Trouble in the Business College Steve is one of eight professors in the business school at a large, public university. His job responsibilities include teaching two classes per semester, developing a management research program, and advising and developing PhD candidates. He has been at the school for five years and has worked extremely hard to get tenure. Student ratings of his undergraduate classes are fairly solid; most students rated Steve as being an above average teacher in terms of their enjoyment, his level of knowledge, and his ability to stimulate critical thinking in class. Steve has already published several articles in some of the top management journals and has won several prestigious awards for outstanding research. Because of his research, Steve is on the fast track to becoming one of the top researchers in his field and already has a national reputation for his work. However, Steve has had a woeful track record with respect to developing and graduating PhD candidates. Steve has yet to be on a PhD dissertation committee or be an advisor to any PhD candidate in the program. As the dean of the business school, you believe Steve's problems with attracting and graduating PhD candidates may stem from a number of factors. First, Steve does not believe the business school nor the PhD candidates are very good, despite the fact that the school has a national reputation for excellence. Steve graduated with honors from another nationally renowned business school, and often openly comments about how difficult his program was compared to your program. Steve also believes few of the PhD candidates are worthy of his attention, and although he had hired more than 12 of them over the past three years to work as research assistants in his management research program, none lasted more than two years. Virtually all of the research assistants believed Steve wanted too much of their time and effort and that he was insensitive to their plight as graduate students. Perhaps Steve's attitude towards his research assistants was best summed up when he fired his most senior research assistant for not being able to help with a series of laboratory studies being conducted over a particular weekend. You later found out the research assistant asked Steve to delay the laboratory studies so that he could attend his uncle's funeral. Steve said the experiments were crucial and could not be delayed any longer. The research assistant said nothing could deter him from attending his uncle's funeral, and Steve fired the assistant immediately after he returned from the funeral. Along these lines, when PhD candidates were giving seminar presentations to the other students and professors in the business school, Steve would take every opportunity to ask questions designed solely to make himself look brilliant and the presenter look incompetent and foolish. You have received numerous complaints from both the gra ...

1. Trouble in the Business College
Steve is one of eight professors in the business school at a
large, public university. His job responsibilities
include teaching two classes per semester, developing a
management research program, and advising
and developing PhD candidates. He has been at the school for
five years and has worked extremely hard
to get tenure. Student ratings of his undergraduate classes are
fairly solid; most students rated Steve as
being an above average teacher in terms of their enjoyment, his
level of knowledge, and his ability to
stimulate critical thinking in class. Steve has already published
several articles in some of the top
management journals and has won several prestigious awards
for outstanding research. Because of his
research, Steve is on the fast track to becoming one of the top
researchers in his field and already has a
national reputation for his work. However, Steve has had a
woeful track record with respect to
developing and graduating PhD candidates. Steve has yet to be
on a PhD dissertation committee or be

2. an advisor to any PhD candidate in the program.
As the dean of the business school, you believe Steve's
problems with attracting and graduating PhD
candidates may stem from a number of factors. First, Steve does
not believe the business school nor the
PhD candidates are very good, despite the fact that the school
has a national reputation for excellence.
Steve graduated with honors from another nationally renowned
business school, and often openly
comments about how difficult his program was compared to
your program. Steve also believes few of
the PhD candidates are worthy of his attention, and although he
had hired more than 12 of them over
the past three years to work as research assistants in his
management research program, none lasted
more than two years. Virtually all of the research assistants
believed Steve wanted too much of their
time and effort and that he was insensitive to their plight as
graduate students. Perhaps Steve's attitude
towards his research assistants was best summed up when he
fired his most senior research assistant
for not being able to help with a series of laboratory studies
being conducted over a particular weekend.

3. You later found out the research assistant asked Steve to delay
the laboratory studies so that he could
attend his uncle's funeral. Steve said the experiments were
crucial and could not be delayed any longer.
The research assistant said nothing could deter him from
attending his uncle's funeral, and Steve fired
the assistant immediately after he returned from the funeral.
Along these lines, when PhD candidates
were giving seminar presentations to the other students and
professors in the business school, Steve
would take every opportunity to ask questions designed solely
to make himself look brilliant and the
presenter look incompetent and foolish. You have received
numerous complaints from both the
graduate students and several of the professors in your school
about Steve's behavior.
Second, Steve's work schedule is designed to minimize his
contact with others; he works from 2:00 PM
until 6:00 AM every day of the week (including Saturdays and
Sundays). Moreover, if for some reason
students do want to see him, they have to schedule an
appointment. Steve would usually schedule his
meetings with students for 8:00 PM on Friday or Saturday
nights. Because of his unusual work hours,

4. one of Steve's biggest claims to fame among graduate students
was his role in preventing a computer
theft from taking place at school at 3:00 AM on a Saturday
morning, which just so happened to also be
Christmas morning.
Third, Steve's difficulties in attracting and developing PhD
candidates may be related to his age and his
previous experience in dealing with others. Steve is a relatively
young PhD - he went to graduate school
immediately after college and some of the PhD candidates in the
business school are older than he is.
Steve also went through a very competitive graduate program in
which individual, rather than
cooperative and collaborative efforts were encouraged.
Similarly, Steve has never had a "real" job, and
his current position is the first ever giving him authority over
others.
As the dean of the business school, you are well aware of the
fact that Steve has managed to bring in
over $600,000 in corporate and government grants in support of
his management research program,

5. and this program has made a considerable contribution to the
prestige of the business school and
accounts for over 50 percent of the school's research budget.
You are also aware that Steve's reputation
among graduate students is becoming so notorious that it is
beginning to affect the applicant pool for
the graduate school. Many of the graduate students are
beginning to tell applicants to go somewhere
else for their degree if at all possible, and the six applicants
accepted into the school last year opted to
go to other programs. Although the department has never been
particularly cohesive and you have
never had close relationships with most of the other professors
in the business school, you feel Steve's
behavior has caused these relationships to be more strained than
ever before.
A year from now you will make a decision concerning Steve's
tenure. Three of the school’s professors
have been direct recipients of Steve's research (in terms of
money and publications) and think he should
be given tenure. The other four professors believe Steve's
behavior is inexcusable, and granting Steve
tenure will reward his condescending attitude towards students
and will make his dismissal in the future

6. virtually impossible. Steve has scheduled a meeting with you
this afternoon, and wants to know what he
can do to improve his chances for getting tenure. What will you
tell him?
Assignment 3: Implementing and Evaluating the Future at
Galaxy Toys, Inc. (Week 8)
Purpose:
Continuing with the saga of Galaxy Toys, Inc., the third
assignment covers the last three functions of the P-O-L-C,
Organizing, Leading and Controlling. Students will look at the
production floor of Galaxy Toys, Inc. through the lens of the
organizing function, create an organizational chart, and assess
the decision making authority associated with the organizational
structure. Students will then assess change, and discuss
motivation from a leadership perspective, and delve into the
controlling function by looking and project specifications,
interpreting data, and assessing corrective measures.
Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment:
· integrate management theories and principles into management
practices
· organize human, physical, and financial resources for the
effective and efficient attainment of organization goals
· demonstrate leadership skills by communicating a shared
vision, motivating and empowering others, and creating a
culture of ethical decision-making and innovation
· develop measures and assess outcomes against plans and
standards to improve organizational effectiveness
· identify the essential characteristics of decision making and
indicate the range and types of decisions a manager makes
Part One-Organizing
Now, it is time for all production managers to begin the
organizing process. Doing so requires that managers collect the
people, resources, and capital to begin production in a way that

7. will implement the short-term production goals and objectives
set through planning. The deadline for production to begin is
January 31, 2017. Christmas product shipping must start in July
of 2017. The budget for each branch is $300,000 for the total
production budget. Currently, the production staff includes a
total of 124 employees per day shift and 91 at night per plant
for a total of 215 employees. Most tasks are covered in both
shifts. Current production and shipping personnel per task
include:
Positions
# of Day Shift
Workers
# of Night Shift Workers
Machine Operators
10
5
Machine Maintenance
3
5
Assembly Line Staff
75
60
Electronics Specialists
10
3
Packagers
10
5
Floor Supervisors
1
1
Production IT (computer machine)
1
1
Fork Lift Operators

8. 10
10
Shipping Schedulers
1
0
Plant Maintenance
2
1
Administrative Support
Material Purchase/Secretary
1
0
To complete the Moon Mission to Jupiter’s Europa 1 project, it
is projected that additional personnel are needed: Two 3D
printer operators for the day shift and two for the night shift.
Additionally, instead of having an on-call position for
production IT, a full-time night position is needed.
The design and engineering department has provided the
product specifications including materials, sizes, and 3D
printers and one person per shift to produce the product.
Trained personnel are needed for operating the 3D printers.
The cost of one complete Moon Mission to Jupiter’s Europa 1
product is set at $7.65, which includes packaging. The 3D
printers will produce the completely assembled piece including
electronics and packaging in 7.36 minutes and will cost $6100
per printer. Trained personnel are needed to operate the
printers.
Required Elements for Part One:
· Assuming the role of Itza Yu, explain the role of a manager in
the organizing phase of the POLC and identify and discuss five
major issues that Itza Yu must address in organizing the
production floor for both existing production and the new
project.
· One of the areas of discussion that must be included in the

9. organizing phase is that of aligning people to the task of
production. Create an organizational chart that shows how Yu
would organize the people and jobs on the production floor.
This organizational chart will be used as the template for the
other branches within the organization, so be sure the structure
of the production floor aligns with the organization of the
company.
· Once you have created the chart, identify the decision making
authority for those individuals on the chart. Explain why the
structure was chosen and how it best serves the decision making
flow for the production floor and the company as a whole.
Part Two-Leading Motivation
During the course of production older line staff and machine
workers began to see the speed and accuracy for which the 3D
printers made its product. An obvious concern began to surface
among the workers. The workers began to ask, “Will I still
have a job next year?” Morale of plant workers began to
suffer. Itza Yu knows that this concern must be addressed and
morale needs to be improved. As the manager, Yu know that
the business must innovate to keep growing. How can Yu
improve morale?
As a good manager, Yu knows that it is essential to deal with
the motivation issue as soon as possible. He decides that it is
best to get advice. He turns to his mentor in the company, Jean
Barnhart.
After consulting with Barnhart, Yu sits down to create a
specific plan of action that he can implement immediately.
Required Element for Part Two:
· Acting as Jean Barnhart, what advice should she give to Yu?
In discussing the advice, first identify the reasons for the
morale problem and how they affect motivation. Be sure to
address change and the worker’s reaction to implementing
change.
· Discuss the actual ideas and the specific ways Yu should take

10. to motivate his existing employees that will build morale and
keep production levels on track for the current contracts and the
new project.
Part Three-Control:
Part 3A:
The following chart displays the results of the first year’s
production of MMTJE1. Keith created the chart from data
supplied by all the company production department managers,
as a means of controlling production output. It is used by the
VP in his evaluation of areas of improvement, change, and
success to processes used by the production department in the
production of MMTJE1.
The chart depicts the standard goal (identified as standard) set
by the department and the result each branch obtained. A
comparison of the standard to the results allows the reader to
form conclusions about the success or failure of the production
department to meet the goals envisioned by the company. It
also allows a reader to recognize patterns from the data from
which conclusions can be drawn as to the relationship between
elements (e.g. cost expended versus time expended; those
branches that spend more time had a higher cost.
Specifications
Standard
Toledo
Dayton
White Plains
Huntsville
Juarez
Cost
7.56
7.67
7.87
7.45
7.52

11. 8.01
Time
7.36
7.32
7.46
7.31
7.32
7.59
Quality Control Problem Ratio (per 500 units)
1
2.5
4
1.5
1.75
8.75
Training Time (per hour)
30
35
38
45
48
25
Shipping Problems/Damage (per 10,000 units)
1
0.333
0.222
0.133
0.178
0.4
3D Problems (per 10,000 units)
0.2
0.25
0.286
0.111
0.1
0.4

12. Total Number of Pieces Produced Per Year
400,000
500,000
500,000
650,000
700,000
450,000
Required Elements for Part 3A:
· Compare the standard specifications data set with the results
from each of the results for the five branches.
· Interpret the results for the new product production chart
above. Detail the areas that demonstrate positive outcomes and
those areas that need improvement.
· Define what “corrective action” means to the manager in the
control function of the POLC.
· Do you suggest Keith take, if any, corrective action for this
report? If so, what corrective actions are needed and why?
Part 3B:
The next meeting of the long term planning team for Galaxy
Toys is scheduled for next week. All the VP’s will be there and
a report must be given by all as to the viability of the “Moon
Mission Jupiter’s Europa 1” toy roll out and the success or
failure of the long term goals and objectives.
Keith reviewed his meeting notes with his branch managers
when the production results came out. The managers seemed to
all talk at once. Most all the managers seem to feel that the
project was well worth the effort. It appears that many
managers felt that training on the 3D printer in terms of repair
and maintenance was the biggest problem. Mexico’s manager,
Hernando Gonzalez, said that they lost their trained personnel
to a software company and had difficulties finding
replacements. The company who supplied the 3D printers
provided initial training but follow up training thereafter proved
a problem when personnel turnover increased. Gonzalez

13. explained that there is a serious shortage of skilled IT personnel
in Juarez. Consequently, finding qualified workers and keeping
people without paying more than budget is a major problem. As
a result, both the production and the IT departments are losing
money. Getting a full time, IT night worker is impossible
without a serious budget increase.
Required Elements for Part 3B:
Prepare a report for Keith to present to the planning team. The
following points must be addressed in the report:
· Using the conclusions drawn from the chart in Part Two as
well as information in Keith’s notes from the meeting (noted
above) with the branch managers on the production results,
identify at least three conclusions that have potential concerns
for the long-term future of the project and or company;
· Explain why and how each of the factors chosen would affect
the future long-term strategic planning;
· Examine the relationship between the control function and
long-term planning as part of the explanation;
· Offer recommendations for solutions that might be introduced
along with the issues to the planning committee to address the
implications of the factors chosen.