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Group vs individual decision making
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FireArt, Inc.
Diagnosis of team ineffectiveness and corrective action plans
FireArt, Inc. has encountered a dilemma where their competitors are now able to profitably make short runs in the production of glass. Because of this competition, Jack Derry, the CEO of FireArt, Inc. has asked Eric Holt to put "together a team…one person from each division, and have a comprehensive plan for the company’s strategic realignment up, running, and winning within six months." Eric, being the newly appointed Director of Strategy, knew his overall goal and creates a formal group in order to fulfill the overall organizational mission of turning the company around. However even though a formal group is created, there is a lack of specific goals and tasks. Eric who only had experience managing working group with professional from similar backgrounds actually created a working group than a team. Moreover, the members did not interact with one another prior to coming together, and did not perceive themselves to be in a group. While the team consists of various division heads of the organization, Randy Louderback the director of sales and marketing does not believe that groups are worthwhile. Eric formed this temporary group, which would ceases to exist once the job is carried out. This group, although temporary, never really gets off the ground due to lack of leadership-management skills, lack of clear attainable goals, team structure and incompatibilities of the group members.
Team Dynamics and Structure:
One issue that is faced by the group is the lack of team dynamics as well as the pressure being felt to devise and implement a comprehensive plan in six months. Some managers create groups to aide in team dynamics as groups serve functions such as organizational, psychological, and personal. The group that Eric set up was created to generate ideas in order to beat the competition. However, due to the conflict from the team members, idea creation was never brought about. Additionally, the psychological functions that give an outlet for affiliation needs and the personal functions of increased self-esteem, increased security, and a sense of identity are never achieved. With the creation of his group, Eric was faced with a peer, in particular, that strongly believes “that groups are useless”. There are variables that affect the integration in groups of org...
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...uctive thinking will help members think better to solve problems and contribute innovative ideas. The lack of ideas is demonstrated on how the first couple of times the members met they had difficulty coming up with innovative/creative ideas on how to solve the company’s troubles. Also, when Ray, Maureen, and Carl presented their ideas they did not challenge Randy’s comment, “Let’s do everything, why don’t we, including redesign the kitchen sink!” If they had, the team could have had an open discussion on the merits of each and possibly evolved into a more cohesive problem solving group.
Lastly, FireArt Inc. is family owned business and probably Jack Derry ultimately authorizes a lot of decisions. However, for the team to be fully effective it will be important for the team to be granted decision-making authority. This will prevent the team from forming easily acceptable and non-controversial solutions to the problem. Once the team is functioning properly any ideas on how save the company must be accepted. It is also important for the team to be aware that they are anchored in organizational realities that are outside of their control and affect the success of their efforts.
Relationships are the building block for personality and are significant in children’s ability to grow into substantial individuals who can thrive in an often harsh world. Constructing lasting and fulfilling relationships is an integral part to development as the interpersonal bonds forged are not only highly sought after but also set the ground work for all upcoming expressive interactions. Relationships and attachment go hand in hand as attachment is the strong and lasting linkage established between a child and his or her caregiver. Moreover, attachment significantly influences a large capacity of ones make up as it these first relationships that teaches morals, builds self-esteem, and develops a support system. The pioneers of Attachment Theory realized early on that human beings are not solely influenced by drives but that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers greatly impact their ability to forge lasting relationships later in life. John Bowlby was first to introduce this theory to the masses in the 1950’s, and later Mary Ainsworth conducted further research to expand on Bowlby’s theory which proclaims that attachment is a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings” (Bowlby, 1969, p. 194). The attachment bond theory by both Bowlby and Ainsworth focuses on the significance of the relationship between babies and their caretakers which research has suggested is accountable for influencing impending interactions, firming or injuring our capabilities to concentrate, being aware of our emotional states, self-soothing capabilities, and the capacity to be resilient in the face of hardship. Additionally, this research has provided a framework for assisting in describing these att...
Bill of Rights, as well as the Declaration of the Rights of Man, are similar and based off of the same principles and concepts that protect the natural rights of the people. These concepts and principles were both adopted differently based on certain social situations, within the U.S. and France. Both documents seem to protect each individual’s rights and freedoms by establishing some form of a democratic government and equality amongst the general public. France had been able to do just that by eliminating the need for a hierarchy of class and power, through the French Revolution. The very structure and ideals of these documents that made them possible came from the influential thoughts and ideas of past philosophers and several different
In one corner we have a nation, fed up with the corruption and constant bullying of their big brother nation, seeking the approval of the world for a revolution. In the other corner we have a nation, bent on gaining the equality among all individuals in their state, coming together to lay down the law to their king. Both America and France had a thirst for a new equal nation and government in which power was given to the people and not to a tyrannical figure. Individuals from both of these countries sat down and wrote up a letter of declaration in demand of the freedom that they so rightfully deserved. Both of them won that freedom, as the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen flourished with success in the late 18th century. ‘How did these two important documents come about’ is the question we should be asking ourselves. What separated these two monumental letters from each other? What gave each of them their fire, their spark to gain their rights to liberty? America’s Declaration of Independence focused more on America gaining sole ownership of their nation, abolishing their connections with the British and their tyrant King George, and setting up their own government based on Natural law and equality among all men. France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen confronted the king on his neglect to the equal rights of man, laid down the basic principles of how the nation should be run, and proclaimed that the nation should be and is going to be run by the people for the people. With those key differences stated as well as several other small values, such as taxation, oppression, and security, my concern is how both methods worked so efficiently given their varianc...
In my recording, I talked about how I grew up fairly isolated from other races. I had some exposure in elementary school, but I went to a predominately white Catholic high school, I was a member at a predominately white dance studio where I spent the majority of my time after school, my neighborhood was mostly white, my family is predominately white, my friends are predominately white, as well as my parent’s friends. Race was not something that was discussed when I was growing up and I struggled to answer the questions in the recording regarding when my first experience noticing a different race was, or when my first experience discussing race was. I was also very naïve about my own White privilege, and while at first I did feel some guilty about it, I realize now that this is the journey a lot of White people must take in order to develop their racial identity. Patti DeRosa (2001) explain this in a way that really made sense to me when she wrote, “The privileges of this status remain invisible because we are seen as the norm, we are held to be the standard, we are affirmed, and our identity and experience is reflected back to us in a myriad of ways.” (pg. 6). Becoming aware of this privilege is half the battle on the road to understanding what it means to be White in our
David Fletcher is a portfolio manager with many years of experience and success under his belt. He currently is a limited partner managing an Emerging Growth Fund for Jenkins Fletcher Partnership or JFP. The company was small when David started and consisted of a CEO, Paul Jenkins, CFO, 2 financial assistance, 4 research analyses, 1 research assistant and a receptionist. David first started with JFP he hired an Administrative Assistance, Whitney to help organize his calendar, contact companies and take messages, etc. Whitney proved to be capable and eager to learn. Under David’s guidance she received her MBA and was promoted to a Portfolio Manager in training. One of her primary areas was Healthcare but she also had retail and environment. In addition, Whitney developed a solid network of contacts and was very good at annualizing the financial statements of potential business. However, David was still holding her hand and had not allowed her to invest completely without his input. Also, she was just starting to attend conferences solo. Although Whitney was helpful, David felt he needed to form a team to help with the labor intensive job of processing all the information for managing the fund. His typically day was consumed by meetings, phone calls and conferences and he could not keep this pace for the long haul. Therefore, he discussed the possible of forming a team with Paul Jenkins and several of investment firms before proceeding with the concept of a team at JFP.
Each attachment style is divided along two dimensions – the fear of abandonment and the fear of closeness. Bartholomew and Horowitz define fear of abandonment as the model of self which describes the belief of an individual to be either “worthy of love and support or not” (1991). They also define fear of closeness as the model of other which describes an individual’s belief of others; “other people are [either] seen as trustworthy and available [or] unreliable and rejecting” (Bartholomew, 1991). By combining these two dimensions, we get a model that shows the four types of attachment.
The bond between child and a caregiver is based on the child's need for safety, security and protection, which is paramount in infancy and childhood (Bretherton, 1992). One’s ability to form emotional bonds in early stages of infant development is the fundamental component of emotional development and predictor of later interpersonal functioning (Hutchinson, 2013). John Bowlby, who initially began his study on attachment by observing animals, proposed that children attach to caregivers instinctively. Evolutionary speaking, those who are able to remain close and attached to their caregivers were more likely to survive through to the reproductive stages and develop healthy attachments in their adult hood (Fraley, 2004; Hutchinson, 2013). He concluded that the infant initiates the bonding sequence but it is the mother’s behaviors which strengthens their bonding (Hutchinson, 32013). Mary Ainsworth was Bowlby’s most famous collaborator in regards to explaining human attachment and conducted experiments that demonstrated that affectional bonds between infants and caregivers are persistent and not transitory (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters & Wall 1978).
It is proven that teams who work well together perform and have a higher rate of success compared to teams who do not work well together or communicate with each other. A recent article with regards to leadership discussed the topic of group cohesion and how this is a factor for success. The article discussed several situations, one about a business company, one about a sports team and one about a military operation. The article closely analyzed the leaders of the three situations and discussed the similarities and differences between the three. The main similarity between was there focus on cohesion. The article contained facts about how the business was operating and how that in recent years, production and sales as increased drastically, and one factor for this increase was the CEO implemented a mandatory team building exercise each
Before a group can achieve the synergistic performance Jimenez is looking for it must meet three preconditions. First, team members have to approach the task at hand with the motivation to work cross-functionally and the confidence that they can produce effective solutions. In Wichita, much of the motivation came from the evident crisis in performance. Everyone in the plant knew that it was underperforming and there is no stronger motivation for action than a survival crisis.
Among them some customers are cost-conscious and they are affecting the environment of Zappos. These customers won’t affect Zappo’s business too much because this store has its feedback facility. If those customers have problems regarding price, quality or other issues, they gave positive as well as negative feedback to the website.The feedback shows that 99% of customers are happy with the service given by Zappos.Thus, cost-conscious customers are not affected much by the web store.
When first being introduced to a group, it can be quite stressful trying to figure out how you and your team members are going to function together. As with any group, there are a few milestones that need to be reached in order to ensure a functional and successful relationship. Specifically, groups need to go through Tuckman’s Group Development Stages. These stages consist of forming, storming, norming, performing, and in some scenarios, a final stage of adjourning may be reached. After participating in this assignment, we as a group were easily able to identify, and analyze, each stage of our development.
Zappos.com is a website that started off just selling shoes but now sells items such as handbags, clothing, and housewares in addition to shoes. Their company logo includes their catchy name with an explanation point as the end in the shape of shoe print which leads consumers to believe Zappos has strong feelings about the service they provide to their consumers. Zappos believe that customer service is the number one priority and is focused on cultivating repeat customers which is why they have always provided free shipping on both orders and returns; occasionally provides upgraded shipping so customers can receive their shoes the same day that they are ordered even though this is very expensive to the company; and they only show products on their website that they actually have in stock albeit they lose 25 percent of their potential business by doing so (Walker, 2009). For a compa...
This paper describes the various aspects of the Zappos case. The objective is to evaluate the depth analysis of the Zappos strategy. It enables to determine the Zappos strategy, business model & marketing strategy, and smartness of the Zappos acquisition.
Not only is this a key part of the film but also very important skills to have in the business environment as it is always changing which is why employees as well as employers have to be able to think on their feet in order to overcome unplanned obstacles that they may be faced with. Contingency plans using creativity and problem solving is essential for the business environment. An example of these skills in the movie would be when Billy and Nick lose their jobs and Billy then thinks creatively in order to get the two of them jobs at Google which solves their problem of being unemployed. Another example creative thinking and problem solving is after Nick and Billy’s group return from the club, which was on the same day as the group’s due date for the app challenge, is when Lyle wants to send a message to the girl from the club when he is drunk and this is where the group comes up with their app idea of having to answer questions when you are drunk in order to be able to send a message. This is also an idea of the SCAMPER method as substituted ideas for the app challenge since the previous night, they combined their knowledge of creating an app idea with the necessary resources, they adapted the idea to suit the needs of the app users, they modified it in order to improve it, they eliminated ideas that would not work for the app since
In order to evaluate my role within the group it is important to identify what makes a group. A group must firstly consist of more than three members, “Two members have personal relationships; with three or more there is a change in quality” of the personal relationship. (Bion 1961, p26) The group must have a common purpose or a goal in order to succeed.