THE OBJECTIVE-SETTING INTERVIEW IN MBO: AN EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH Experiential Learning Enters the Eighties, Volume 7, 1980 54 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDENT This exercise is designed to increase your understanding of an important aspect of management by objectives, the objective- setting interview. From reading about NBO you know that objectives are mutually set and agreed upon by the subordinate and his immediate superior. But you probably have not given much thought to what subordinates or superiors do before, during, or after the objective-setting interview. Since a manager can be both a subordinate in the MBO interview (e.:., a supervisor in an objective-setting interview with a middle-level manager) and a superior in the MBO interview (e.g., a supervisor in an objective- setting interview with a line employee), knowledge of both roles is very important. This exercise has two parts. Read the Carbox Company incident below and complete the exercise as directed. INCIDENT The Carbox Company makes pasteboard aftershave and cologne boxes for three of the major companies producing men’s grooming aids. Most of the 200 employees of Carbox operate one of a variety of mechanized folding, cutting, or pasting machines. However, within the past week, Carbox has accepted a special contract from one of its customers. This new contract calls for the manual folding of 8 inch by 11 inch posters of celebrities (such as Farrah Waterfaucett) into 4 inch by 5½ inch lids for men’s cologne boxes. This customer predicts that if the folding operation can be performed so posters can be unfolded by consumers without being damaged, the sale of their cologne will dramatically increase. The company has decided to make the lids using the “Origami” method outlined in Figure 1 because no cutting or pasting is required (Note to Instructor: two sheets of sample folding material should be provided) Six employees will be hired to perform the poster-folding operation. The management by objectives approach is used throughout the organization. 1 This article is based upon “The Objective-Setting Interview” in Certo, S. C. and L. A. Graf Experiencing the Modern Management System (Dubuque: William C. Brown Company Publishers) 1980. To be reproduced only by permission of the authors. FIGURE 1 ORIGAMI INSTRUCTION SHEET (Adapted from The Practical Encyclopedia of Crafts, Maria DiValentin and Louis DiValentin, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1970, p. 300) How To Fold A Box THE OBJECTIVE-SETTING INTERVIEW IN MBO: AN EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH Lee A. Graf, Illinois State University Samuel C. Certo, Indiana State University Experiential Learning Enters the Eighties, Volume 7, 1980 55 TEACHING NOTES Purpose of the Experience: This experience was designed to provide the management student with insight into a very critical aspect of management by objectives, the objective-setting interview. One of the more significant aspects of this experience is that it points out to students that for MBO to work, much more involvement is needed than just to sit down for a few minutes with your superior or subordinate to jointly set goals. To be effective, MBO requires that both the superior and subordinate obtain a substantial background and understanding of the job to support the objectives being set; and after the objectives are established it is critical that they review the progress toward meeting them. MBO is not something that is performed today and will not need to be performed again for three or four months; it is a very active and involving management process. How This Experience Can Be Used: While this activity can be assigned to students on an individual basis, it works extremely well when assigned to small groups. Groups can be assigned the role of either the superior or the subordinate; if this approach is used, the job of the group would be to complete the assignment for that role. If the activity is to be used as an in-class exercise where tine is somewhat constrained, the instructor may want a separate group to deal with each aspect of the two roles. For example, one group could deal with what the subordinate should do to prepare for the objective-setting interview, another group deals with what the subordinate should do during the interview, while another group deals with what the subordinate should do after the interview. The superior’s role could be similarly segmented. If this approach is used, care must be taken to allow enough class discussion time for the role to be integrated, and the superior and subordinate roles to be compared. Finally, a somewhat unique twist to the assignment might be to ask a member of the group assigned to determine what the superior should do during the interview and a member of the group dealing with the subordinate’s role during the interview to role play what the group has decided upon. Such an approach would tend to lend more realism to the exercise. Sample Results: Slusher and Sims* provide an excellent checklist for the three phases of the objective-setting interview for both the superior and subordinate. This checklist is reproduced below. The instructor might find it beneficial to jot down on the board the checklist items students omitted; or it may be more helpful to hand out reproduced copies of the entire checklist. CHECKLIST FOR OBJECTIVE-SETTING INTERVIEW (Slusher and Sims) CHECKLIST I BEFORE THE INTERVIEW What the Subordinate Should Do -Develop preliminary objectives that have a clear performance and completion deadline. --Provide the superior with a copy of the preliminary objectives prior to the interview. * Allen Slusher and Henry Sims, ‘Commitment Through MBO Interviews,” Business Horizons, August 1975, pp. 5-12 Experiential Learning Enters the Eighties, Volume 7, 1980 56 --Prepare supporting data for each objective. --Decide what resources and coordination will be necessary. --List questions and problems for discussion with the superior. What the Superior Should Do --Decide whether each preliminary objective represents a priority need. --Check for technical completeness of objectives. Is there a clear performance standard, completion deadline, and method of checking results? --Judge whether performance standards are realistic (not too easy, not too difficult) --Decide if the subordinate has sufficient authority in the objective area. --Specify any required personnel coordination needed to achieve an objective. --Determine if needed resources can be provided. --Note whether foreseeable contingencies should be recognized. --Consider the extent of personal support that the subordinate will require for improved performance. --Examine the subordinate’s other job responsibilities to see if any are being neglected. --Determine whether additional objectives are appropriate. --Insure that there are neither too few nor too many objectives in total. CHECKLIST 2 DURING THE INTERVIEW WI-tat the Subordinate Should Do --Set up a method for regularly reviewing progress toward objectives. --Renegotiate objectives when major changes occur. --Let the superior know when progress is lagging. --Let the superior know when a lack of coordination or resources requires action. What the Superior Should Do --Maintain a historical and current file on each subordinate’s objectives. --Develop checks and reminders for using with each subordinate to insure continuous progress. --In a timely and informal way, let subordinates know that he (or she) is interested in week-to-week progress (however, avoid nagging). Table of Contents Volume 7, 1980 Symbol Recognition and Correlation for Evaluating Decision Making in Computer Aided Business Simulations Polanal: An Experiential Approach to Decision Support The Use of Time Contracts in Formal Education Indexing Simulation Model Response for Gaming Flexibility Moving Toward A Theory of the Use of Simulation Games and Experiential Exercises Use of Simulation Administration to Achieve Pedagogical Objectives Experiential Learning on the Job - A Business Internship Program Toward the Ultimate Experiential Exercise A Learning Through Managing Program Workshop Using Experiential Materials in Industry Training Sponsored Experiential Learning - An Opportunity Problems and Pitfalls of Externally Sponsored Field Research Projects Viewed form an Experiential Learning Perspective A Modular Approach to Experiential Learning: Classroom & Consulting Using Simulation & Experiential Learning In Industrial Settings Terminations: An Experiential Review Agenda Items -- Board of Supervisors' Meeting - Town of Jori The Objective-Setting Interview in MBO: An Experiential Approach The All-Star World Series Team Exercise: an Experiential Learning Exercise Dealing with Various Organizational Behavior Issues Progress Report on global, A Rich Multinational Gaming Environment Computer Simulation: A Tool to Teach Queuing Theory New Technology for Business Games Technological Frontiers in Computer Simulations for Business Education Simulating the Product Life Cycle on Interactive Terminals On Compensatory Demand Functions in Marketing Simulations The Use of Games at Different Levels in a Single Marketing Course to Increase Game Participation Sun Airlines: A Heterogeneous Consumer demand exercise Incorporating a Group Selection Test An Organization Development Approach to Teaching Organization Behavior CBID: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Interpersonal Development - A Skill Development/Social Learning Approach to Management Development Using a Live Case Via Video Tape A Town and gown Approach Development of Student Generated Cases Using Computerized Text Editing and Database Technology Interdisciplinary Approached to Problems in Utilizing Experiential Techniques To Use or Not To Use Experiential Techniques, That's is the Question Forming Participant Teams in Simulation Gaming The Problems of Motivating Students and Clients in Live-Case Projects Problems of Teaching Leadership Skills Through Experiential Techniques Conflict Style Measurement: Antecedent to Change - A Proposal for an Experiential Exercise Demonstration Fundamentals of Simulation for Newcomers An M.B.A. Orientation Simulation for Managing Time and the Areas of One's Life SimNet Workshop: The International Simulation Network Demonstrates Three New Business Games The Use of a Simulation Model in the Planning and Evaluation of Commercial Bank Operations Probability Assessment and Performance in Business Game Simulations WageSim: A Wage and Salary Administration Simulation Grading as a Teaching and Feedback Mechanism: Modifying Student's Self-Perceptions of Performance Can Business Games Effectively Teach Business Concepts? Development of Multiple Value Orientations in Conflict Resolution Behavior: An Experiential Teaching Paradigm in Labor-Management Relations Course Designing a Competency-Based Peer Assessment Scale for the Evaluation fo Teaching in Higher Education A Method for Evaluating Information for the Equipment Replacement Decision: An Application of Monte Carlo Simulation Simulation: A Method of Appraising Communication Networks in Managerial Decision Making An Evaluation of In-Class Student Involvement Evaluation of the SBI Program from an Experiential Viewpoint: Focus on the Student Differential Predictors of Academic Performance for White and Non-White Samples The Manager's Dilemma: An Unobtrusive Measure of the managerial Sex-Role Stereotype Are Computer Simulations Sexist? The Effect of Group Size on Attitudes Toward the Simulation Associations Between Individual Cognitive Processing Variables and Business Game Performance and Play Students' Perceptions on Managerial Functions After Exposure to Either the Case Method or a Simulation What Business Students Learn from Finance Simulations Attitude Toward Experiential Exercises, The Student-Teacher Relationship, Student Psychological Types, and Performance An Example of How to Design a Research-Based and Classroom-Effective Organizational behavior Exercise Some Issues in Game Design Untested Hypotheses: An Approach to Experiential Learning Evaluation of Simulation Games: A Critical Look at Past Efforts and Future Needs Is Self-Perception Predictable? - Some Laboratory Results An Exercise in Conflict-Handling Behavior The Relationship Between Group Size and the Learning Curve Effect in a Gaming Environment Learning About Organizational Management Through Organizational Management: Closing the Gap Strategies, Managerial Approaches, and Decision Making in a General Management Simulation A Comparison and Evaluation of Similar and Dissimilar Group Scenarios Generated Using Manual Simulation Games Weaknesses of Research Methods in Experiential and Simulation Studies