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For experiences, what did you think of your greatest vacation when you were on it, and
what do you think of it now? Both the experience at the time and the recollection now
may bring a smile to your face.
Sources: A. Blackman, “Can Money Buy Happiness?” The Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2014, R1, R2; D. Kurtzleben, “Finally:
Proof That Money Buys Happiness (Sort Of),” USNews.com, April 29, 2013; and A. Novotney, “Money Can’t Buy Happiness,”
Monitor on Psychology (July/August 2012): 24–26.
Class Exercise
1. Divide the class into groups of three to five students.
2. Ask students to make a list of what factors bring happiness.
3. Then, ask students to read the article found at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/03/14/why-money-does-equal-h
appiness/
4. Ask students to compare their list to the discussion in the article.
5. What similarities exist? What differences exist? What do the results imply about
money and happiness?
6. Ask the teams to make a presentation to the class regarding their findings.
Teaching Notes
This exercise is applicable to face-to-face classes or synchronous online classes such as
BlackBoard 9.1, Breeze, WIMBA, and Second Life Virtual Classrooms. See
http://www.baclass.panam.edu/imob/SecondLife for more information.
Personal Inventory Assessments
Diagnosing the Need for Team Building
We might be tempted to think that assembling a group for a project is team building, but
intentional team building is much different. Take this PIA to find out how to diagnose the
need for planned team building.
Career OBjectives
How can I get flextime?
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Demonstrate how the different types of variable-pay programs can increase employee
motivation
Learning Outcome: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational
performance
AASCB: Ethical understanding and reasoning; Reflective thinking
My job is great, but I can’t understand why management won’t allow flextime. After all, I
often work on a laptop in the office! I could just as easily be working on the same laptop
at home without interruptions from my colleagues. I know I’d be more productive. How
can I convince them to let me? —Sophia
Dear Sophia:
We can’t help but wonder two things: 1) is the ban on working from home a company
policy, or your manager’s policy; and 2) do you want flextime, or telecommuting? If you
work for Yahoo!, for instance, you may not be able to convince anyone to let you work
from home after CEO Marissa Mayer’s very public decree against the policy. If the ban is
your manager’s policy—or even your division’s policy—in an organization open to
alternative work arrangements, you just may be able to get your way.
That leads us to the second question, about flextime versus telecommuting. If you want
flextime as you stated and just want to work from home during some non-core hours (say,
work in the office for 6 hours a day and work another 2 hours a day from home), your
employer may be more likely to grant your wish than if you want to completely
telecommute (work all your hours from home).
Research indicates that employees are most likely to be granted work from home
privileges as a result of a direct sympathetic relationship with their managers (not as a
result of a company policy). Employees are also more likely to gain acceptance for partial
than for full telecommuting (either flextime or by alternating days). It helps if you have a
legitimate need to be home and if you do knowledge-based work. Jared Dalton, for
instance, telecommutes 2 days a week as a manager for accounting firm Ernst & Young,
and his wife Christina telecommutes on 2 different days, so they can oversee the care of
their infant.
If it sounds like flextime depends on favoritism, you might be right. It’s also, however, a
reflection of the state of telecommuting: only 38 percent of U.S. organizations permit
some of their employees to regularly work from home. To be one of the lucky few:
• Check your organization’s flexible options policies.
• Develop a plan for working from home to show your manager. Include how many
hours/week, which days/week, and where you will work, and explain how your
manager can retain oversight of you.
• Assemble evidence on your productivity. Have you worked from home before? If so,
show how much you achieved. You stated you would be more productive at home:
How much more?
• Outline your reasons for working from home. Do you need to help care for an aging
relative, for instance? Would working from home save you commuting time you
could use for work?
• Address management’s concerns. Research indicates the biggest ones are the
possibility of abuse of the system and issues of fairness.
• Consider your relationship with your manager. Has he or she been supportive of you
in the past? Is your manager approachable?
When you’re ready, discuss your request with your manager. Remember, pitching the
idea of telecommuting is the same as pitching any idea—you’ve got to think about what’s
in it for your employer, not for yourself.
Sources: “The 2015 Workplace Flexibility Study,” WorkplaceTrends.com, February 3, 2015,
https://workplacetrends.com/the-2015-workplace-flexibility-study/; T. S. Bernard, “For Workers, Less Flexible Companies, ”The New
York Times, May 20, 2014, B1, B7; and C. C. Miller and L. Alderman, “The Flexibility Gap,” The New York Times, December 14,
2014, 1, 5.
An Ethical Choice
Sweatshops and Worker Safety
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Demonstrate how the different types of variable-pay programs can increase employee
motivation
Learning Outcome: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational
performance
AASCB: Ethical understanding and reasoning; Reflective thinking
Industrialized countries have come a long way in terms of worker safety and
compensation. The number of worker-related injuries has decreased substantially over
generations, and many employees earn better wages than in the past. Unfortunately, the
same cannot be said for all parts of the world.
To keep costs down, many Western companies and their managers turn to suppliers in
developing nations, where people have little choice but to work for low pay and no
benefits, in top-down management structures without participative management
opportunities or unions to represent them. Unregulated and even unsafe working
conditions are common, especially in the garment industry. However, three recent
accidents in Bangladesh are raising questions about the ethics of tolerating and
supporting such conditions. In November 2012, a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory that
made low-cost garments for several U.S. stores, including Walmart, killed 112 workers.
In April 2013, the collapse of Rana Plaza, home to a number of garment factories, killed
more than 1,100. And in May 2013, a fire at the Tung Hai Sweater Company killed 8
workers. An investigation of the Rana Plaza incident revealed that the building had been
constructed without permits, using substandard materials. Although workers reported
seeing and hearing cracks in the structure of the building, they were ordered back to
work.
In response, some companies such as PVH, owner of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein,
as well as Tchibo, a German retailer, have signed the legally binding “IndustriALL”
proposal, which requires overseas manufacturers to conduct building and fire-safety
inspections regularly and to make their findings public. However, many other companies
have not signed, and none of the 15 companies whose clothing was manufactured at the
Rana Plaza plant donated to the International Labour Organization fund for survivors.
With the rise of CSR initiatives, what is the responsibility of organizations toward the
working conditions of their subcontractors, at home or abroad? Professor Cindi Fukami
asks, “Should [companies] outsource the production of these items made under
conditions that wouldn’t be approved of in the United States, but . . . are perfectly legal in
the situation where they are [produced]?” There is clearly not an easy solution.
Sources: B. Kennedy, “The Bangladesh Factory Collapse One Year Later,” CBS, April 23, 2014,
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/thebangladesh-factory-collapse-one-year-later/; J. O’Donnell and C. Macleod, “Latest Bangladesh Fire
Puts New Pressure on Retailers,” USA Today, May 9, 2013, www.usatoday.com; and T. Hayden, “Tom Hayden: Sweatshops Attract
Western Investors,” USA Today, May 17, 2013, www.usatoday.com.
Class Exercise
1. Divide the class into groups of three to five students each.
2. Assign each group to act as a stakeholder in a debate on sweatshop labor. Teams
should include sweatshop workers, management, stockholders, consumers, and
workers in the home country.
3. Ask students to research the perspective of their stakeholder.
4. Finally, ask teams to debate the existence of a garment factory with sweatshop
conditions in India. The factory provides garments to several large multinational
companies.
Teaching Notes
This exercise is applicable to face-to-face classes or synchronous online classes such as
BlackBoard 9.1, Breeze, WIMBA, and Second Life Virtual Classrooms. See
http://www.baclass.panam.edu/imob/SecondLife for more information.
Point/Counterpoint
“Face-Time” Matters
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Demonstrate how the different types of variable-pay programs can increase employee
motivation
Learning Outcome: Describe the major theories of motivation and relate them to organizational
performance
AASCB: Reflective thinking
Point
Although allowing employees to work from home is gaining popularity, telecommuting is
a practice that will only hurt them and their employers. Sure, employees say they’re
happier when their organization allows them the flexibility to work wherever they
choose, but who wouldn’t like to hang around at home in their pajamas pretending to
work? I know plenty of colleagues who say, with a wink, that they’re taking off to “work
from home” the rest of the day. Who knows whether they are really contributing?
The bigger problem is the lack of face-to-face interaction between employees. Studies
have shown that great ideas are born through interdependence, not independence. It’s
during those informal interactions around the water cooler or during coffee breaks that
some of the most creative ideas arise. If you take that away, you stifle the organization’s
creative potential.
Trust is another problem. Ever trust someone you haven’t met? I didn’t think so. Again,
face-to-face interactions allow people to establish trusting relationships more quickly,
which fosters smoother social interactions and allows the company to perform better.
But enough about employers. Employees also would benefit by burning the midnight oil
at the office. If you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind. Want that big raise or promotion?
You’re not going to get it if your supervisor doesn’t even know who you are.
So think twice the next time you either want to leave the office early or not bother
coming in at all, to “work from home.”
Counterpoint
Please. So-called “face-time” is overrated. If all managers do is reward employees who
hang around the office the longest, they aren’t being very good managers. Those who
brag about the 80 hours they put in at the office (being sure to point out they were there
on weekends) aren’t necessarily the top performers. Being present is not the same thing
as being efficient.
Besides, there are all sorts of benefits for employees and employers who take advantage
of telecommuting practices. For one, it’s seen as an attractive perk companies can offer.
With so many dual-career earners, the flexibility to work from home on some days can go
a long way toward achieving a better balance between work and family. That translates
into better recruiting and better retention. In other words, you’ll get and keep better
employees if you offer the ability to work from home.
Plus, studies have shown that productivity is higher, not lower, when people work from
home. And this result is not limited to the United States. For example, one study found
that Chinese call center employees who worked from home out-produced their
“face-time” counterparts by 13 percent.
You say all these earth-shattering ideas would pour forth if people interacted. I say,
consider that one of the biggest workplace distractions is chatty co-workers. So, although
I concede there are times when “face-time” is beneficial, the benefits of telecommuting
far outweigh the drawbacks.
Sources: J. Surowiecki, “Face Time,” The New Yorker (March 18, 2013), downloaded from www.newyorker.com on May 17, 2013;
and L. Taskin and F. Bridoux, “Telework: A Challenge to Knowledge Transfer in Organizations,” International Journal of Human
Resource Management 21, no. 13 (2010), pp. 2503–2520.
Class Exercise
1. Ask students to read the following articles:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2015/05/04/5-things-you-need-to-k
now-about-telecommuting/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2013/03/01/the-problem-with-yahoos
-work-at-home-ban/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2013/11/26/four-ways-to-make-
working-from-home-work-for-you/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2013/03/08/big-data-streamlines-the-workpla
ce-and-may-end-telecommuting/
2. Then, assign groups to debate the pros and cons of working at home versus
working on-site.
3. Finally, conduct an informal poll asking students about the value they place on
face-time.
4. Are the results what you expected?
Teaching Notes
This exercise is applicable to face-to-face classes or synchronous online classes such as
BlackBoard 9.1, Breeze, WIMBA, and Second Life Virtual Classrooms. See
http://www.baclass.panam.edu/imob/SecondLife for more information.
