1. Just as Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney cried, "Let's put on a show!" to solve problems in their 1940s movie lives, many businesses cry "Let's build teams!" to attack problems ranging from low productivity to poor morale, high costs, and missed deadlines. Likewise, in our Week 3 Case Study, Building a Coalition, we had a team begin to form to address problems in the Washington, DC school system. Employee teams intuitively seem to be a great idea and are certainly a growing trend.
Use your newfound knowledge of teams and discuss the following three elements:
(a). Describe the stages of group development. Why is it important that managers have an understanding of the group development process? (15 points)
(b). Identify and discuss three group property or team process elements you feel are most important in building a high performing team. (15 points)
(c). Identify and discuss at least TWO factors that determine whether teams are successful
2. The use of social networking by professionals in the workplace as a means of communication is increasing dramatically. Describe how the use of social networks enhances or reduces productivity at an organizational level. Discuss how their social and work uses affect employee attitudes and behaviors.
3. In the small town of Evansville, Indiana, Amberville Textiles was not producing parachute and military blankets as it did in its height of success thirty years ago. When Joe Harley, the middle-level manager of the production department at Amberville was laid off, many employees who worked under him became apprehensive about their job security. They were aware of the current trend toward laying-off employees in the textile industry.
The termination of their manager, combined with the fact that the plant had performed only moderately well in the last two quarters, led the employees to believe that they were at a high risk of losing their jobs as well. Rumors had spread about impending lay-offs and the human resources manager was just developing the first formal inter-departmental communication network for managers to put into place the same week Joe Harley left the organization.
Analyze the current organizational and inter-departmental structure; then, prepare a clear, concise process-improvement strategy plan, which you will present in writing to the President and Human Resources Manager. Include specific examples of current communication issues and specific suggestions for improvement. Conclude with two recommendations for how the inter-departmental communication conflicts could be altered to improve accurate and timely communication and productivity within the current workforce.
4. Monica was recently promoted to the manager role for a large function in her organization that oversees global regulatory compliance for the company's products. Her prior department-Customer Complaints-is just one of the functional groups that provide input for her new department's charter. Monica is tasked with revising a set of complex processes to improve the quality and timeliness of regulatory reporting, and she has asked you for some recommendations about team format. Considering the numerous inputs and outputs of the affected processes, and the global reporting requirement, should Monica create a cross-functional team, a problem-solving team, a virtual team, or a hybrid? After careful analysis, write up your recommended team format and defend your reasons for the type of team Monica should establish.