The partners at Sterling Cooper Marketing Firm have seen an increase in company growth over recent months. While tied up in many ongoing projects, Roger Sterling has recently had to create a team to work on a major project with a local client’s new product launch. The client aims to reach as many age demographics as possible, so Roger has decided to create a diverse team with unique knowledge and ideas to work on this project. By doing this, Roger figured he would have a difficult time motivating each individual on the team to effectively accomplish this project, since each member will have separate values and be motivated differently.

Pete is a recent university graduate and the new intern at Sterling Cooper. This will be his first major project. Pete is eager to show his skills on a professional level to Roger, and the other employees at Sterling Cooper. He is a member of Generation Y and brings many fresh innovative ideas to the team. Pete is optimistic, goal-oriented, enjoys collaborating with fellow colleagues, and can effectively multi-task – all characteristics of Generation Y. Roger has noticed Pete is very ambitious, however he feels Pete only sees this internship as a stepping stone for his future career. Roger feels Pete may not be interested in the long-term success of Sterling Cooper. Ultimately, Pete is looking for a career with more complex tasks and responsibilities.

Cindy has been with Sterling Cooper for eight years and is on track for a promotion to senior management. She has been apart of a number of successful projects at the firm and has recently been recognized by her colleagues as a valuable member of the team for her quality work. Cindy has past experience as a previous small business owner but decided to go into marketing after selling her start-up. Roger saw that as a member of Generation X, Cindy, was a leader in the workplace, but she often took direction and criticism poorly. Cindy tended to work independently and possessed a very Type A personality.

Norman, an employee with over twenty-five years experience with the firm, and a senior manager has developed a very well respected reputation at the firm. He has been through many of the changes in the marketing industry, but often has a difficult time adapting to such changes. Norman has not continued to develop his skills as the marketing industry adopts new strategies, such as social media campaigns. Norman has recently been hinting to Roger that he may be retiring in the near future, and that this project will most likely be his last. Therefore, Norman may not be fully motivated to put forth his best effort with this current project. As project manager on the campaign, this will negatively affect the whole team dynamic since the team leader is not motivated to create the best work possible.

Roger was meeting with his fellow partner, Burt Cooper to discuss the future of the company. Roger pointed out the increased diversity in age demographics among the employees, creating some unique working situations in regards to motivating employees. Both partners agreed this created challenges for them when thinking of new strategies to motivate all employees since each age demographic has separate values, and therefore will be motivated differently. Roger told Burt he saw this recent project as a test pilot for new motivational strategies to use among the firm. Now, Roger has to decide how to design an effective strategy that can be used to motivate the diverse range of employees in his firm.

Questions:

How are the generations in this case different from one another?

Acting as Roger, how would you create a new motivational policy/policies for the workplace in order to motivate all employees of the firm?

How do you motivate an employee who may not be motivated because of future plans?

Explain the 5 stages of team development that Pete, Cindy, and Norman are likely to encounter as they begin working on this company project.

What overall recommendations would you make, as Roger, to the other senior partners of Sterling Cooper to keep Pete, Cindy and Norman motivated?