1. The main Organizational Behavior problem in “The Overhead Reduction Task Force” case is in creating a leading an effective team, specifically “Office of the President” team. Williams is fretting nervously and rightly so. Our take on the situation is that Dixon just “threw him under the bus”, by putting him in charge of the team and leaving for much needed two weeks vacations after being on the job for one week.
2. Dixon did not do a best possible job in setting up an effective team. An essential elements required for a team to be successful is missing. By focusing on the goal of reducing expenses, instead of focusing on the goal of improving financial standing of the division, she made it very hard for Williams to get everyone aligned.
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Tom Dougherty, production manager, needs to align with Patricia Wilson, personnel manager, regarding hiring employees with a right skill sets and with marketing and sales managers regarding overall vision for the division.
4. There are several things Wilson should do in preparation for the meeting with division managers. The most important one is to “define a goal in clear and elevating way” (2). While goal is very clear, Dixon took away an opportunity to define goal in the elevating way. Still, Wilson should make sure that team members can clearly see their relevance to the goal.
5 . Next Wilson should focus on ensuring a collaborative climate, building confidence and acquiring technical know-how.
In order to build a collaborative climate Williams should start by meeting with each department manager to understand strengths and weaknesses of each manager. During the meeting Williams can use this information to effectively involve each team member in a decision making process. He should also insist that department managers hold conversations with each other prior to the team meeting which will help to strengthen team relationships.
In order to build confidence Williams needs to share all relevant information. He should not hesitate to share financial performance history of the division. “In short, clarity drives confidence. Confidence drives commitment.” (2) He should present his “rough-cut” analysis, but only as one possible idea to achieving the goal.
Harvard Business Review case, The Nuclear Tube Assembly Room, is an excellent example of how managing and leading a team effectively can make a substantial difference in terms of results and goals achieved, all the while creating new ambitious expectations for workers. This particular case revolves around Ralph Langley, general foreman of the process department at American Radiotronics Corporation. Within the first 24 months of being promoted to general foreman, Langley has swiftly changed the mentality and efficiency of the workers in the nuclear tube assembly room. He has changed their terrible reputation into one of the most
1. Using the excel spreadsheet provided, and the recommended consequential disclosures as a basis you your analysis, what recommendations would you give Phillips on each of the items listed below? In each case, justify your recommendations and estimate how much the decision will change the “true” value of the company and its value in the eyes of an investor in a private company.
Before a game, Wilson sets the tone by arriving early to work and leaving late. Wilson Remains composed and confident - on the field and during press conferences as a leader, setting the tone for your team or group establishes a solid foundation for expectations and how you- intend to lead and treat others. Showing up early, prepared and ready to improve, others tend to
In collaboration, all parts of the team are working together to achieve the same mission. Collaboration builds espirit de corps, which is directly connected to mutual trust. Research shows that teams with a higher sense of espirit de corps trust each other more. They have a sense of comradeship. These teams know that each individual is going to pull their own weight and do what they need to do in order to accomplish a mission. This heightens teamwork, as team members are more inclined to collaborate with each other. A leader must also get to know their subordinates individually. When each person feels like their leader has their best interest in mind, this fosters a climate that develops mutual trust and shared understanding. Through all these concepts, the leader may establish a climate which continues the development of trust and understanding between leaders and subordinates produced through the distributive and collaborative leadership process.
Clear responsibilities and roles, the structure of the team, job descriptions, competencies, accountabilities, resources, tools and equipment should all be provided. Problem solving, communicating, managing conflicts, tasks, planning meetings, performance evaluation, managing change and decision making should follow clear procedures ensuring effective team working. Positive relationships, mutual respect and trust, continuing support and inclusion, valuing diversity and listening to feedback can overcome challenges to effective team performance. A strong credible leader with clear expectations can also overcome challenges to an effective team.
Mr. Patterson was also unable to lead his team because he was capable of communication with them in a manner that could obtain desired responses. According to Williams (2007), “The more aware and sensitive you can become to how other people react, the more you will be able to steer this response you get from others” (p.8).
Better communication needs to be created between mid and upper management. Proper communication will lead to a better understanding of the goals desired. Feedback is provided by upward communication, which makes employees feel involved and can help managers to get employees to understand their concerns (Thrilwall, 2012). Cooke and Peterson communicated scarcely and poorly. No regular meeting were scheduled. When the two did communicate there was no clear and actionable dialogue. Communication is only successful when both the sender and receiver understand the same information as a result of communication ( MindTools, n.d.) Both Cooke and Peterson should establish regular structured communication. This can be accomplished by setting periodic meetings, written updates via e-mail or memos. These meeting will provide downward communication that will allow information to be dispensed to the team working on the projects in question. These meeting will make Peterson and her team feel more involved in the direction of the project and it will also keep Cooke abreast of the attitudes and values of her employees. Cooke can defuse any potential problems
In addition, Craig fails to use his managerial position to delegate second level tasks to others, who are capable of handling those tasks. By focusing on second level tasks, Craig loses time and effort that could have been used to accomplish important tasks. When individuals at work focus only on what is urgent rather than what is important, organizational problems such as poor delegation which was previously mentioned, poor organization at work, and weak organizational hierarchy tend to occur. In this case, poor delegation of tasks makes it difficult to organize work activities within the company. Poor organization makes people less efficient and less effective. Less efficient and less effective individuals lead to weak organizational hierarchy. A weak organizational hierarchy can lead to a decrease in the overall productivity of the company.
Judge Wilson has always had the motivation and inspiration. He has always had a purpose. According to (Gregg Steinberg, personal communication, March 4, 2017), you must have the motivation and the inspiration, can't have one without the other. Another strength for Judge Wilson Office is our training program. Our training program has always been one of our organizations strongest assets. A strong training program leads to a successful organization. Judge Wilson training program has given us the tools needed to get off to a great start, less turn over, and has prepared us for advancement within the company. According to (Kolbina, 2015), The use of tools for company planning helps to track the success and effectives of those plans, projects, and programs that have been implemented, as well as to take the steps necessary for adjusting them in light of changes to the external or internal
At the beginning he was told to report to Jenkins, however, once he got to the site he was assigned to Jeff Hardy. After the company reorganization, he found himself wondering whether he should report to Knight or Hardy. However, despite the confusion, he never brought up this question to Hardy, Jenkins or Knight. He perhaps then fell into the trap of a “bosssubordinate relationship” and went with the structure he felt was assigned without truly understanding its reasoning. ii. He didn’t take enough time to understand HQ’s perspective on various issues a. Replacing the chief engineer, rejecting frequency reuse patterns, or failing to get sign off on agreements for GMCT cell sites indicate failures in managing upward management relationships. Problem #2: Employee Dynamics Strengths 1. Peterson was committed to building an empowering environment for employees. i. Peterson called weekly construction meetings, which invited all to report on the company’s weekly progress and issues. Shortcomings 2. He failed to consider alterations in team dynamics when making hiring and salary decisions. i. He hired Trevor at a higher salary rate to the resentment of other employees, causing significant damage to the trust and respect between employee and manager.
Furthermore, during the meeting employees and manger need to collaborative what the employee want to focus on this week project and employees (Cypress, 2015).
In addition to his need for achievement, Parker demonstrated his need for power by monitoring the groups progress thoroughly, as well as underlining the desired performance to reach the overall goal. In his own view, he perceived his own ideas to be dominant over those of the field assistants. My effort to help improve the performance of the group by trading stake claim areas with Millar was not supported by Parker. Parker may have felt that I was taking away some of the power he had by making a decision above him. His decision to ignore my suggestion changed the outcome of meeting the deadline. If Millar received a break from this difficult staking area, he could have performed better in the long run.
Before this desire to introduce the new cost-reduction strategies, the company was characterized by a social and friendly environment among supervisors and employees. Supervision was minimal, with the company executives facing little pressure to meet the expectations of the firm. There were high levels of social interactions between the supervisors and employees during their breaks, which involved leisurely activities. When the employees worked overtime, there was hardly any supervision over their operations. Mr. Watkins only regularly walked around the workstations to observe the activities that taking place. As the president, he tasked his Vice President, Pat Eckers, with the responsibility of ensuring that the organizational goals and objectives were achieved. The delegation of responsibility was in consideration of Pat 's efficiency
After a complete analysis of the current system, Josh should be able to deeply understand the operations of the company, he should have been able to determine what constricts the company from earning more and spending less.
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.