LO 8. List the steps in the handling customer complaint model.
1 Paraphrase the Complaint and Apologize. 2 Ask the Customer to Recommend a Solution
B. Dealing With Dissatis(ed Customers
Follow the guidelines above, model 9.1
1 Paraphrase the
Complaint and
Apologize
2 Ask the Customer
to Recommend a
Solution and Agree
on a Solution
3 Implement the
Solution Quickly
4 Prevent Future
Complaints and
Follow-up
WA 16- Give a job example of when a coworker behaved with improper customer etiquette.
SA- My co-worker once had this real jerk customer yelling at her. She lost her cool and
WA 17- Which etiquette tips will you actually use to improve your human relations in your
personal and professional lives?
The big one for me is to stop taking personal calls when I’m talking to someone else. I’m
VIII. DO POWER, POLITICS, AND ETIQUETTE APPLY GLOBALLY?
No, based on cultural values and history, power is perceived and exercised differently around the
globe, based on power distance. And proper etiquette does vary globally.
Self-Assessment Exercise 9-3, Your Personality and Power and Politics.
LEARNING OUTCOME ANSWERS
NOTE: Below are recommend answers to the learning objectives. The learning objectives with answers also
appear in the test bank so that you can test students on them as short answer/essay questions.
You may also want to limit the number of learning objectives that you expect students to know for the exams.
For example, you could select 2-5 from each chapter that you believe are the most important things that students
should know. Assume you have a total of 10 for an exam. You could tell students to know the answers to all 10
and that you will select 3 of them for the exam.
LO 1. State how power, politics, and ethics affect behavior, human relations, and performance.
The use of power and politics are needed in organizations to perform successfully to meet goals. People who use
abusive power and politics tend to use unethical behavior and hurt human relations and performance. In the long
LO 2. Describe seven bases of power.
1. Coercive power is based on threats and/or punishment to influence compliance. 2. Connection power is based
on relationships with influential people. 3. Reward power is based on the ability to influence others with
LO 3. List techniques to increase your power bases.
1. To have coercive power you need to gain and maintain the ability to hire, discipline, and fire employees. 2. To
increase your connection power, expand your network of contacts with important managers who have power. Get
in with the “in crowd.” 3. Reward power can be gained by evaluating employees’ performance and determining
LO 4. Describe five influencing tactics.
1. Ingratiation is about giving praise. 2. Rational persuasion is about giving logical arguments with factual
LO 5. Discuss the necessity of organizational politics and three political behaviors.
In our economy, money is the medium of exchange; in an organization, politics is the medium of exchange.
Political behavior is used to develop relationships that are necessary to get your job done. People use the
LO 6. Identify techniques to develop effective relations with superiors, subordinates, peers, and members of other
departments.
1. Superiors- Meet the common expectations of your boss: be loyal, be cooperative, use initiative, keep your boss
informed, and be open to criticism. 2. Subordinates- Be friendly, but you cannot be real friends with employees.
LO 7. State two classifications of business etiquette and how etiquette overlaps between
the two classifications.
Two classi(cations are in person (conversation, dining, hoteling, telecommuting, and cubicle
etiquette) and digital (cell phone, e-mail, texting and instant messaging). The two
LO 8. List the steps in the handling customer complaint model.
1 Paraphrase the Complaint and Apologize. 2 Ask the Customer to Recommend a Solution
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
The following critical thinking questions can be used for class discussion and/or as written assignments to
develop communication skills. The questions can also be used for exams.
1. Some people say that power and politics can’t be used ethically. Do you agree?
2. Do you agree with the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s whom you know that is important?” Is it ethical
to use connection power to get jobs and other things?
3. When someone tries to influence you, which influencing tactic works best and why? Why doesn’t this same
tactic work best for everyone?
4. How would you access your political skills at using networking, reciprocity, and coalition building to help
you get what you want? What can you do to improve?
5. Describe your relationship with your current or past boss? Did you meet the five common expectations of
bosses? How can you improve your relationship with your current and/or future bosses?
6. Describe your relationship with your current peers and members from other departments? How did you
cooperate with them, compete with them, and criticize them? How can you improve your relationship with
your current and/or future peers and members of other departments?
7. Review the list of etiquette tips. Which three tips don’t you use often now that will help you in the future?
How will you change your etiquette?
WORK APPLICATION SAMPLE ANSWERS
You may give these student answers below as part of your lecture before, after, or in place
of getting student answers. You may have students write out their answers and pass them in
to be graded. Another option is to use them on the exams.
All the work application questions appear in the test bank so that you can assess students’
ability to apply the concepts to their work world. However, because student answers will
vary, there are no answers in the test bank.
You may also want to limit the number of work applications that you expect students to pass in for grading
and/or to know for the exams. For example testing, you could select 2-5 from each chapter that you believe are
the most important things that students should be able to apply to their jobs. Assume you have a total of 10 for an
exam. You could tell students to have prepared answers to all 10 and that you will select 3 of them for the exam.
WA 1- Give an example, preferably from an organization you work(ed) for, of ethical and unethical politics.
Describe the behavior and consequences for the individual(s) and the organization.
SA- In this situation my boss was using ethical politics and the manager of the other department was using
The department I was working for was growing and the next department over was doing less business. There
was a set of file cabinets that separated the two work areas. Our section was crowded, and the next one had
The consequences of not getting more space hurt our department members and performance. Employees
WA 2- Of the many suggestions for increasing your power base, which two are your highest priority for using on
the job? Explain.
SA- My first priority to work on is connection power. I’m not very political. But as the text states, if I want to be
My second priority is to develop expert power. I was looking at graduation as the end of my education. But
WA 3- Give two examples, preferably from an organization you work(ed) in, of people using power. Identify the
power base, describe the behavior, and how it affected human relations and performance.
SA- I had this young boss who used the coercive power base. He always was telling people what to do and
At Papa Ginos the manager used reward power. We got periodic reviews and raises every couple of months.
There were regular contest like employee of the week, who could sell the most pizza in one night, etc. Human
WA-4. Give an example of when you or someone else used one of the five influencing tactics in an organization
you work/ed for to achieve an objective. Be sure to state the tactic.
SA- I used legitimization on the job when I asked my boss for a day off. People do it regularly, so long as they
WA 5- Give an example of reciprocity, preferably from an organization you work(ed) for. Explain the trade-off?
SA- On the loading dock we packed trucks alone. However, when we had a heavy item we would help each other
WA 6- Of the 10 political behaviors, in Self-Assessment Exercise 9.2, which two need the most and least effort
on your part. Explain your four answers.
SA- The area I need to work on is avoiding giving my opinion on controversial issues. I’m too quick to speak up,
and sometimes it gets me into arguments and causes hurt feelings. A second area is my lack of taking an interest
The two areas that need the least effort is to compromise and to give people complements; I do these two
WA 7- Of the four common expectations of boss’s which is your strongest and weakest area? Explain your
answers.
SA- My strongest is cooperation. I’m a team player. My weakest area is criticism. I tend to make excuses for my
WA 8- Assume you get hired or promoted to a management position. Will you develop a relationship with your
employees based on friendship? Describe the relationship you plan to develop.
SA- No, as it says in the book I cannot be a real friend. The type of relationship I want could be called a
WA 9- Does/did your present or past boss use the open-door policy?
SA- Not really. He will talk to me but he usually lets me know he’s busy and doesn’t have much time to spend
WA 10- Give an example, preferably from an organization you work(ed) for, of a situation in which you had good
human relations with your peers. Describe how you cooperated, competed, and/or criticized your peers.
SA- Last summer when loading trucks I had good relations with my peers. I cooperated with them by helping
WA 11- Give an example, preferably from an organization you work(ed) for, of a situation in which you had good
human relations with members of other departments. Describe how your relations affected your performance, the
other departments, and the organization as a whole.
SA- I worked as a clean and set-up person for the training department of my company. I had a good relationship
with the trainers. Because the trainers were nice to me, I performed well for them. The trainers benefited because
WA 12- Give a job example of when someone behaved with improper etiquette.
SA- When I worked a Friendly’s this male employee got mad about something and started using the F word so
WA 13- Give a job example of when a coworker behaved with improper digital etiquette.
SA- This guy got mad at this lady at work, and he meant to send an email to his friend complaining about her,
WA 14- Give a job example of when a coworker behaved with improper meeting,
presentation, on networking etiquette.
SA- Even though the boss said not too, employees use their cell phones for personal things
WA 15– Do an online search on yourself. What were the results?
WA 16- Give a job example of when a coworker behaved with improper customer etiquette.
SA- At the customer service desk, this lady was being a real jerk about returning something to Wal-Mart that
WA 17- Which etiquette tips will you actually use to improve your human relations in your
personal and professional lives?
SA- I will stop checking and answering my cell phone when communicating one-on-one and during meetings.
My table manners will be improved by eating at the same pace as others. I tend to eat really fast and then have to
APPLICATION SITUATION ANSWERS
NOTE: There are multiple choice test questions in the test bank that are similar to the AS
in the text to assess application ability.
Ethical and Unethical Politics, AS-9.1
1. A. Ethical. Carlos may not be helping the organization by delivering the figures at 10:00, but it isn’t hurting
2. A. Ethical? Aisha isn’t hurting anyone by asking for information that makes her more knowledgeable, but when
3. A. Ethical. Claire isn’t hurting anyone by getting some positive exposure for her efforts, and it does give her
4. B. Unethical. This behavior hurts others, thus the organization is hurt.
5. A. Ethical. Tanya may not be helping the organization, but she isn’t hurting anyone either. Playing golf will
Using Power, AS-9.2
6. A. Coercive. Coercive power is appropriate for discipline.
7. C. Reward or legitimate. Referring to your legitimate power to get Anita to do a minimum amount of work is
8. D. Referent power. This is an appropriate time to use your relationship to get Tony to speed up his work.
9. B. Connection. Determine whose help you need and seek an alliance to help get what you want.
10. E. Information or expert. Latoya is coming to you because you are an expert and have information that she
Influencing Tactics AS-9.3
11. B. Inspirational appeals. A pep talk may motivate the employees to push to meet the deadline.
12. C. Legitimization. This is an unusual request that is reasonable.
Relations with others, AS-9.4
16. B. Superior. The owner is the boss of all employees.
17. C. Peers. The workers getting together are peers.
CASE–ANSWERS
Latoya Jefferson Use of Power and Politics
This case is really a good one to get a debate going in class. Students tend to disagree on what Latoya and the
managers should do in this case.
1. What source of power does Beth have, and what type of power is she using?
2. (a) What source of power does Latoya have, and (b) what type of power is he using during the meeting?
(c) Is the memo a wise political move for Latoya? What may be gained and lost by sending it?
Before getting into the details, Latoya is clearly in a situation where he was little power and can lose. Thus, he
has to make sure that what he is fighting for is very very important to him. Or you need to pick your battles
carefully. (a) Latoya only has personal power, and (b) he is using referent power, although he does not have
3. What would you do if you were Beth? (a) Would you talk to the dean letting him know that Latoya 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?
(a) Talking to the dean is a wise political move as Beth can find out if she has the dean’s support. (b) The political
4. If you were Latoya, (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
Latoya sending the memo? (c) As a tenured full professor, Latoya is secure in his job. Would your answer
change if you/Latoya had not received tenure or promotion to the top rank?
5. If you were Latoya, and Beth 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/Latoya
had not received tenure or promotion to the top rank?
(a) Assuming that Beth checked with the dean, an appeal will not work, so appealing is not a good move.
6. If you were the dean of SAS, knowing that the VP does not want to set a college wide policy, and Latoya
appealed to you, what would you do? Would you develop a school wide policy for SAS?
As stated above, the dean will likely side with the department and not set a school wide policy. Doing so could
7. At what level (college wide, by schools, or by departments within each school) should a graduate
assistant policy be set?
If you want to be consistent and fair with everyone, a college wide policy is best.
8. (a) Should Ted Brown have spoken up in defense of Latoya during the meeting? (b) If you were Ted,
would you have taken Latoya’ side against the other seven members? (c) Would your answer change if you
were and were not friends with Latoya, and if you were and were not a tenured full professor?
(a and b) It is generally better not to be on the losing side coalition; you lose power. (c) If friendship
Cumulative Case Questions
9. What is the role of perception (Chapter 2) and attitudes and values (Chapter 3) in this case?
Perception is the major reason for the conflict, as they see and have different attitudes and values
regarding the use of graduate assistance. Latoya’ perception, attitude, and values say that using
10. What type of communications were used in this case (Chapters 5)? What was the major
barrier to communications?
Both interpersonal and organizational communications were used. Communications flowed
11. Which conflict management style (Chapter 6) did Beth and Latoya use in setting the
policy? Which conflict management style would you have used if you were in Latoya’
situation?
Beth was using the collaborative conflict style as she wanted a consensus. Latoya was using the
forcing style as he did not want to stop using graduate assistants. He tried to compromise by having
12. Which situational supervisory leadership style was Beth using (Chapter 7) to set the
policy?
Beth was using the laissez-faire leadership style as she wanted to have a consensus agreement on
13 Which motivation theory was Latoya using to defend his position to use graduate
assistance? (Chapter 8)
Latoya was appealing to equity theory. He did not think it was fair for him to stop using graduate
How did the case situation actually end?
You could ask the students this question. Beth did go to the dean. The dean supported the policy.
The policy was written. Latoya knew the dean approved the policy, so he did not send a letter or go
to talk to the dean or VP to stop it. He accommodated the department members. However, Latoya
OBJECTIVES CASE 9 ANSWERS
Politicking
NOTE: There are no cases in the test bank. However, there are multiple choice test
questions in the test bank that are similar to case question 1-10 to assess application ability.
1. A. Position. Karen supervises Lisa and Jim.
2. G. Expert. Taking coursed develops expertise.
6. A. Has. Changing the report hurts Karen and the organization.
10. C. Initiative. If Jim took initiative Karen wouldn’t have to tell him what to do.
11. There is no right answer to this question. But, Lisa should be careful. If Lisa blames the errors
During the class discussion, which may be lively, you may want to write the action suggested on the
board and list the possible favorable outcomes and unfavorable outcomes. Stress the need to weigh
pro’s and con’s. “Think before you act” is one of the nine guidelines to human relations in Chapter 1.
12. There is no right answer to this question. Should she try to find out? How can see find out for
sure? Let the class discuss it.
Role Play. You may have students role play Lisa having a conversation about the suspected errors
with Jim and/or Karen.
VIDEOS
Hot Seat Videos and Behavior Model Videos are available to be used with this chapter. See separate Instructor
Resources Guide for each type of video.
SKILL BUILDING EXERCISE, SB-9.1
Who has the Power
This exercise is designed for teams that have been working together for several classes. Groups can
usually get through the exercise in 15 minutes or less.
Skills Assessment SB 9-1 (No questions in Test Bank)
I don’t know how you can assess ability to gain power skills through a test question. However, if
you want to know if students know the techniques, you can select Learning Objective 2 on the exam
as a concept test question. You can also test understanding of the power by selecting objective test
questions from the concepts section of the test bank.
SKILL BUILDING EXERCISE, SB-9.2 and SB-9.3
Influencing Tactics
Total time (5-50 minutes)
You can just assign the exercise and spend no time on it, or just give the possible answers to the three situations
in 5 minutes or less. Or you can select a set time and an option. For example, you could select to do just SB 9-2
or SB 9-3.
If you do SB 9-3, be aware that times can vary greatly based on student experience. Traditional undergrads spend
less time than nontraditional students with work experience.
Suggested time for a 50-minute period combining SB 9-2 and SB 9-3
8:00 SB 9-2 Procedure 1 13 minutes
8:13 SB 9-2 Procedure 2 6 “
8:19 SB 9-3 Preparation 2 “
8:21 SB 9-3 Role-play 1 8 “
8:29 SB 9-3 Role-play 2 8 “
8:37 SB 9-3 Role-play 3 8 “
8:45 SB 9-3 Conclusions 2 “
8:47 SB 9-3 Application 3 “
Possible Answers (what I would do)
1. Full-time job. Talk to the direct supervisor first. Start with ingratiation to praise the boss and the organization.
If you know there is a specific job opening, ask for it by stating rational persuasion of why you can do a good
2. Powerful person. Start with a short introduction of yourself, then use ingratiation to praise the person on the
great job she did on the strategic plan. Also, mention that you belong to the same religious organization and/or
3. Delivery schedule. Start with ingratiation to praise the person on how they help you do your job. This is a
conflict, so stating with the XYZ statement is a good idea. Using the legitimization tactic with some rational
Possible XZY statement—some of your sales reps are giving customers unrealistic deliver dates for getting
Skills Assessment SB 9-2 and SB 9-3 (questions in Test Bank)
1. Influencing tactics. Your company is profitable and gives merit raises (between 0 to 7%). You met with your
boss for your annual review and thought things went very well. Although the boss never stated a specific
percentage pay increase, the way your boss talked, you were expecting a 6 percent pay raise starting new month.
When you got your next paycheck, you realized that the raise was only 3 percent, so you contacted the payroll
department. Payroll stated that your boss put in for a 3% pay raise. You know some of your peers got 5% and
they are not as productive as you. You believe you earned the 6 percent and have decided to talk to your boss to
try to get it.
A. What are some of the things that you should consider in planning your talk with the boss?
B. Which influencing tactic(s) will you use to help persuade the boss to give you the 6% raise.
C. What behavior will you use (what will you do and say)?
Answer:
A- Remember the need to maintain a good relationship with the boss, if you hurt it, you most likely will not get
B- Remind the boss of the ingratiation praise the boss gave you, and use legitimate with rational persuasion to
C- You could say something like this XYZ statement: Recall during my performance appraisal how you stated …
I was disappointed because I was expecting a 6% pay raise, but I only got a 3% raise. The company is profitable