ADDIS ABABA MEDICAL AND BUSINESS COLLEGE
SULULTA CAMPUS
MBA PROGRAM
COURSE: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Group assignment: 30%
Submission deadline: April 6, 2024
Instruction:
Take your group assignment number by lottery method
Each group will do only one case,
No two groups can do similar case
Follow the assignment submission rules/standards
Submit the soft copy to:
[email protected] Your report should include:
cover page with full information of logo of the college, name of the
college, program, department, branch, course name, name of group
members, id number of students, instructor name, date of submission, place
of submission
Table of contents
Introduction
Case summary
Main body/case analysis
Conclusion
Recommendations
References
Appendix
1. You are a management consultant hired by Addis Pharmaceuticals, one of the
largest drug manufacturers in Ethiopia. The company has recently restructured
and decentralized its operations to be more responsive to regional needs.
However, conflicts are emerging between headquarters and regional managers as
they struggle to balance centralized control with empowered local decision-
making.
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As part of your assessment, you visit the company's plant in Sululta to understand
challenges from the regional perspective. The regional manager expresses frustration
that headquarters frequently overturns or delays their decisions without understanding
local market conditions. Headquarters feels regional initiatives lack coordination and
could undermine the company's national brand and strategy.
You are asked to analyze how Addis Pharma can achieve an optimal level of
decentralization while maintaining strategic alignment. Your recommendations should
consider how to balance power and control between headquarters and regions, improve
communication flows, and incentivize cooperation over competition between levels. You
will need to draw on concepts of organizational structure, control mechanisms and
motivation to develop an actionable change management strategy.
2. You have been hired as an interim HR director by United Bank, one of Ethiopia's
largest private banks. The previous HR head resigned abruptly due to personal
reasons. Upon your arrival, you discover low employee engagement and
motivation across most branches despite strong financial performance.
In interviews and focus groups with staff, you learn job satisfaction has declined due to a
new performance management system introduced last year. Branch employees say the
system focuses too heavily on quantitative targets and short-term sales goals at the
expense of customer service. They feel pressured to meet arbitrary quotas instead of
focusing on genuine client needs. In contrast, headquarters views the system as
necessary for growth in a competitive market.
As interim HR director, you must analyze the root causes of declining engagement and
make recommendations to revise the performance management approach. Your
solution should balance business and employee interests, consider different branches'
contexts, and draw on motivation theories to design a system employees perceive as fair
while still driving performance. Stakeholder buy-in will be key to gaining support for
recommended changes.
3. You have been hired as an organizational development consultant by Dashen
Brewery, Ethiopia's largest beer producer. Over the past decade, Dashen
expanded rapidly by acquiring smaller breweries across the country. However, the
general manager now recognizes these acquisitions have led to siloed business
units lacking collaboration or a unified culture.
In interviews and on-site observations at Dashen's main brewery in Addis Ababa, you
find each acquired business operates almost independently. They have separate
production facilities, sales teams and brand identities with minimal coordination.
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Employees show stronger affiliation with their original smaller brewery than with Dashen
as a whole. The general manager wants to leverage synergies across the organization
but lacks a plan for integration.
You are asked to develop a cultural transformation strategy to unite Dashen's disparate
business units. Your recommendations should address how to establish a cohesive
organizational identity and shared values. It should also promote collaboration,
knowledge-sharing and a "one team" mindset across what are currently siloed divisions.
Change management strategies and communication approaches need to overcome
resistance to integration while preserving what makes each business unit unique. The
general manager seeks practical steps to begin implementing your proposed cultural
vision.
4. You are a leadership consultant hired by Ethio Telecom, Ethiopia's state-owned
telecommunications company, to assess its senior management team and advise
on development needs. Through interviews and a 360-degree feedback process,
you discover most executives lead in a very top-down, directive style with little
delegation or empowerment of subordinates.
However, as Ethio Telecom expands its services into new regions and competes more
intensely with private sector rivals, the CEO recognizes more adaptive, participative
leadership will be required. The generally risk-averse culture also inhibits innovation, a
key priority for remaining competitive.
You are asked to analyze gaps between the current leadership approach and what will
be required in Ethio Telecom's changing environment. Your recommendations should
identify specific development areas for each executive as well as organization-wide
initiatives. You will need to draw on theories of leadership style, organizational culture
and change management to design an impactful executive development program
addressing both technical and adaptive leadership capabilities.
5. You are a management consultant hired by St. Pawulos Hospital, a large public
hospital located in Addis Ababa to assess issues affecting its nursing staff.
Through interviews and surveys, you learn nurses feel overworked due to severe
understaffing, especially on night shifts. Many are considering leaving due to the
physical and emotional toll.
However, the hospital director says the budget allows for only the current number of
nursing positions. Any turnover would further exacerbate the staffing problem. Nurses
suggest reducing administrative work or hiring support staff could help, but the director
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is hesitant due to costs. Poor staff well-being also leads to problems like patient safety
incidents and low job satisfaction scores.
You must analyze the root causes of nurse dissatisfaction and develop a plan to improve
retention. Your recommendations should consider both immediate steps, like workload
redistribution, as well as long-term solutions that are financially viable for the hospital.
Drawing on concepts of job design, motivation and change management theory will be
important to gain stakeholder buy-in for recommended interventions.
6. You are a consultant hired by Anthropic, an AI safety startup based in Addis
Ababa, to help strengthen its culture of responsible innovation. The young
company has grown rapidly thanks to major funding rounds and a successful
product launch. However, the CEO now recognizes culture has not kept pace with
growth.
Through interviews, you find while employees are highly skilled, the culture lacks
structure and accountability. Teams operate autonomously with little coordination or
oversight. Decision-making is ad hoc rather than guided by clear processes and
governance. Additionally, not all staff share the founder's strong commitment to AI
safety and ethics.
You are asked to develop a roadmap for establishing an organizational culture aligned
with Anthropic's mission and values. This should include defining those values in a way
that resonates internally and externally. It should also propose new processes, trainings,
roles and metrics to institutionalize principles of responsible innovation throughout
projects, hiring and company operations. Change management and communication
strategies will be key to socializing recommended cultural reforms.
