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Organizational Behavior Individual Assignment (15 Marks)

1) The vice president is pleased with improved sales of the gourmet ice cream brand and wants to reward the brand manager, Rochelle Beauport, with a promotion to marketing research coordinator. 2) However, Beauport is shocked by the lateral move, seeing it as being sidelined from brand management which is the path to top management. 3) That evening, Beauport reflects that she may be being discriminated against as one of the few women and minorities in brand management, fearing the company doesn't want those groups in top roles. She must now decide whether to confront the company about possible sexist and racist practices or leave.

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55 views

Organizational Behavior Individual Assignment (15 Marks)

1) The vice president is pleased with improved sales of the gourmet ice cream brand and wants to reward the brand manager, Rochelle Beauport, with a promotion to marketing research coordinator. 2) However, Beauport is shocked by the lateral move, seeing it as being sidelined from brand management which is the path to top management. 3) That evening, Beauport reflects that she may be being discriminated against as one of the few women and minorities in brand management, fearing the company doesn't want those groups in top roles. She must now decide whether to confront the company about possible sexist and racist practices or leave.

Uploaded by

kebede desalegn
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Organizational Behavior Individual Assignment (15 marks)

Read the following questions carefully and write a brief hand-written answer on the spaces
provided. As it is an individual work, identical answers will not be marked.

Name:

ID No.

CASE STUDY 1
Syd Gilman read the latest sales figures with a great deal of satisfaction. The vice president of marketing at
Hy Dairies, Inc., a large midwestern milk products manufacturer, was pleased to see that the marketing
campaign to improve sagging sales of Hy’s gourmet ice-cream brand was working. Sales volume and
market share of the product had increased significantly over the past two quarters compared with th e
previous year.
The improved sales of Hy’s gourmet ice cream could be credited to Rochelle Beauport, who was assigned
to the gourmet ice-cream brand last year. Beauport had joined Hy less than two years ago as an assistant
brand manager after leaving a similar job at a food products firm. She was one of the few women of co lo r
in marketing management at Hy Dairies and had a promising career with the company. Gilman was pleased
with Beauport’s work and tried to let her know this in the annual performance reviews. He now had an
excellent opportunity to reward her by offering her the recently vacated position of market research
coordinator. Although technically only a lateral transfer with a modest salary increase, the marketing
research coordinator job would give Beauport broader experience in some high-profile work, which would
enhance her career with Hy Dairies. Few people were aware that Gilman’s own career had been boo sted by
working as marketing research coordinator at Hy several years earlier.
Rochelle Beauport had also seen the latest sales figures on Hy’s gourmet ice cream and was expecting
Gilman’s call to meet with her that morning. Gilman began the conversation by briefly mentioning the
favorable sales figures and then explained that he wanted Beauport to take the marketing research
coordinator job. Beauport was shocked by the news. She enjoyed brand management and particularly the
challenge involved with controlling a product that directly affected the company’s profitability. Marketing
research coordinator was a technical support position - a “backroom” job - far removed from the
company’s bottom-line activities. Marketing research was not the route to top management in most
organizations, Beauport thought. She had been sidelined.
After a long silence, Beauport managed a weak “Thank you, Mr. Gilman.” She was too bewildered to
protest. She wanted to collect her thoughts and reflect on what she had done wrong. Also, she did not know
her boss well enough to be openly critical. Gilman recognized Beauport’s surprise, which he naturally
assumed was her positive response to hearing of this wonderful career opportunity. He, too, had been
delighted several years earlier about his temporary transfer to marketing research to round out his
marketing experience. “This move will be good for both you and Hy Dairies,” said Gilman as he escorted
Beauport from his office.
Beauport was preoccupied with several tasks that afternoon, but she was able to consider the day’s events
that evening. She was one of the top women and few minorities in brand management at Hy Dairies and
feared that she was being sidelined because the company didn’t want women or people of color in top
1
management. Her previous employer had made it quite clear that women “couldn’t take the heat” in
marketing management and tended to place women in technical support positions after a brief term in
lower brand management jobs. Obviously Syd Gilman and Hy Dairies were following the same game plan.
Gilman’s comment that the coordinator job would be good for her was just a nice way of saying that
Beauport couldn’t go any further in brand management at Hy Dairies. Beauport now faced the difficult
decision of whether to confront Gilman and try to change Hy Dairies’ sexist and possibly racist practices or
to leave the company.

2
Discussion Questions
1. Apply your knowledge of stereotyping and social identity theory to explain what went wrong
here.

2. What other perceptual error is apparent in this case study?

3. What can organizations do to minimize misperceptions in these types of situations?

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