Assessment Front Sheet

IMPORTANT: Your assignment will not be accepted without the FRONT SHEET.
Campus: Stream:
Level: PCL-1 Year/Semester
Module Name: ITWP Assignment Type: Weekly Assignment
Student’s Name: Assessor’s Name:
Issued on: Reqd. Submission Date:
Actual Submission
Submitted to :
Date:
Higher Level Skills
Students are expected to develop the following skills in this assignment:
• Cognitive skills of critical thinking, analysis and synthesis.
• Effective use of communication and information technology for business applications.
• Effective self-management in terms of planning, motivation, initiative and enterprise.

Certificate by the Student:

Plagiarism is a serious College offence.
I certify that this is my own work. I have referenced all relevant materials.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
Clear understanding of how behaviour can
be modified and shaped in organizations.
________________________
(Student’s Name/Signatures)
Assessment Criteria – To achieve each Achieved (Y/N)
outcome a student must demonstrate the
ability to :
Evaluating the methods of Behaviour Change
in Organizations and bringing out the best
method of behaviour change under the
circumstances.

Assignment Grading Summary (To be filled by the Assessor)

Grades Grade Descriptors Achieved Yes/No (Y / N)
P A Pass grade is achieved by meeting all the requirements defined.
M1 Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions.
M2 Select/design and apply appropriate methods/techniques.
M3 Present and communicate appropriate findings.
Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid
D1
conclusions.
Ability to anticipate and solve complex tasks in relation to the
D2
assignment.
D3 Demonstrate convergent, lateral and creative thinking.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT GRADE:

TUTOR’S COMMENTS ON
ASSIGNMENT:
SUGGESTED MAKE UP PLAN
(applicable in case the student is
asked
to re-do the assignment)
REVISED ASSESSMENT GRADE
TUTOR’S COMMENT ON
REVISED
WORK (IF ANY)
Date: Assessor’s Name / Signatures:
 Case Study

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is feeling the heat, but not the Kind a 90-mile-per-hour fastball brings. He
has been facing allegations that many players, including some of Major League Baseball's biggest stars, are
using steroids to enhance their performance. When Congress intervened, Selig stated that the league's policy on
steroids was "as good as any in professional sports." The policy Random drug testing, with a l0-day suspension
for first time offenders. Congress and the general public were not satisfied. So, Selig announced that he would
attempt to adopt a tougher "three strikes and you're out" policy: a 50-game suspension for the first offense, a
100-game suspension for the second, and a permanent ban from baseball for the third. Players may incur fines
as well. Not only does Selig intend on exercising a stricter policy, but other professional sports leagues, such as
the NFL and NBA, are promising to improve their drug-testing policies as well. But here's the problem: The
same system that punishes those who take performance-enhancing drugs may also reinforce such behavior.
Major League Baseball appears to be genuinely interested in eliminating the use of steroids in professional
baseball, but it has yet to implement a stricter policy. And the current repercussions for players may not serve
as a strong deterrent. A fine of $10,000 or a l0-day may suspension may be a relatively minor setback
compared to the millions that can be earned for becoming an all-star power hitter.

Take Rafael Palmeiro as an example. He tested positive for steroids. Though Palmeiro insists that he
inadvertently took steroids, the type that was found in his system (stanozolol) is not the kind found in dietary
supplements. His punishment? Palmeiro received a 10-day suspension; forfeited $167,000 of his $3 million
salary, and a banner celebrating his 3,000th hit was removed from Camden Yards.

Now consider players such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire demonstrate the rewards of becoming a power
hitter. Both players broke the major league record for the most home runs hit in a single season-first McGuire.,
then Bonds-eclipsing the record set by Roger Maris in 1961. Although there is speculation that both players
had taken performance-enhancing drugs, to date their records are clean (though Bonds admitted to taking
steroids without knowing it at the time). In addition to the exorbitant salaries both players received, the players
were on the front pages of newspapers across the country. They became larger than life. And the rewards of
hitting more than 70 home runs in a single season are not limited to the players. Revenues from increased game
attendance and sports merchandise, as well as helping to build the team popularity and success, to local business
revenues are all incentives for players to perform at high levels and for owners to reward these players.

In the NFL, the punishments are stiffer. For a first offense, players face a four-game suspension and a loss of
salary for the amount of games missed. However, is this punishment strong enough to deter steroid use:
Apparently not. Consider the three members of the Carolina Panthers who reportedly used steroids week before
their trip to the 2004 Super Bowl. Although a foul game suspension can mean a large loss of income (the
average NFL salary tops $1 million), such punishment still may not deter steroid use because the money that
can be made from endorsements and winning the Super Boll can far exceed players' salaries. It appears that
professional sports may be trying to hall their cake and eat it too. As we have seen, behavior that may lead
individuals and teams to fame and fortune may also be behavior that demands punishment.

Questions

Q1. What type of reinforcement schedule does random drug testing represent? Is this type of
Schedule typically effective or ineffective?

Q2. What are some examples of behaviors in typical organizations that supervisors reward but may actually be
detrimental to others or to the organization as a whole? As a manager, what might you do to try to avoid
this quandary?
Q3. If you were the commissioner of baseball, what steps would you take to try to reduce the use of steroids in
baseball? Is punishment likely to be the most effective deterrent? Why or why not?

Q4. Is it ever "okay" to allow potentially unethical behaviors, which on the surface may benefit organizations,
to persist? Why or why not?