MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS
- 1. Why did President Kobayashi appoint a tack force to consider the issue of fringe benefits? She could have asked the university’s human resources department to design a plan.
President Kobayaski appointed a task force to consider the issue of fringe benefits in order to promote collective decision making and team work. Individuals from different parts of the organization come together to discuss critical issues and find solutions that will benefit all personnel in the organization. It becomes easier for employees to accept and adapt change when departments have representatives participating in the decision making. These representatives know the employees better than the personnel in human resource department and are able to argue facts for the benefit of the staff. They will be able to present problems faced by staff throughout the organization. This staff will be able to provide better strategies that will enable them to make accurate decisions without changing the quality of staff production.
- 2. Should the president anticipate that all members of the task force will strive to cut university expenses? What actions can the president take to increase the likelihood that the task force members have this objective as a major priority?
The president should not anticipate that all members of the task force will strive to cut university expenses. She should understand that not all of the company’s staff has the company’s interest as their primary objective. Different people will have different views on the issue and it is likely that many personnel will prefer to cut down other expenses rather than let their fringe benefits be reduced. The president should educate the staff on the university’s present financial status and convince them that reducing the fringe benefits costs is the best strategy to take rather than reducing the number of the employees in the organization at random. She can promise pay increments or improved incentive plans when their financial status gets better and ask them to think collectively on what they think ids the best solution to take.
- 3. Why did the president appoint the administrator of the hospital as the chair of the task force? Thechair, in turn, has delegated much of the work to subcommittees (a health insurance committee, a retirement committee, and so on). What advice would you offer the chair in appointing subcommittee chairs? Explain.
The president appointed the administrator of the hospital as the chair of the work force in order to represent the majority of the employees who work at the university hospital. He will be in a position to talk on behalf of the majority because he knows about this staff and their problems better.
The chair should delegate work as long is he remains in control of the process. Delegation of work will encourage team work and motivate employees when they realize that they are a part of the decision making. According to Leatherman (2008), delegation of work leads to faster and quick decision making because of cutting down the tasks to be performed at the same time.
- 4. Does the president want to commit to accepting the committee report or does she want to reserve the right to make modifications? Explain.
The president wants to commit to accepting the committee report. This is because he appointed key personnel in the university to carry out decision making of the organization. She wants to maintain the quality of the staff and faculty hence she should respect the decisions made by such staff and personnel. She also employed her key assistants to serve as the secretary of the task force so that she can be in a position to manipulate the decisions made and convince the representatives to agree on reducing the costs through her key assistant.
- 5. Why did the president appoint a key assistant as secretary of the task force?
The president chose the key assistant as secretary of the task force so that she can be in a position to manipulate the decisions to be made by the task force. Managers or presidents of an organization usually believe that their immediate subordinates will tend to think about how their leaders perceive them and they will tend to influence the task force to act towards the president’s priority. The key assistant is going to represent the president’s interest in the meetings and update her of their daily progress.
REFERENCE
Leatherman, W. R. (2008). Quality Leadership Skills: Standards of Leadership Behavior. New York : Human Resource Development.
