Introduction:
Our client, a medium-sized seller and worldwide manufacturer has hired us to analyze and help resolve an employee team problem. The company’s Research and Development team (R&D) recently decided it needed to revamp and create high-end designer products in order to remain competitive in the world market. Our client had originally created a virtual task force comprised of three individuals chosen for their expertise in the areas of product design, sales and marketing.
Relevant Facts:
The 3 members: Jay, Conan, and Ellen were chosen to develop the initial design parameters for the new product. Ellen, the current leader, has not performed well as The Task Force has come to a complete standstill. The client is very concerned that
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Ellen writes a memo to the Board of Directors of the company recommending the use of the existing design.
Alternative #2. Ellen re-establishes her position as team leader and builds a more cohesive team to accomplish to task.
Alternative #3. The team should not go over R&D and write directly to the Board. They should instead address the R&D request and explain to their recommendations. If the Board concedes that a re-design is not necessary, the task force is no longer needed and the dynamics within the team do not need to be addressed. If the Company extends the production date, does not necessarily have to fix relational problems. By re-establishing her position as leader, Ellen and her team can achieve to original goals assigned to them.
Recommendations:
The first problem Ellen needs to resolve are the negative behavioral issues present in the task force that are affecting performance. The team will remain stagnant unless Ellen can motivate the team out of the storming stage (Phillips & Gully, 2014, p. 394). It is evident there is dysfunctional conflict within the team, primarily based on insignificant reasons. “The team leader needs to keep team members focused on their goals, roles, and tasks to avoid members’ becoming distracted by the
Teams consist of personnel with varied backgrounds, experience, education, and intellectual ability. These differences will, by nature lend themselves to varying perceptions in business, its problems and solutions, which result in
Conflict arises from various sources in the team setting (Capozzoli, 1995). The most common causes of conflict are values, attitudes, needs, expectations, perceptions, resources, and personalities. As we are all raised with different values, morals come into play when the team issue deals directly or indirectly with ones values, morals, or ethics. Conflicting attitudes can bring about problems as two or more team members prove to have differing goals in mind. Individual needs can cause rifts within a team when they are not satisfied. The expectations of team members are not the same on how the goal will be met. We all have different perceptions of life situation and interpret them differently. The lack of resources needed to complete a task can cause conflict. Differing personalities play a major role in team conflict.
This exceptional team management and leadership skill demonstrated our ability to get tasks accomplished, regardless of any hurdles staying in our way. Efficient conflict management is critical when managing stress, productivity levels, and team collaboration abilities. The ways in which we handled this conflict inspired creativity, harmony and cohesion amongst our team members. Reacting in a positive, innovative manner helped maintain a positive group dynamic, elevate our problem solving abilities and prevent future conflicts from
Throughout the beginning of the book ‘The Five Dysfunction of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni it was apparent that the DecisionTech, Inc. executive team was not a team at all. This group of individuals lacked some of the key attributes that make great teams. One of the most important attributes that was being neglected was that the executive group did not have interdependent members. This attribute was highlighted in the beginning of the book when the author said “Backstabbing among the executives had become an art. There was no sense of unity or camaraderie on the team, which translated into a muted level of commitment” (7). Due to the executive teams lack of interdependence, critical deadlines began to slip and morale deteriorated.
She is expected to build a system that demonstrates trust, understands conflict, commits to collective decision making, and have the ability to hold one another accountable for the betterment of the company. Furthermore, Lencioni incorporates his real life theory the five dysfunctions of a team, into the fable in hopes to persuade the reader to use his methods in real world scenarios. Moreover, Lencioni then describes the five levels of dysfunctions in depth supporting his stance that teamwork is the most important aspect of any successful business. “Teamwork comes down to the mastering of set behaviors that are once theoretically uncomplicated, trust.” (Lencioni, 2002, pg. 21) Furthermore, inspiring the first team dysfunction in absences of trust. The absence of trust ultimately stems from a team being unable to open up to one another about their strengths and weaknesses. “Trust is the foundation of real teamwork and failure also referring the failure on the part of the team members to open up to one another.” (Lencioni, 2002, pg. 42) Furthermore, supporting the authors purpose of the fable, in which is, success depends being committed to enforcing
Liz failed to have a list of short-term objectives. By making this list she would be able to evaluate the progress her company is making. These short-term goals should cover the different functions of the company. These objectives should be SMART. That means they should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed. They should sit down as a team and develop premeditated plans to meet these objectives.
Having a leader such as Julia, would make the transition of starting a new job
The third team problem was that norms and values were not identified. Their main problem was the repetitive decision making process with no consensus.The objectives of their meetings where not stated nor was there proper time management. Henry should prepare an agenda of objectives and communicate them clearly to the group prior to the meetings. He should appoint Dana as minute taker for the meetings to ensure schedule is followed and necessary post meeting actions clearly stated and executed.
The team analysis major areas of concerns are communication, development, and support. General Electric (GE) has established teams to bring about new and creative ideas for the future world of innovations. Because GE’s commitment to the development of advanced technology and employee growth, the company selects members with different levels of training or experience in order to establish new ways of creating electric equipment. This quantitative ability and collective thinking is the reasoning behind forming a team analysis. After the completion of the organizational and team analysis, a task analysis will aid in determining whether a company has
Many organizations today believe that the use of work teams will allow them to produce better products and provide better services, faster, and at lower costs. Using a work team approach can reinvigorate productivity and service provider motivation, and better position an organization to deal with a rapidly changing environment. However establishing effective work teams is not something that comes easy. Though, the benefits of effective work teams within an organization are very substantial, it takes alot of hard work and dedication on the part of management and team members to develop, implement and maintain effective work teams.
Ellen and Jack were both initially appointed as the co-manager to the SI project, however, from the organizational structure perspective, the power was not equally distributed between the two participants: Jack clearly had much more commanding authority than Ellen. With Andrew involved in a distance manner and
Helen Bowers focuses mainly on maximizing company output which involves severe work, rules and behavior. Unfortunately, employees are not agree with Helen’s new conditions and the production of the company is being negatively impacted. Indeed, the elimination of the profit sharing plan and the reduction in pay, for example, decrease employees’ mood. You can’t change a company’s organization as radically as she did because it creates a lot of employee dissatisfactions.
Karen and Sue could have engaged in structured brainstorming activities with their team. This would allow all members of the team to contribute a list of ideas to the solution. Since the work most likely would be distributed among the team members already employed at the healthcare organization it is a good idea to allow them input into a potential change in their duties and/or workload.
Levin (2005) suggests that the idea of a team is to share the same objectives. This may not always be the case if team members have never met before and are not fully clear of the task set. This can lead to confusion between members and may mean that some team members are unwilling to be told by their peers what to do. This is an example on ineffective team work.
In a group where personal ambitions, prior conflicts and internal politic clash, it is little wonder that personal and inter departmental battles will occur. The VPs should clearly have known the status quo with Hunneuus and Eldredge and select the members and leader accordingly. Furthermore, such a taskforce offers a platform for visibility to top management, and personal agenda may interfere with the group’ effectiveness and success. The VPs should have been aware of both issues before appointing Baker and / or made him aware of the rivalry with Hunneuus.