A ssignments and exercises - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

A

ssignments and exercisesSlide2

A

ssignments and exercises

Popular management book

Surfacing assumptions

Cognitive errors and biases

Critical thinking

Focused question

Search for evidence

Research designs

Critical appraisal

CATSlide3

1.

Popular

management book

“Go to the bookstore and buy a

popular management book.”

(or provide your

students

with a popular

mgt

book)Slide4

What types of sources are cited?

Approximately what proportion of sources appears to be

personal or anecdotal

based on so-called “best-practices” of other companies

other business books or publications

scientific evidence?

(check 3 citations in ABI/Inform)What do we know about the author?

(check Google and ABI/Inform)

What do we about the proposed model / principles?

(ditto)

Is the model/ principle generalizable to your organization?

Does the book appear useful

(explain why)?

1.

Popular

management

bookSlide5

2. Surfacing

assumptions

Bring along a

policy paper, project proposal, strategy document or change plan from your organization and give it to a colleague student. Slide6

Read the policy paper / project proposal / strategy document / change plan.

Underline all assumptions.

Determine the three most questionable or critical assumptions.

Make a suggestion on how these assumptions could be substantiated.

2. Surfacing assumptionsSlide7

Give an example of three of the following biases and explain how they affect managerial decision making

3. Cognitive errors

and

BiasesSlide8

Seeing order in randomness

Mental corner cutting

Misinterpretation of incomplete data

Halo effect

False consensus effect

Group think

Self serving bias

Sunk cost fallacy

Cognitive dissonance reduction

3. Cognitive errors

and

Biases

Confirmation bias

Authority bias

Small numbers fallacy

In-group bias

Recall bias

Anchoring bias

Inaccurate covariation detection

Distortions due to plausibilitySlide9

Four exercises in critical thinking

4

. Critical thinkingSlide10

4

. Critical thinking

1: Try

to determine whether each statement is a fact or an opinion.

Apple makes the best mobile phones.

Microsoft has more employees than Apple.

My telephone number is difficult to memorize.Dogs make better pets than turtles.

Smoking is bad for your health.

Smoking causes 85% of all cases of lung cancer in the U.S.

One out of every hundred American citizens is colour-blind.

Two out of ten American citizens are boring.Slide11

4

. Critical thinking

2. Identify

the hidden assumptions in these

arguments

All accountants I have met so far are detail oriented. Therefore, the accountants in this organization are very likely to be detail oriented.

Apple is a very successful company, so Steve Jobs is a great leader.

I think we should cut down on marketing costs. After all, Steve Jobs never invested any money in marketing.

Most people disapprove of awarding financial bonuses to executives. So awarding financial bonuses is wrong.

Most organizations with an HR department have low absentee rates. So all organizations should have an HR department.Slide12

4

. Critical thinking

3. The

following appeared in a proposal from the economic minister of the country of

Paraterra. Try to identify alternative explanations for the relevant conclusions or observations. Also, think about additional facts or information that would help determine the plausibility of the conclusions.

"In order to strengthen its lagging economy, last year the government of the nearby country of

Bellegea began an advertising campaign to promote ecologically sound tourism (ecotourism). This year the number of foreign visitors arriving at

Bellegea's main airport doubled, and per capita income in

Bellegea increased by ten percent. To provide more income for the population of

Paraterra and also preserve the natural environment of our tiny country, we too should begin to promote ecotourism. To ensure that our advertising campaign is successful, we should hire the current director of

Bellegea's National Tourism Office as a consultant for the campaign.”Slide13

4

. Critical thinking

4. The

following appeared in a newspaper article about business schools in the city of Megalopolis. Try to identify alternative explanations for the relevant conclusions or observations. Also, think about additional facts or information that would help determine the plausibility of the conclusion.

"In Megalopolis, the number of business school graduates who went to work for large, corporate firms declined by 15 percent over the last three years, whereas an increasing number of graduates took jobs at small, general practice firms. Even though large firms usually offer much higher salaries, business school graduates are choosing to work for the smaller firms most likely because they experience greater job satisfaction at smaller firms. In a survey of first- year students at a leading business school, most agreed with the statement that earning a high salary was less important to them than job satisfaction. This finding suggests that the large, corporate firms of Megalopolis will need to offer graduates more benefits and incentives and reduce the number of hours they must work."

Slide14

Read the following five scenario’s

Formulate

on the basis of

each scenario a focused question (use the

PICOC format).

5

.

Focused questionSlide15

“I

am a change- and project manager at a local branch of

an English bank. The management of this particular branch struggles with low job satisfaction among its employees. Management has tried several intuitive initiatives to improve this. However last year’s Job Satisfaction Survey shows that these efforts have not resulted in any improvement. After the outcomes of the Survey became clear, the management intuitively has organised a meeting with all employees to ask them one simple question: what, in your opinion, is important for your job-satisfaction. The outcomes of this session were the following four terms: Trust, Transparency, Pride and Fun. Employees and management together agreed that Trust was the most determinant variable and they decided to start from there.

With my new found knowledge on evidence based management, I ask myself this question: is there scientific evidence that shows that organizational trust indeed has a positive influence on the level of job satisfaction among employees in the private sector?

“

Scenario 1Slide16

Scenario 2

“I am a

Dutch quality

manager at a large international brewery.

In the past 4 years I facilitated a lean management program that is running for more than 10 years in this organization. The program has a very complete training and development plan and a central audit

organization In the first years the progress and results of the program grew very rapidly. Since a couple of years, however, we see a decline in

results, such as:

- The number of problem analysis and improvement teams has been increased, but the amount of breakdowns and short stops in the production lines are not decreased.

- There

is slow progress for the total program for the Netherlands at this moment.

According to the middle managers the improvement program does not address really important topics.

I would therefore like to know more about the long-term effect of lean management in terms of organizational performance and reduced breakdowns.”Slide17

Scenario 3

“I work for

ABC,

one of

Germany’s key players in the national grid. The organization is responsible for a reliable network for gas and electric transport. Originally

ABC depends on technology driven employees and many other specialists. Most managers are ‘doers’ (rather than ‘thinkers’) who got promotion by seniority. Too often they are technology-driven and substantively oriented. The Purchasing Department is led by a management team that is too operational. It needs to progress towards a more tactical/strategic level. What is needed to facilitate this development?”Slide18

Scenario 4

“During my career I have worked in many different types of organizations. The most interesting but also challenging experience I had was working with a dispersed group of autonomous professionals in a global company. However, despite the excitement of working across borders I gradually started to get frustrated, because my team did not perform the way I expected and reacted different than I expected than I was used working with collocated teams. As I gained more experience with this international team I started to question the difference between a virtual team and a collocated team and how they relate to team performance and leadership. Is there evidence on the influence of

virtuality

of a team on the team performance and does a virtual team require a different style of leadership?”Slide19

Scenario 5

“I am a manager at a

small Italian IT

firm (80 employees, annual turnover 10mln euro) specialized in the development of risk reporting software for the insurance industry. There is a clear ambition to grow. The four owner-managers perceive the current organization as too bureaucratic with a lack of entrepreneurship. The chairman of the management has been told by a business friend who works in a large enterprise that the concept of the balanced scorecard will help him to get the desired behavior of his employees. Intuitively I seriously doubt if the concept of the balanced scorecard is applicable to and usable for small owner managed companies. Before expressing my doubts to the chairman I want to gather evidence supporting my intuition.“Slide20

6

. Search for evidenceSlide21

6

. Search for evidence

1. Search

for research articles on team buildingSlide22

team building: outcomeSlide23

team building: outcomeSlide24

team building: outcomeSlide25

team building: outcomeSlide26

6

. Search for evidence

2

. Search in ABI/Inform:

How many articles has Stephen Covey published in peer reviewed journals?

How many of these articles are based on scientific research?

Are there articles (by other authors) that are critical of Covey’s 7 Habits?

How many of these critical articles are based on scientific research?Slide27

6

. Search for evidence

Q1:

4 articles:

(Emotional bank accounts, The Journal for Quality and Participation

17. 7 (Dec 1994); Involving

people in the problem,

The Journal for Quality

and Participation

17. 5 (Sep 1994

); Principle-Centered Leadership, The Journal

for Quality and

Participation 15. 4 (Jul/Aug 1992); Principle-centered leadership

and

change,

The Journal

for

Quality

and

Participation

17. 2

(Mar 1994

)

Q2:

0

articles

Q3:

2

articles

:

Cullen

, John G., How

to

sell

your

soul

and

still

get

into

Heaven

: Steven

Covey’s

epiphany

-inducing

technology

of

effective

selfhood

,

Human Relations

62. 8

(Aug 2009): 1231

.

Jackson

,

Bradley

G., The

goose

that

laid the golden egg? A rhetorical critique of Stephen Covey and the effectiveness movement, The Journal of Management Studies 36. 3 (May 1999): 353-377.Q4: 0 articlesSlide28

6

. Search for evidence

3. Search in ABI/Inform or BSE:

Search for peer reviewed research articles to answer the following question: What is the long term effect of a hostile take-over on the financial performance of the acquired organization? Use the following search terms:

“hostile takeovers”, “financial performance”, “long term”

How many studies did you find?Slide29

6

. Search for evidence

SU.EXACT(“

Hostile

takeovers”) OR TI(“Hostile takeovers”) OR AB(“hostile takeovers”) =

444SU.EXACT("Financial performance") OR TI("Financial performance") OR AB("Financial performance") = 5054

1 AND 2 = 13

SU.EXACT("Long term") OR TI("Long term") OR AB("Long term") = 24.2083 AND 4 = 1

limit ‘studies’ = 1

Mahendra Rajand

Michael Forsyth, Hostile bidders, long-term performance,

and restructuring methods: Evidence

from

the UK,

American Business Review

20. 1

(Jan 2002): 71-81

.Slide30

Assignment 1

Read

the article by Shulman &

Jones (cut off the methodology section!)

Determine the best study design for the research question and defend the basis of your choice

.

7. Research design

Shulman, K.R. and Jones, G.E. (1996), ‘The

Effectiveness of Massage Therapy Intervention on Reducing Anxiety in the

Workplace’,

Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

, 32 (2)Slide31

=

even

oneven

7.

Research design:

outcome 1Slide32

Assignment 2

Read

the

article

by

Boonstra

&

Govers

and Bond,

and the article by Flaxman &

Bunce (cut off the

methodogy section!).

Determine the best study design for the research question and defend the basis of your choice.

7

.

R

esearch

designs

Frank W. Bond, Paul E. Flaxman, and David

Bunce

(2008),

Journal of Applied

Psychology

, Vol

. 93, No.

3

Albert

Boonstra

and Mark J.G.

Govers

(2009),

New Technology, Work and

Employment, Vol. 24, No. 2Slide33

Read the article by Fairfield-Son et al.

Critically appraise the internal validity of the study (A, B, C or D?)

Write

your results in a Word document of at least

250 words.

8.

C

ritical

appraisal

James W Fairfield-

Sonn

, John

R

Ogilvie

and Gerard

A

DelVecchio

(2002),

Mergers, acquisitions and long-term employee

attitudes,

The Journal of Business and Economic Studies;

Fall 2002; 8,

2.Slide34

8. CAT

:

Critically

Appraised

TopicSlide35

8. CAT

:

Critically

Appraised

Topic

A Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) is a structured, short

(3

pages max) summary of evidence on a topic of interest, usually focused around a practical problem or question.

A CAT is like a “quick and dirty” version of a systematic review, summarizing the best available research evidence on a topic. Usually more than one study is included in a CAT

.Examples

: http://www.cebma.org/presentations/Slide36

CAT: structure

Background / context

Question (PICOC)

Search strategy

Results / evidence summary

Findings

Limitations

Recommendation