Question 1.) Andy Syms was recently appointed manager of a new project team cons

Question

Question 1.)

Andy Syms was recently appointed manager of a new project team consisting of professionals from different functional areas of the company. Some of the members have worked with each other before, but several others have not.

Help Andy build an effective team. Specifically, enlighten him about the self-oriented member concerns and behaviors that might get in the way of team development. Tell him what specific task- and relationship-oriented leadership roles he is likely to need if this team is to become effective, and why. Talk to Andy about the potential positive and negative consequences of team heterogeneity (assuming team members have diverse characteristics and backgrounds). Tell him about group cohesiveness and how this can have both positive and negative consequences for the team, and why. Draw upon Tuckman’s stages of group development in writing your response

Question 2.) Joe Schultz was a first line supervisor of a group of assembly line workers at Supreme Manufacturing, a plastics manufacturing facility. With a high school education, he had been with Supreme in this department, first as an assembly worker, then promoted as a supervisor 5 years ago. His leadership style could be described as "active, controlling and task oriented." He was of the same ethnic background as many of his subordinates (German) and would often 'kid' with them in Germanic slang at the local beer garden on Fridays after work. He was well liked by his subordinates and their work performance was among the best in the company. Joe was recognized as being highly intelligent and mechanically expert. He had taken some evening courses in engineering at the local university over the past 3 years. He had done well, maintaining a B+ average. Recently, with a respectable (although not expert) background in engineering, he was promoted to assistant supervisor in the company's drafting department. Here he had the technical skills necessary to supervise his employees, and the work he supervised was highly programmed, as it was in the assembly department. The workers he supervised were of diverse ethnic background and of mixed gender. Most of them had been in the drafting department for 8-10 years. There was a feeling on the part of some of his new subordinates that one of their own, Bonnie Melville, should have been promoted to the position; but this feeling was not too strong, as certain members of the group disliked Bonnie. Joe continued has basic leadership style (as described above) in his new job, but somehow productivity in the drafting department fell. Numerous antagonisms developed under Joe's leadership and a couple of his better subordinates resigned within a period of three months.   Explain why Joe did so very well in his old department, and encountered these problems in his new job. Incorporate into your response what you have learned about contingency theory and team building. Discuss the Leadership Grid (p.250). Also consider French and Ravens framework of social power (pp. 125-134 + lecture notes week 3) to assess the social power Joe held in his old and his new position. What should Joe do to improve his own performance with respect to his new work team? What, if anything, should Joe's supervisor attempt to do to get the situation back on track?

Question 3.)

Mr. David A. Metcalfe, age 34, is married with 2 children and he is presently the assistant production manager at LaRue Electronics Manufacturing in Greenville, PA.  He has been with the company for 5 years, having been promoted twice, from first-line foreman to general foreman, to his present position 2 years ago.  He enjoys his work, finds it basically challenging, gains a feeling of accomplishment from it and believes that there are further promotional opportunities ahead for him at LEMCo.  That is, unless corporate profits continue to sag as they have the past 2 years.  Along with the sag in corporate profits, his salary increases during this period have lagged (although not as much as some other managers at LEMCo).  He is now making $46,500 whereas other comparable firms are now paying about $54,000 for positions with commensurate responsibility.  He considers working conditions not especially good (e.g. inadequate office space and older PC type computers with somewhat dated software applications).  He is somewhat frustrated with the technical incompetence of his immediate superior (the plant production manager) and by a number of newly instituted rules and procedures which have added about 5% to the time he has to devote to routine paperwork.

Mr. Metcalfe, is spite of the above stated advantages and disadvantages of his present position, has indicated privately that he plans to continue working for LEMCo; and he continues to be a top-notch creative and productive member of the LEMCo management team.

Explain his desire to remain at LEMCo and his continued high performance in terms of any or all of the following theories as well as what you know about job satisfaction.

1. Maslow's Theory of Motivation

2. Herzberg's  Motivation-Hygiene Theory

3. McGregors Theory X - Theory Y Model

Question 4.)

Dear Professor,

I work for a China-based corporation which also has a manufacturing facility in the United States.  Here is a situation which happened recently and I would like to know what you think.  Our USA production employees used to be able to sit while assembling. However, in China they must stand. So when the execs from China came through one trip a couple years ago and saw the USA production workers sitting (yet still producing effectively), they decided to take the chairs away and make them work in an environment standardized to China. Our senior management was basically told to accept this "as is" and our employees grudgingly obeyed since production jobs remain difficult to find elsewhere. It is obviously a cultural environmental difference as I have been to the Shanghai, China facility and would have to say their production workers are more regimented which I feel is the wrong way to go in the USA.

Evaluate the decision handed down from the Chinese executives.  Incorporate what you know about cultural differences, contingency theory, job satisfaction and performance.  What do you think was the outcome here?  Do you think the workers ultimately were more productive standing to perform their jobs.

Explanation / Answer

ANSWER 1)

To build a high performing team Andy should take into consideration these team building steps:

Step 1-

The "forming" stage takes place when the team first meets each other. In this first meeting, team members are introduced to each. They share information about their backgrounds, interests and experience and form first impressions of each other. They learn about the project they will be working on, discuss the project's objectives/goals and start to think about what role they will play on the project team. They are not yet working on the project. They are, effectively, "feeling each other out" and finding their way around how they might work together.

During this initial stage of team growth, it is important for the team leader to be very clear about team goals and provide clear direction regarding the project. The team leader should ensure that all of the members are involved in determining team roles and responsibilities and should work with the team to help them establish how they will work together ("team norms"). The team is dependent on the team leader to guide them.

Step2- In this stage, the team members compete with each other for status and for acceptance of their ideas. They have different opinions on what should be done and how it should be done - which causes conflict within the team. As they go progress through this stage, with the guidance of the team leader, they learn how to solve problems together, function both independently and together as a team, and settle into roles and responsibilities on the team. For team members who do not like conflict, this is a difficult stage to go through.

Step3- When the team moves into the "norming" stage, they are beginning to work more effectively as a team. They are no longer focused on their individual goals, but rather are focused on developing a way of working together (processes and procedures). They respect each other's opinions and value their differences. They begin to see the value in those differences on the team. Working together as a team seems more natural. In this stage, the team has agreed on their team rules for working together, how they will share information and resolve team conflict, and what tools and processes they will use to get the job done. The team members begin to trust each other and actively seek each other out for assistance and input. Rather than compete against each other, they are now helping each other to work toward a common goal. The team members also start to make significant progress on the project as they begin working together more effectively.In this stage, the team leader may not be as involved in decision making and problem solving since the team members are working better together and can take on more responsibility in these areas.

Step 4- In the "performing" stage, teams are functioning at a very high level. The focus is on reaching the goal as a group. The team members have gotten to know each other, trust each other and rely on each other.In this stage, the team leader is not involved in decision making, problem solving or other such activities involving the day-to-day work of the team. The team members work effectively as a group and do not need the oversight that is required at the other stages. The team leader will continue to monitor the progress of the team and celebrate milestone achievements with the team to continue to build team camaraderie

Step5- In the "adjourning" stage the project is coming to an end and the team members are moving off into different directions. This stage looks at the team from the perspective of the well-being of the team rather than from the perspective of managing a team through the original four stages of team growth.The team leader should ensure that there is time for the team to celebrate the success of the project and capture best practices for future use.

Andy should ensure that there is proper team hetrogenity by taking into consideration the follwing:

ANSWER2) FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP STYLE

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse Q
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.