KULIYYAH OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

(MGT 4110)

GROUP ASSIGNMENT 2

CASE ANALYSIS AND REPORT

LECTURER’S NAME:

DR. ARIF HASSAN

SESSION:

SEMESTER 2, 2015/2016

SECTION: 6

MEMBER’S NAME:

NAME MATRIC NO.

NUR AMALINA BT ABDUL RAHIM 1324614

FARAH DIYANA BT ABD RAHIM 1326746

HAGIR OMER ABDALLA MOHAMED 1425634

NOR SALINAH BT MOHD IBRAHIM 1127130

AFIFAH NABILAH BT MOHAMAD SAFEI 1321976

SUBMISSION DATE:

14th APRIL 2016

CASE 1: BOUNTY HUNTER (Chap. 3, p. 117)

SUMMARY

The case study emphasizes on the issue of absenteeism frequently happened among

employees of an organization. The main idea regarding one of the solutions taken by many

employers to overcome the worker‟s behavioural problem which is by paying private

investigator to track these workers outside workplace. The action taken by the example

provided due to the several times excuses of being sick by one of the employee and ask for

sick leave more than one time. Therefore, it urges the employer to take action immediately

upon him.

Basically, the purpose of the investigation definitely to ensure that the particular

employee is telling the truth through proves taken either by photograph or videotape by the

investigator. The person also entrusted to ascertain whether the particular person is truthfully

filing injury claims and drawing worker‟s compensation benefit for the right purpose. This

method was desperately taken by most employers because it is a serious problem in many

organizations and need to be solved instantly.

In performing the method, the administrator particularly happened to face

shortcomings due to the different types of policies pertaining to the sick-leave policy for

every organization. Sometimes the divisions within a company itself having different policies

on this issue, therefore the management tend to face with ethical problems of their workers.

As for example, some organizations allow their employee to use the sick-leave for other

purposes and it would give them opportunity to escape from their job in times. Moreover, of

course there would be many others problems occurs such as giving the sick-leave to other

colleagues and benefited the compensation even though they are not ill. Still, even though

there was standardization on paid sick-leave regulated by many countries, there would be

questions on ethical issue to be appeared in developing the policy.

At last, the case highlights on the issue of fairness that exist in regulating the paid

sick-leave whereby it impacts the quality of someone‟s life. Overall, the main point here

suggests that the solution take by employers to overcome absenteeism seems to intrude

employee‟s privacy although it is assumed to be legal. However, we can admit that the

method really helps the employer in acknowledging the subordinates behaviour and

discipline.

ANSWERS TO THE CASE QUESTIONS

1. The employer happened to face dilemma when hiring private investigators where by

the policy among the organizations is different and even could be different among the

divisions of the same company as well. As a result, the administrators or employees might be

left up interpret them. Based on the previous cases, there were some sick-leave given to other

individuals to be used and would end up with unethical attitude by that person. Other

examples including receiving compensation from it and accumulate it from year to year.

2. The issue of absenteeism is one of the effects of dissatisfaction in job by some

problematic employees. In order to increase the job satisfaction, the other alternatives could

be taken by the employer or manager are by watching the worker‟s attitude then giving

warnings to the person who really involves seriously in the matter. A good manager is able to

influence people by his/her behaviour and show good example by not missing work for no

reason. Other than that, in order to increase job satisfaction, the manager should play role in

making the job looks interesting and challenge them if there is difficulty. This method would

be preferable instead of raising the salary or giving bonus because sometimes money cannot

buy happiness and what the employees need is a satisfaction from the task. These methods are

believed to reduce the tendency for workers to miss their works at many times.

3. The organization might have to do research once again on the policies regulated to

determine effectiveness on the worker‟s behaviour and attitude to overcome the particular

problem among employees. The policy regarding the serious issue needs also consider the

fairness and applicable to the individuals in line with his/her situation because everyone‟s

condition is not the same. The administrator also probably should let the employees to voice

out their opinion or dissatisfaction on the rules and regulation of the company.

LESSONS LEARNED AND ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Throughout the analysis of this case study, we found that whether an employer or

employee, everyone should play role in facing this serious problem of absenteeism. First of

all, the manager or administrator should have the sense of understanding the situation of the

employees especially regarding their welfare because it might affect their personal life. They

must not burden the employee with heavy task at all time and so on. It would lead to serious

problem and might probably affect their health. Eventually, it impacts their performance of

the organization. In facing the employees who tend to ask for a fake sick-leave, a manager

first need to feel the hardship of the subordinates which leads them to frequently miss their

job with intention.

Meanwhile, in the employee‟s perspectives, lessons learnt here are the need to have

accountability and responsibility in performing task as entrusted. The leave taken excused as a

sick is an act of lying and if consistently performed, it would be a bad habit or attitude that

affect negatively in oneself.

By looking at Islamic views pertaining to this ethical issue, Islam itself prohibits

Muslim to neglect responsibility or amanah in all aspects of life. It will be asked by Allah in

the Day of Judgment and one should take it very seriously. This issue also seen as a serious

problem in Islamic perspectives and Muslim is reminded to always speaks the truth and never

taking advantage on others properties and facilities.

It was recorded in the Two Sahihs from the Hadith of Al-A`mash. Imam Ahmad

recorded that `Abdullah bin `Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Messenger of

Allah said:

« ا َأ ْر َأ ٌع ا َأ َأ ْريَأ َأ َأ ِ يَأ ُك َّن إِذَأ نْر َأا ِم َأ َأااَأيَأ مَأ انَأٍة، ِ ْر ُك : الدُّ ِ دْر ُك َأمَأ ِديٍث، َأ ِ َّنةُك خَأ ِ قَأٍة، َأ ُك ْر ُك َأ ة َأ مَأ طُكعْر »

(There are four things, if you attain them, then whatever you miss in this world will not

matter: preserving trust, speaking the truth, being of good character and moderation in

eating.)

Therefore, a Muslim must avoid the misuse of the privilege given by the employer so that we

do not take and eat anything forbidden or haram.

CASE 2: HAPPINESS COACHES FOR EMPLOYEES (Chap. 4, p. 149)

SUMMARY

In the cases, it is stated that personal unhappiness can happen at work. Those who

experience emotions in life and at work are more likely to engage in counterproductive

behaviours with customers, clients, or fellow employees. But for some, the case will be

different. For example, Srikumar Rao who has a really interesting nickname, “the happiness

guru” teaches people to analyze negative emotions to prevent them from becoming

overwhelming. If you job is restructured, Rao suggests avoiding negatives thought and

feelings about it. Instead, tell yourself it could turn out well in the long run. For employees, if

they leave their experience with a happiness coach feeling about their job and their life, is it

better for everyone? Workers have to relax their mind and reflex so that their moods will be

improved.

ANSWERS TO THE CASE QUESTIONS

1. Do you think happiness coaches are effective? How might you assess their

effectiveness?

From my opinion, I think that happiness coaches might be effective and effectively

raise the productivity of the employees, as the content employees, that are relaxed in their

work are much more productive than those, who struggle with bad emotions and are therefore

not focusing on work, but rather thinking over and over some bad experiences either from

work or personal life. We could assess their effectiveness by measuring the final output - the

productivity and quality of the work of non coached employees compared to the work of

coached employees, whether there are some differences in the outcome, or not. Also by

observing how the employees interact with one another, whether they are smiley, or still

frustrated. Research shows that happiness at work has a clear positive correlation with

productivity. This is not present with job satisfaction. Happiness at work is also a concept

where there is a consistent progressive correlation with productivity which means the happier

you are at work the more productive you are.

2. State the benefits and disadvantages of employing happiness coaches for employees.

There are several benefits of employing happiness coaches for employees. One of

them is happiness encourages creativity. As firms increasingly find themselves in quickly

changing and highly competitive markets, innovation and creativity has become the key to

survival for many organizations. Being happy helps creativity since it frees up space in our

brains and helps raise people‟s mental flexibility, thereby increasing the chance of them

combining unrelated elements in order to create something new.

Next, happy employees are more productive. There is a huge body of research

confirming this. For example, a University of Warwick study (2014) showed that after people

were exposed to happiness-inducing things such as comedy clips or little treats, their

productivity in standardized tasks was vastly higher, here it should be added that the subjects

that were given treats were not actually allowed to eat them before the experiment to ensure

productivity did not spike due to increased blood sugar levels.

In addition, happy employees are better at sealing the deal. An in-depth study of

negotiations in business deals showed that those employees who expressed more positive

emotions prior to negotiating completed their deals more efficiently and successfully than the

neutral/negatively feeling people in the same situation

In contrast, the disadvantages of employing happiness coaches for employees is that

we know that everything is not always sunshine and happiness in the workplace, but people

should be happy that they have a job right? Not always: Some employees have more than an

earful to say about how they feel regarding the company, and it‟s not always good. To set

your new recruit up for success, the folks at the Talent Management website recommend

setting up a training plan for the new hire. Meet with the senior trainer to go over what is to be

covered. Managers should also check in at various times during the training, so that they can

monitor the trainer and, if needed, move the new hire to another trainer if they notice any

issues.

Next, while the loyal long-term employee is training the new recruit, they‟re not being

as productive as they normally are. Depending on how long it takes a new employee to get up

and running, you will lose money on lost productivity. One downside to having experienced

workers help out with new hires is that these workers are neglecting their regular duties. They

may not be happy about the extra hours they have to work in order to catch up. Distributing

their work to co-workers while they are training will help to alleviate some of the stress of

training. Another solution is to schedule training during down times so as to not affect higher

production days.

3. Under what circumstances-if any-is it ethically appropriate for a supervisor to suggest

a happiness coach for a subordinate?

A supervisor may only suggest a happiness coach for a subordinate if the subordinate

personally requests this treatment. If the subordinate does not request this treatment, then it is

not ethically appropriate for a supervisor to suggest a happiness coach for a subordinate. It is

not ethically appropriate for a supervisor to suggest a happiness coach for a subordinate that

has not requested this training because the subordinate may view the supervisor‟s suggestion

as a form of discrimination. Thus, the supervisor must conduct themselves in a careful manner

when dealing with sensitive situations.

LESSONS LEARNED AND ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Happiness in the Islam religion focuses on the inner peace of a person, and that is how

it is formed: “Happiness is a feeling that resides in the heart. It is characterized by peace of

mind, tranquillity, a sense of well-being, and a relaxed disposition. It comes as a result of

proper behaviour, both inward and outward, and is inspired by strong faith.”It is believed that

wealth and material things are not the only tools to bring someone happiness, even though

they are the causes of some temporary happiness. Of course, money solves many financial

problems which cause countless headaches, but it will not bring inner peace to develop

stability emotionally.

In the Islam religion, wealth is not the main cause of happiness: “From an Islamic

viewpoint, happiness is not restricted to material prosperity, though material reasons make up

some of the elements of happiness. The material aspect is merely a means, but not the end in

itself. Thus, the focus in attaining happiness is on nonmaterial, more abstract concerns, like

the positive effects of good behaviour.” Whether the definition of happiness comes from

religious point of view or people, it sends the same message that money cannot bring long-

term happiness; and everybody views happiness in their own way.

CASE 3: ON THE COSTS OF BEING NICE (Chap. 4, p. 179)

SUMMARY

Agreeable people are nice and more social people but they have very low salaries.

Some puzzles such as: first because salary is distributive bargaining they negotiate lower

salaries for themselves. Second, they may briefer to work on non-profit organizations or job

that has low salary e.g. caring industry. Thirdly their earnings might be reduced because they

don‟t get involved in activates that increase firm‟s effectiveness. Regardless of the

disadvantages of having lower income they have many advantages such as they are more

likely to help others and happier in work and life.

ANSWERS TO THE CASE QUESTIONS

1. Yes, I believe that employers must choose between agreeable employees and top

performers. In an ideal world, employees would have both these qualities: agreeability and

great performance. However, for the most part – as the case states – agreeable employees tend

to be good-natured, cooperative, trusting and accommodating, whereas top performers tend to

focus on being leaders, or doing what is needed to do the job right, without caring for others.

If an employer find amongst its possible future employees who have both these qualities, he

or she should definitely be hired. If both qualities are not present in a single candidate for

employment, then the employer must decide which is more important for the company:

agreeability or top performance.

2. Agreeability is always important if you want your firm to have a good working

environment and not a hostile one. However, there are instances in which being agreeable is

more important. Such cases may be when dealing with others. For instance, people who work

in the customer service sector must be agreeable, as customer satisfaction is very important.

Another job situation could be working with patients or students – especially young ones.

Being too agreeable could be harmful, for instance, in the real estate sector, where every

employee wants to get more commissions by selling more properties. Being too agreeable in

this instance could be harmful, as the person could tend to help others, and forget that his or

her own goal is the same: to sell houses. Another situation in which it may be harmful is in

the military sector, as the leaders of which need to show dominance for others to follow their

orders.

3. I believe being agreeable may hurt men‟s earnings more than women‟s because people

assume women are already more agreeable than men, so their earnings are lower to begin with

–...

LESSONS LEARNED AND ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

CASE 4: CAREER PROMOTION AT EMOX (Chap. 6, p. 212)

SUMMARY

Kareem who first entered into Emox as a research analyst was promoted to be the

content manager of LebWeb. His excellent working performance has given him the

opportunity to move to a new place to continue his career at a higher level. He spent three

years working in Lebanon and now promoted to move to Saudi Arabia for his next stage of

working life. Although he is fully satisfied of his performance which had given him the

promotion now, he needs to think properly of accepting the promotion or declining it.

ANSWERS TO THE CASE QUESTIONS

1) The decision making criteria that Kareem has to look upon in deciding whether to

accept or reject the promotion will be the new environment of his work, where he will be

transferred from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia. Second criteria will be his increment in salary.

When an employee is promoted to a higher position at work, their pay will be raised

accordingly and in this case, Kareem will be receiving a higher pay in future. The third

criterion is his self-realization. This is where Kareem has to decide whether he will be able to

do his job or not.

2) I think Kareem‟s decision should be to accept the promotion. This is because Kareem

is already satisfied with his performance at Emox and thus he will be experiencing a new

environment and new experiences in the upcoming work in Saudi Arabia. This is giving him

the opportunity to let himself grow more in his field and explore a new place from the current

one...Besides that, when he is promoted, his pay will be higher than before. This is a benefit to

Kareem‟s source of income and thus enables a slight upgrading in his standard of living.

Finally, from the self-realization criteria, I think Kareem will perform well in his new

promoted work as he has three years of being a content manager in Emox in Lebanon with

good performance level. So, this will not stop him from continuing his good performance

level in his new job promotion.

3) Moving towards a higher position in a working field is a risky move for any employee.

Thus, if Kareem declines the promotion, it surely means he is not ready to take risks or face a

challenging phase after his current level at work. It also means, he is truly happy and satisfied

with his current performance at work and he would prefer remaining in the same position.

Furthermore, Kareem is not willing to move to a new environment from his current one as he

feels it is safer to remain at his current environment where he will not have to work on

exploring new place and people in future.

LESSONS LEARNED AND ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Based on the studied case, there are a few lessons learnt which is good to keep in mind

for every readers. One of them is the ability to give the best performance at work which

would enable oneself to grow more and explore more. It is important for anyone to keep up

with the said objective in their engaged organization. Thus, employees who take their work

lightly and not giving the fullest at work will only remain at their current positions for long

which will not be giving them new opportunities in their job field.

It is an „amanah‟ for every employee on their given tasks. Islamically, it is important

for a man to always uphold his religious deeds even in his working environment. Muslims

should keep in mind to stay away from deeds which are disliked by Allah SWT, for instance,

avoid engaging with uncertainty (gharar) at work. It is crucial to perform work given at its

best and to be certain with every detail to ease everyone‟s work equally.

CASE 5: MOTIVATION FOR LEISURE (Chap. 8, p.272)

SUMMARY

Glenn Kelman, the CEO of Redfin said that when he has the time, he does not have

the money but when he has the money, he does not have the time. Workers in the US are

workaholics that do not even have the time to go for a vacation. Most of them work up to 80

hours a week compared to the people who are unemployed. Dennis Lee, who works as a sale

associates in Chicago said that, even though her girlfriend is unemployed and has a bunch of

time to spend for vacation, it is financially impossible for him to support both of them even if

it is just a small trip.

Some argued that people choose to be unemployed to take advantage of social safety

nets and enjoy a more leisurely lifestyle. In contrast, people who are employed and have the

money to go for a vacation usually choose to go to work on their vacation day. They just

simply do not have the motivation to go for a vacation even though their company provide the

employee with the vacation hours. However, this problem does not occur in the European

countries where the workers are even entitled for a make-up vacation if they are sick on

vacation.

ANSWER TO THE CASE QUESTIONS

1) To what extend is it an organizational responsibility to ensure that workers are given

more vacation time that they will actually use?

The vacation time allocated by the organization to the workers is intended to motivate the

workers and to increase their productivity. Therefore, the organization should ensure that the

workers are using enough vacation time as a temporary break from work. People cannot work

24/7 non-stop. It is the nature of the human to decrease in productivity, efficiency and

effectiveness in their work if they do not take a break. The mind will be tired and thus

resulting the decrease in productivity and work performance. This is why the organization

should take this issue as a serious matter. The worker needs a break. Their body and mind

cannot stand the non-stop pressure from work. They look fine because they endure it. The

organization should notice the differences of the workers performance when they actually

take and use the vacation time and when they are not. If the organization‟s productivity and

the worker‟s performance are getting better when the workers are using the vacation time,

then the organization should ensure that workers are given more vacation time that they will

actually use and vice versa.

2) Why do you think U.S. workers often do not take all of their allocated vacation time,

even when sometime faced with losing the benefit when vacation days are capped?

Are these personal choices, or are they driven more by society, or by organizational

culture?

In my opinion, the US workers often do not take all of their allocated vacation time

because of the high living cost in the United States. The workers feel insecure to leave for a

vacation when they can make more income to support their daily expenses by working.

Besides, the workers may also do not have enough money and cannot afford to go for a long

vacation. For them, it is a wise choice to work and earn more money than go for a vacation

and do not earn money. Moreover, it is a common in US that people over there tend to be a

workaholic due to the high living cost. These are the personal choices of the US workers to

not take all of the allocated vacation time.

3) If many unemployed are spending around two hours/day looking for work as some

research indicates, do you think that means they are enjoying a “leisurely” lifestyle?

Why or why not? If unemployed, how would you spend your days?

No. They are absolutely not enjoying a “leisurely” lifestyle. Rather than saying they are

enjoying a “leisurely” lifestyle, I would rather say they do not have the opportunity to work

even though they are eagerly want to work. This is because, if they are enjoying the

“leisurely” lifestyle, they would not bother to go for job hunting. You may that unemployed is

a “leisurely” lifestyle. However, the fact that you are being unemployed is more than enough

to show that you do not even have enough money to enjoy that leisure time. Unless the

unemployed workers are spending their time by doing some businesses to support their living

expenses. But, to be honest, that is also considered as working. If I am unemployed, I will

definitely go for job hunting. And in the meantime, I may also do a business to support my

living expenses.

LESSONS LEARNED AND ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Everybody needs a break from working. It is a good to go for a vacation and have

some break from all of that heavy pressure of working. It is true that if you take the vacation,

you will not earn money for that day. However, if you only think on how to gain money and

abandon your family, it will result the unhealthy family environment. Many children who are

troublemakers come from either a broken family or family which the parents do not pay

attention to the children and busy making more money. Nowadays, it is no doubt that money

is important to live a decent life, but, family is much more important than that. Money cannot

buy the happiness but taking a vacation with the family may bring happiness to the family

members. Islam also emphasizes on the importance of having a family time for a blessed and

happy family. The Quran says:

“Live with them in accordance with what is fair and kind” [an-Nisa’ 4:19]

“And they (women) have rights (over their husbands as regards living expenses, etc.)

similar (to those of their husbands) over them (as regards obedience and respect, etc.) to what

is reasonable, but men have a degree (of responsibility) over them. And Allah is All-Mighty,

All-Wise” [al-Baqarah 2:228].