ATW 252/4 Organizational Behavior

Group Assignment

School of Management [Pusat Pengajian Pengurusan]

ATW252 - ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Semester 2 Academic Session 2008/2009

Group Assignment: Kung Fu Panda

_____________________________________________________________

Movie Title: Kung Fu Panda

Prepared for: Dr. Daisy Kee Mui Hung (Lecturer)
Mr. Nader (Tutor)
Tutorial Slot: Tuesday 3.00pm - DKL
Submission Date: 3 March 2009 - Tuesday
Prepared by: Panda OB Group
Chan Kean Sam
Kan Hooi Tin
Kong Feng Pei
Leong Wai Hong
Wang Qi

100235
100294
100309
100334
102907

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This assignment consists of 23 single size printed pages. The contents of this assignment are based on a movie Kung Fu Panda (2008).

| Kung Fu Panda

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................1

Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................................2
1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................3
1.1 Movie Synopsis ................................................................................................................3
1.2 List of Characters ...........................................................................................................5
2.0 Organizational Behavior Related Topics .........................................................................6
2.1 Individual Mechanisms & Characteristics ...................................................................6
2.1.1 Promotion Satisfaction ..............................................................................................6
2.1.2 Supervision Satisfaction ............................................................................................7
2.1.3 Satisfaction with The Work Itself...............................................................................8
2.1.4 Behavioral Strains ....................................................................................................10
2.1.5 Trust .........................................................................................................................11
2.1.6 Conscientiousness ....................................................................................................12
2.1.7 Cognitive Ability .....................................................................................................13
2.2 Group Mechanisms .......................................................................................................15
2.2.1 Goal Interdependence ..............................................................................................15
2.2.2 Engagement .............................................................................................................16
2.2.3 Compliance ..............................................................................................................17
2.2.4 Resistance ................................................................................................................18
2.3 Organizational Mechanisms ........................................................................................19
2.3.1 Work Specialization .................................................................................................19
2.3.2 Bureaucratic Structure .............................................................................................20
2.3.3 Espoused Values ......................................................................................................21
3.0 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................22
References ...............................................................................................................................22

Acknowledgement

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Group Assignment

First of all, we would like to appreciate people that guided us to complete our tasks
especially our direct seniors, friends, course mates who have been helped us and taught us in
regarding how to do this assignment. Without their contributions and supports, we will not
able to complete our assignment on time. Therefore, we decided to take this opportunity to
acknowledge them.
Through this opportunity, we would like to thank Dr. Daisy because she gave us a lot
of valuable information and guidance throughout this assignment. She spent her precious time
to explain the requirements and contents of our assignment. Also, she is also patient and
willing to answer all of our questions and clear our doubts. We gratefully devote our thanks to
her as she is a very helpful and kind lecturer. We cannot repay her kindness unless we do the
best in this assignment.
Lastly, we have to admit that we learnt a lot from this assignment especially from our
lecturer as well as the movie Kung Fu Panda. It is very useful in our future. We would like
thank Dr Daisy again for giving us an opportunity to discover strengths and weaknesses
within us. And, thank you to every group member for their contribution to this assignment and
hope that our assignment will gather a good assessment.
The following table lists the tasks and contributions for each of our team members.
Task & Contribution
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Typing
Photo Collection
Editing
Communication
Movie Provision
Design
Printing & Binding

Member
All members
All members
All members
Chan Kean Sam
Leong Wai Hong
Chan Kean Sam
Kong Feng Pei
Leong Wai Hong
Kan Hooi Tin
Kan Hooi Tin
Kong Feng Pei
Wang Qi
Wang Qi

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Movie Synopsis
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Mr. Ping is a goose who has a panda son named Po. Po works in a noodle restaurant which
owned by him. Mr. Ping hopes that Po will one day take over the restaurant. Po is a kung fu
enthusiast and fanatic. He has secret dreams of becoming a great master in the discipline.
However, his weight and awkwardness make his goal difficult to attain.
On the other hand, in the Jade Palace, there is a tortoise that named Master Oogway
has a protg, a red panda called Master Shifu. And, the Furious Five - Tigress, Monkey,
Mantis, Viper, and Crane are a quintet of supremely skilled martial artists trained by Master
Shifu. Master Oogway has premonition that the evil snow leopard warrior Tai Lung, the
former student of Master Shifu, will escape from prison and return to threaten the Valley of
Peace. Immediately, Master Shifu sends Zeng to Chor Ghom Prison to have the security
increased to prevent the Tai Lung escape from the prison. Zeng is a messenger goose,
received the order and fly to the prison.
Then, Master Oogway orders a formal ceremony to choose the Dragon Warrior, a
supreme master of kung fu who can defeat Tai Lung. It is assumed that one of the Furious
Five will be chosen for this honor. Po, in his attempts to see the Dragon Warrior, finds himself
in the middle of the ceremony. Oogway, impressed by Po's sudden appearance, surprises
everyone by designating Po himself as the Dragon Warrior despite Po's protests and Shifu's
pleas to reconsider.
Revolted at having Po under his training, Shifu attempts to make him quit by berating
and humiliating him. The Five also dismiss Po as a worthless intruder, although he eventually
endears himself to them. Tigress later reveals to Po how Tai Lung became evil. According to
her, Shifu raised Tai Lung from a cub and treated him like a son. When Oogway refused to
make Tai Lung the Dragon Warrior, he became infuriated and laid waste to the Valley. He then
tried to take the dragon scroll; Shifu tried to stop him, but could not bear to destroy what he
had created. Tai Lung was then defeated by Master Oogway and imprisoned. Tigress ends her
story by saying that Shifu loved Tai Lung like he never loved anyone before, or since.
Meanwhile, Zeng's errand backfires when a tour of the prison given to him by the
overly confident head of security, Commander Vachir, inadvertently enables Tai Lung to
escape. Tai Lung commands Zeng to send word of his arrival to Shifu. In the Valley of Peace,
Oogway passes away and ascends to the heavens, his final wish being that Shifu must train
Po. However, Po confesses his belief that he may never be a match for Tai Lung. Overhearing
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this discussion, Tigress takes it upon herself to intercept Tai Lung, and the rest of The Five
follow her to assist. The following morning, Shifu discovers that Po is capable of impressive
physical feats when motivated by food. He leads Po to the countryside for an intensive
training regime in which Po is offered food as a reward for learning his lessons. As Shifu
hopes, Po swiftly becomes a skilled combatant.
The Five fight with Tai Lung but are eventually defeated by him. When they return,
Shifu decides Po is ready to open the sacred Dragon Scroll, which promises great power to its
possessor. However, when Po opens it, he finds nothing but a blank reflective surface.
Stricken with despair at the scroll's apparent worthlessness, Shifu orders his students to lead
the villagers to safety while he stays to delay Tai Lung for as long as he can.
Po meets up with his father and tells him that the secret ingredient is nothing. Things
become special, he explains, because people believe them to be special. Realizing that is the
point of the Dragon Scroll, Po rushes off to help Shifu. At this time, Tai Lung arrives at the
palace to get the Dragon Scroll. But, he discovers that the Dragon Scroll is gone, and then
attempts to kill Shifu in anger. But before he does it, Po arrives and challenges him. Tai Lung
temporarily stuns him and gains the Dragon Scroll, but is unable to understand its symbolism.
Po tries to explain the wisdom of the scroll to Tai Lung. Po counter-attacks, and uses the Wuxi
Finger Hold (a technique Shifu had previously threatened to use on Po) on Tai Lung,
defeating him in a large explosion of golden light that ripples through the valley.
The Five return to the valley to investigate and find a slightly dazed but triumphant Po.
Deeply impressed by Po's victory, Tigress leads the Five to acknowledge him as a Kung Fu
master. Po suddenly remembers that his teacher is badly wounded, and rushes back to Shifu.
At first the master appears to be dying, and Po panics. But Shifu is only trying to rest after
such a terrible battle with Tai Lung. At the end of the credits, Shifu and Po are seen eating
together beside the sacred peach tree. A peach seed planted by Shifu before Oogway's death
has sprouted into a new plant.
(Adapted from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/synopsis)

1.2 List of Characters

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Po
Species: Giant Panda

Master Shifu
Species: Red Panda

Master Oogway
Species: Chinese Giant Tortoise

Master Tigress
Species: South China Tiger

Master Monkey
Species: Golden Langur

Master Mantis
Species: Chinese Mantis

Master Viper
Species: Green Tree Viper

Master Crane
Species: Red-crowned Crane

Tai Lung
Species: Snow Leopard

Mr. Ping
Species: Chinese Goose

Zeng
Species: Chinese Goose

Commander Vachir
Species: Javan Rhinoceros

(Images from http://www.persinsala.it/recensione284.html)

2.0 Organizational Behavior Related Topics

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From the movie Kung Fu Panda, we discovered 7 theories or elements for the
individual mechanisms and characteristics, which are promotion satisfaction, supervision
satisfaction, and satisfaction with the work itself, behavioral strains, trust, conscientiousness,
and cognitive ability.

Besides, we also found 4 theories or elements for the group

mechanisms which included the 3 categories of responses to influence tactics: engagement,

compliance, and resistance as well as the other element that is goal interdependence. In the
organizational mechanisms, there are 3 theories or elements of organizational behavior that
we found in the movie which embraced work specialization, bureaucratic structure and
espoused values.

2.1 Individual Mechanisms & Characteristics

2.1.1 Promotion Satisfaction
Promotion satisfaction refers to employees feelings about the companys promotion policies
and their execution, including whether promotions are frequent, fair, and based on ability.
Some employees may not want frequent promotions because promotions bring more
responsibility and increased work hours. However, many employees value promotions
because they provide opportunities for more personal growth, a better wage, and more
prestige.
(Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., 2009, pg.107)
Example from Scene & Description:
In this movie, we can see the low promotion satisfaction reflected from Tai Lung. Tai Lung
was the adoptive son and devoted pupil of Master Shifu. When Shifu was younger, he found
an abandoned snow leopard cub at his doorstep. Shifu loved Tai Lung like his son and trained
Tai Lung after discovers that Tai Lung is a talent in Kung Fu. Live up to expectations, Tai
Lung showed more skills in Kung Fu and better than any other of his students and everyone
believed that Tai Lung would become the supreme master of kung fu, Dragon Warrior.
Nevertheless, Master Oogway saw the darkness in Tai Lungs heart despite the love that Shifu
gave him; he refused to give the honor to the Tai Lung. In this scene, Tai Lung gets the low
level of promotion satisfaction since he judge that Master Oogway treats him unfair and the
promotion does not based on ability. It is because Tai Lung thinks that he is the eligible person
who can become the supreme Kung Fu, the Dragon Warrior and possesses the Dragon Scroll.
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Consequently, Tai Lung outraged and laid waste to the valley. He destroyed homes and killed
the villagers around him.
Lesson Learnt:
From this, we can learn that promotion satisfaction is vital to remain a commitment among
employees. For instance, if the employee has the high level of promotion satisfaction and job
satisfaction at the same time, he or she will commit as well as put loyalty to his or her
company. In contrast, according to the example from the scene, Tai Lung retaliated by
destroying the whole village. This will give the serious impact to the organization in the real
world. In order to increase the employees promotion satisfaction, employer may give the
opportunities for employees to try the challenge task which may test their talent as well as
discover their implied talent. With this, a company may accidentally tap the human resources
and wisely bring benefits to the company. Therefore, any companies need to apply this type of
satisfaction among their employees in order to improve the performances their respective
company.
2.1.2 Supervision Satisfaction
Supervision satisfaction reflects employees feeling about their boss, including whether the
boss is competent, polite, and a good communicator (rather than lazy, annoying, and too
distant). Most employees ask two questions to their supervisors: (1) Can they help me attain
the things that I value? and (2) Are they generally likeable? the first question depends on
whether supervisions provide rewards for good performance, help employees obtain necessary
resources, and protect employees from unnecessary distractions. The second question depends
on whether supervisions have good personalities, as well as values and beliefs similar to the
employees philosophies.
(Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., 2009, pg.108)
Example from Scene & Description:
Supervision satisfaction also reflects on Tai Lung. In the movie, it is clear that Tai Lung has a
low level of supervision satisfaction to Master Shifu. This can prove by looking at the
revengeful and hate of Tai Lung towards Shifu that made him nearly kill his master twice. The
first time was the refusal by the Master Oogway in choosing him as the Dragon Warrior and
the second time was when he escaped from the prison and went back to the Jade Palace for
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attaining the Dragon Scroll. This strong proof of Tai Lungs unsatisfaction against his Shifu is
the conversation between them when they are fighting. Tai Lung told that he had caught in the
jail for twenty years was due to Shifu is weak. He said that Shifu always know that he was the
Dragon Warrior. He clarified that Shifu did nothing when Oogway said that he was not
qualified. From his statement, we know that Tai Lung is blaming his Shifu for did not helped
him to gather the honor as Dragon Warrior when the Master Oogway refused. Hence, this
shown his supervision satisfaction is negatively placed in his Shifu.
Lesson Learnt:
From the example in this scene, Tai Lung will betray Shifu and even try to kill him is because
of the low level of supervision satisfaction. He felt that his Shifu is weak, blind and unfair
which finally let him be imprisoned for already 20 years. As a result, this issued in his
betrayal to Shifu. Similarly, in the real world, the employers or superiors should always know
the ways to treat their employees and set themselves as role models by behaving more
positively so that the employees can obtain the higher level of supervision satisfaction. By
foster a sense of supervision satisfaction among the employees, a company can enjoy the
lower turnover rate and at the same time, enjoy the higher profit as well as a better reputation.
This is due to the job performance and the organizational commitment of the employees is
high. They will be loyal to their current superiors, employers and company.
2.1.3 Satisfaction with the Work Itself
Satisfaction with the work itself reflects employees feelings about their actual work tasks,
including whether those tasks are challenging, interesting, respected, and make use of key
skills rather than being dull, repetitive, and uncomfortable. This facet focuses on what
employees actually do.
(Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., 2009, pg.109)
Example from Scene & Description (1):
First, we can see the high level of satisfaction with the work itself from Po. Po was a studious
apprentice, thus he really learnt what his fathers technique to cook. The scene where Po was
making dinner for the Furious Five is the reflection of his satisfaction. After he passed out
bowls of soup with noodles to four of the Five, he watched patiently and waited for their
comment regarding the food. Mantis said, This is really good! Po told them modesty, you
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should try my dads secret ingredient soup. He actually knows the secret ingredient. Yet,
Viper thought that the soup cooked by Po was really amazing and Mantis wished his mouth
can be bigger. Four of them considered him as a great cook. Po was wondering if his old life
really could influence his new. By this time, Po has a sense of achievement when he received
the appraisal and admiration from them. This made him has a high level of satisfaction with
the work itself since he felt that the food his cooked was a task of interesting and respected.
Example from Scene & Description (2):
The second scene that we can see the satisfaction with the work itself reflected by Po
is when he defeated Tai Lung. After the large explosion of golden light that ripples through
the valley, the Furious Five lead the villagers return to the valley to investigate and find a
slightly dazed but triumphant Po. All villagers cheer with trying to put him up because Po
defeated Tai Lung and get back the peace of the valley. Everyone clapped for him to show the
praise. When Pos triumphed over Tai Lung, his fathers doubt of Pos destiny as his heir
vanished and proclaimed the pride in him to the world as they embraced. Deeply impressed
by Pos victory, Tigress leads the Five to acknowledge him as a Kung Fu master. Po gets the
high satisfaction with the work itself because he got the respect, praise, as well as admiration
from others even the respected Furious Five. He felt proud for defeated Tai Lung who was
very strong.
Lesson Learnt:
From this, we can know that how to improve the level of satisfaction with the work itself of a
person. Just like Po, he gets the satisfaction by cooking to his fellows, Furious Five. Four of
the Furious Five appreciated his food which will give him the confidence and increase his
interest in cooking. Apart from that, when all were acclaimed his victory, he had the sense of
satisfaction with his successful achievement. Furthermore, by increasing the satisfaction with
the work itself can also increase the job satisfaction which can result in the job performance
and organizational commitment. As we know, these two elements are necessary and essential
for a company or firm to generate more profit and to build goodwill as well as the reputation.
Therefore, employers should know how to provide the employees with different task and
growth opportunities so that the employees will have the chance to perform well in the entire
task and have the satisfaction with the work itself which is the single and stronger driver of
the overall job satisfaction.
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2.1.4 Behavioral Strains

Behavioral strains are the negative consequences associated with stress and the least
connected to GAS (general adaptation syndrome). In fact, unhealthy behaviors such as
grinding ones teeth at night, being overly critical and bossy, excessive smoking, compulsive
gum chewing, overuse of alcohol, and compulsive eating (overeating) can be thought of as the
behavioral symptoms of the other types of strains.
(Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., 2009, pg.155)
Example from Scene & Description (1):
The behavioral strains can be found in Po. He likes to eat when upset to dull the pain. Via this,
we can see that Po has a great responsibility that causes him stress after he became the Dragon
Warrior. Thus, he was overeating when he felt stress. During the day he had been chosen as
the Dragon Warrior, the Furious Five show their dissatisfaction and hate with his presence in
the Jade Palace and become the Dragon Warrior even though he does not know about Kung
Fu and they thought him was disgraced to Kung Fu. Po thinks that he does not have the
qualification to become the Dragon Warrior by having the big fat body. Also, he thinks that he
does not have the long suit like the Five. So, he just wants to reduce the stress by compulsive
eating the peaches. This action is considered as behavioral strain.
Example from Scene & Description (2):
Besides, there was a scene where after Po knew the escape of Tai Lung from Chor
Ghom Prison and coming back to the Jade Palace, the source of stress came into him when
Shifu told him that he is the only one who can stop Tai Lung. Since he does not know Kung
Fu yet, once again, he abreact his stress by punched a wood cupboard and eat its contents like
biscuit, one of his favourite food. This scene again revealed his behavioral strain.
Lesson Learnt:
From these examples, we know that Po has stress after become the Dragon Warrior, and he
reduce his stress through the behavioral strain. This is important for us to know the effect that
the strains give to us. It will bring us the worst in our life and also affect our performance in
doing our task. For instance, when someone suffer from stress, he or she may suffer from
behavioral strains such as without appetite to eat, suffer in insomnia, and even serious will
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extreme in thinking and cause to commit suicide. By considering the consequences of the
stress, therefore, we need to find out better and positive resolution in order to reduce or
minimize the stress just like Po, he chose to eat when he feel stress. When we start to work in
any organization or even still in the field of study, we will definitely face some stresses. As a
result from that, we may issue in these behavioral strains. Therefore, we need to be smart in
handle the stress.
2.1.5 Trust
Trust divides into two categories, which are psychology and sociology. In psychology view,
Morton Deutch in the TrustLet dated 31 July 2007 discovered that if an individual is confront
with an ambiguous path, a path that can lead to an event perceived to be beneficial or to an
event perceived to be harmful. He perceives that the occurrence of beneficial or harmful is
contingent on the behavior of another person; and he perceives that strength of harmful to be
greater than that strength of beneficial. If he chooses to take an ambiguous path with such
properties, Morton Deutch said that he makes a trusting choice; if he chooses not to take the
path, he makes a distrustful choice. Besides, according to Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.;
Wesson, M. J., Organizational Behavior: Improving performance and commitment in the
workplace, pg.219, trust defined as the willingness to be vulnerable to an authority based on
positive expectation about the authoritys actions and intentions.
Example from Scene & Description:
When Master Oogway selected Po as the Dragon Warrior, everyone was surprised. Even
Master Shifu himself did not trust for the selection and asked Master Oogway to reconsider.
In view of Shifu only the person worthy enough to be trusted with the secret to limitless
power then will become the Dragon Warrior. However, master Oogway believe that in world,
there are no accident. Before Master Oogway passed away, he asked Shifu to guide, to
nurture, and to believe in Po that he can defeat Tai Lung. After that, Shifu trust Master
Oogway that Po can defeat Tai Lung. This proved that Master Oogway is true. Po defeated Tai
Lung eventually. This tells us that trust is vital for achieving certain goals.
Lesson Learnt:
Trust is very important either in this movie or in the real world. If Master Shifu does not trust
Master Oogway, he will not train Po and can raise his talent to defeat Tai Lung. In an
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organization, if the employees do not trust their superiors, it is difficult to accomplish certain
tasks and achieve the organizations goal. Thus, the superiors or the leaders of a team or a
company need to maintain the trust among their employees or members.
2.1.6 Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is the trait of being painstaking and careful, or the quality of acting
according to the dictates of ones conscience. It includes such elements as self-discipline,
carefulness, thoroughness, organization, deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before
acting), and need for achievement. It is an aspect of what was traditionally called character.
Conscientious individuals are generally hardworking and reliable. When taken to an extreme,
they may also be workaholics, perfectionists, and compulsive in their behavior. People who
are low on conscientiousness are not necessarily lazy or immoral, but they tend to be more
laid back, less goal oriented, and less driven by success.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientiousness)
According to Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., Organizational Behavior:
Improving performance and commitment in the workplace, pg.293, conscientious people are
dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, and persevering.
Example from Scene & Description (1):
We can see the conscientiousness from Master Tigress. She has the conscientiousness to
defeat the Tai Lung. She shows her conscientiousness when Shifu brings back the bad news
when the Five and Po having the dinner. Shifu told them that Tai Lung is on the way coming
back for the Dragon Scroll. When Shifu said Po is the only one who can stop Tai Lung and Po
protesting to Master Shifu that he will never be able to defeat Tai Lung, Tigress pushes her
chair out and said, Let us stop Tai Lung. This is what you have trained us for! Then, she
upon landing on the roof of a house, once again she said, This is what you trained me for.
Disobeying Shifus order, she leaps from the Jade Palace to the canyon entrance of the valley,
intending to stop Tai Lung by herself. This example shows her conscientiousness.
Example from Scene & Description (2):
Besides, Master Shifu has also the conscientiousness to defeat Tai Lung. This happen when he
founds that is nothing but blank reflective surface. Stricken with despair at the scroll's
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apparent worthlessness, he orders his students to lead the villagers to safety while he stays to
delay Tai Lung for as long as he can. He said, Then I will finally have paid for my
mistake This shows that he felt Tai Lungs evil was because of his mistake in raised up Tai
Lung. He thinks that he needs to pay the fiddler in the incident. Thus, he orders his student
lead the villages to leave the valley and battle with Tal Lung alone.
Lesson Learnt:
In this scene, we can see the conscientiousness that showed by Master Shifu and Master
Tigress in the decision to defeat the Tai Lung. They clearly know their role in the Jade Palace,
which is to defend the Valley of Peace from attacked by Tai Lung or other enemies. In real
life, we need also to know that what role we need to play in an organization, community,
group, or team. Everyone should be conscientious to accomplish certain tasks no matter small
or important tasks. We must complete them with solemnness as we are responsible for.
2.1.7 Cognitive Ability
According to Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., Organizational Behavior:
Improving performance and commitment in the workplace, pg.339, cognitive abilities are
capabilities related to the acquisition and application of knowledge in problem solving.
Andrew M. Colman in A Dictionary of Psychology found that cognitive ability also means
that an ability to perform any of the functions involved in cognition; more generally, another
name for intelligence.
(http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O87-cognitiveability.html)
Example from Scene & Description (1):
In the movie, both Shifu and Po had used their cognitive ability wisely. When Tai Lung
escaped from the prison, Shifu was required to train Po to defeat Tai Lung because Master
Oogway had chosen him as the Dragon Warrior. However, he was confusing how to teach him
as he is a big fat panda. One day, Shifu discovered that Po is capable of impressive physical
feats when motivated by food. He leads Po to the countryside for an intensive training process
in which Po is offered dumpling as a reward for learning his lessons. This shown that Shifu
was used his cognitive ability wisely in overcoming the problem. His intelligence lead him to
train Po by using dumpling as lure to Po for the training process. Finally, Po was trained and
improved well in Kung Fu.
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Example from Scene & Description (2):

Besides, the other depiction of the cognitive ability in the movie reflected by Po. In the scene,
when Shifu let Po to look in the Dragon Scroll for hoping that it can gives power to Po to
defeat Tai Lung. Nevertheless, they find out that there is nothing in scroll. Shifu asked The
Furious Five to evacuate the valley to protect the villagers and to avoid Tai Lung kill everyone
in the valley. Po goes back to his home later. When he meet up with his father, Mr. Ping, tell
him about the secret ingredient of the family's noodle soup. The secret ingredient is nothing,
his father told him. Things become special, he explains, because people believe them to be
special. Realizing that is the point of the Dragon Scroll, Po rushes off to help Shifu. When he
reached to Tai Lung, he fights with him. Tai Lung temporarily stuns him and gains the Dragon
Scroll, but is unable to understand its symbolism. Po tries to explain the wisdom of the scroll
to Tai Lung. From this scene, we can know that Po has shown his cognitive ability as he found
out that the secret ingredient of his familys noodle soup is nothing, he immediately realize
that the reason why the Dragon Scroll has nothing in it. Subsequently, he quickly made a
decision to rush back to the palace to help Shifu and finally saved Shifu as well as defeated
Tai Lung.
Example from Scene & Description (3):
Another example in the scene related to the cognitive ability can be seeking in Po too. For
instance, when Tai Lung arrived at the palace to get the Dragon Scroll, he discovers that the
Dragon Scroll is gone, and then attempts to kill Shifu in anger. But before he does it, Po
arrives and challenges him. Tai Lung tried to scramble the Dragon Scroll from Po. He stunned
Po and took the scroll. After that, Po counter-attacks, and uses the Wuxi Finger Hold (a
technique Shifu had previously threatened to use on Po) on Tai Lung, defeated him eventually.
From this part of the scene, Po has shown his cognitive ability. With this ability, he had learnt
by himself the Wuxi Finger Hold and used it to beat down Tai Lung.

Lesson Learnt:
From the movie, we should know the way of acquisition and application of knowledge in
problem solving. What we had learnt must apply in reality to solve and face the problem. For
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example, the skills, knowledge and technique of kung fu that learnt by Po were applied to
defeat Tai Lung. Po also analyzed and learnt the technique-the Wuxi Finger Hold by himself
without teaching by Shifu and used it to defeat Tai Lung successfully. In the same manner, in
the working environment, cognitive abilities are essential. We need to apply these abilities
such as information gathering ability to make a correct decision in order to solve problems.

2.2 Group Mechanisms

2.2.1 Goal Interdependence
According to Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., Organizational Behavior:
Improving performance and commitment in the workplace, pg. 382, goals interdependence
refer to the degree to which team member have a shared goal and align their individual goals
with that vision.
Example from Scene & Description (1):
In the movie, Master Tigress decided
to defeat Tai Lung individually when
she known that Po did not had the
ability to fight with Tai Lung who
ran away from prison because Po did
not had any Kung Fu skills. Thereby,
Master Tigress took action to fight
with Tai Lung individually. When Monkey, Mantis, Viper as well as Crane know that Master
Tigress was going to fight with Tai Lung individually, they decided to go together. They share
the goal among them to defeat Tai Lung. As a result, all of them fought with Tai Lung when
he was at the drawbridge. However, all of them lost. Figure above illustrated that Master
Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane share their goal to defeat Tai Lung.

Example from Scene & Description (2):

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In a scene, the Furious Five
apologized to Shifu because none
of them was selected to become
the

Dragon

Warrior.

This

indirectly tells us that five of them

share the goal that one of them
will become the Dragon Warrior.
This is because they think they
can fight with Tai Lung with their
own kung fu skills and ability. As a result, from their point of view, they think that one of
them will be selected by Master Oogway to become the Dragon Warrior. However, in the day
of choosing Dragon Warrior, Po had selected by Master Oogway. Figure above depicted that
Master Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane share their goal that one of them will have
the opportunity to be selected as the Dragon Warrior.
Lesson Learnt:
Actually, the goal interdependence is really important in all of the organization. Each
employees in the organization should share their own goals as well as cooperate together to
achieve the organizational goal. When they share the goals, this not only can make sure that
each employees can understand the goal well but also ascertain that nobody in the
organization get wrong information regard to the organization goal. By this way, the
employees can cooperate together and align their individual goals with their vision. Therefore,
a manager should determine that all of the employees have goal interdependent within the
organization.
2.2.2 Engagement
Engagement is a degree that measures the level of responses to influence attempts. Besides, it
also refers to a situation that occurs when someone agrees and become committed to an
influencers request. In brief, engagement will occur when the target of influence agrees with
and becomes committed to the influence request.
(Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., 2009, pg.450&581)
Example from Scene & Description:
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In the scene, when Master Oogway called Shifu to see him, Master Oogway informed Shifu
that he can foresee Tai Lung who has caught into the jail will return and his return will destroy
the peace in the valley. When Shifu got this information, he believed whatever Master
Oogway said is true. Actually, Shifu is influence by one simple sentence that said by Master
Oogway that is nothing is impossible. As a result, Shifu quickly call Crane, a messenger
goose to go to the jail and tell this to the prison guard, and ask them to make double
safeguard, so that Tai Lung cannot run away from the prison. Via this, we can define Shifu
action as engagement as he always believes Master Oogway and influenced by his
information.
Lesson Learnt:
Leaders are vital to know the influence tactics that can be easier to influence their team or
group members in doing such things. If the leaders have the ability to change the members
attitude and behavior, it means that they are good influencers and their likelihood that
influences someone with their requests is very high. They should learn some technique or soft
skills that benefit them in term of influence other people. It will be easy to influence
employees engagement. This is because those influence tactics will lead employees in putting
more effort to complete their tasks or whatever the leader asked them to do. Thus, this will
make the organizational commitment among employees become higher. In short, it is
important for leaders to build engagement in their subordinates.
2.2.3 Compliance
Compliance refers to a degree that to measure the level of responses to influence attempts.
Besides, according to Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., Organizational Behavior:
Improving performance and commitment in the workplace, pg. 450, it also refers to a situation
that occurs when targets of influence are willing to do what the leader ask, but they do it with
a degree of ambivalence or suspicious.
Example from Scene & Description (1):
In the Movie, When Master Oogway selected Po as the Dragon Warrior, Shifu felt so
suspicious because Master Oogway has selected the clumsy candidates who does not have any
kung fu skills that can defeat Tai Lung. However, Shifu followed what Master Oogway asked
him to do that is to guide, believe as well as nurture Po. Thus, he took action to train Po.
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However, he still did not believe this way can make Po defeat Tai Lung at that moment.
Therefore, we can say that Shifu is compliance because he did whatever Master Oogway
asked him to do even though he feels suspicious.
Example from Scene & Description (2):
Another example for compliance is reflected in Po. Po feels very upset as he thinks that he
cannot defeat Tai Lung in a short time. This is because he does not own any ability and kung
fu skills. So, he feels that he is not suitable to be selected as a Dragon Warrior. Therefore, he
tells Master Oogway that he should go back to help his father for making and selling noodles.
However, after listen Master Oogway advice, Po decided to remain to learn kung fu.
Therefore, we can say that Po is compliance because he remains as Master Oogway asks and
advices him to do so.
Lesson Learnt:
Actually, compliance is a common thing that often occurs in an organization. Compliance
reflects the change in behavior of employees but not the attitudinal change. Compliance has a
moderate negative relationship with organization commitment. Generally, employees will do
the entire request task that divided by manager or the person who has power in the
organization although they are unwilling to do it. Therefore, it is important for a manager to
know how to handle this kind of problem for the share of maintaining the organizational
commitment among employees in the organization. For example, a manager or a leader must
always focuses on employees feelings, problems and so forth. He or she also needs to try to
make sure the employees are not compliance when he or she is influencing them.
2.2.4 Resistance
Resistance is also a degree that to measure the level of responses to influence attempts.
According to Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., Organizational Behavior:
Improving performance and commitment in the workplace, pg. 450 it also refers to a situation
that occurs when the target refuses to perform the influence request and puts forth an effort to
avoid having to do it.

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Example from Scene & Description:

Based on the movie, Po refused to become a noodles maker and noodles seller although Mr.
Ping, Pos father really hope that Po can become his heir to do the noodles business as well as
take over the restaurant. Although his father always tries to influence him, Po refuses to
follow it because this is not his dream. His dream is to learn kung fu and he love kung fu very
much. As a result, Po refuses to take over his family business. Pos action can be described as
resistance as Po attempts to avoid doing what his father asked to.
Lesson Learnt:
Basically, resistance is likely occur in term of the influencer power is quite low to the target.
The level of power will become low when the influencer tries to request others some task that
are impossible to do it, unusual, unimportant or unreasonable that is not relate to their task.
Therefore, a manager should give some important reason if he or she wants to influence the
employees to do certain task or something. On the other hand, their request cannot be
irrational, excessive and forced. If not, it is probable that the employees will response with
resistance as the influence does not make them change in attitude as well as behavior.

2.3 Organizational Mechanisms

2.3.1 Work Specialization
Work specialization is the way in which tasks in an organization are divided into separate
jobs. It also referred to as a companys division of labor. Work specialization is a never ending
trade-off among productivity, flexibility, and worker motivation. However, there are trade-offs
when organizations make job highly specialized. Highly specialized jobs can cause
organization to lose the ability for their employees flexible in what they do.
(Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., 2009, pg.519)
Example from Scene & Description:
We can see the work specialization in the scene when Po opened the Dragon Scroll and found
out that nothing in it but a blank reflective surface, Shifu ordered his students to lead the
villagers to safety while he himself stayed to delay Tai Lung for as long as he can. His
purpose is to stop Tai Lung from threaten the villagers. Accordingly, he was doing work
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specialization when he made the order. As a proving, they finally achieved the goal which is
to defeat Tai Lung and to avoid Tai Lung from destroy the peace of the valley. This succeed
was gathered through their work specialization.
Lesson learnt:
From the movie, Master Shifu did the work specialization in order to protect the valley. This
is similar as managers do the work specialization among the employees to complete certain
tasks. In the business world, work specialization is an important element in accomplishment
of certain tasks. Within an organization, there are many functions or departments to work to
achieve the core goal of the whole organization. When there are any projects that need to do,
work specialization can facilitate the accomplishment of the project because divide the
employees correctly in the right function or department based on their skills and abilities can
make it easier to finish the project. High of specialization may be acceptable in larger firms
with more employees but can be problem in smaller firms in which the employees must be
more flexible in their job duties. Hence, the work specialization needs to be applied wisely by
the company itself.
2.3.2 Bureaucratic Structure
A bureaucratic structure is an organizational form that exhibits many of the facts of the
mechanistic organization. Bureaucratic are designed for efficiency and rely on high levels of
work specialization, formalization, centralization of authority, rigid and well defined chain of
command, and relatively narrow spans of control.
(Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., 2009, pg.528)
Example from Scene & Description:
As we can see from the movie, the whole of organization rely on the Oogways decision,
because they look him as the man with wisdom, although everyone did not believe him when
he pointed at panda, but Master Shifu and his fellow can do nothing but to accept it. This
situation shows that they are in a bureaucratic structure which Master Shifu always refers to
Master Oogway in making any decisions.

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Lesson Learnt:
Although people think bureaucracy is stuffy, boring, restrictive, hard to change, when an
organization is efficiency and rely on high level of work specialization, it can adopt this kind
of structure. Although everyone in organization obey Oogways rule and it seems no one can
came up with new ideas or strategies, there are some advantages that when everyone is
confused, they can find their direction, easy to get peoples strength together. So, bureaucracy
structure can give us both advantages and disadvantages depend on the how and when we
organize the structure.
2.3.3 Espoused values
Espoused values are beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states.
(Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A.; Wesson, M. J., 2009, pg.551)
Example from Scene & Description:
There is a norm exists in Kung Fu mountain that there is only the Dragon Warrior can defeat
the threat of Tai Lung. And, there are only supremely skilled martial artists can be selected by
Master Oogway as the Dragon Warrior. And, the selected Dragon Warrior has to take the
responsibility to protect the love and peace in the valley. From this example, we can consider
this belief as an espoused value among the villagers.
Lesson Learnt:
In any companies, there must have espoused values as it is the essential values that can
become references in the company to contribute to the vision of the company for managing
the workforce and overcoming the problems raised. In the movie, everyone believes that only
the Dragon Warrior can defeat Tai Lung. This circumstance is similar to a business entity
which needs to refer to its espoused values that can drive its company to a bright future.
Therefore, every business entities need to know the espoused values in order to spell out the
vision and maintain to manage the whole business operation.

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3.0 Conclusion
Based on the movie, Kung Fu Panda, we have found some organizational behavior
theories or elements performed by the characters in this movie. The theories or elements
included promotion satisfaction, supervision satisfaction, and satisfaction with the work itself,
behavioral strains, trust, conscientiousness, cognitive ability, engagement, compliance,
resistance, specialization, bureaucratic structure and espoused values.
These theories or elements can help us understand more about the organizational
behavior in the book Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in
the Workpalce. Through this assignment, we can identify the characteristics from the movie
that show us some organizational behavior and value. As a result, we can improve our
knowledge related to the organizational behavior. We are also able to learn some elements of
organizational behavior through the scenes in the movie.
Lastly, not only the managers but also the employees themselves need to apply and use
the theories or elements related to organizational behavior within a company. We as student
should learn and manipulate those elements so that we can apply them in the future.
Hopefully, by doing this assignment, we can learn and absorb the theories or elements found
in the movie as well as the other theories for using in the future.

References
The Internet Movie database. (2008). Synopsis for Kung Fu Panda. Retrieved 16
February 2009 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/synopsis
Persinsala.it. (2009). Images for Kung Fu Panda. Retrieved 18 February 2009 from
http://www.persinsala.it/recensione284.html
Colquitt, J. A.; Lepine, J. A. and Wesson, M. J. (2009). Organizational behavior:
Improving performance and commitment in the workplace. New York: McGraw
Hill/Irwin Publishing.

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Wikipedias Online. (2008). Conscientiousness. Retrieved 24 February 2009 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientiousness
Encyclopedia.com. (2001). Cognitive Ability. Retrieved 21 February 2009 from
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O87-cognitiveability.html

One assignment by Panda OB Group / School of Management / Universiti Sains Malaysia / Semester 2-08/09 / Chan Kean
Sam 100235 / Kan Hooi Tin 100294 / Kong Feng Pei 100309 / Leong Wai Hong 100334 / Wang Qi 102907 / Feb 2009

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