Chapter 12 – The Situation
12–15
Exercise 12-2
Exercise Title: Task Factors in Jobs
Purpose: To understand how the seven task factors apply to different jobs.
Summary: Students should form small groups of 4-6 people. Their task is to interview two people in the
workforce on how the seven task factors found in Chapter 11 come into play with their job. Students
This exercise will take 20-40 minutes to complete, depending on the number of groups making
presentations.
Chapter 12 – The Situation
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Task Factor Handout
1——–2———— 3———-4———– 5
Low Average High
Job: ___________________________
Skill Variety: The extent to which individuals _____
employ a variety of skills.
Autonomy: The degree to which the activity provides the
individual with control over what he or she does and how
they do it. _____
Chapter 12 – The Situation
Exercise 12-3
Exercise Title: Only the Resourceful Survive
Purpose: To demonstrates innovation, teamwork, planning, communication, flexibility, and how the
situation affects leadership and followership.
Summary: The goal of the exercise is to get the entire team from point A to point B (which is about 60
feet) without any part of their body touching the ground. Tell the group this is a timed exercise and the
clock will start ticking as soon as you finish with the instructions and answer all questions. They are to try
to finish the exercise (i.e., get the last person to point B) as quickly as possible. Give the group some
materials, such as pieces of wood, rope, planks, bricks, etc. These materials can be put on the ground to
This exercise takes about 40 minutes.
Chapter 12 – The Situation
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Exercise 12-4
Exercise Title: Building Bridges
Purpose: This extended exercise includes elements of individual creativity, interpersonal competition,
interpersonal cooperation, group creativity, group competition, and group cooperation.
Summary: This exercise involves building bridges in two very different ways. First, the actual task
involves designing and building model bridges out of the materials provided. Second, the various stages
of the task cover concepts from across the course. At a metaphorical level, the exercise is a “bridge”
1. Individual design, or individual creativity (10 minutes). During this phase each person in each
group should work independently developing his or her preferred design for what the group’s (single)
bridge will ultimately look like.
2. Selling the design to your team, or interpersonal competition (10 minutes). During this phase the
3. Planning for bridge construction, or interpersonal cooperation (20 minutes). This is the “cognitive”
phase of interpersonal cooperation. During this phase, group members select the “best” design from
4. Constructing bridges, or interpersonal cooperation (30 minutes). This is the “physical” phase of
interpersonal cooperation. During this phase, the members of each group actually construct the
bridges they have designed. Each group builds one bridge.
5. Each group develops a “sales pitch”, or group creativity (10 minutes). During this phase each group
6. Each group makes a “sales pitch” to the other groups, or group competition (time varies with
Chapter 12 – The Situation
7. Entire class selects the “best” bridge, or group cooperation (20 minutes). During this final phase,
8. Discussion. Instructors should comment on leadership, followership, the situation, influence,
values, behavior, motivation, satisfaction, teams, etc.
This exercise takes 120 minutes to complete.
Chapter 12 – The Situation
12–20
Exercise 12-5
Exercise Title: Variations on Tower Building
Purpose: To demonstrate how different situational variables can affect group problem solving.
Summary: This exercise involves varying certain situational aspects of the tower-building exercise also
described for Chapter 14. These variations make an effective exercise even if you used the basic version
previously.
1. Allow each participant to use only one hand during the construction period.
2. Just before the end of the planning period, announce that some whole category of Tinker-Toy piece
(e.g., the red sticks) will be unavailable for use.
Class discussion could address the following issues: a) Do “real” problems involve similarly changing
rules, resources, and environments? b) How does it feel when unexpected changes occur? c) Do some
groups or organizations function more effectively in changing situations or environments than others?
Why?
Chapter 12 – The Situation
Exercise 12-6
Exercise Title: Acid River
Purpose: To demonstrate leadership, problem solving, planning, teamwork, and empowerment.
Summary: The object of this exercise is to have all group members span a 50 foot distance without any
member ever touching the ground. To do this, the groups must use 2 x 10 x 6 foot planks that they place
on bricks that have been preset across the 50 foot distance. The bricks are set up in such a way that the 6
An eight person group should be given 3 planks, a 12 person group 4 planks. Members who touch the
ground more than once should be blinded. The team must take all the resources they use with them (i.e.,
planks). Planks that are not being used or stood on risk being lost. The planks that fall off the bricks or
touch the ground risk should be considered lost for the rest of the exercise. Groups should be given 25
minutes to accomplish the activity.
Chapter 12 – The Situation
12–22
Exercise 12-7
Exercise Title: The Low Wall
Purpose: To demonstrate the importance of planning, cooperation, and creative problem solving.
Summary: Instructors should set up a rope that is stretched tight and suspended 2-2.5 feet off the ground.
The rope should be 20-30 feet long. Put all the students on one side of the rope, and then tell them their
goal is to get everyone to the other side without anyone touching the rope. The rope represents an
electrified fence, and they may not go under or over the fence, nor can they lower the rope or drape
clothes on the rope in order to protect themselves from the electric current in the fence.
In terms of processing, the first rule places a premium on planning. Group members do not have to link
up until they start to cross the fence, and they should rearrange themselves to make the crossing as easy as
possible. Nonetheless, many groups erroneously elect to link up with who ever happens to be standing
This exercise takes about 35 minutes to complete.
Chapter 12 – The Situation
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Exercise 12-8
Exercise Title: Values and Organizational Culture
Purpose: To show the links between values and organizational culture.
Summary: An organization’s stated or espoused values should play a key role in determining
organizational culture. But many times there is a big disconnect between what the organization says is
Form students into small groups, and ask the group to prepare a 10 – 20 minute presentation to share with
the rest of the class. The presentation should consist of the following information (instructors can revise
the information below to control the length of the presentations):
1. The name of the company or organization
2. The company’s espoused values (This usually can be obtained through the company web site or
annual report.)
The student teams will deliver their presentations in class and then spend 5 minutes answering questions
about their findings. Instructors should comment on the themes and patterns across the presentations,
which company seems to have the smallest gaps, which one would be the best to work for, etc.
Alternative set-up: Instructors can segment the type of information each of the groups collect in order to
make sure all of the concepts of interest are covered, but without having each group do all of them. For
Chapter 12 – The Situation
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Values and Organizational Culture Assignment
Your team’s assignment is to assess the culture of an organization, and then determine whether there are
any gaps between the organization’s espoused values and their values in action. Your team will report on
its findings by delivering a 10-15 minute presentation to the rest of the class. In order to complete your
assignment, your team should use the following two pages to guide your data collection:
Name of the organization: ____________________________
Purpose and size of the organization:
• What is the mission of the organization?
The organization’s espoused values:
• These are the organization’s formal or stated values. These can usually be found on the
The organization’s values in action:
• The team will need to interview an employee and ask them about the organization’s culture.
• What does the organization feel is important?
• Upon completion of the interview, have the employee rank order the 10 values found on the next
page. The employee should give a “1” to the most important company value, a “2” to the next
important, etc. The rank ordering should be based on what the company truly rewards, not on its
espoused values.
The organization’s culture (according to Schein):
This information can be collected during interviews; however, consulting company web sites and/or
annual reports is another excellent way to evaluate and collect this information.
• What myths and stories are told about the organization?
working in this organization?
Chapter 12 – The Situation
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The 10 Key Work Values
Instructions: Place the appropriate number to rank order the values listed below (“1” = most important,
“10” = least important)—you must use all 10 numbers, no ties are allowed.
_____ Recognition: organizations with strong recognition values like publicity, being recognized for
quality, performance, or customer achievement. These organizations also like to publicly
recognize employees for a job well done, and often have special ceremonies to recognize their
high performers.
_____ Altruism: these organizations place a premium on helping the less fortunate. They are constantly
looking for ways to help the needy and often measure their success by the number of people
helped.
_____ Affiliation: organizations with strong affiliation values believe in the importance of teamwork and
being part of a work group. People in these organizations often define themselves by their
workgroups and are more likely to make consensus rather than individual decisions.
_____ Commerce: these organizations believe making money is very important. Organizations with
strong commerce values believe the purpose or mission of their company is to make money—
everything else is secondary.
Chapter 12 – The Situation
12–26
Additional References/Resources
Balthazard, P.A., Cooke, R.A., & Potter, R.E. (2006). Dysfunctional culture, dysfunctional organization:
Capturing the behavioral norms that form organizational culture and drive performance. Journal of
Managerial Psychology, 21, 709-732.
Fulmer, I.S., Gerhart, B., & Scott, K.S. (2003). Are the 100 best better? An empirical investigation of the
relationship between being a “great place to work” and firm performance. Personnel Psychology, 56,
965-993.
Howell, J.P., Bowen, D.E, Dorfman, P.W., Kerr, S., & Podsakoff, P.M. (1990). Substitutes for leadership:
Effective alternatives to ineffective leadership. Organizational Dynamics, 19, 21-38.
Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., & Bommer, W.H. (1996). Transformational leadership behaviors and
substitutes for leadership as determinants of employee satisfaction, commitment, trust, and
organizational citizenship behaviors. Journal of Management, 22, 259-298.
Pool, S.W. (1997). The relationship of job satisfaction with substitutes of leadership, leadership behavior,
and work motivation. Journal of Psychology, 131, 271-283.
Chapter 12 – The Situation
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Sheard, A. G. & Kakabadse, A. P. (2007). A role-based perspective on leadership decision taking.
Journal of Management Development, 26, 520-622.
Wielkiewicz, R. M. & Stelzer, S. P. (2005). An ecological perspective on leadership theory, research, and
practice. Review of General Psychology, 9, 326-341.
Wielkiewicz, R. M. & Stelzner, S. P. (2007). Special issue on leadership falls behind. American
Psychologist, 62, 605-606.
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