1. You are a special assistant to the commander-in-chief of a peacekeeping mission to a war – torn part of the world. The unit consists of a few thousand peacekeeping troops from Canada, France, India, and Japan. The troops will work together for approximately one year. What strategies would you recommend to improve mutual understanding and minimizing conflict among these troops?
2. Socialization is most intense when people pass through organizational boundaries. One example is your entry into the university that you are now attending. What learning and adjustment occurred as you moved from outsider to newcomer to insider as a student here?
3. Two characteristics of creative people are that they have relevant experience and are persistent in their quest. Does this mean that people with the most experience and the highest need for achievement are the most creative? Explain your answer.
4. From an employee perspective, what are the advantages and disadvantages of working in a matrix structure?
5. Leaders of large organizations struggle to identify the best level and types of centralization and decentralization. What should companies consider when determining the degree of decentralization?
6. Suppose that you were put in charge of a virtual team whose members are located indifferent cities around the country or origin. What tactics could you use to build and maintain team trust, as well as minimize the decline in trust that often occurs in teams?
7. Administrative theories concluded many decades ago that the most effective organizations have a narrow span of control. Yet today’s top-performing manufacturing firms have a wide span of control. Why is this possible? Under what circumstances, if any should manufacturing firms have a narrow span of control?
