R &D

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 2

PROBLEM 2

ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION 3

Groups and Teams 3

Power and Politics 7

Motivation 12

ALTERNATIVES AND SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM 14

SOLUTION: 16

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN: 17

JUSTIFICATION OF THE SOLUTION 18

Introduction

In the Federal government, 14 divisions composed the administrative service division. The engineering service division was a smaller part to a government research laboratory. Their purpose was to design and manufacture equipment needed for experiments. There are four formal teams: the Design and Drafting Branch, Planning and Production Branch manufacturing Service Branch and the Engineering Service Branch. There are 50 people in the design group which was divided into three subgroups: two drafting sections and one checking section. There was a consistent flow between the branches that enabled projects to be completed in an efficient manner. The engineering service division worked competently with no manager for nine months. At this time, Francois Duplessis succeeded Josie Maguire, who previously held the management position. As the corporate consultants we will analyze the company current situation.

Problem

The recent change in managers within the Engineering Services Division has caused some concern for the success of the company. Francois Duplessis has developed various changes in the workplace. The changes had cause the group to be less cohesive due to poor communication and conflict. Their level of interdependence was altered which made tasks harder to accomplish. Duplessis did not effectively use his power in order for the laboratory to succeed which resulted in organizational politics. The designer and engineers were content with working together to reach their goals in the organization, therefore, being more independent caused their overall motivation to decline.

Analysis of the Situation

Groups and Teams

Within the Engineering Services Division, there were formal teams and communities of practice. A formal team can be described as "groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common objectives, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization" (McShane 234). While communities of practice are "informal groups bound together by shared expertise and passion for a particular activity or interest" (McShane 234) The formal teams consisted of the Design and Drafting Branch, the Production and Planning Branch, the Mechanical Shop Branch, and the Electronic Services Branch; all of which were mandated by management. However, there were several communities of practice, which were initiated by the employees themselves. The designers aligned themselves with the machinists to discuss progress on projects and to allow collaboration between the two departments, which in turn developed a strong team cohesiveness and time-efficient production. Team cohesiveness it the degree of attraction people feel towards the team and their motivation to remain members.(McShane 245) Also, the designers, draftsmen, and production all met and interacted frequently on projects. These communities of practice allowed for a high level of task interdependence, in which work output was exchanged back and forth between the design, production, and planning divisions. The level of task interdependence that the team was at is called reciprocal interdependence. This common exchange created high feelings of responsibility and motivation to work together towards a quality final product.

The organizational structure that existed before Duplessis' arrival allowed the individual employees autonomy and responsibility for their work. Management did not interfere with their interaction and encouraged the different departments to communicate openly with one another, rather than with supervisors. There was no formal, impersonal style to give and receive feedback on the projects, and many employed face-to-face communication.

There are two types of team composition: (1) homogenous teams and (2) heterogeneous teams. Homogenous teams include members with common expertise, demographics, skill and ethics. (McShane 239) The various teams within the Engineering Services Division were homogenous, as they were mostly divided according to common technical expertise. This permitted better interpersonal relations, and the high degrees of cooperation and coordination that was needed in developing future products and overcoming problems with present ones. For example, the designers often met socially outside of work and discussed projects, which resulted in innovative solutions. However, the communities of practice allowed the employees to tackle more complex problems as they were heterogeneous groups, formed from different departments which allowed different technical skills and opinions to collaborate on problems. Scientists and designers often went on field trips together, attended meetings and went for lunch in informal groups.

Within team development, there are five stages that a team can be at in one point in time. Many times a group will go through all five stages. The five stages include: (1) forming, (2) storming (3) norming, (4) performing and (5) adjourning. The designers were at the performing stage of team development, prior to Duplessis's arrival. This was demonstrated by their ability to solve and create alternatives for the problems encountered by the machinists. Furthermore, there was high level of mutual trust for their individual decisions, as the designers had the ability to make their on the spot decisions. They efficiently tackled these issues with minimal or no conflict or disagreement. It is further exemplified by the great emphasis they placed on task accomplishment. The designers took pride in their work and shared in the "tense excitement" of bringing a project to fruition. When Duplessis hired a group of industrial engineers the teams level of development suddenly changed. Now they were at the storming stage, the interpersonal conflicts began to arise. This started to interfere with the groups goal and team norms.

In order for a team to be effective,