Case 1:: Questions
Case 1:: Questions
CASE 1:
In June 2012, Zeta Furniture Company, a leading furniture store in the Philippines, hired a salesman
who looked perfect for the job opening based on the application form which he filled out and
submitted to the company’s human resources department. After working in the company for a few
months, the man raped a female customer in her home, when he went there to follow up her phone
order for a bed.
Mang Donald’s Fast Food Restaurant’s cook had a nervous breakdown, one day in November 2013.
Without provocation, he stabbed and seriously wounded two of his kitchen helpers. The restaurant’s
administrators and workers/employees were all shocked when they were informed about this
unfortunate happening; they never suspected that this man who quietly went about doing his daily
chores had a history of mental illness.
In 2010, a female teacher in an elementary school in Pasay City, in a fit of anger, slapped the face of one
of her students when she caught him cheating during a written examination.
Questions
1. What do these different situations tell us regarding specific managerial function?
- These situations are giving emphasis in staffing which is the third managerial function, in which
in selecting employees, the employer should do background checking when hiring employees to avoid
future problems that will appear.
2. If your are the employer, what are the steps you would take in order to avoid these negative
situations?
- If I am the employer, the steps that I would take in order to avoid these negative situations are
the typical steps in selection process which are:
1. Establishing the selection criteria.
2. Requesting applicants to complete the application form.
3. Screening by listing applicants who seem to meet the set criteria.
4. Screening interview to identify more promising applicants.
5. Interview by the supervisor/manager or panel interviewers.
6. Verifying information provided by the applicant.
7. Requesting the applicant to undergo prychological and physical examination.
8. Informing the applicant that he or she has been chosen for the position applied
for.
By following these steps before hiring an employee can trully avoid the problems that was
mentioned above.
CASE 2:
Attorney Lorna Corona was the general manager of their family-owned publishing company.
Subordinates described her as an ideal boss who knew the “ins and outs” of their business; who
focused on long-term concerns of their company, emphasizing maintenance of stability, development,
progress, and overall efficiency and effectiveness. She, too, exhibit emotional intelligence that enabled
her to maintain positive interpersonal relationships with everyone, in both the internal and external
environments of their organization. Since everyone was happy and satisfied, their company succeeded
in achieving their goals. In 1999, Lorna had to give up her position because of severe injuries she
suffered after a vehicular accident. Her parents gave the task of managing their company to her
younger brother, Gerald, who was her assistant general manager before the said vehicular accident.
Despite being knowledgeable in managing their publishing company, Gerald did not show
emotional intelligence. He often had conflicts with other managers and subordinates; lacked good
public relations with customers and other companies’ managers; and could not calm himself quickly
when angry and under pressure during problematic situatiions. These cisrcumstances caused
dissatisfaction among the employees of their company, hence, affecting their efficiency and
productivity. Other stakeholders, too, were negatively affected. In 2009, their company had to close
shop.
Questions
1. Examine your tendencies. Do you have emotional intelligence? Explain you answer.
-In examining my tendencies, I have emotional intelligence because I was able to be aware of,
control, and express my emotions in a good way, and often, to handle interpersonal relationships with
good judgements and empathetically.
2. As a company owner, what will you do if you were the one confronted with the abovementioned
situation?
- As a company owner, if the manager of the company doesn’t have an emotional intelligence, I
would advise him to undergo Emotional Intelligence training to improve him while doing his work as a
manager. I believe that knowing that Gerald is already a knowledgeable in managing the company, He
just have to improve his emotional intelligence because if I will fire him, it’s so hard to find another
person who can be trusted and can have the knowledge about the company for a short span of time
especially now that the company is in the peak of achieving its goals. Moreover, I will guide him along
the way of his improving as a manager and maybe in the future he will be the one who will put the
company consistently at the top for a longer period of time.
CASE 3:
Marciano Aquino works for a pharmaceutical company manufacturing generic medicines which
sell at lower costs compared to branded medecines. In his eagerness to sell their low-cost drugs in
order to increase company revenues, he used social media to spread negative rumors and gossip
regarding the manufacturer of the branded equivalents of their generic products; this became viral on
the Internet after a few weeks.
As coemployee, Christopher, became aware of what Marciano was doing and reported this to
the supervisor, who in turn, reported Marciano’s unethical way of competing with their rival company
to their department head for sales. For fear being sued for unethical condition by their rival company,
the department head called Marciano, a tenured employee, and without asking for any explanation,
asked him to write a voluntary resignation letter immediatley, explaining orally that this was the order
of their company owner because of his irresponsible behavior.
Marciano, who felt bad about this unexpected order from his superior, decided to write a
voluntary resignation and submitted this to department head the next day. He felt that the said
company superior did not see his good intentions and that it was not worth it to continue serving
them.
After a month, he realized that he acted in anger and he should not have followed the
department head’s order; and upon the advise of some of his friends, he decided to file a complaint for
illegal dismissal and termination without due process with the National Labor Relations Commission
(NLRC).
Questions
1. Was the department head right in asking Marciano to resign immediately? Explain.
- The department head was not right in asking Marciano to resign immediately because even if
Marciano was indeed made a wrongfully acts towards the company’s opponent but the department
head should have first listen to the reason why Marciano did it in the first place. After that, he should
have suggests to Marciano to stop on spreading negative rumors and take back of what he posted
online, next is to give him advice to never do it again and give him another chance.
2. In your opinion, will the complaint/cause Marciano filed at the NLRC against the pharmaceutical
company prosper? Explain your answer.
- In my opinion, the complaint/cause that Marciano filed at the NLRC against the
pharmaceutical company will prosper because even if he voluntarily resigned from the company, in the
text, giving him the final pay after resigning was not mentioned and it is against the law.
CASE 4:
Mr. Conrad Rafferty, an American, was assigned by a multinational company to act as general
manager of their branch office in the Philippines. Being used to the American way of managing, he
emphasized that “time is gold” and, therefore, everyone must able to do their tasks efficiently and
must be punctual in reporting to their office, which is open from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and in
attending company meetings/activities.
Some Filipino cultural orientations are ningas cogon, mañana habit, and the so-called Filipino
time. In ningas cogon, leaders, or workers show a lot of enthusiasm at the start of the project, however
this interest dies down after sometime and the project is neglected. The mañana habit pertains to
procrastination or putting off for tomorrow what can be done today. Meanwhile, Filipino time refers to
the habit of accepting 15 to 30 minutes of tardiness, as a common practice in appointments, meetings,
or reporting for work. All these go against Mr. Rafferty’s “time is gold” policy.
Conflict due to cultural difference result. There was a fact turnover of Filipino managers and
workers because of Mr. Rafferty’s inability to adjust to the abovementioned cultural orientations; the
Filipinos, too, could not understand why Mr. Rafferty was almost always angry. They interpreted his
behavior as a form of racial discrimination and this general feeling against their American boss
negatively affected their work performance, productivity, and, ultimately, their company’s income
generation.
To remedy the situation, Mr. Rafferty was transfered to anonther country, after three years of
trying to manage their Philippine branch.
Questions
1. Define “culture shock”. Did Mr. Rafferty experience this? Explain your answer.
- Culture shock is a phenomenon that all types of expatriates experience, no matter if they work
abroad for the first time or if they are veterans in the field of expat assignments. Often, it is the deeper
cultural differences in mindset, customs and interpersonal interaction that trigger this phenomenon
and turn cultural transition into a struggle. It is also an experience of a person when one moves to
a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation of a
person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life. Yes, Mr. Rafferty experience this because
he was disoriented about the culture of the Filipinos in his workplace like ningas cogon, mañana habit,
and the so-called Filipino time. He was also struggling not be able to adjust immediately to the culture
of the Filipinos and in result, he was always mad to his coworkers when they will go against his “time is
gold” policy.
2. Will you apply the same solution to the abovementioned problem? Explain your answer.
- I will also apply the same solution to the above mentioned problem, but I will transfer
immediately Mr. Rafferty to another country before three years of him trying to manage their
Philippine branch so that it will avoid any big misunderstanding between two cultures.
CASE 5:
Mr. Edward Viceral was a middle-level manager in a rent-a-car business. He did not believe in
empowering his subordinates, so, most of the time, he was very busy and had no time to socialize with
others and bond with his family members. Although financially stable, he and his family members were
not happy. In the workplace, he was alienated from others.
Willlingness to delegate work to others and to allow them to decide on their own, on certain
matters, are essential in empowering subordinates. Failure to believe in empowering others is now
considered negative in the new workplace and has many adverse effects on the individuals and,
ultimately, on members of the family and on coworkers and superiors.
On noticing that something was lacking in his life, Edward consulted and industrial psychologist,
who give him a set of questions to answer. The main objectives of the psychologist were for Edward to
know himself better and to make him realize that through delegation, he could have more quality time
with others in his workplace and with his family. Among the questions asked were: “Do you prefer to do
things by yourself because most of the time people are too inexperienced to do things?” “Do you think
that mistakes by others are too costly, so you do not assign much work to them?” “Do you often feel
that you get quicker action by doing a job by yourself?” “Do you trust others?” More consulations
followed for several weeks.
A few month later, Edward became a happier person because of his new mindset. Trusting
others and willingness to delegate and empower others enabled him to spend more time with his
family and others, which, in turn, made them all happier- both at work and in life. Edward’s coworkers
also became happy upon being empowered and trusted; members of his family felt that they were
important to Edward and this made them happy too.
Questions
1. Explain the relationship between empowerment in the workplace and happiness or satisfaction
among concerned individuals.
-If the employer empowers his workers, the employees will feel that they were trusted to do the
tasks given and in return, they will be happy and satisfied in their workplace. If the employer will not
empower his workers, then the other way around will be the result and may also give future problems
to the company.
2. Give your personal comment on the following statement: “Some things simply should not be
delegated to others.” Explain your answer.
- In work, there are other things or new tasks that should not assign to a subordinate because of
some reasons: the overview of the subordinate’s capability is far from achieving the goal of the new
task, the task can be done by your own capability only, the subordinate can’t be trusted for the task is
very important, and you are too perfectionist that you can’t get risky results that made you do the task
by your own only. In other words, it pertains that there are other things that can’t be given the trust to
others because of different purposes and reasons that you can’t let go.
CASE 6:
The minimum wage, legally speaking, is just a wage. It is set by the government to protect
employees/workers in the low income bracket from exploitation by employers.
In a certain cigarette manufacturing company in Bulacan, Carlos and his coworkers agreed to a
wage that was way below the minimum wage, all because there were no other job opportunities or
means of livelihood available to them. It was not a just wage because after spending their earnings on
food, they were left with no means to enjoy life.
Carlos and his coworkers sign a daily record certifying that they receive the required minimum
wage and overtime pay after ten hours of work. So, besides the violation of the minimum wage and the
overtime policies, there was also violation in the number of hours of work that they were required to
render.
Although there was a workers’ union in their company, the union leaders, instead of protecting
the workers, connived with management in their illegal practices.
One day, Carlos, who would no longer bear the unfair treatment they received, shot to death
the son of the company owner, who acted as its chief executive officer. Carlos was caught and
sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment.
Questions
1. Define minimum wage. Why should the Minimum Wage Law be respected by all employers?
-The minimum wage is the lowest wage permitted by law or by a special agreement (such as
one with a labor union). The Minimum Wage Law should be respected by all employers because it is
stated on the Federal Law to give a minimum wage to the employees, if you violate it, you are also not
giving a salary to your employees satisfactorily and just doing so, you are also pertaining that you are
not respecting the work of your workers.
2. Was Carlos fighting for justice and fairness when he shot their chief executive officer to death?
Explain your answer.
- Carlos was not fighting for justice and fairness when he shot their chief executive officer to
death, what he did was a revenge because of the unfairness he felt about their wages. If he really was
fighting for justice and fairness, he should have reported the wrongful acts of the company to the
authorities and file a complaint against them with credible evidences. Fight the game in a right and in
justified way.