HRM: Organizational Behavior
INSTRUCTIONS

You should not include the text of the question, but rather just the question number so I can identify your response.

Each response should be double-spaced in Times New Roman font, size 12, with 1” margins all around. Please note that the maximum is 3 pages for all questions combined; I will stop reading at 3 pages and will grade you on the information provided in that space. However, you should shoot for about ½ page per question, so it’s possible for you to get a good score with an approximate page length of two pages. This length limitation is intentional; it forces you to distill the correct answers from the mass of information we’ve covered, and does not allow for you to “throw everything at the page” and hope that the right information is buried in there somewhere.

A detailed rubric and grading explanation are presented at the end of this exam document so you can see how I will grade your essay. I strongly suggest you read that information before you write your answers, as it contains helpful tips for earning the highest possible grade.

EXAM QUESTIONS

1. Pretend you are five years in the future and you are a manager of a local chain of restaurants. It has come to your attention that one of your servers is not motivated to perform well, and as a result is not working as hard as they could. As you think back to your time in HRM class, you recall that there are several ways to think about motivating employees, and you decide to try implementing that knowledge to deal with your unmotivated server.
To that end, please start broadly by explaining in your own words
(a) what is the difference between process-based theories of motivation and needs-based theories of motivation?
(b) Please also list two process-based theories and two needs-based theories of motivation.
(c) Then, considering reinforcement theory, give one example of each of the four components of reinforcement theory (e.g., positive reinforcement) that you might use to motivate your server to perform better.
(d) Finally, choose one type of reinforcement from part c and tell me the name of the reinforcement schedule (timing) you would use for this reinforcement and describe in plain language what that would look like in practice.

2. (Note: For the following question, you are asked to discuss your personal experiences at work. If you are not currently working or don’t wish to discuss your personal experiences with me for any reason, you can talk about a previous job or volunteer role you’ve had, or you can talk about somebody else’s job or a job you’re familiar with from TV or movies). As we’ve discussed in class, some jobs are more naturally more likely to lead to intrinsic motivation than other jobs.
Considering the Job Characteristics Model,
(a) tell me the extent to which your job has each of the five core job characteristics,
(b) briefly explain what this looks like (in other words, why the job has high/low levels of each characteristic). Following this,
(c) explain one core characteristic of your job you might improve via job crafting and tell me specifically how you would improve this characteristic.

3. (a) In your own words, describe the basic logic of expectancy theory and the basic logic of equity theory.
(b) One day, you realize that you are unmotivated in your economics class. Using the framework of expectancy theory, tell me one question you might ask yourself for each of the three components of expectancy theory to determine what the issue is that is reducing your motivation.
Then, (c) pretend that the answer to one of those questions was “no”. Tell me which element of expectancy theory you are lacking in your class experience, and what can be done (either by you or the professor) to fix the issue?

4. Consider the job of a nurse, which is a very demanding and emotional job because nurses must care for those who are sick or dying and deal with a variety of stressful and unpredictable situations.
In this context, please
(a) tell me two emotions a nurse might experience in the course of their work and describe the context in which they might experience each of these emotions.
(b) Second, under what circumstances might nurses need to perform two of the three types of acting we discussed in class? (in your answer, be sure to describe the type of acting and specify its name). Then, imagine you are the head of the hospital and you wish to improve the work experience of nurses. You decide that JD-R theory will be a useful framework for accomplishing this, so please tell me
(c) in your own words, what is JD-R theory?
Finally, (d) using the logic of JD-R theory, tell me specifically how you could reduce nurses’ strain by making one change to each of the two components of JD-R theory. 
RUBRIC AND GRADING EXPLANATION

Each question is worth 23 points. An additional 8 points are awarded for following all the directions outlined on the first and second pages of this test document. Taken together, the exam is worth up to 100 points.

Within each question, there are multiple specific points that you must address in order to produce a complete answer. For ease of response, these points are denoted with letters in parentheses (e.g., “(a)”, “(b)”, etc.). The components are not weighted equally within a given question; for example, if you neglect a component that asks you to list a term, that will be a smaller deduction than if you fail to address a component that asks you to explain a major concept.

As a reminder, your answers should be short and only address the components of each question. Do not give extra information or explanation, as this muddies your answer and confuses me about whether or not you know which information is relevant to answering the question. If you produce a correct answer, then there is no need to explain further information about the topic that I didn’t request.

Please be very clear and plain in your language addressing the question. Do not try to use overly fancy or academic words—all of these questions should be answered using common language that clearly shows whether or not you understand the class concepts and can apply them accordingly. If your language is too fancy, you run the risk of not being clear enough for me to tell whether or not your answer is correct. As a guideline, the explanations in your answers should be understandable by a relatively smart person who has not taken a business class before.

It is your responsibility to make sure I understand your answers. While I’m not grading for grammar, if your writing is full of errors to the point that I cannot understand what you’re trying to say, then I will not be able to give you points for that portion of the answer.

For each question, the rough breakdown of points is as follows:

Question grading:

Consideration Point Value
Did you correctly answer each part of the question? 18
Is your writing clear and free from unnecessary or irrelevant information? 3
Is your writing free from jargon (e.g., technical words), such your explanations could be understood by someone who had never taken a business class? 2
Total 23 possible points per question