Written Case Analysis (Organizational Behavior)

KULIYYAH OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
(MGT 4110)
GROUP ASSIGNMENT 2
CASE ANALYSIS AND REPORT
LECTURER’S NAME:
DR. ARIF HASSAN
SESSION:
SEMESTER 2, 2015/2016
SECTION: 6
MEMBER’S NAME:
NAME MATRIC NO.
NUR AMALINA BT ABDUL RAHIM 1324614
FARAH DIYANA BT ABD RAHIM 1326746
HAGIR OMER ABDALLA MOHAMED 1425634
NOR SALINAH BT MOHD IBRAHIM 1127130
AFIFAH NABILAH BT MOHAMAD SAFEI 1321976
SUBMISSION DATE:
14th
APRIL 2016

CASE 1: BOUNTY HUNTER (Chap. 3, p. 117)
SUMMARY
The case study emphasizes on the issue of absenteeism frequently happened among
employees of an organization. The main idea regarding one of the solutions taken by many
employers to overcome the worker‟s behavioural problem which is by paying private
investigator to track these workers outside workplace. The action taken by the example
provided due to the several times excuses of being sick by one of the employee and ask for
sick leave more than one time. Therefore, it urges the employer to take action immediately
upon him.
Basically, the purpose of the investigation definitely to ensure that the particular
employee is telling the truth through proves taken either by photograph or videotape by the
investigator. The person also entrusted to ascertain whether the particular person is truthfully
filing injury claims and drawing worker‟s compensation benefit for the right purpose. This
method was desperately taken by most employers because it is a serious problem in many
organizations and need to be solved instantly.
In performing the method, the administrator particularly happened to face
shortcomings due to the different types of policies pertaining to the sick-leave policy for
every organization. Sometimes the divisions within a company itself having different policies
on this issue, therefore the management tend to face with ethical problems of their workers.
As for example, some organizations allow their employee to use the sick-leave for other
purposes and it would give them opportunity to escape from their job in times. Moreover, of
course there would be many others problems occurs such as giving the sick-leave to other
colleagues and benefited the compensation even though they are not ill. Still, even though

there was standardization on paid sick-leave regulated by many countries, there would be
questions on ethical issue to be appeared in developing the policy.
At last, the case highlights on the issue of fairness that exist in regulating the paid
sick-leave whereby it impacts the quality of someone‟s life. Overall, the main point here
suggests that the solution take by employers to overcome absenteeism seems to intrude
employee‟s privacy although it is assumed to be legal. However, we can admit that the
method really helps the employer in acknowledging the subordinates behaviour and
discipline.
ANSWERS TO THE CASE QUESTIONS
1. The employer happened to face dilemma when hiring private investigators where by
the policy among the organizations is different and even could be different among the
divisions of the same company as well. As a result, the administrators or employees might be
left up interpret them. Based on the previous cases, there were some sick-leave given to other
individuals to be used and would end up with unethical attitude by that person. Other
examples including receiving compensation from it and accumulate it from year to year.
2. The issue of absenteeism is one of the effects of dissatisfaction in job by some
problematic employees. In order to increase the job satisfaction, the other alternatives could
be taken by the employer or manager are by watching the worker‟s attitude then giving
warnings to the person who really involves seriously in the matter. A good manager is able to
influence people by his/her behaviour and show good example by not missing work for no
reason. Other than that, in order to increase job satisfaction, the manager should play role in
making the job looks interesting and challenge them if there is difficulty. This method would
be preferable instead of raising the salary or giving bonus because sometimes money cannot

buy happiness and what the employees need is a satisfaction from the task. These methods are
believed to reduce the tendency for workers to miss their works at many times.
3. The organization might have to do research once again on the policies regulated to
determine effectiveness on the worker‟s behaviour and attitude to overcome the particular
problem among employees. The policy regarding the serious issue needs also consider the
fairness and applicable to the individuals in line with his/her situation because everyone‟s
condition is not the same. The administrator also probably should let the employees to voice
out their opinion or dissatisfaction on the rules and regulation of the company.
LESSONS LEARNED AND ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Throughout the analysis of this case study, we found that whether an employer or
employee, everyone should play role in facing this serious problem of absenteeism. First of
all, the manager or administrator should have the sense of understanding the situation of the
employees especially regarding their welfare because it might affect their personal life. They
must not burden the employee with heavy task at all time and so on. It would lead to serious
problem and might probably affect their health. Eventually, it impacts their performance of
the organization. In facing the employees who tend to ask for a fake sick-leave, a manager
first need to feel the hardship of the subordinates which leads them to frequently miss their
job with intention.
Meanwhile, in the employee‟s perspectives, lessons learnt here are the need to have
accountability and responsibility in performing task as entrusted. The leave taken excused as a
sick is an act of lying and if consistently performed, it would be a bad habit or attitude that
affect negatively in oneself.

By looking at Islamic views pertaining to this ethical issue, Islam itself prohibits
Muslim to neglect responsibility or amanah in all aspects of life. It will be asked by Allah in
the Day of Judgment and one should take it very seriously. This issue also seen as a serious
problem in Islamic perspectives and Muslim is reminded to always speaks the truth and never
taking advantage on others properties and facilities.
It was recorded in the Two Sahihs from the Hadith of Al-A`mash. Imam Ahmad
recorded that `Abdullah bin `Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Messenger of
Allah said:
« ‫ٌع‬ ‫َأ‬ ‫ْر‬ ‫َأ‬‫ا‬‫َأ‬‫ذ‬ِ‫إ‬‫َّن‬ ‫ُك‬‫َأ‬‫ي‬ ِ‫َأ‬ ‫َأ‬‫َأ‬‫ي‬‫ْر‬ ‫َأ‬ ‫َأ‬‫ا‬‫َأ‬‫م‬‫َأ‬‫ي‬‫َأ‬‫ا‬‫ا‬‫َأ‬‫َأ‬ ِ‫م‬‫ا‬‫َأ‬ ‫ْر‬‫ن‬ُّ‫د‬‫ال‬:‫ُك‬ ‫ْر‬ ِ،ٍ‫ة‬‫َأ‬‫ن‬‫ا‬‫َأ‬‫م‬‫َأ‬‫ُك‬ ‫ْر‬‫د‬ِ ‫َأ‬،ٍ‫ث‬‫ي‬ِ‫د‬‫َأ‬‫ُك‬ ‫ْر‬ ‫ُك‬ ‫َأ‬،ٍ‫ة‬‫َأ‬‫ق‬ ِ ‫َأ‬‫خ‬‫ُك‬‫ة‬‫َّن‬ ِ ‫َأ‬‫ة‬‫َأ‬‫م‬‫ْر‬‫ع‬‫ُك‬‫ط‬ »
(There are four things, if you attain them, then whatever you miss in this world will not
matter: preserving trust, speaking the truth, being of good character and moderation in
eating.)
Therefore, a Muslim must avoid the misuse of the privilege given by the employer so that we
do not take and eat anything forbidden or haram.

CASE 2: HAPPINESS COACHES FOR EMPLOYEES (Chap. 4, p. 149)
SUMMARY
In the cases, it is stated that personal unhappiness can happen at work. Those who
experience emotions in life and at work are more likely to engage in counterproductive
behaviours with customers, clients, or fellow employees. But for some, the case will be
different. For example, Srikumar Rao who has a really interesting nickname, “the happiness
guru” teaches people to analyze negative emotions to prevent them from becoming
overwhelming. If you job is restructured, Rao suggests avoiding negatives thought and
feelings about it. Instead, tell yourself it could turn out well in the long run. For employees, if
they leave their experience with a happiness coach feeling about their job and their life, is it
better for everyone? Workers have to relax their mind and reflex so that their moods will be
improved.
1. Do you think happiness coaches are effective? How might you assess their
effectiveness?
From my opinion, I think that happiness coaches might be effective and effectively
raise the productivity of the employees, as the content employees, that are relaxed in their
work are much more productive than those, who struggle with bad emotions and are therefore
not focusing on work, but rather thinking over and over some bad experiences either from
work or personal life. We could assess their effectiveness by measuring the final output - the
productivity and quality of the work of non coached employees compared to the work of
coached employees, whether there are some differences in the outcome, or not. Also by
observing how the employees interact with one another, whether they are smiley, or still

frustrated. Research shows that happiness at work has a clear positive correlation with
productivity. This is not present with job satisfaction. Happiness at work is also a concept
where there is a consistent progressive correlation with productivity which means the happier
you are at work the more productive you are.
2. State the benefits and disadvantages of employing happiness coaches for employees.
There are several benefits of employing happiness coaches for employees. One of
them is happiness encourages creativity. As firms increasingly find themselves in quickly
changing and highly competitive markets, innovation and creativity has become the key to
survival for many organizations. Being happy helps creativity since it frees up space in our
brains and helps raise people‟s mental flexibility, thereby increasing the chance of them
combining unrelated elements in order to create something new.
Next, happy employees are more productive. There is a huge body of research
confirming this. For example, a University of Warwick study (2014) showed that after people
were exposed to happiness-inducing things such as comedy clips or little treats, their
productivity in standardized tasks was vastly higher, here it should be added that the subjects
that were given treats were not actually allowed to eat them before the experiment to ensure
productivity did not spike due to increased blood sugar levels.
In addition, happy employees are better at sealing the deal. An in-depth study of
negotiations in business deals showed that those employees who expressed more positive
emotions prior to negotiating completed their deals more efficiently and successfully than the
neutral/negatively feeling people in the same situation
In contrast, the disadvantages of employing happiness coaches for employees is that
we know that everything is not always sunshine and happiness in the workplace, but people

should be happy that they have a job right? Not always: Some employees have more than an
earful to say about how they feel regarding the company, and it‟s not always good. To set
your new recruit up for success, the folks at the Talent Management website recommend
setting up a training plan for the new hire. Meet with the senior trainer to go over what is to be
covered. Managers should also check in at various times during the training, so that they can
monitor the trainer and, if needed, move the new hire to another trainer if they notice any
issues.
Next, while the loyal long-term employee is training the new recruit, they‟re not being
as productive as they normally are. Depending on how long it takes a new employee to get up
and running, you will lose money on lost productivity. One downside to having experienced
workers help out with new hires is that these workers are neglecting their regular duties. They
may not be happy about the extra hours they have to work in order to catch up. Distributing
their work to co-workers while they are training will help to alleviate some of the stress of
training. Another solution is to schedule training during down times so as to not affect higher
production days.
3. Under what circumstances-if any-is it ethically appropriate for a supervisor to suggest
a happiness coach for a subordinate?
A supervisor may only suggest a happiness coach for a subordinate if the subordinate
personally requests this treatment. If the subordinate does not request this treatment, then it is
not ethically appropriate for a supervisor to suggest a happiness coach for a subordinate. It is
not ethically appropriate for a supervisor to suggest a happiness coach for a subordinate that
has not requested this training because the subordinate may view the supervisor‟s suggestion
as a form of discrimination. Thus, the supervisor must conduct themselves in a careful manner
when dealing with sensitive situations.

Happiness in the Islam religion focuses on the inner peace of a person, and that is how
it is formed: “Happiness is a feeling that resides in the heart. It is characterized by peace of
mind, tranquillity, a sense of well-being, and a relaxed disposition. It comes as a result of
proper behaviour, both inward and outward, and is inspired by strong faith.”It is believed that
wealth and material things are not the only tools to bring someone happiness, even though
they are the causes of some temporary happiness. Of course, money solves many financial
problems which cause countless headaches, but it will not bring inner peace to develop
stability emotionally.
In the Islam religion, wealth is not the main cause of happiness: “From an Islamic
viewpoint, happiness is not restricted to material prosperity, though material reasons make up
some of the elements of happiness. The material aspect is merely a means, but not the end in
itself. Thus, the focus in attaining happiness is on nonmaterial, more abstract concerns, like
the positive effects of good behaviour.” Whether the definition of happiness comes from
religious point of view or people, it sends the same message that money cannot bring long-
term happiness; and everybody views happiness in their own way.

CASE 3: ON THE COSTS OF BEING NICE (Chap. 4, p. 179)
SUMMARY
Agreeable people are nice and more social people but they have very low salaries.
Some puzzles such as: first because salary is distributive bargaining they negotiate lower
salaries for themselves. Second, they may briefer to work on non-profit organizations or job
that has low salary e.g. caring industry. Thirdly their earnings might be reduced because they
don‟t get involved in activates that increase firm‟s effectiveness. Regardless of the
disadvantages of having lower income they have many advantages such as they are more
likely to help others and happier in work and life.
1. Yes, I believe that employers must choose between agreeable employees and top
performers. In an ideal world, employees would have both these qualities: agreeability and
great performance. However, for the most part – as the case states – agreeable employees tend
to be good-natured, cooperative, trusting and accommodating, whereas top performers tend to
focus on being leaders, or doing what is needed to do the job right, without caring for others.
If an employer find amongst its possible future employees who have both these qualities, he
or she should definitely be hired. If both qualities are not present in a single candidate for
employment, then the employer must decide which is more important for the company:
agreeability or top performance.
2. Agreeability is always important if you want your firm to have a good working
environment and not a hostile one. However, there are instances in which being agreeable is
more important. Such cases may be when dealing with others. For instance, people who work

in the customer service sector must be agreeable, as customer satisfaction is very important.
Another job situation could be working with patients or students – especially young ones.
Being too agreeable could be harmful, for instance, in the real estate sector, where every
employee wants to get more commissions by selling more properties. Being too agreeable in
this instance could be harmful, as the person could tend to help others, and forget that his or
her own goal is the same: to sell houses. Another situation in which it may be harmful is in
the military sector, as the leaders of which need to show dominance for others to follow their
orders.
3. I believe being agreeable may hurt men‟s earnings more than women‟s because people
assume women are already more agreeable than men, so their earnings are lower to begin with
–...

CASE 4: CAREER PROMOTION AT EMOX (Chap. 6, p. 212)
SUMMARY
Kareem who first entered into Emox as a research analyst was promoted to be the
content manager of LebWeb. His excellent working performance has given him the
opportunity to move to a new place to continue his career at a higher level. He spent three
years working in Lebanon and now promoted to move to Saudi Arabia for his next stage of
working life. Although he is fully satisfied of his performance which had given him the
promotion now, he needs to think properly of accepting the promotion or declining it.
1) The decision making criteria that Kareem has to look upon in deciding whether to
accept or reject the promotion will be the new environment of his work, where he will be
transferred from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia. Second criteria will be his increment in salary.
When an employee is promoted to a higher position at work, their pay will be raised
accordingly and in this case, Kareem will be receiving a higher pay in future. The third
criterion is his self-realization. This is where Kareem has to decide whether he will be able to
do his job or not.
2) I think Kareem‟s decision should be to accept the promotion. This is because Kareem
is already satisfied with his performance at Emox and thus he will be experiencing a new
environment and new experiences in the upcoming work in Saudi Arabia. This is giving him
the opportunity to let himself grow more in his field and explore a new place from the current
one...Besides that, when he is promoted, his pay will be higher than before. This is a benefit to
Kareem‟s source of income and thus enables a slight upgrading in his standard of living.

Finally, from the self-realization criteria, I think Kareem will perform well in his new
promoted work as he has three years of being a content manager in Emox in Lebanon with
good performance level. So, this will not stop him from continuing his good performance
level in his new job promotion.
3) Moving towards a higher position in a working field is a risky move for any employee.
Thus, if Kareem declines the promotion, it surely means he is not ready to take risks or face a
challenging phase after his current level at work. It also means, he is truly happy and satisfied
with his current performance at work and he would prefer remaining in the same position.
Furthermore, Kareem is not willing to move to a new environment from his current one as he
feels it is safer to remain at his current environment where he will not have to work on
exploring new place and people in future.
Based on the studied case, there are a few lessons learnt which is good to keep in mind
for every readers. One of them is the ability to give the best performance at work which
would enable oneself to grow more and explore more. It is important for anyone to keep up
with the said objective in their engaged organization. Thus, employees who take their work
lightly and not giving the fullest at work will only remain at their current positions for long
which will not be giving them new opportunities in their job field.
It is an „amanah‟ for every employee on their given tasks. Islamically, it is important
for a man to always uphold his religious deeds even in his working environment. Muslims
should keep in mind to stay away from deeds which are disliked by Allah SWT, for instance,
avoid engaging with uncertainty (gharar) at work. It is crucial to perform work given at its
best and to be certain with every detail to ease everyone‟s work equally.

CASE 5: MOTIVATION FOR LEISURE (Chap. 8, p.272)
SUMMARY
Glenn Kelman, the CEO of Redfin said that when he has the time, he does not have
the money but when he has the money, he does not have the time. Workers in the US are
workaholics that do not even have the time to go for a vacation. Most of them work up to 80
hours a week compared to the people who are unemployed. Dennis Lee, who works as a sale
associates in Chicago said that, even though her girlfriend is unemployed and has a bunch of
time to spend for vacation, it is financially impossible for him to support both of them even if
it is just a small trip.
Some argued that people choose to be unemployed to take advantage of social safety
nets and enjoy a more leisurely lifestyle. In contrast, people who are employed and have the
money to go for a vacation usually choose to go to work on their vacation day. They just
simply do not have the motivation to go for a vacation even though their company provide the
employee with the vacation hours. However, this problem does not occur in the European
countries where the workers are even entitled for a make-up vacation if they are sick on
vacation.
ANSWER TO THE CASE QUESTIONS
1) To what extend is it an organizational responsibility to ensure that workers are given
more vacation time that they will actually use?
The vacation time allocated by the organization to the workers is intended to motivate the
workers and to increase their productivity. Therefore, the organization should ensure that the
workers are using enough vacation time as a temporary break from work. People cannot work

24/7 non-stop. It is the nature of the human to decrease in productivity, efficiency and
effectiveness in their work if they do not take a break. The mind will be tired and thus
resulting the decrease in productivity and work performance. This is why the organization
should take this issue as a serious matter. The worker needs a break. Their body and mind
cannot stand the non-stop pressure from work. They look fine because they endure it. The
organization should notice the differences of the workers performance when they actually
take and use the vacation time and when they are not. If the organization‟s productivity and
the worker‟s performance are getting better when the workers are using the vacation time,
then the organization should ensure that workers are given more vacation time that they will
actually use and vice versa.
2) Why do you think U.S. workers often do not take all of their allocated vacation time,
even when sometime faced with losing the benefit when vacation days are capped?
Are these personal choices, or are they driven more by society, or by organizational
culture?
In my opinion, the US workers often do not take all of their allocated vacation time
because of the high living cost in the United States. The workers feel insecure to leave for a
vacation when they can make more income to support their daily expenses by working.
Besides, the workers may also do not have enough money and cannot afford to go for a long
vacation. For them, it is a wise choice to work and earn more money than go for a vacation
and do not earn money. Moreover, it is a common in US that people over there tend to be a
workaholic due to the high living cost. These are the personal choices of the US workers to
not take all of the allocated vacation time.

3) If many unemployed are spending around two hours/day looking for work as some
research indicates, do you think that means they are enjoying a “leisurely” lifestyle?
Why or why not? If unemployed, how would you spend your days?
No. They are absolutely not enjoying a “leisurely” lifestyle. Rather than saying they are
enjoying a “leisurely” lifestyle, I would rather say they do not have the opportunity to work
even though they are eagerly want to work. This is because, if they are enjoying the
“leisurely” lifestyle, they would not bother to go for job hunting. You may that unemployed is
a “leisurely” lifestyle. However, the fact that you are being unemployed is more than enough
to show that you do not even have enough money to enjoy that leisure time. Unless the
unemployed workers are spending their time by doing some businesses to support their living
expenses. But, to be honest, that is also considered as working. If I am unemployed, I will
definitely go for job hunting. And in the meantime, I may also do a business to support my
living expenses.
Everybody needs a break from working. It is a good to go for a vacation and have
some break from all of that heavy pressure of working. It is true that if you take the vacation,
you will not earn money for that day. However, if you only think on how to gain money and
abandon your family, it will result the unhealthy family environment. Many children who are
troublemakers come from either a broken family or family which the parents do not pay
attention to the children and busy making more money. Nowadays, it is no doubt that money
is important to live a decent life, but, family is much more important than that. Money cannot
buy the happiness but taking a vacation with the family may bring happiness to the family
members. Islam also emphasizes on the importance of having a family time for a blessed and
happy family. The Quran says:

“Live with them in accordance with what is fair and kind” [an-Nisa’ 4:19]
“And they (women) have rights (over their husbands as regards living expenses, etc.)
similar (to those of their husbands) over them (as regards obedience and respect, etc.) to what
is reasonable, but men have a degree (of responsibility) over them. And Allah is All-Mighty,
All-Wise” [al-Baqarah 2:228].

Written Case Analysis (Organizational Behavior)

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