Assignment: Intergroup Relational Identity

Assignment: Intergroup Relational Identity

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Assignment: Intergroup Relational Identity
Assignment: Intergroup Relational Identity

Assignment: Intergroup Relational Identity

For a major research paper, conduct your own organizational culture anal-

ysis. Be sure to identify the following: • the role of the founder and current leadership • assumptions • values • important symbols, such as myths and stories, rituals, and language • important artifacts, such as buildings, products, and technology • efforts at change

2. In a group, identify important rites at your college or university and catego- rize them using the framework presented on pp. 238–239. What messages do these rituals send? How could they be modified to encourage cultural change?

3. Develop your own definition of “sensemaking.” Provide examples of sen- semaking in action.

4. Framing Scenario Imagine that you work for the public relations office of Lake Okiboji Uni- versity (L.O.U.). Your college is merging with a smaller school that was just about to close its doors for good. Your frame is that the merger will help both schools. The student body at L.O.U. will grow (increasing tuition revenue), and the merger will create an attractive new branch cam- pus. Students at the smaller college (who would have been forced to trans- fer) can now finish their degrees without leaving town. The presence of a stronger university will also benefit the community as a whole. In addition to offering classes and cultural and athletic events, L.O.U. will become the area’s largest employer when the merger is complete. Not everyone agrees with your perspective, however. You’ve heard the following comments from students, faculty, donors, and others in the community: • L.O.U. is getting too big and impersonal. • The leaders of L.O.U. are “empire builders.” • The needs of students have been ignored in the rush to merge. • L.O.U. is more interested in collecting more tuition and acquiring prop-

erty than in meeting the needs of the community. Generate some possible responses to these competing frames and then pair off with a classmate. Take turns playing the role of the public relations professional and a stakeholder who is critical of the merger. When you’re done, evaluate how well each of you constructed and communicated the university’s frame to the hostile stakeholder.

5. Identify your communication style based on the self-assessment in box 8.4 How does your style help or hinder your ability to frame?

6. Develop a case study based on either an adaptive or learning organization. Describe how that organization responds to adaptive challenges or learns and shares knowledge. Generate a list of best practices that other organi- zations could adopt.

Hackman-Johnson 6E.book Page 267 Tuesday, March 12, 2013 12:54 PM
268 Chapter Eight

7. Identify a situation in your organization that calls for trust repair. Outline a strategy for restoring trust based on the process described in the chapter. Write up your findings.

8. Evaluate the quality of intergroup leadership in your organization. How well do leaders create intergroup relational identity through their rhetoric and boundary-spanning activities?

9. Form a small group and brainstorm ways that teachers, managers, and others communicate both low and high expectations. Report your findings during class discussion.

10. Develop a strategy for creating positive expectations in those who lead you.

CULTURAL CONNECTIONS: YUM BRANDS SERVES UP A GLOBAL APPROACH TO ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE71

One multinational company that has been very adept at honoring local customs is Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. (The firm recently sold its Long John Silver’s and A & W All American Food chains.) Yum, which operates 36,000 stores in 117 countries, has adapted its menus and store designs to regional tastes. For example, KFC China features a Dragon Twister—a tortilla wrap sandwich with cucumber, scallions, and Peking duck sweet sauce. Pizza Hut China offers an Atlantic salmon pizza and Pizza Hut India serves a Paneer Makhani pizza containing Indian cheese, bell pepper, onions, and tandoori sauce. In the Middle East, KFC sells the Zinger shrimp sandwich. Pizza Hut restaurants in China feature sit-down dining and offer a wine menu.

Yum CEO David Novak is the driving force behind the company’s interna- tional expansion and adaptation. Novak credits his childhood (he lived in 23 states by the time he was in seventh grade) with enabling him to work with many different people and encouraging him to respect other cultures. While the firm is sensitive to local tastes, it holds fast to key principles wherever it operates. One core value is developing the workforce. According to Novak, “Our formula for success is very simple: Build people capability. Make that your No. 1 priority. Then you can satisfy more customers and make more money. That’s the common sense truism of our business.”72 Recognition is another core operating tenet. Novak has been known to hand out rubber chickens to outstanding employees at KFC and to send marching bands to air- ports to welcome them home. At the same time, Yum’s leaders insist that employees meet high performance standards.

Yum Brands’ international focus has paid off. In 2011, 70% of the firm’s profits came from outside the United States. While U.S. sales have flattened, they increased by 18% in China. Yum has 4,500 KFC and Pizza Hut outlets in China, more than double the number of McDonald’s restaurants. Yum has plans for significant expansion in Africa (it opens a new KFC there every 3 days), India, and Russia, in addition to opening more stores in China. To main- tain this growth, Yum will need to continue to suit the tastes of customers around the world by acknowledging local cuisine and culture.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASSDiscussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.