ONLINEX is a large technology company, on its way to competing with Yahoo and AOL. ONLINEX acknowledges that its success is primarily due to the performance of its project teams. Unfortunately, project team members have increasingly missed project due dates and customers have complained about the company's products and services. Sallie Masterson, the vice president of human resources, is investigating the use of teams within the company. The CEO is very concerned and has asked Sallie to develop a plan to improve the performance of the company's teams. Most teams are cross-functional and are composed of vary diverse employees with different values and needs. Many employees also work virtually. Some employees want to work at the company due to its promotional opportunities while
others desire the novelty and autonomy associated with work tasks. Once employees are hired, they experience a short orientation that focuses on human resource policies and procedures and the company's mentoring program. There is no formal training regarding group/team dynamics. Most teams rely on work product produced by other teams. This makes the teams interdependent and prone to conflict. Teams do not have shared goals and team leaders often report to different managers, making collaboration and cooperation a bit more difficult to achieve. The company tries to hire people who have teaming skills and a learning goal orientation. The company's CEO recently held a town-hall meeting to discuss industry competition and to extol the need for more effective teamwork in order to remain competitive. Some employees left the meeting feeling good about the CEO and the company's vision whereas others were more cynical. These latter employees complained about the lack of team-based rewards and poor hiring. More senior employees find some of the newly hired Millennials to be offensive and ill-prepared to work within the company culture.Sallie is staying late at work trying to come up with a plan of attack. Should she conduct an employee survey, hold town-hall meetings or focus groups, talk to customers, or implement team training? Use the 3-Step Problem-Solving Approach and the Organizing Framework to address this situation.
What will be an ideal response?
To address this situation, you need to:
Step 1: Define the problem.
Remember that a problem is a gap between a desired and current state. For example, what does ONLINEX want to do with their teams? How will this impact task performance and customer satisfaction?
Step 2: Identify causes of the problem.
Why is each of these a cause? Focus on group/team dynamics.
Step 3: Make your recommendations for solving the problem.
Consider whether you want to resolve it, solve it, or dissolve it. Which recommendation is desirable and feasible?
You might also like to view...
What are the key points of the "Issuer and Management Disclosure" of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?
When using financial performance measures, which of the following statements is incorrect?
A) Most companies use a weighted-average to determine the amount of average assets for ROI calculations. B) Average total assets are used for both ROI and RI computations. C) The limitations of financial performance measures reinforce the importance of the balanced scorecard. D) In general, calculating ROI based on the net book value of assets gives managers an incentive to continue using old, outdated equipment because its low net book value results in a higher ROI.
Explain how a firm benefits from customers who make multiple purchases versus customers who make just one purchase
What will be an ideal response?
If you are turned down for a position, employment specialists recommend writing a rejection follow-up letter to the potential employer
Indicate whether the statement is true or false