MAN 6167 – Final Exam Questions 2015

This final exam is a take-home exam where you are allowed to use multiple resources to complete the exam including your textbook, the assigned videos, and class discussions. In addition, you are encouraged to research other related material (from journals, videos, recent company news, etc) to provide a more complete, coherent, and robust answer.

You can select 3 of the 5 questions below to answer. Please provide about 2 pages for each answer (single spaced, 11 font, 1” margins all around). Your answer should be in paragraph form. Each paragraph should address one key idea (or two related ideas). You can use headings / bold to organize your answer.

You are required to fully develop your answers with examples of organization from recent news, using real company information. For example, you could use the recent General Motors as an example to explain the consequences of conflict or the growing complexity within organizations. In your answer you would need to provide specifics concerning General Motors’ conflict or complexity or similar details on any other organization, or its leader which you are discussing in your answer. You will therefore need to conduct research on these organizations, their leaders, to find out the specifics, and determine if and how these specifics tie into the question and your answer. Please be clear on how the organization situation ties into the question and don’t simply tell the story. Be sure to discuss the implications of the situation based on the material addressed in our class. You can use examples from any publicly traded companies such as Google, Apple, Virgin, and their leaders. If you have worked or are working in a publicly traded company, you have the choice to use this company and its leader as your example.

You will be graded on your understanding of the issue, your research conducted, and how you are able to critically connect the material to real events in real companies with real leaders. You will also be graded on your ability to convey your ideas in a professional report. Be sure to reference your research.

1. Explain conflict and its prevalence within organizations. Does organizational complexity increase or decrease conflict in organizations and why? Are conflicts always bad for organizations? How can organizational leaders utilize conflict to achieve organizational goals? Please use the material addressed in the class, other researched material and at least one publicly traded company example to support your answer.

2. Discuss how knowledge is created within organization and also how learning occurs. How can managers and leaders utilize this information to achieve their goals? Discuss how the management of knowledge and learning can help an organization to compete more effectively and how the leader can facilitate such learning. Please use the material addressed in the class, other researched material and at least one publicly traded company example to support your answer.

3. Explain the influence of globalization on leadership effectiveness. Discuss the skills that would be necessary to manage and lead a multi-cultural group of subordinates. Discuss also the skills that would be necessary to manage and lead a group of subordinates in another (non-American) country. How do these skills make a firm more or less competitive in a global marketplace? Please use the material addressed in the class, other researched material and at least one publicly traded company example to support your answer.

4. What are a leader’s sources of power? Why does a leader need power and how does he or she typically exercise power? Why do some leaders shy away power while others seek it out? Use an example from one of the video cases to discuss your answer. Be sure to back up your answer from the findings in the textbook the related readings, any related videos and class discussions. You can also use your personal experiences to clarify and support your points.

5. Explain the term empowerment and its effects including its relationship to power. Use one or more video cases we discussed in class to show how the leader used empowerment to achieve organizational objectives. Explain the effects on both the leader and those he or she was leading. Be sure to back up your answer from the findings in the textbook the related readings, any related videos and class discussions. You can also use your personal experiences to clarify and support your points.