The Management Team Of Chattanooga And Its Leadership

Many of us have seen that "Nobody's Perfect - But A Team Can Be" and we have seen a team produce a quality and quantity of work far higher than the sum of what the separate members could have produced on their own. The success of any Endeavour hinges on the behavior, talents, balance and cohesion of this management team. There are two main points when it comes to relevance of teams, the first is the recognition that human strengths usually bring countervailing weaknesses and the second is that some combinations of these roles have a greater probability of team success than others.

One of the most successful companies of recent memory is Whole Foods, the all-organic grocery store that caters to customers who are concerned about the 'sourcing' of their foods. A cornerstone of Whole Foods' success is its use of team leadership to enable the organization to fulfill its functions and mission. This paper will evaluate how Whole Foods uses teams to advance its interests and create a positive corporate culture.

It is essential to have teamwork within a company. Companies who have embraced the concept of teamwork have reported increased performance in work production, problem solving and it has stimulated new growth. This group project approach has improved employee morale and increased input when managed correctly. The benefits of teamwork can make a positive effect in the company that incorporates this type of teamwork approach.

Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson (2008) mirror these views by holding on to the concept that the use of team work in the organization forcefully follows the structured schema of identifying true leaders within the organizational structure, facilitating the emotional commitment of such leaders and evaluating the progress of the teams by using a mix of people from different levels and departments in the organization. The efficiency of the coalition leads to improved performance for both short term and long-term goals.

This fable was a great way to promote the importance of a team and its functions. This book had many highlights throughout the context and I would highly recommend it to leaders of a corporation or of that of a team like setting. This book offered many great implications of the model and how to use it in many diverse settings when trying to build and manage successful teams.

In the workplace, teams play a very important role in goal achievement. With the help and support of a team leader, the organization can become very successful as long as the team is effective and cooperative. There are many different leadership styles/theories that make each leader unique and effective in their own way. It is not just the leader though that has to be effective. The team as a whole needs to come together and being efficient. Team building strategies are very helpful and effective to bring everyone together. Although working in a team is very effective in most cases, conflicts can still arise. In order to bring everyone back together again conflict resolutions need to be put into place such as the problem solving technique.

How does effective teamwork look? Teamwork is an initiative that many people are familiar with, and that is used by many businesses. Without effective teamwork, there is a good possibility that a business will have many problems and might even fail. Teamwork is basically a method of working with a group of people in order to accomplish a task. Teamwork can be a solution to the group project being done well. There are many companies that put a lot of importance on the issue of their teams being trained so that they can operate successfully. (Joseph, 2017)

This analysis will apply my understanding of the Chattanooga Ice Cream (CIC) case and will describe how I would apply the concepts and principles learned so far in JWMI 510, Leadership in the 21st Century. A review of the team dysfunction and how the President and General Manager, Charlie Moore, contributed to that dysfunction will be shared. This case study will also cover what the CIC management team could do better to understand the perspectives of each other and their boss. Specific recommendations will be made regarding what Moore should do to aid his team to work together and to resolve conflicts

The central, resonating factor that causes teams to fail is a lack of trust in the motivations and actions of team members and a lack of transparency on the part of the leader (Hendrix, 1995). With no trust in team members and a leader, teamwork quickly disintegrates and teams fall apart. The role of the leader as a galvanizing force in the development of team dynamics must occur if a team is going to succeed. The critical success factors in creating this level of unified focus and effort within a team is to a large extent defined by a leader's unique skills sets and ability to create a culture of trust and focus on achievement.

The assessment of the effectiveness of the management team at Chattanooga Ice Cream falls under the category group thinking. Group thinking is defined as a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive group. In the case study of the Chattanooga Ice Cream Division the company was solely owned as the subsidiary of Chattanooga Food Cooperation. Charles Moore the general manager and the vice president of the company obtained the company after his father Clinton Moore retired. The company was originally founded by the grandfather of Charles Moore. Once Charles Moore obtained the company, he attempted to use an altered managerial style based on exerts that he previously used at National Geographic Magazine. Moore believed that group based decision making and bringing people together to share information, ideas, and to consult on decisions would be idea for the management team and the company. (Bethel University 2011). Consequently, the group thinking style did not work as planned for Moore.

Michael Jordan once stated “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships” (Brainy Quote, n.d., Retrieved January 28, 2017). Jordan (2017) may have been referring to his experience in basketball or on the court, but the same theories of teamwork can be related to businesses, organizations, and the ancillary small groups that help achieve common envisioned goals. Most teams experience fear, expectations, and conflicts, yet with the assistance of leadership these issues can be addressed, and overcome. As illustrated by Lencioni (2002) even some of the best teams struggle and it is through the Five Dysfunctions Model, that most teams can be improved (p. 185).

A recent meeting of managers unveiled a concerning issue to corporate management. Many of the teams created during a recent merger have failed to perform to the expectations of the company’s leadership. During this meeting a discussion occurred as to why some managers were successful and others were not. The root of the issues revealed that amongst the successful teams was found a positive attitude and willingness to work together not seen on the teams that were struggling. The heart of the positivity and team cohesion was the manager who fostered an environment of openness and self- management, yet kept the team focused on company’s strategy at all times.

Other significant characteristics of the organization’s teams are improved collaboration, value of input of all stakeholders, and fostering a climate of accomplishment (Arbabi & Mehdinezhad, 2015). It is crucial to implement structures and policies, due to the hierarchal tiers of the organization that create and sustain a culture of respect, collaboration and inclusion of input from all parties. It has been researched that with improved communication and collaboration, teams are more apt to guide the organization to flourish in multiple realms (Arbabi & Mehdinezhad, 2015).

Teamwork which is when a group of people can collectively work together to get a task done. Patrick Lencioni explains the meaning of teamwork by using a leadership fable. It discusses a story of DecisionTech Inc. which is a technology company that is failing to capture the new growing market. The company recently hired a new chief executive officer named Kathryn Peterson to take over and rebuild the business since she was familiar with the chairman of the board of DecisionTech Inc. After being at the company for a little while and getting to know how things were running at the company, she decided to take all of the main constituents of the firm to an off-site meeting in Napa Valley to try to rebuild company morale. At the off-site, the goal was to go over everything at the company whether good or bad and see where the company could get more customers and grow in the rising economy. They eventually did make changes, but there was a lot of arguing among the constituents to get to those they decision. The only reason they agreed on things was that of what Kathryn Peterson had brought to the

As the article of journal is The Discipline of Teams, the article itself has reflected the purpose and content of the journal as well as illustrate and deliver to the readers the authors' ideas and point of view around the term "team". In order to enhance high performance, through the article, the authors' intention is to demonstrate how teams can create impact on effectiveness and high performance of an organization by emphasis on the actual definition of team, differentiate team from other terms such as working group or project group, explain what is discipline of team and the benefit of it, identify the elements, values and requirements to build a successful team and gain value from teamwork. Furthermore, the article also pointed out the possible issues of team and challenges that might come up when building team or during the team performance process.