enforcing them.
Advocacy groups cannot regulate organisations’ practices. Nevertheless, through
public communications, media advocacy and product boycotts, they try to convince
companies to change their practices.

4. Describe the process that companies use to make sense of their changing
environments.
Managers use a three-step process to make sense of external environments:
environmental scanning, interpreting information and acting on it. Managers scan their
environments based on their organisational strategies, their need for up-to-date
information and their need to reduce uncertainty.
When managers identify environmental events as threats, they take steps to
protect the company from harm. When managers identify environmental events as
opportunities, they formulate alternatives for taking advantage of them to improve
company performance. Using cognitive maps can help managers visually summarise
the relationships between environmental factors and the actions they might take to deal
with them.
5. Explain how organisational cultures are created and how they can help
companies be successful.
Organisational culture is the set of key values, beliefs and attitudes shared by
organisational members. Organisational cultures are often created by company
founders and then sustained through the telling of organisational stories and the
celebration of organisational heroes. Adaptable cultures that promote employee
involvement, make clear the organisation’s strategic purpose and direction, and actively
define and teach organisational values and beliefs can help companies achieve higher
sales growth, return on assets, profits, quality and employee satisfaction. Organisational
cultures exist on three levels: the surface level, where cultural artefacts and behaviours
can be observed; just below the surface, where values and beliefs are expressed; and
deep below the surface, where unconsciously held assumptions and beliefs exist.
Managers can begin to change company cultures by focusing on the top two levels and
by using behavioural substitution and behavioural addition, changing visible artefacts,
and selecting job applicants with values and beliefs consistent with the desired company
culture.

Terms
External environments Environmental change Stable environments
Dynamic environments Punctuated equilibrium Environmental complexity
theory
Simple environments Complex environments Resource scarcity
Uncertainty General environment Specific environment
Business confidence Technology Competitors
indices
Competitive analysis Suppliers Supplier dependence
Buyer dependence Opportunistic behaviour Relationship behaviour
Industry regulation Advocacy groups Public communications
Media advocacy Product boycott Environmental scanning
Cognitive maps Internal environment Organisational culture
Organisational stories Organisational heroes Company vision
Consistent organisational Behavioural addition Behavioural substitution
cultures
Visible artefacts

Lesson plans
Lesson plan for lectures
Pre-class prep for you: Pre-class prep for your students:
 Review chapter and determine what points  Bring book.
to cover.
 Bring PPT slides.
Warm up Begin Chapter 3 by asking students:
 How would you describe the business environment?’ (If you have a board,
begin to write their ideas on it so that a composite picture can be derived.)
Depending on their responses, you may need to rephrase the question, some
examples are:
 ‘What does a manager need to think about when doing business?’
 ‘What forces determine how a company conducts its business?’
Content Lecture slides: Make note of where you stop so you can pick up at the next
delivery class meeting. Some slides have teaching notes on them to help you as you
lecture.
Topics PowerPoint slides Activities

External environments  External
 Changing environments
environments  Changing
 Environmental environments
change  Changing
 Environmental environments: CSL
complexity and H1N1 vaccine
 Resource scarcity  Changing
 Environmental environments
uncertainty  Environmental
complexity
 Resource scarcity.

General environment  External

 Economy environment
 Technological  Components of the
component general environment
 Socio-cultural  Economy
component  Technological
 Political/legal component
component  Socio-cultural
component
 Political/legal
component
Specific environment  Specific Have students discuss

 Customer environment how each component of
component  Customer the specific environment
 Competitor component might affect Hungry
component  Competitor Jacks. Then select
 Supplier component component companies in different
 Industry regulation  Supplier component industries and have
component  Industry regulation students repeat the
 Advocacy groups component exercise. This will give
 Advocacy groups them an idea of the
variability of specific
environments.
Making sense of  Making sense of the Explain the three-step

changing environment process of ‘making sense
environments of changing
 Environmental environments’.
scanning
 Interpreting
environmental
factors
 Acting on threats
and opportunities

Organisational  The internal Define organisational

cultures: creation, environment. cultures.
success and change  Creation and
 Creation and maintenance of Ask students to describe
maintenance of organisational the culture of their current
organisational cultures workplace (or any place
cultures  Successful they have worked).
 Successful organisational
organisational cultures
cultures  Changing
 Changing organisational
organisational cultures
cultures
Adjust lecture to include the activities in the right column. Some activities
should be done before introducing the concept, some after.
Conclusion Assignments:
and 1. Tell students to be ready at the next class to answer questions regarding
Preview the Management Decision ‘Environmental Roller Coaster’, located on the
CourseMate website.
2. If you have finished covering Chapter 3, assign students to review Chapter
3 and read the next chapter on your syllabus.
Remind students about any upcoming events.

Lesson plan for tutorials

Pre-class prep for you: Pre-class prep for your students:
 Review material to cover and modify the  Bring book.
lesson plan to meet your needs.
 Set up the classroom so that small groups
of 4–5 students can sit together.
Warm up Begin Chapter 3 by asking students:

 How would you describe the business environment?’ (If you have a board
begin to write their ideas on it so that a composite picture can be derived.)
Depending on their responses, you may need to rephrase the question, some
examples are:
 ‘What does a manager need to think about when doing business?’
 ‘What forces determine how a company conducts its business?’
Content Lecture on ‘Changing environments’ (LO1)

delivery Break for group activity:
Changing environments
 Divide the class into small groups of 4 to 5 students.
 Have each group propose one to two industries that operate in each of the
following environments: stable, dynamic, simple and complex. Students will
need to justify their choices.
 Have groups share their ideas with the whole class. Keep in mind that
students may be way off base. The important thing is to push them to think
about what makes an environment stable, dynamic, simple or complex.
They will probably be able to identify numerous examples of ‘dynamic’ but
may struggle with the others.
 Before lecturing on the next section, refer to the composite of the business
environment that students built at the beginning of the class session. Use it to
segue into your lecture on General environment and specific environment
(LO2 and LO3)
 Break for the following activity:

General and specific environment

 Put the class back into small groups. Ask if any have ever worked at an
amusement park. Ask students how uncertain they think the amusement
industry is.
 Give students three minutes to read the Management decision
‘Environmental roller coaster’, located on the CourseMate website.
 Tell students to concentrate on question 2 with an eye toward question 3.
They will need to identify the environmental factors that most influence the
amusement industry and how.
 Create an overall picture of the amusement park industry by writing groups’
results on the board. Then, as a class, answer question 3, or ‘How uncertain
is the amusement park industry?’ When students propose answers, make
sure they explain their reasoning.
 Ask students, ‘How can managers manage in the face of ever-changing

external environments?’
 Lecture on ‘Making sense of changing environments’ (LO4)
 Break for the following activity:
‘Crisis management’
Divide the class into even-numbered groups of students. Further divide each
group evenly in to two subgroups: managers and reporters. Give students at
most three minutes to review the Develop your career potential exercise
‘Dealing with the press’, which can be found on the CourseMate website. When
the three minutes is up, have the reporters begin quizzing the mangers using
the questions in the exercise. When the exercise is over, ask students if they
can think of some general guidelines to follow when dealing with the press.
Further teaching notes for this exercise are below.
Segue into presenting the content on ‘Internal environments’ (LO5)

Conclusion Assignments:
and preview 1. Have students work as individuals or as groups to complete the Management
team decision ‘Dog day blues’ about the effects of change on corporate
cultures. You can also ask students to identify ways that the external
environment will potentially affect the culture of the company in the case,
Computer Co.
2. If you have finished covering Chapter 3, assign students to review Chapter 3
and read the next chapter on your syllabus.
Remind students about any upcoming events.
Additional activity
Out-of-class activity: ‘Environmental scanning’. Have students research the most recent
annual report of a well-known company and list all the factors in the external environment
that have affected the company. Students should focus on both the general and specific
environments. Inform students that most companies post their annual reports online in the
‘investor relations’ section of their web pages. Require either a few paragraphs explaining
what they found or an oral summary a few-sentences long at the beginning of the next class
session.

Workplace management video assignment

Management workplace videos can support several in-class uses. In most cases you can
build an entire 50-minute class around them. Alternatively, they can provide a springboard
into a group lesson plan. Students can access these videos via their CourseMate access
card.
Video: Camp Bow Wow

The environment and corporate culture
Summary
In 10 years, Camp Bow Wow has grown from a single kennel in Denver, Colorado to a $40-
million-dollar business, with more than 150 locations. The transition from a small family
business to a national chain, however, required a shift from a family-based culture to a
business- and performance-based culture. A key element of of Camp Bow Wow’s culture is
the staff’s deep emotional connection with animals. The connection is immediately apparent
at corporate headquarters, where offices are bustling with employees and pets alike.
According to founder Heidi Ganahal, ‘What we do is focus on what’s important to us, and
that’s the animals’.
Discussion questions
1. What aspects of Camp Bow Wow’s corporate culture reflect the surface level of
the organisational culture? What aspects reflect the values and beliefs? What
aspects reflect the unconsciously held assumptions and beliefs?
Visible aspects of Camp Bow Wow’s culture include the company logo, the presence of
dogs in workspaces, the dress code, the camp imagery and Heidi Ganahl’s life story,
which is told and retold during franchisee meetings. Founder Heidi Ganahl says that one
of the unique things about working at Camp Bow Wow’s corporate headquarters is that
‘you get to bring your dog to work with you every day’. Employees keep baby gates at
offices to hold dogs and the company encourages regular dog-walking breaks.
According to Heidi Ganahl, having pets at work keeps everyone focused on the
company mission and what’s best for the brand.
Invisible aspects of Camp Bow Wow’s culture include values such as overcoming
adversity to achieve success – a core value communicated through Heidi Ganahl’s life
story. Another invisible value embraced at Camp Bow Wow is the idea of providing a
humanitarian service to dogs and dog lovers. This invisible value has led to the creation
of the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation, a non-profit division of Heidi Ganahl’s company

that finds homes for unwanted pets, invests in animal disease-prevention research and
promotes humane treatment of animals.
2. Why did Camp Bow Wow have to change its culture when it became a national
franchise?
Camp Bow Wow’s early family-business culture was useful in the start-up phase of
Camp Bow Wow’s growth. However, founder Heidi Ganahl says her company required a
different culture once it became a national franchise. In particular, Ganahl says the
focus had to shift from a family-based culture to a business-and-performance-oriented
culture. She states that the big challenge for any franchise is to get hundreds of
franchisees on the same page and committed to one vision and one way of achieving
goals. Ganahl says this requires a strong culture that ‘doesn't allow for people to colour
outside of the lines, yet taps into their creativity and innovation’.
3. What impact does Heidi Ganahl’s personal story have on employees at Camp Bow
Wow?
The story of Heidi Ganahl is famous at all levels of the Camp Bow Wow organisation.
Consumers and franchisees that come in contact with Camp Bow Wow learn about the
company by hearing the details of her story. Boulder franchisee Sue Ryan says that
Ganahl’s story is inspiring to her because it deals with perseverance through tough
times. Ryan adds that while business owners don’t experience Ganahl’s specific
tragedy, they do understand adversity. Finally, the story offers a personal connection
between employees and the founder. According to Ganahl, the takeaway from her story
is that people inevitably face challenges in life and business, but our response to
adversity determines whether we will be successful or unsuccessful.

Media quiz: questions and solutions

Students can access the media quizzes via the CourseMate premium website.
Video segment 1
Video segment Title: Environment and culture of organisations
Start time (in sec): 0:00
Stop time (in sec): 1:50
1. Heidi Ganahl’s personal example of triumph over tragedy can be expected to have a
strong influence on Camp Bow Wow’s:
a. organisational control.
b. organisational culture.
c. organisational diversity.
d. organisation chart.
Correct answer: b
Feedback: Organisational stories like Heidi Ganahl’s help emphasise culturally
consistent assumptions, decisions and actions.
2. Which part of Camp Bow Wow’s organisational environment is likely to be affected and
shaped by the inspirational biography of founder Heidi Ganahl?
a. General environment
b. Specific (task) environment
c. Internal environment
d. Natural environment
Correct answer: c
Feedback: The internal environment consists of the trends and events within an
organisation that affect the organisational culture.
3. Heidi Ganahl’s account of how she founded Camp Bow Wow through great adversity is
a:
a. slogan.
b. story.
c. hero.
d. ceremony.
Correct answer: b

Video segment 2
1. Logos, shirts, branded signage and websites that help shape people’s perceptions of
Camp Bow Wow are known as:
a. ceremonies.
b. visible artefacts.
c. stories.
d. values.
Correct answer: b
Feedback: Visible artefacts are visible signs of an organisation’s culture.
2. Camp Bow Wow’s organisational culture will strongly promote business success if:
a. franchisees like Sue Ryan are free to establish a culture counter to the one
established by Camp Bow Wow corporate headquarters.
b. it possesses a caring family-like atmosphere.
c. it has a strategic purpose.
d. founder Heidi Ganahl is viewed as a hero.
Correct answer: c
Feedback: A key factor in a successful organisational culture is that it has a clear
mission.
3. According Ganahl, Camp Bow Wow requires a strong and consistent corporate culture
to keep all local franchise owners ‘on the same page’ and following a common template
for the business and brand. This culture could become detrimental over time because:
a. strong consistent cultures are inflexible and incapable of adapting to environmental
change.
b. strong consistent cultures are too flexible and capable of adapting to environmental
change.
c. strong consistent cultures don’t perform well in any environment.
d. the passing of time provides stability and predictability for businesses.
Correct answer: a
Feedback: A strong culture doesn’t guarantee success because it makes change very
difficult.

Video segment 3
1. At Camp Bow Wow, all employees, franchisees and recruits learn the inspirational story
of how Heidi Ganahl founded the doggie day care company. This is important because
the:
a. story helps convey Camp Bow Wow’s shared values, attitudes, beliefs and mission.
b. story helps individuals relieve stress.
c. story reduces absenteeism.
d. story reduces uncertainty in the external environment.
Correct answer: a
2. Heidi Ganahl says Camp Bow Wow promotes a ‘we-can-conquer-all’ work attitude that
helps individuals overcome challenges. This attitude is especially useful for businesses
that exist within:
a. a task environment.
b. a general environment.
c. complex environments.
d. stable, simple organisational environments.
Correct answer: c
Feedback: Complex environments have many environmental factors that make many
challenges and complications to an organisation.
3. According to leaders at Camp Bow Wow, Heidi Ganahl’s life story helps to ________
individuals throughout the organisation.
a. promote
b. reward
c. coerce
d. motivate
Correct answer: d

Assignments and activities

Management team decision
Student exercise
Dog day blues
One of the reasons you accepted a management position at Comchip Co several years ago
was the company’s laid-back culture. A loose organisational structure enables employees to
move freely between projects and the open office space encourages informal encounters
and generates a feeling of teamwork. Among the very generous corporate perks is a policy
allowing employees to bring their pets to work. It is not uncommon to see a small animal
sitting in an employee’s in-box drinking from a hamster lick. Several employees bring their
dogs, large and small, to the office.
As the company has grown, thanks in part to its informal culture, more and more
people are taking advantage of the pet policy and problems are arising. Food is swiped from
desks, animals are rooting through trash bins and dogs are marking territory on the partitions
that surround their owners’ desks. Visiting customers often try to mask startled (at best) or
disapproving (at worst) looks when they tour your facility for the first time – and even the
second and third times. During a recent breakfast meeting, when a board member refused to
share her bagel with the CFO’s dog, the dog relieved itself on her briefcase. At least one
employee has complained of allergic reactions due to the high levels of pet dander in the
office air, but rather than change the policy, you installed a high-power air cleaner.
Despite the challenges, you have resisted changing the pet policy because it
symbolises both the company’s relaxed culture and Comchip’s commitment to its
employees’ work–life balance. This afternoon, however, you were notified by Worksafe that
your office does not meet the occupational health and safety (OHS) required standards for
indoor air quality. Apparently, the cleaner you installed can’t handle all the pet dander. To
meet the standards, you’ll need an even more powerful air cleaner that costs between
$100 000 and $200 000. That would be a significant investment in the pet policy! Is the
policy worth the cost given it is unknown if it would solve the allergy problem?
In 2003, only 5000 offices participated in ‘bring your pet to work day’, but the number
doubled the very next year. Companies bigger than Comchip Co have figured out how to
make pet policies work: IAMS Pet Food and Netscape, to name two. A quarter of Burton
Snowboards’ 230 employees bring their dogs to work every day. Anecdotal evidence from
those companies indicates that pets can spur creativity and lower occupational stress. You
ask yourself, ‘How committed am I to the pet policy?’ Is the pet policy just trendy (or avant-
garde), or does it say something deeper about your company?

For this Management team decision, assemble three or four students to act as the
management team for Comchip Co. Include both pet owners and people without pets to
avoid any bias. Before you begin the exercise, have each team member privately write down
answers to each of the following questions. By sharing your individual responses, you may
be able to have a more varied and rounded discussion.
Questions
1. Do you buy the expensive air cleaner or eliminate the pet policy? Why or why not?
2. If you choose to stop allowing animals at the office, what effect, if any, do you think the
challenge will have on the company’s culture?
3. Can you think of a way to allow people to bring pets to work without upgrading the air
cleaner or running afoul of Worksafe (OHS) laws?

Instructor notes
Dog day blues
Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is for students to assess the importance of certain policies to an
organisational culture and to weigh the effects of changing policies that account for the
unique character of that organisational culture. This exercise also pushes them to consider
how external issues (socio-cultural, demographic) affect the internal environment of the firm.
Setting it up
As a warm-up, you may wish to ask how students would feel about working in an office
where employees were allowed to bring pets. If you didn’t assign the case as homework,
give students five minutes to read it over before beginning the exercise. Since it is early in
the semester, let the students hammer out a decision on their own. As the semester
progresses, however, have them experiment with the different group decision-making
techniques presented in Chapter 4.
Depending on the time you can dedicate to the exercise, you may consider the
following set-up. First divide the class into teams of four to six members. Assign each group
of students a perspective (for pets or against pets) and have them discuss the reasons in
support of that perspective. For example, a group of ‘for pets’ would only discuss reasons to
keep the pet policy. Make sure that the groups alternate around the room. That is, try not to
put two groups of ‘for pets’ next to each other. This will be important for the second part of
the exercise. Give students roughly 5 minutes to come to some conclusions and develop
some moderately sound arguments in support of their perspective. Then, have half the
members of each ‘for pets’ group turn their chairs to make a group with half the members of
an ‘against pets’ group. Since the ‘for’ and ‘against’ groups alternate around the room, you
should be able to assemble mixed groups by having students adjust the angle of their seats
(or simply turning in their seats to face a new set of students). Now have the mixed groups
debate the issue of the pet policy and come to agreement on the questions below. Remind
students that they need not hold to their assigned perspective even if the arguments from
other members are convincing enough to make them change their minds.
Questions and answers

1. Do you buy the expensive air cleaner or eliminate the pet policy? Why or why
not?
Reasons to buy the air cleaner (and keep the pet policy) could include: increased
employee satisfaction, for employees who use the policy, which often translates to

increases in customer satisfaction; roughly 75 per cent of companies with pet policies
think the practice of bringing pets to work leads to a more creative work environment;
having pets around leads to a more relaxed work environment.
Reasons to eliminate the pet policy could include: growth of a company will make
it extremely difficult to manage everyone’s interests; pet policies are okay for dogs and
cats, but as the company grows, chances of an employee wanting to bring in a more
‘controversial’ pet – like a ferret, rat or snake – increase greatly; there are enough
challenges with humans getting along in the workplace that it seems foolhardy to
complicate matters further by adding pets.
2. If you choose to stop allowing animals at the office, what effect, if any, do you
think the change will have on the company’s culture?
Although individual shop proprietors have long taken their pets to work (think of how
many store cats, birds and dogs you’ve seen around), pet policies are generally a
product of the informal business culture characterised by the dot com boom of the late
20th century. In order to distance themselves from rigid hierarchies that defined much of
the corporate world, upstart technology companies tended to liberalise everything from
work dress codes to executive perks. One pronounced differentiating factor was pet
policies. Companies like Amazon, Apple and Netscape all had pet policies that allowed
employees to bring their pets to work. At Amazon, success caused it to ultimately scale
back its pet policy; when it needed to lease larger, more business-appropriate office
space, the landlord had restrictions against pets. Other companies – like Netscape,
Burton Snowboards and IAMS pet food – have maintained their pet-friendly policies and
feel better for it.
Some students will feel that abandoning the pet policy will signal the death of the
fun work culture at the company in the case, but companies like Apple have put an end
to pet policies without sacrificing the casual atmosphere and creative work environment
that the pet policies exemplified. Other students will argue the opposite: that people are
responsible for creating the culture through organisational stories and heroes, and that
in the end, the culture is about the people, not their pets.
3. Can you think of a way to allow people to bring pets to work without upgrading
the air cleaner or running afoul of occupational health and safety regulations?
Most companies with pet policies attempt to satisfy employee constituents on both sides
of the debate. Some have animal-free zones to satisfy the needs of employees with pet
(and other) allergies. At other companies, employees use baby-gates to cordon off pet
areas. An advertising agency in the USA has built a fence around three historic homes
that comprise its campus so that employee dogs can play freely outdoors. Another

possibility would be to dedicate a pet-care space to the building, much like corporate
childcare centres. That way, employees’ animals wouldn’t be alone during the day,
owners could visit with pets during the day, but the troublesome aspects of having pets
wander freely through company office space would be eliminated.

Practice being a manager

Student exercise
Navigating different organisational cultures
Effective managers recognise that organisational culture is an important, often critical
element of organisational health and performance. But recognising and understanding
culture, especially its less visible aspects, is often quite challenging. This exercise will give
you some practice in recognising cultural differences and the challenges and opportunities
that managers face as they work with diverse cultures.
Suppose that major music recording company Sony BMG has announced plans to hire
several university students to form a team that will invest in the ‘next big things in music’.
The selected students will be paid $50 000 per year for working part-time. Sony BMG will
also allocate up to $10 million for hiring artists, producing records etc. based on the team’s
recommendations.
The new team has been dubbed the Top Wave Team (TWT). If TWT’s
recommendations are fruitful, the company will sign each member of the team to $150 000
full-time contracts. The company also plans to keep the team together and to give members
bonuses and promotions based on their group performance.
Your class has been chosen as the representative university class. The music
company is now asking you to form affinity groups by musical preferences in your class (for
example, a Country Music group, an Urban/Hip-Hop group). Each group will nominate one of
its members to receive the first $50 000 internship as a TWT team member at Sony BMG.
The new TWT group will meet and discuss initial plans and investment recommendations
and then your class will discuss the process and outcomes.
Step 1: Choose your musical affinity. In the class session before this exercise, your
lecturer/tutor will ask you to submit a survey form or sheet of paper with your name and your
preferred musical genre/identity.
Identify yourself with one of the following musical genres based on (a)
preference/affinity (‘I prefer this music’) and (b) knowledge/understanding (‘Of all types of
music, I know the most about _______ music/musicians’):
1. Rock
2. Country
3. Religious/Spiritual
4. Urban/Hip-Hop
5. Rap
6. Jazz/R&B
7. Pop/Mainstream

8. Classical
9. Folk/Bluegrass
Your lecturer/tutor will review your submitted preferences and organise affinity groups
for the next class session.
Step 2: Organise into groups. Your lecturer/tutor will organise you by musical affinity. If
your class is heavily concentrated in one or a few of the musical genres, you may be asked
to further divide into smaller groups by sub-categories (such as ‘Rock – heavy metal’ and
‘Rock – pop’).
Step 3: Prepare your recommendations. In groups, discuss what is important about your
type of music and what investments should be made by the TWT team. Keep in mind that
the investments made by the TWT team could have a big impact on the future of your
favourite music. Recommend a dollar amount or percentage of the $10 million that your
representative ought to secure for investment in your genre.
Each group should then select one of its members to receive the internship from Sony
BMG and represent the group on the TWT team.
Step 4: Discuss recommendations before the class. Nominees from the musical affinity
groups should discuss their recommendations before the class. Those not on the TWT
should observe the process and take notes on what happens in this meeting.
Step 5: Hold the team meeting. Your lecturer/tutor will allocate a short time for the initial
meeting of the TWT. It may occur before or during the class meeting. After the TWT reaches
agreement on how it might allocate its investments by genre (or by some alternative
approach), reaches impasse or reaches the time limit, your professor will call an end to the
TWT meeting.
Step 6: Debrief and discuss. As a class, discuss the process and outcomes of this
exercise. Consider the following questions and/or others posed by your lecturer/tutor.
 Did you sense a cultural affinity with others who shared your musical tastes? Why/why
not?
 What expectations might be associated with choosing someone to ‘represent’ a group on
a team such as the TWT?
 What tensions and challenges might face each member of the TWT in a real-life setting of
serving on a group that represents various cultures?

Instructor notes
Navigating different organisational cultures
Purpose
This exercise gives students some practice in recognising cultural differences through a
familiar lens, that of musical genres. Your class has been chosen as a ‘representative’
university class, and executives at music company Sony BMG are interested in hiring
students as interns who work with the company to identify and invest in the most promising
up-and-coming talent in various genres. These interns will serve on the ‘Top Wave Team
(TWT)’. In this exercise students will be grouped by their primary musical affinity. The
objective of the exercise is for students to explore the cultures that surround their particular
genre, as well as to consider the opportunities and challenges of managing across cultural
differences.
Setting it up
You should survey your class at least two sessions prior to the session in which you plan to
conduct the exercise. You may use the form below for this survey (see Step 1):
Musical preferences survey
Your name: _________________________________

Class/time: _________________________________
Identify yourself with one of the following musical genres based on:
A preference/affinity (i.e. ‘This is my favourite type of music’)
B knowledge/understanding (i.e. ‘of all types of music, I know the most about this type of
music’):
___ (a) Rock ___ (e) Rap

___ (b) Country ___ (f) Jazz/R&B
___ (c) Religious/Spiritual ___ (g) Pop/Mainstream
___ (d) Urban/Hip-Hop ___ (h) Classical
Other: __________________ (please identify)

Examine the results of the survey, sorting student responses by genre. The exercise
will work best if you have at least three or four groups with significant representation. If your
students are heavily represented in only one or two genres, it will be best to conduct a
follow-up survey by ‘sub-genres’ (i.e. sub categories of preference within Urban/Hip-Hop). To
develop a sub-genre survey form, enlist a few student volunteers who seem particularly
interested in and savvy about music.
An alternative approach to a follow up survey is to simply ask the largest group(s) to
sort themselves into sub-categories prior to running the exercise. Although the aim is to sort
into three or four major groups, avoid ‘forcing’ this result. The key in this exercise is to take
advantage of naturally occurring musical cultures/sub-cultures.
In-class use
Encourage students to tackle the exercise as representatives of their favourite musical
genre. They are the ones who must argue for the future of the genre. This is also a rare
opportunity to speak directly to the ‘movers and shakers’ in a major music company. The
exercise will be more productive, and more fun, to the extent that students ‘take up the
cause’ for their musical ‘tribe’.
Debrief by discussing these questions, which also appear in Step 6:
 Did you sense some cultural affinity with others who shared your musical tastes? Why, or
why not?
 What expectations might be associated with choosing someone to ‘represent’ a group on
a team such as the TWT?
 What tensions and challenges might face each member of the TWO in a real-life setting
of serving on a group that represents various cultures?
You might close the debriefing session with a summation discussion of the
opportunities and challenges posed by working across cultural differences. Recognise that
students in your class may vary in their commitments to a particular musical culture from
‘passionate groupie’ to ‘casual listener’. But within each of us we find some aspects of our
identity that are rooted in cultures and sub-cultures. Drawing upon this diversity, while at the
same time coordinating effectively across differences, is a major management challenge.

Additional assignments and activities

Out-of-class project: ‘organisational culture’. Divide the class into small groups. Have
each group collect stories about the founders of large businesses, such as McDonald’s,
Starbucks, BHP, Myers or Air Asia. Have these groups write a paper or make a presentation
focusing on who these founders are, what ‘vision’ they created and how they may still
influence the current culture of the organisation. Alternately, assign this to individual
students.
Out-of-class project: ‘competitive analysis’. Divide the class into groups of four to five
students. Assign each group to represent one of the following companies: IBM, Coca-Cola,
Microsoft, Holden (Proton or Toyota), Procter and Gamble, Nike, McDonald’s, Coles, Qantas
(Dragon Air or Air Asia) or General Electric. Have each group do a thorough analysis of the
company’s top three or four competitors, including: the competitors’ strengths and
weaknesses, key financial information (total sales, gross profit and net income), target
markets (both geographic and demographic) and key product lines.
In-class activity: ‘environmental scanning’. Divide the class into small groups (no more
than two to three students). Give each group a recent annual report of a well-known
company and have them list all the factors in the external environment that have affected the
company. Students should focus on both the general and specific environments. (If the
classroom has computers, have students download or read the annual reports on-line.) Have
groups discuss what they’ve found.
Advocacy groups. Go to the website of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals), www.peta.org. Answer the following questions:
1. What are PETA’s goals?
2. What types of companies might PETA affect politically?
3. Do you believe in PETA’s actions? Why or why not?
4. How far should advocacy groups go in promoting their causes?
5. How should business organisations react to these groups?
Political environment. Go to the website of the Australian Competition and Consumer

Commission (ACCC) http://www.accc.gov.au/. What are the goals of the ACCC? How does
the ACcc protect consumers? How does it regulate trade? Describe at least one current
court case in which the ACCC is involved. How would the ACCC affect you if you ran a
telemarketing company? a tobacco company?

Video activities
Title: Leadership and Management | Part 4 of 4:The Iceberg of Organizational Culture.
Location: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjziCs-R2S4
Concept: Organisational culture.
Clip description: This clip provides a detailed explanation organisational culture.
Question for discussion: Provide examples for the seen (surface level), heard (expressed
values and beliefs), and believed (unconscious assumptions and beliefs) levels of
organisational culture of your university.
Title: External environment: principles of management.

Location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmElC0tWqBs
Concept: General and specific environment.
Clip description: An overview of implications of the General and Specific environments for
managers.
Question for discussion: As a manager, how would you address a threat in the Specific
Environment?
Title: Ability to adapt to a changing environment.

Location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzJ4eZbhzKk
Concept: Changing environments.
Clip description: A discussion of the necessity for organisations to adapt with their
environment.
Question for discussion: Identify and discuss five major examples of environmental
change that have occurred recently.
Title: Start with why -- how great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek | TEDxPugetSound.
Location: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
Concept: Organisational heroes.
Clip description: A discussion relating to organisational leaders and heroes.
Question for discussion: Identify three well-known organisational heroes and discuss how
these leaders inspired action.

Title: Jay Wilkinson— company culture.

Location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDFqEGI4QJ4
Concept: Organisational culture.
Clip description: A first-person talk about organisational culture. Most relevant: 6:08–16:18.
Question for discussion: As a manager, how might you address a high-performer with low
values?

Review questions
1. Describe the three basic characteristics of changing external environments.
The three basic characteristics of changing external environments are environmental

change, complexity and munificence.
 Environmental change: the rate at which a company’s general and specific
environments change. If the environment is stable, this means that the rate of change
is slow; if the environment is dynamic, this means that the rate of change is fast.
 Environmental complexity: the number of external factors in the environment that
affect organisations. Complex environments have many environmental factors;
simple environments have few.
 Resource scarcity: the degree to which an organisation’s external environment has
an abundance or scarcity of critical organisational resources.
2. How do the characteristics of changing environments affect uncertainty?
Environmental change, environmental complexity and resource scarcity affect

environmental uncertainty, which is how well managers can understand or predict the
external changes and trends affecting their businesses. Environmental uncertainty is
lowest when environmental change and environmental complexity are at low levels and
resource scarcity is small (i.e. resources are plentiful). In these environments, managers
feel confident that they can understand, predict and react to the external forces that
affect their businesses. By contrast, environmental uncertainty is highest when
environmental change and complexity are extensive and resource scarcity is a problem.
In these environments, managers may not be at all confident that they can understand,
predict and handle the external forces affecting their businesses.
3. What is the difference between the general and specific business environments?
The general environment is the economic, technological, socio-cultural and political

trends that indirectly affect all organisations. The specific environment includes the
customer, competitor, supplier, industry regulation and public pressure group trends that
are unique to an industry and which directly affect how a company does business. All
companies participate in the same general environment, but each company’s specific
environment is distinct, based on its business and industry.
4. List the components of the general environment.
The general environment consists of economic, technological, socio-cultural and

political/legal events and trends that affect all organisations. Because the economy

influences basic business decisions, managers often use economic statistics and
business confidence indices to predict future economic activity. Changes in technology,
which is used to transform inputs into outputs, can be a benefit or a threat to a business.
Socio-cultural trends, like changing demographic characteristics, affect how companies
run their businesses. Similarly, socio-cultural changes in behaviour, attitudes and beliefs
affect the demand for a business’s products and services. Court decisions and new laws
have imposed much greater political/legal responsibilities on companies.
5. How do the elements of the specific business environment affect businesses?
Each organisation also has a specific environment that is unique to that firm’s industry
and directly affects the way it conducts day-to-day business. The specific environment
of any company can be divided into five sectors:
 Customers: influence the products and services a company offers, the prices charged
for those offerings, the company’s reputation and the sales generated by business
operations.
 Competitors: also influence the products and services a company offers and the
prices charged for those offerings. Competitors also influence how a company
conducts business in a certain market segment, the company’s location and the
overall strategy a company pursues (attack or avoid competitors).
 Suppliers: influence the cost of the products and services a company offers and
therefore affect the profitability of the firm. Suppliers (who they are and what they can
provide) also affect the types of products that a company is able to put on the market.
 Industry regulation: has the potential to influence nearly every aspect of a company’s
operations. For example, a caterer would need to comply with all the health codes
and liquor laws that govern its industry.
 Advocacy groups: affect businesses through boycotts (or support). For example,
advocacy groups were ultimately responsible for the US company Home Depot
changing its policy of buying timber harvested from old-growth forests.
6. Describe the three-step process that managers use to make sense of their
changing environments.
 Environmental scanning: managers search the environment for important events or

issues that might affect an organisation. This allows managers to stay up-to-date on
important industry factors and to reduce uncertainty.
 Interpreting environmental factors: managers determine what these environmental
events and issues mean to the organisation. These events could present either
threats to or opportunities for the organisation.

 Acting on threats and opportunities: managers can protect themselves against

competition or capture strategic opportunities.
7. How are organisational cultures created and maintained?
An organisational culture is the set of key values, beliefs and attitudes shared by
organisational members. Founders of organisations are the primary drivers of
organisational culture. However, when they are gone, organisational heroes sustain
their values, attitudes and beliefs. Organisational heroes are people admired throughout
the organisation for their qualities and achievements. Their activities provide the basis
for organisational stories, which help employees make sense of organisational events
and changes.
8. What are the characteristics of successful organisational cultures?
Organisational cultures create a successful internal environment by binding all

employees together in a ‘we’re-in-this-together’ attitude. When employee attitudes are
congruous with the culture, they are happy and motivated to work hard for the
organisation because they believe in what they’re doing. Preliminary research shows
that organisational culture is related to organisational success. Cultures based on
adaptability, involvement, a clear vision and consistency can help companies achieve
higher sales growth, return on assets, profits, quality and employee satisfaction.
Adaptability is the ability to notice and respond to changes in the organisation’s
environment. Involvement is the degree to which employees participate in decision
making. (Higher involvement leads to a greater sense of ownership and responsibility
among employees.) A clear vision provides a direction for organisational activities and
consistency involves actively defining and teaching organisational values, beliefs and
attitudes throughout the company.
9. Identify the three levels of organisational culture and give examples of each.
Three levels of organisational culture are:

1. The surface: where reflections of culture can be heard, seen or otherwise observed
(examples of such artefacts include dress codes, office layouts and specific
employee behaviours)
2. Just below the surface: where values, beliefs and attitudes are expressed by people
(such values and beliefs can be understood by observing what people say and
decision-making processes)
3. Far below the surface: where unconsciously held assumptions and beliefs lie. Those
are the unwritten views and rules of the organisation that constitute its core principles
and values.

MGMT Asia Pacific 3rd Edition Williams Solutions Manual
10. How can managers change organisational cultures?
Managers can successfully change the surface levels of culture by motivating different
behaviour. The underlying elements (far below the surface) are difficult to identify and
change. Managers can change culture through behavioural addition or behavioural
substitution. In behavioural addition, employees are motivated to perform a new
behaviour in addition to already accepted ones. In behavioural substitution, employees
perform a new behaviour in place of another.
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2. Describe the four components of the general environment.

3. Explain the five components of the specific environment.

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Topics PowerPoint slides Activities

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General environment  External

Specific environment  Specific Have students discuss

Making sense of  Making sense of the Explain the three-step

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Organisational  The internal Define organisational

Remind students about any upcoming events.

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Lesson plan for tutorials

Warm up Begin Chapter 3 by asking students:

Content Lecture on ‘Changing environments’ (LO1)

 Break for the following activity:

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General and specific environment

 Ask students, ‘How can managers manage in the face of ever-changing

 Lecture on ‘Making sense of changing environments’ (LO4)

 Break for the following activity:

Segue into presenting the content on ‘Internal environments’ (LO5)

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Remind students about any upcoming events.

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Workplace management video assignment

Video: Camp Bow Wow

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Media quiz: questions and solutions

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Assignments and activities

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Questions and answers

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Practice being a manager

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Musical preferences survey

Your name: _________________________________

___ (a) Rock ___ (e) Rap

Other: __________________ (please identify)

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Additional assignments and activities

Political environment. Go to the website of the Australian Competition and Consumer

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_ (a) Rock _ (e) Rap