“Over his initial years, Jarrod established good relationships with his fellow mechanics. With his promotion, these relationships appear to have suffered. Do you think that Jarrod could have used these relationships to benefit the development of the team? Explain the reasoning behind your answer.”
Yes, I agree that Jarrod should have taken the opportunity of the initial good relationship to cultivate a good working relationship in the team before introducing the changes. Effective working relationships in any enterprise improve the quality of teamwork. This quality in turn influences the performance of the team. Change in the world of business is inevitable, and employees cannot avoid it (Reamer, 2001). The automotive business environment is dynamic, and thus there are always new vehicle models, which the dealers introduce into the market. At the A1 Automotive, the production was low, and Jarrod as a team leader, saw the opportunity to increase production by introducing a computer- based work distribution system that specified each job details along with a start and anticipated completion time to reduce time wastage.
However, Jarrod made the changes with no focus of his junior employees in mind. Jarrod seemed to concentrate only on production and at the expense of workers’ feelings and needs. The strategy that Jarrod could have used to introduce the changes should have to use the initial good relation to understand the behavior, culture and the needs of the mechanics. Every employee works with a certain goal besides the need to fulfill a certain want in his/her life. As Maslow observes, the workers act differently at work since they are at different stages of needs including psychological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualizations needs (Hennessey, 2011).
Therefore, it would have been better for Jarrod to use the relationship to learn the needs and expectations of most workers since it is not easy to satisfy all the employees when making changes. Nonetheless, changes can accommodate most of workers’ needs. This makes the workers feel that the management has not abandoned them besides having their best interest in mind when introducing the changes. Jarrod should have taken time to study the workers before restructuring the operations to suit the market production needs to motivate them.
“Jarrod has decided to involve his fellow team members in changing the way the team works. Describe the process that Jarrod would need to go through in order to involve the team in gathering suitable information to justify the need to change team practices.”
The first thing Jarrod should do is SWOT analysis of the work force at his disposal. Jarrod needs to check the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of the workforce. This will give him the clear picture of the people he is dealing with in day- to- day operations of the automotive unit and whether they fit the task of increasing the production.
On the strength part of the workforce, Jarrod should look whether the automotive has the right employees doing the right job in an efficient and effective manner hence achieving the results, which have been set. These employees should go the extra mile beyond their jurisdictions in executing their work to meet the expectations of the firm and the customers in general. The weakness of the workforce is having the wrong or lazy workers who have to be supervised 24/7 to do their work. When there is laxity in supervision, workers do shoddy work, and this makes an organization not to achieve its desired targets and results (Abrahams, 1999). The opportunity is getting these weak employees to turn around their mindset and mood into excellent employees who can work extra hard or getting resources to employ the right people to improve the workforce. The threat that the company may face are the possibility of turnover as well as losing competent employees to the competitors. Jarrod needs to do a proper evaluation of the whole team.
Jarrod also needs to survey through the questionnaires to know the expectations and needs of the team members before introducing the changes he intends to introduce in the organization. This will help him to design a proper expansion program for production, which will also cater and cover employees’ needs and expectations in general.
“Communication is the key to implementing a policy of change and innovation. Do you agree with this statement? Explain the reasoning for your answer using examples of how you think that Jarrod should communicate with his A1 team”
When the management introduces change in the workplace, the employees receive that change with fear and some form of resistance or rebellion. This is because these employees wish the status quo to continue. They see change as a form of retrenchment that aim at driving them out of the workplace. Thus, communicating the reasons for change is vital. Jarrod should assure the team that their work is secured, and there is nothing to panic. He should explain to them the reason behind the changes, which he intends to introduce. He should take the following steps.
- Hold a meeting- Jarrod should hold a status meeting with the whole workforce and inform them the changes that are coming and the necessity of these changes. The members should be made aware why the company needs the changes of increasing the production. He should allow the members to ask questions and clarifications where they do not understand (Middleton, 2003).
- Training and development- The team members need to be trained on the new changes before introducing new equipment, computer system or new procedures of doing work. Therefore, there is a necessity to train them properly to have a positive attitude towards the new changes.
- Professional help- Those workers who are in denial or in a panic state due to fear of losing their jobs need professional counseling and advice to cope with the new changes that are on the way. The employees who are slow in learning the new changes should be encouraged and allowed enough time to cope with the new changes.
“The existence of a conflict within a team is not always seen as being detrimental. While this may be true, Jarrod was in a situation where there was major conflict between himself and his team.”
- ” How would you advise Jarrod to handle the situation he found himself in?
- “What measures can Jarrod introduce to see if his conflict resolution strategies have been successful?”
At the start, there was a close relationship between Jarrod, the team leader and the team members. Jarrod can use this earlier relationship to cement the new changes, and thus help to ease things up for the group to work in harmony as a team. Jarrod can use the loyal workers as his ambassadors to reach and preach harmony to the rebellious workers and weed out any resistance or conflict.
In addition, he should form the proper structures and communications lines under him, which should be followed in case of complaints and disputes (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, & Lampel, 1998). Additionally, he should give instructions where necessary on how certain tasks and duties within the group should be performed and appoint team leaders who are more experienced to supervise the workers, and ensure that the duties are performed according to the set standards.
Jarrod should assign members equal roles and responsibilities within the group. When the roles and duties are distributed to everyone, the members will come into consensus that everyone is important to the group, and thus respect one another. They will not experience conflicts, since everyone will have his/her own roles. The communication lines will provide the guidelines on where to report in case of any problem or the person to consult in case of any difficulties in executing one’s duty. The structure will help in the flow of work and ease the process of monitoring the progress of work towards the desired goals of the organization.
“Jarrod took over a team that had been operating under loose rule for some time. When he took over team leadership is it appeared that he had the trust of the majority of team members. How could he have developed this trust to assist achieve his goal of increasing the productivity of the team?”
Before he took over the leadership position, the members were to talk to him and share their experiences and the difficulty they were facing in their day-to-day lives. They felt that he was one of their own and that he would understand them better. They trusted him with their secrets and lives because he was one of them.
When he took over the leadership position, nothing should have changed. However, by being their leader, they should take instructions from him. He should have shared the vision of the organization with the members (Bradford, R., Duncan, & Tarcy, 2000). The members should feel free to talk to him and have a chance to contribute to the changes intended or ask questions where they do not understand. All the members of the organization including Jarrod should have cooperated with each other for the success of the organization. The primary target (goal) of the team is to increase production and meet the market demand. In order to accomplish this in the allocated time as well as achieve the expected and desired outcome they need to work as a team and not as individuals (Lencioni, 2002). Therefore, everyone has to be onboard.
References
Bradford, R., Duncan, J. P., & Tarcy, B. (2000). Simplified strategic planning: A no-nonsense guide for busy people who want results fast! Worcester, Mass: Chandler House Press.
Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B. W., & Lampel, J. (1998). Strategy safari: A guided tour through the wilds of strategic management. New York: Free Press.
Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Middleton, J. (2003). The ultimate strategy library: The 50 most influential strategic ideas of all time. Oxford: Capstone.
Abrahams, J. (1999). The mission statement book: 301 corporate mission statements from America's top companies. Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press.
