business

 Question 1 of 1110.0 Points

(The following two questions relate to the attached CASE–The Sleepiness Epidemic). 

A. Should organizations be concerned about the sleepiness of their employees?

B. What factors influencing sleep might be more or less under the control of an organization?

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 What’s This?

Question 2 of 1110.0 Points

(The following questions relate to the attached CASE–The Sleepiness Epidemic). 

A. How might sleep deprivation influence aspects of expectancy theory?

B. How might the incorporation of “nap rooms” for sleep-deprived employees demonstrate aspects of equity theory?

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Mark for Review What’s This?Question 3 of 1110.0 Points
(The following questions relate to the attached CASE–The Sleepiness Epidemic). 

A. If you were a manager who noticed your employees were sleep-deprived, what steps might you take to help them?

B. What theories of motivation could you use to help them?

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Mark for Review What’s This?Part 2 of 4 – OB CASE 3 – Your Best Self Question 4 of 1110.0 Points

(The following questions relate to the attached CASE–Your Best Self). 

A. What are your top three values?

B. How well do they represent you?

C. Did you feel pressure to choose values that might seem most socially acceptable?

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Mark for Review What’s This?Question 5 of 1110.0 Points

(The following two questions relate to the attached CASE–Your Best Self). 

A. It is often argued that values are meaningful only when they conflict and we have to choose between them. Do you think that was one of the objectives of this game?

B. Do you agree with the premise?

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Mark for Review What’s This?Question 6 of 115.0 Points

(The following question relates to the attached CASE–Your Best Self). 

Is there a value you would claim for yourself that is not on the list?

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Mark for Review What’s This?Part 3 of 4 – OB CASE 2 – The Youngest Billionaire Question 7 of 1110.0 Points

(The following questions relate to the attached CASE–The Youngest Billionaire). 

A. How much of Blakely’s success is due to her personality and effort and how much to serendipity (being in the right place at the right time)?

B. Does attribution theory help you answer this question? Why or why not?

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Mark for Review What’s This?Question 8 of 1110.0 Points

(The following question relates to the attached CASE–The Youngest Billionaire). 

Use the three-stage model of creativity to analyze Blakely’s decision making. What can you learn from her story that might help you be more creative in the future?

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Mark for Review What’s This?Question 9 of 115.0 Points
(The following questions relate to the attached CASE–The Youngest Billionaire). 

Does hindsight bias affect the factors to which you might attribute Blakely’s success? Why or why not?

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Mark for Review What’s This?Part 4 of 4 – Short Answer Essay Questions (NOT Related to Cases) Question 10 of 1110.0 Points

Analyze and describe two different and non-related instances where you experienced being treated fairly and unfairly. Work-related experiences are preferable, but nonwork examples are fine too. Evaluate the experiences through the Model of Organizational Justice and state whether each experience involved:

Distributive Injustice

Procedural Injustice

Interactional Justice

Organizational Justice

Be sure to state if the experiences have anything in common. 

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Mark for Review What’s This?Question 11 of 1110.0 Points

There are multiple course concepts in several chapters that can be used to analyze the situation noted in the attached CNN article. Read the article and evaluate the situation from each stakeholder’s (e.g., general students, black students, NYU administration, food vendor and general public) viewpoint. 

CNN: University serves Kool-Aid and watermelon water for Black History Month meal in the NYU student cafeteria.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR MIDTERM – SPRING 2018

CASE: The Sleepiness Epidemic

Ronit Rogosziniski, a financial planner, loses sleep because of her 5 a.m. wake-up call, so she sneaks to

her car for a quick lunchtime snooze each day. She is not alone, as evidenced by the comments on Wall

Street Oasis, a website frequented by investment bankers who blog about their travails. Should the

legions of secret nappers be blessed or cursed by their organizations for this behavior? Research

suggests they should be encouraged.

Sleep is a problem, or rather, lack of quality zzz’s is a costly organizational problem we can no longer

overlook. Sleepiness, a technical term in this case that denotes a true physiological pressure for sleep,

lowers performance, and increases accidents, injuries, and unethical behavior. One survey found that 29

percent of respondents slept on the job, 12 percent were late to work, 4 percent left work early, and 2

percent did not go to work due to sleepiness. While sleepiness affects 33 percent of the U.S. population,

the clinical extreme, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), is fully debilitating to an additional 11 percent.

In a vicious cycle where the effects of sleepiness affect the organization, which leads to longer work

hours and thus more sleepiness, the reason for the sleepiness epidemic seems to be the modern

workplace. Full-time employees have been getting less sleep over the past 30 years as a direct result of

longer work days, putting them more at risk for sleep disorders. Sleepiness directly decreases attention

span, memory, information processing, affect, and emotion regulation capabilities. Research on sleep

deprivation has found that tired workers experience higher levels of back pain, heart disease,

depression, work withdrawal, and job dissatisfaction. All these outcomes have significant implications

for organizational effectiveness and costs. Sleepiness may account for $14 billion of medical expenses,

up to $69 billion for auto accidents, and up to $24 billion in workplace accidents in the United States

annually.

Although being around bright light and loud sounds, standing, eating, and practicing good posture can

reduce sleepiness temporarily, there is only one lasting cure: more hours of good-quality sleep. Some

companies are encouraging napping at work as a solution to the problem, and one survey of 600

companies revealed that 6 percent had dedicated nap rooms. In addition, in a poll of 1,508 workers

conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, 34 percent said they were allowed to nap at work. These

policies may be a good start, but they are only Band-Aid approaches since more and better sleep is

what’s needed. Researchers suggest that organizations should consider flexible working hours and

greater autonomy to allow employees to maximize their productive waking hours. Given the high costs

of sleepiness, it’s time for them to take the problem much more seriously.

QUESTIONS:

1. Should organizations be concerned about the sleepiness of their employees? What factors
influencing sleep might be more or less under the control of an organization?

2. How might sleep deprivation influence aspects of expectancy theory? How might the
incorporation of “nap rooms” for sleep-deprived employees demonstrate aspects of equity
theory?

3. If you were a manager who noticed your employees were sleep-deprived, what steps might you
take to help them? What theories of motivation could you use to help them?

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR MIDTERM – SPRING 2018

CASE: The Youngest Billionaire

Picture this: the billionaire owner and founder stands in the conference room trying on bras while the

CEO stands behind her, adjusting the straps. The floor is littered with underwear. The owner takes off

one bra and puts on another. Five executives in the conference room barely blink.

Welcome to Sara Blakely’s company, Spanx. In just a few years, Spanx has become to slimming

underwear what Jello is to gelatin and Kleenex is to facial tissue – so dominant is the brand that its name

is synonymous with the category.

At 42, Blakely is not the youngest billionaire in the world. However, she is the youngest female self-

made billionaire. Like many stories of entrepreneurial success, hers is part gritty determination, part

inspiration, and part circumstance. The grit was easy to see early on. As a child growing up in Clearwater

Beach, Florida, she lured friends into doing her chores by setting up a competition. At 16, Blakely was so

intent on success that she listened to self-help guru Wayne Dyer’s recordings incessantly. Friends

refused to ride in her car. “No! She’s going to make us listen to that motivational crap!” Blakely recalls

they said.

After twice failing to get into law school, Blakely started her first business in 1990, running a kids’ club at

the Clearwater Beach Hilton. It worked until the Hilton’s general manager found out. Later, while

working full-time in sales, Blakely began learning how to start a business. Her inspiration for Spanx came

while she was cold-calling customers as a sales manager for an office supply company. She hated

pantyhose. “It’s Florida, it’s hot, I’m carrying copy machines,” she noted.

At the Georgia Tech library, Blakely researched every pantyhose patent ever filed. She wrote her patent

application by following a textbook she read in Barnes & Noble. Then she worked on marketing,

manufacturing, and financing, treating each as its own project. After numerous rejections, she finally

found mill owners in North Carolina willing to finance the manufacturing. “At the end of the day, the guy

ended up just wanting to help me,” Blakely said. “He didn’t even believe in the idea.”

For a time, Blakely relied on stores like Neiman Marcus to set up her table and on word-of-mouth to get

the news out to the public. Her big break came when she sent samples to Oprah Winfrey’s stylist. Harpo

Productions called to say that Winfrey would name Spanx her favorite product of the year and warned

Blakely to get her website ready. She didn’t have a website.

Billions of dollars in sales later, Blakely has no plans to slow down. Spanx is sold in 54 countries, and
Blakely wants to double international sales in three years. She says: “The biggest risk in life is not risking.
Every risk you take in life is in direct proportion to the reward. If I’m afraid of something, it’s the next
thing I have to go do. That’s just the way I’ve been.”

QUESTIONS:

1. How much of Blakely’s success is due to her personality and effort and how much to serendipity
(being in the right place at the right time)? Does attribution theory help you answer this question?
Why or why not?

2. Does hindsight bias affect the factors to which you might attribute Blakely’s success? Why or why
not?

3. Use the three-stage model of creativity to analyze Blakely’s decision making. What can you learn
from her story that might help you be more creative in the future?

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR MIDTERM – SPRING 2018

CASE: Your Best Self

The object of this game is to end up with the labels that best represent each person’s values. The

following rows represent 11 rounds of play. Break the class into groups of four students (if the number

of students is not divisible by four, then we suggest three). Play begins with the person in the group

whose name comes first in alphabetical order. That student picks one of the values in round one that

represents him- or herself, crosses it off this list, and writes it down on a piece of paper. Values can be

used by only one person at a time. Moving clockwise, the next person does the same, and so forth for

round one until all the values have been taken.

For round two, the first player can either add a second value from the round two row, or take a value

from one of the other players by adding it to his or her list while the other player crosses off the value.

The player whose value has been taken selects two new values from the one and two rows. Play

proceeds clockwise. The rest of the rounds continue the same way, with a new row available for each

round. At the end of the rounds, students rank the importance to them of the values they have

accumulated.

1. Freedom Integrity Spirituality Respect

2. Loyalty Achievement Fidelity Exploration

3. Affection Challenge Serenity Justice

4. Charity Discipline Security Mastery

5. Prudence Diversity Kindness Duty

6. Wisdom Inspiration Harmony Joy

7. Depth Compassion Excellence Tolerance

8. Honesty Success Growth Modesty

9. Courage Dedication Empathy Openness

10. Faith Service Playfulness Learning

11. Discovery Independence Humor Understanding

QUESTIONS:

1. What are your top three values? How well do they represent you? Did you feel pressure to choose
values that might seem most socially acceptable?

2. Is there a value you would claim for yourself that is not on the list?

3. It is often argued that values are meaningful only when they conflict and we have to choose
between them. Do you think that was one of the objectives of this game? Do you agree with the
premise?