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Competing Through Technology
Didn’t Your Boss Used to Be a Vacuum Cleaner?
This case discusses the use of robots to bolster communications quality between employees
using new technology to communicate and meet. These robots, using GPS technology to
navigate, might include such features as a video monitor, camera and microphone that can be
moved around to talk “face to face” with people in the robot’s proximity.
Discussion Question
1. Why would the use of telepresence robots increase the job satisfaction and performance
of some workers, but reduce job satisfaction and performance for other workers?
Depending on their view of technology, students will respond differently to this
2. What types of people and what types of tasks would be best suited for the use of
telepresence robots?
Here again, student’s view of this issue will likely be different depending on a number of
D. Measuring and Monitoring Job Satisfaction
1. Most attempts to measure job satisfaction rely on workers' self-reports.
For example, the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) emphasizes various facets of
satisfaction: pay, the work itself, supervision, co-workers, and promotions
(text Table 10.5).
E. Survey Feedback Interventions
1. Reasons for routinely surveying employee attitudes include the following:
a. It allows the company to monitor trends over time.
b. It provides a means of empirically assessing the impact of changes
in policy.
c. When these surveys are incorporate standardized scales, they often
allow the company to compare itself with others in the same
industry along these dimensions.
d. Any strategic retention policy also has to consider surveying
people who are about to become ex-employees.
2. It allows the company to monitor trends over time and thus prevent
problems in the area of voluntary turnover before they happen (text Figure
10.4).
3. Engaging in an ongoing program of employee satisfaction provides a
means of empirically assessing the impact of changes in policy (text
Figure 10.4).
4. When these surveys incorporate standardized scales, they often allow the
company to compare itself with others in the same industry along these
dimensions (Figure 10.5).
5. A systematic survey program also allows the company to check for
differences between units and hence benchmark “best practices” that
might be generalized across units (Figure 10.6).
A Look Back
In the story that opened this chapter, we saw how churn rates, that is, the rate at which
people were moving from one job to another, stalled within the last few years, but now
seem to be poised to make a comeback. Although healthy churn rates are good for the
economy as a whole, for individual organizations, the key factor influencing
competitiveness is who is leaving and who is staying. Organizations need to have policies
in place that make it easy and advantageous for low performers to leave (involuntary
turnover), but make it difficult and costly for high performers to leave (voluntary
turnover). Managing the “flow” of employees thus becomes a critical source of
competitive advantage and is often the difference between survival and bankruptcy.
Questions
1. In what ways would an increase in churn rates make it easier for firms to manage involuntary
turnover, and what might firms do to take advantage of changing churn rates?
Levels of student creativity will cause answers to be varied here. One potential answer
would be that if an organization is careful to pay attention to the levels of churn, they
2. In what ways would an increase in turnover make it more difficult for firms to manage
voluntary turnover, and what might firms do to avoid being hurt by changing churn
rates??
An increase in churn may cause a ripple effect among “surviving” employees. As we
3. What role can employee attitude surveys play in maintaining a loyal and engaged workforce?
What are some of the challenges associated with getting accurate and reliable information
from employee surveys, and how can a survey process “backfire” in terms of harming,
rather than helping, a firm’s efforts?
If an employer is doing a good job of keeping their employees satisfied and that level of
Chapter Vocabulary
These terms are defined in the "Extended Chapter Outline" section.
Involuntary turnover
Voluntary turnover
Employment-at-will doctrine
Outcome fairness
Procedural justice
Interactional justice
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Employee assistance programs (EAP)
Outplacement counseling
Progression of withdrawal
Whistle-blowing
Job involvement
Organizational commitment
Job satisfaction
Frame of reference
Negative affectivity
Job rotation
Prosocial motivation
Discussion Questions
1. The discipline and discharge procedures described in this chapter are systematic but
rather slow. In your opinion, are there some offenses that should lead to immediate
dismissal? If so, how would you justify this to a court if you were sued for wrongful
discharge?
Offenses that are violent in nature or that endanger other members of the work force
should most likely lead to immediate discharge. Additionally, large-scale thefts or
2. Organizational turnover is generally considered a negative outcome, and many
organizations spend a great deal of time and money trying to reduce it. What situations
would indicate that an increase in turnover might be just what an organization needs?
Given the difficulty of terminating employees, what organizational policies might
promote the retention of high-performing workers but promote voluntary turnover among
low performers?
Situations in which an increase in turnover might be just what an organization needs are
One organizational policy that might promote the retention of high performing workers
3. Three popular interventions for enhancing worker satisfaction are job enrichment, job
rotation, and role analysis. What are the critical differences between these interventions,
and under what conditions might one be preferable to the others?
Job enrichment involves redesigning the job so it is more complex and has more
responsibility, whereas job rotation simply rotates employees to different jobs, usually at
Job enrichment is more for situations in which employees may desire more responsibility
4. If off-the-job stress and dissatisfaction begin to spill over and create on-the-job problems,
what are the rights and responsibilities of the human resource manager in helping the
employee overcome these problems? Are intrusions into such areas an invasion of
privacy, a benevolent and altruistic employer practice, or simply a prudent financial step
taken to protect the firm's investment?
Student answers may vary. Some students may think that managers' helping the
5. Discuss the advantages of using published, standardized measures in employee attitude
surveys. Do employers ever need to develop their own measures for such surveys?
Where would one turn to learn about how to do this?
Advantages of using published, standardized measures in employee attitude surveys is
that they are readily available and quick to assess and use, they allow for possible
Self-Assessment Exercise
Refer to the text for the self-assessment exercise.
Exercising Strategy:
Safety Lapses Sink Deep Water Horizon
This vignette outlines the case of BP and the Deep Water Horizon tragedy that occurred in 2010
which resulted in deaths of 11 people, 17 injuries and an environmental disaster that decimated
the eco-system in the Gulf of Mexico and multiple billions of dollars of damage. Much of the
blame for this tragedy can be traced back to human decisions concerning staffing levels, lay-offs,
coordination issues, and apparently greed.
Questions
1. In what way is trying to reduce costs by taking measures that threaten safety a very
short-sighted policy?
The discussion will likely point to the fact that this case is a great illustration of the
2. How do collaborations between firms like BP and Transocean create unique
safety-related challenges?
Situations such as these, where there is the potential for tremendously big environmental
disasters require laser-precision in terms of coordinating safety programs and efforts. In
3. Why does the relationship between government regulators like the MMS and companies
like BP need to be closely monitored and who should be responsible for this kind of
monitoring?
As was also illustrated in this case, fraternizing between those monitoring and those
being monitored can muddy the waters in terms of compliance with safety standards. It is
Managing People:
Heading for the Exit: Flight Attendant Becomes Hero
Steven Slater was a flight attendant who, after asking a passenger who had left her seat too soon
after landing, was verbally attacked by the passenger who also hit him over the head with her
bag. Slater returned to the intercom, let loose with an obscenity-laden invective directed toward
the woman, and exited down the emergency exit chute. Slater became somewhat of a folk hero as
a result. His frustration mirrored the mood of many American workers who were fed up with
their current job and looking for the first opportunity to quit.
Questions
1. What aspects of a flight attendants’ job are conducive to stress, and what other jobs share
similar characteristics?
Answers to this question will likely vary but should point to the fact that flights attendants are
2. Why do you think the actions of this one worker resonated so strongly with wider public
opinion and what does this suggest about the nature of jobs in the U.S. economy?
Steve Slater’s frustration mirrored the mood of many American workers who were fed up with
3. What are some steps employers can take to help reduce and manage employee stress in
jobs like these?
Answers will almost certainly vary here. Employers can attempt to keep employees
HR in Small Business:
Learning to Show Appreciation at Datotel
Datotel’s founder, David Brown, quickly discovered that employees want more in terms of
recognition than an email “thank you” and a gift card. Brown devised an idea that had managers
discussing the accomplishments of their employees at manager meetings and then someone other
than the employee’s direct supervisor acknowledging the employee’s effort in person. Brown
also committed to write notes to thank the employees, and mails some of them directly to the
employee’s home. These types of activities help Datotel not only in retaining their best talent,
but in recruiting the best talent in the marketplace as well.
Questions
1. Based on the information given, which sources of job satisfaction has Datotel addressed?
What other sources might the company address, and how?
Job satisfaction is a function of one’s values, and a properly socialized employee will have value
2. Suggest several measures Datotel could use to evaluate the success of its employee
retention efforts. Be sure these are practical for a company of a few dozen employees.
Student answers should vary here based on their creativity. However, they should
3. In a company as small as Datotel, losing even one employee can present real difficulties.
Suppose one of Datotel’s managers begins to have performance problems and seems
Again, student’s views of this issue will likely vary. However, it is important to
