Task : Challenges at a Start-Up Company – Organizational Behavior, Case Study, IUAS, Ireland

Task : Challenges at a Start-Up Company

Case Description:

Daniel founded a start-up company 5 years ago, which has become a revolutionary and successful startup in the camera tracking and recognition industry. The start-up creates devices, which can track a person’s gaze and motions and are used for issues such as security, buyer choice and human intentions in general.

From the initial 3 employees, Daniel as the Managing Director and his very first two software developers Anna and Tom who are still working for Daniel, the team has grown to 32 people who are organized in 6 departments: software development department, camera development team, purchasing department, sales department, admin department and Finance/HR department.

It is high time to create solid organizational structures and actively shape the corporate culture. The initial family company culture and Daniel’s leading-by-doing approach are simply no longer appropriate and effective due to the larger number of employees. Already, negative consequences are visible: The fluctuation and absenteeism of employees increase, the question of higher salaries becomes more intense, cooperation between the teams grows more difficult and doubts about the effectiveness of Daniel’s leadership intensify.

 The Task: Daniel hires you as a consultant.

1. Based on the Integrative Model of Organizational Behavior, think about and discuss in detail how the negative consequences mentioned above are connected to each other.
2. Analyze the core problem in terms of output variable (commitment).
3. Advise Daniel on how to improve the situation and explain your advice in detail given the high competition for software developers in your market.

 Suggested reading:

Colquitt, J., Lepine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2018). Organizational behavior: Improving performance and commitment in the workplace (6th ed.).

McGraw-Hill Irwin. Cross, C., & Carbery, R. (2016). Organizational behavior: An introduction.

Macmillan Education. Luthans, F., Luthans, B. C., & Luthans, K. W. (2015). Organizational behavior: An evidencebased approach (13th ed.).

Information Age Publishing. Robins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2016). Organizational behavior. Prentice Hall International.

Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. McGraw-Hill Education. Part 1, Chapter 2

Graeff, C. L. (1983). The situational leadership theory: A critical view. Academy of Management Review, 8(2), 285—291.

Components of the Case Study

The case study consists of the following parts, listed in the table of contents (except for title page and table of contents):

− Title page

− Table of contents

− List of figures and/or tables (if necessary)

− List of abbreviations (if necessary)

− Text part with introduction, main part, conclusion

− Bibliography  (APA)

− List of appendices (if necessary)

− Appendices and materials (if necessary)