Case study:Chris Walker-Department of Business
Please read Chapter 9's Case Study on pages 293-294 in your textbook. This case actually did happen. However, the names have been changed for confidentiality. Thus, you cannot go to the college Website where the case actually happened. Therefore, go to your own college Website and get information that you did not know about your college.
Support your answer to the following questions with specific information from the case and textbook, or with other information you get from the
Web or other sources. Please site your sources.
1. What source of power does Judi have, and what type of power is she using?
2. (a) What source of power does Chris have, and (b) what type of power is he using during the meeting? (c) Is the memo a wise political move for Chris? What may be gained and lost by sending it?
3. What would you do if you were Judi? (a) Would you talk to the dean letting him know that Chris said he would appeal the policy decision? (b) Which political behavior would the discussion be? (c) Would you draft a policy directly stating that graduate assistants cannot be used to grade objective exams? (d) Would your answer to c be influenced by your answer to a?
4. If you were Chris, (a) knowing you had no verbal supporters during the meeting, would you have continued to defend your position or agree to stop using a graduate assistant? (b) What do you think of Chris sending the memo? (c) As a tenured full professor, Chris is secure in his job. Would your answer change if you/Chris had not received tenure or promotion to the top rank?
5. If you were Chris, and Judi drafted a policy and department members agreed with it, what would you do? (a) Would you appeal the decision to the dean? (b) Again, would your answer change if you/Chris had not received tenure or promotion to the top rank?
6. If you were the dean of SAS, knowing that the VP does not want to set a college wide policy, and Chris appealed to you, what would you do? Would you develop a school wide policy for SAS?
7. At what level (college wide, by schools, or by departments within each school) should a graduate assistant policy be set?
8. (a) Should Ted Brown have spoken up in defense of Chris during the meeting? (b) If you were Ted, would you have taken Chris' side against the other seven members? (c) Would your answer change if you were and were not friends with Chris, and if you were and were not a tenured full professor?
9. What is the role of perception (Chapter 2) and attitudes and values (Chapter 3) in this case?
10. What type of communications were used in this case (Chapters 5)? What was the major barrier to communications?
11. Which conflict management style (Chapter 6) did Judi and Chris use in setting the policy? Which conflict management style would you have used if you were in Chris' situation?
12. Which situational supervisory leadership style was Judi using (Chapter 7) to set the policy?
13. Which motivation theory was Chris using to defend his position to use graduate assistance? (Chapter 8)