You are brought in to lead a 5 member team of engineers to develop machine that
ID: 1843604 • Letter: Y
Question
You are brought in to lead a 5 member team of engineers to develop machine that automatically tests a subset mechanical parts as they are produced. The machine periodically picks a part off of a conveyor belt and places it on a test stand where a variety of tests are performed. After the tests the machine removes the part from the test stand and places it in one of two bins labeled "pass" and "fail" depending on the outcomes of the tests. The project, of course, has a tight budget and ambitious (meaning short) timeline. One member of the team, Tom, proposed building a general purpose gripper modeled on the human hand that could be used to pick-up a wide variety of parts. Other team members objected to this idea as being too complicated and counter-proposed a much simpler and less costly gripper designed to pick up the specific part under test. One team member called Tom's idea stupid in a group meeting. Tom insisted that his idea was best and went off to work on the hand-type gripper on his own. Tom discovered that his idea was too complicated and that he had neither the expertise nor the resources to develop the hand-type gripper. Embarrassed. Tom's participation in group meetings dropped off and he eventually stopped attending the meetings. At the same time the other team members became frustrated at Tom's lack of progress and angry that he had effectively stopped working on the project leaving them to pick-up the slack. They also had fun ridiculing Tom behind his back in "schoolyard" fashion. Tom, sensing his team mates' attitudes reacted by becoming withdrawn, resentful and silent. You were brought in as the team leader with the difficult task of fixing this dysfunctional team of engineers and getting the project back on track. You must have a conversation with Tom to get him to participate in the team. List the main points you will make in that conversation. You must have a conversation with the other members of the team to accept Tom back into the team and to get them to behave in a more professional manner toward him. List the main points you will make in that conversation. You have the unfortunate job of trying to re-energize an already dysfunctional team. If you were the team leader from the beginning think about how you might have prevented this situation from happening. List the main management points, ideas or techniques that you would employ.Explanation / Answer
Answer part (1) Following are the important points to get Tom participate in Team:
1.1 Making Tom feel proud of his innovative thinking capability: At the initial stage of Design process though the idea of Human-Hand type gripper seems difficult to develop but with further intensive search, with help of some more people/experts we can bring it to reality and then you will feel proud to have brought this idea first in front of the Expert Team members. And if it does not work, I beleive that you have the capability and confidence to bring out new ideas in front of team.
1.2 Making Tom beleive that his idea can be reality: You search for some relavant materials in science journals and website were similiar technology is used or developed and then we can show that to other team members to so that they beleive in capability of your idea. Then to gain more of there confidence in this product you can show what material, size, shape and mechanism changes can be applied to current design to develop the gripper according to our design requirements which reduces costs and makes it simpler. I am ready to help you in any task to develop a solution, with no problem.
1.3 Encouraging Tom to be able to face all Team members which objected his idea: As a engineer and team member it is your responsibility to make the team members beleive in your idea. And if you faith in your idea that it is possible, then you should try to do detailed research of how to make it possible and then explain it to team member. This way you will have answer to every doubt/problem/question team members throw to you. You cannot force it, but make them beleive. We all need to work as team where we understand each others viewpoints, get solutions to problems faced and conclude a single decision. So I request you to be back in team and I will help you in gaining back your esteem within team. Hope to see you in meeting soon.
Answer part (2) Following are the important coversation points with other Team members:
2.1 Explaining importance of team: Team means a group of people with a sense of unity, enthusiasm for common interests and responsibilities in a task. So this means that it is the responsibility of each member to work on given task/problem. Work should not be forced on single person rather it be taken up by all. So the idea presented by Tom required all of you to be involved actively by discussing the pros and cons of idea presented in meeting. It was responsibilty of each of you to search for possible design modifications that can be applied to bring it to reality, before objecting just in terms of cost and simplicity.
2.2 Encouraging professional behavior: As an engineer you should accept other engineers idea and sincerely discuss with all team members, explaining in humble manner. If Tom is working with you that means he has done same hardwork and has same experience as all of us. So we should leave our attitudes at home and be respectful to all team members.
2.3 Requesting for praising Tom for his innovative idea, even if it is feasible: I request you all to help Tom in gaining his confidence and pride back in team and applausing his effort for the given task and his innovative thinking. Also we should feel proud to have a sincere team member like him.
Answer part (3):
3.1 Giving equal oppurtunity and time to each team member to present his idea.
3.2 Conducting a special Questioning and answer hour for feasibility of each idea after few days to allow some time for research by each team member. This will allow team members to understand what requirements there idea lacks and also brings about quick improvement in idea.
3.3 Selecting top 2 ideas and making other member to work on each others ideas for bringing the product into production. So that no one feels like working alone and work more on developing product.
3.4 Conducting a short Appraisal and Feedback meeting within Team only where each member gives points to other members research and innovation even if it did not turned out to be feasible. The one who gets maximum points gives a small tea-time party to all team members. This would help in maintaining heathy competition and friendly environment within team.
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