Question.328 - Analysis of Zoom question
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The Team That Wasn't Case #3 / ZOOM DISCUSSION CASE PROBLEM: FireArt Inc. is a company established by a family that is a pioneer in making wine goblets, beer steins, ashtrays, and other glass novelties had succeeded for nearly 80 years as a high-quality, high-price producer, catering to hundreds of Midwestern clients. Traditionally, FireArt Inc., did significant business with Fraternities and sororities. They were FireArt's steady customers. The company showcased a monumental business earning of $3million in 3 years. However, there has been a change in the story in the last 18 months, sales and production flattened. Thus Fire Art started to begin focussing on Niche markets.? There are six essential players in the company, Jack Derry is the CEO of the company, Eric Holt is the New director of strategy in the company FireArt Inc., Randy Louderback is the director of sales and marketing, Ray LaPierre is the director of manufacturing, Maureen Turner is the director of design division, Carl Simmons is Director of Distribution. Jack Derry had appointed Eric Holt as the New director of strategy in the company.? There is conflict in between the team members; Eric dreads Ray and Maureen. After introspecting the situation, Eric feels that due to lack of higher education, even Ray is highly experienced, he may be intimidated to be surrounded by other directors. Secondly, he is equally ambiguous about Maureen as she complains that the company does not appreciate its artists and it is hard for her to collaborate with another team member. However, Eric could not fathom the biggest issue is Randy. However, Randy is brilliant with his previous experience in building Advertising and market research firm from scratch. However, Randy's behavior is rude and non-empathetic, which could be a big hurdle while building a team.? The problem started with every meeting where Randy's presence meant a mockery to someone or questions about business not being taken seriously. The second meeting was no different as Randy didn't pay attention to what he was required to answer the question, he simply delegated the work to someone with utter arrogance. When some tough business questions were posed to him, especially regarding the reasons fall in sales and business, he joked around the answer. Eventually, his skepticism always brought a negative tone to the meeting, resulting in the futile discussion. While the third meeting also held the same luck as even it turned into a disaster. There were some serious issues with people coming on the same page and discussing the concerns about the company that was leading a degraded sales. As Ray began the meeting with the different impetus to generate profits to the company through making some structural design changes. Carl and Maureen agreed upon the idea. However, Randy mocked the ideas, and he was excused from the meeting While the fourth meeting ended in an argument between Ray and Eric. As Eric put forth a vision of putting the group ahead of their individual needs, Randy cut him off with a sarcastic laugh. That triggered Ray and it resulted in an ugly argument. Randy has a contrasting opinion about the team, and he feels that its the individual who comes up with a brilliant idea.? ? ISSUES IN THE CASE: 1. Lack of leadership skills by Eric:?The significant issues in the company is FireArt's sales in the last 3 months have been flattened. There is huge competition, and large national glassmaking is entering the niche market with their superior resources and technology. Within time this competition will dominate FireArts' market. There is Inefficient team management at the top managerial level, especially Randy being a non-cooperative team player. Furthermore, as a New director of strategy in the company FireArt Inc., Eric was unable to use conflict resolution techniques efficiently and effectively to resolve the issues among the higher order. He was both passive and reactive and waited too long while addressing the issues developing in the team. There was a lack of synergy among the team members, which led to the team's inefficiency of performance. There was severe lack of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the team.? 2. Lack of teamwork:?There is hardly any mutual understanding between the team members. As all the team members are triggered by Randy's innocuous behavior. It comes, easy for Randy to disrupt the proceedings and make the situation more volatile.? 3.Superiority and Inferiority Complexes:?A decrease in business sales was a result of Randy's inflated ego that is not positively contributing to the company. On the other hand, Ray is quite unsure about his identity and considers himself in the lower middle level of hierarchy. It eventually leads to a lack of cohesion in the team and hinders generating fresh ideas for the company. 4. No sustainable use of Conflict Resolution Technique: Eric could not use conflict resolution effectively. Declining the overall performance of the company. It eventually caused frustration among the team members as conflicts were not considered and remained unresolved. 5.Vague and undefined roles:?Eric has not defined the roles clearly and concisely. As the roles are not defined clearly, it always leads to confusion, creating further hindrances in providing practical solutions to the company and the individuals' well-being. Furthermore, it has enhanced frustration among the team members and subsequently reduced the overall efficiency of the team and the company.? Selected Recommendation?: Lack of leadership Skills in Eric:? Approach:?It is essential to develop a SWOT analysis in the organization. In order to bring notable changes in the company, it is vital to address the issues in FireArt as "Short tearm goas" and "long term goals" The short term goals requires the new director of strategy in the company, to focus and develop his art and threshold capabilities, then define his emotional intelligence. He needs to develop a team charter, at the same time, he has to focus on his responsibility as a team leader in the group. An important step is to redefine his role in the group. While the long-term goals would pertain to meeting his team members individually and as a group, he should enable healthy conflict by encouraging transparency and trust in the team. A strict Do's and Don'ts' would further save him from many emotional disputes that would arise from ego. Making every person in the team accountable for his actions would set clear expectations and consequences of the action. He must take the initiatives to understand the triangle of relationships, relationship to each member as an individual, relationship to the team as a whole, and each individual's relationship to team as a whole. Team meetings play a crucial role in developing a company profile. Useful and compatible roles for each employee will help in collaborative resolution. A strong leader can inspire and drive the group to complete their task, introducing a team performance-based rewards or recognition systems.? Resource Required: The trust of Advisors, it is important for Eric to take some crucial advices from Jack. As he has been into the business for a long time, it will eventually help him figure out how to deal with Randy and other co-employees. The second most important resource is to have some important insights from his failure. As he was unable to derive great revenue for the company, and deal with people. Eric needs to know how to deal with his team better and address their needs. The third resource would be a fresh perspective from an organized networking group, broadening observations and generating fresh ideas through networking will help Eric to become a better and a wise leader. Knowing the unwritten rules is also important in cultivating the habit of leading from front and offering efficient deliverables for the company.? ? Estimated Time frame: Six Months ? ? Conclusion:? One of the most crucial steps in team management is that the goals must be precise, and clearly defined. This helps the team to collaborate and work effectively. There should be interdependence among the team members, the interdependence will help the team members to contribute more effectively. As in this case, we could see that Randy mocking his team and providing them with a negative trigger and making a pessimistic mood in the company would eventually drive down the desire for employees to work. While interdependence would have the opposite effect on Randy, fostering greater teamwork, irrespective of individual greatness. For interdependence to be productive, the objectives must be clear and concise. The objectives must be conveyed to all the team members to stick to their roles, which can help them improve their skills and curtail them from moving beyond their own specified tasks. Teamwork is one of the essential component for the company to move ahead and foster a monumental growth. References: Human Capital Management By? Laura Portolese Adapted by? Dr. Faye A.? ? ? Class Module: "The Team that wasn't case study"? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?More Articles From Business Management
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