COURSE: LEADERSHIP, ENGAGEMENT, AND PEOPLE PERFORMANCE

CASE STUDY: THE TEAM THAT WASN’T

Project Submission Template

Student Name: Mohammad Anzar Draboo

Question I 1. FireArts sales in the last 3 months have been flattened.

2. Large National Glassmaking Industry begun to enter FireArt’s

niche market market and have superior resources and
technology and within time this competitor will dominate
FireArts market

3. Inefficient teamwork among the top level manager in FireArt,

especially Randy being a team blocker.

Question I 2. List and elaborate on the reasons….

Lack of Conflict resolution technique: Eric is unable to use conflict

resolution techniques effectively and efficiently in order to resolve the
rising conflicts among the team members.

Lack of Synergy: There is no synergy among the team members which

further leads to the inefficiency of performance of the team

Lack of Motivation: The motivation level of the team members is very

low both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are lacking

Question I 2. List and elaborate on the reasons

b. Randy Louderback (80 words)

• High Ego: Randy had an ego that could fill up the entire space and
continually shot down ideas of team mates.

• Lack of team work: Randy didn’t believe in team work and was of
the opinion that individuals do great work on their own and team
work doesn’t exist

• Renegade Behaviour: He never answered the questions nicely and

always wanted to disrupt the process.

Question I 2. List and elaborate on the reason.

Eric Holt (80 words)

• Never took an initiative to lead the agenda

• Did not exercise the authority and was too much of an observer

• Intimidated by Randy

• Passive and Reactive

• Never took an initiative to break functional silos

• Acted as a facilitator and not as a leader

Question II 1. Steps that Eric should adopt..…..timelines.

a. Short-term (1-3 months) (80 words)

• He needs to first develop and understand his "art" and "threshold

capabilities" and then define and develop his emotional intelligence.

• He needs to implement a team charter.

• He needs to redefine his role in the group and assume the

responsibility to act as the team's leader.

Question II 1. Steps that Eric should adopt

Medium-term (beyond 3 months) (80 words)

• Eric to meet with team members individually and as a group.

• He also needs to enable healthy conflict by encouraging transparency

and trust in the team.

• He also needs to set clear expectations and consequences early on to

both Randy and the other team members, and instill credibility /
accountability.

Question II 2. Pick any three recommendations….

a. Recommendation 1 (80 words)

• Eric should open things up through a series of team meetings in

which progress check is made, mistakes are admitted, everyone's
reaction and felling are elicited, and agreement is reached on the next
steps.

• To further support this he should talk to Jake, to have periodic

appearances in the team meeting. Eric should try to create a useful
and compatible role for Randy as a special consultant to the team,
opting for collaborative conflict resolution.

Question II 2. Pick any three recommendations….

b. Recommendation 2 (80 words)

• Eric needs to define his own leadership style. This entails using some
of the talents of a Wizard and/or a Warrior to create a new attitude,
rally the troops, and encourage some healthy conflict among the
team.

• By doing this, the team will have a strong leader who can inspire and
drive the group to completing its task at hand. He can also introduce
team performance-based rewards or recognition systems in place.

Question II 2. Pick any three recommendations….

c. Recommendation 3 (80 words)

• Eric should ensure that all subordinates remain engaged throughout

and do not feel demotivated.

• Eric should not alienate Randy and should make him feel very
important in the organisation.

• Even if they apprehend a conflict, they should not see it as a point of

hindrance but should ensure that they resort to conflict resolution.

Question III 1. Analyse Jack Derry…...Module 3

a. Sensing (80 words)

• Jack Derry was quick to realize that moving forward growth can only
be achieved when the internal working of organization is improved.

• He was embracing the changes that were happening in the market and
how National glass companies were entering in the company's niche
market. He went out and got Eric, who had a shared understanding of
the market, on board to help him during this period of change.

• Though he didn't took active participation once Eric took over and
didn't had first hand information of what issues were prevailing in the
team

Question III 1. Analyse Jack Derry…...Module 3

b. Relating (80 words)

• Jack Derry was very low on the relating aspect of leadership. He

didn't seek to be reassuring, especially in times of crisis and didn't try
to reach out to the people at FireArt.

• From the case it's very clear that there was lack of strategical and
operational networking between the leaders of different departments
and absence of non-transactional relationships, which indirectly
stems from a poor leadership where Jack didn't encourage networking
in the organization.

Question III 1. Analyse Jack Derry…...Module 3

c. Visioning (80 words)

• Jack Derry could do a lot more when it came to visioning. His plan
for coming up with a plan for company's strategic realignment up,
running and winning within 6 months was vague and lacked any
specific timelines and expectations associated with them, nor had any
vision.

• He could have adopted Hoshin planning approach. He did take a right

decision by appointing Eric, foreseeing the challenges that were in
existence.

Question III 1. Analyse Jack Derry…...Module 3

d. Executing (80 words)

• Jack Derry was satisfactory when it came to execution part of the

leadership. He mobilized a team to work on the issues at hand to
achieve positive overall growth.

• He could have been proactive in being part of team's meeting and

discuss different perspectives from them in person. Performance
metrics of the progress of the project should be discussed. Jack
should also create an open platform to have a common forum to
discuss execution plans.

Question III 2. Recommend any changes….

Recommendations (80 words)

• Jack Derry should elucidate the objective to Eric. Performance

metrics of the progress of the project should be discussed with the
team with consensus.

• Implementing organization wide Hoshin Kanri process.

• He should proactively demand Minutes-of-Meetings of progress from

Eric, which can be employed to create a sense of urgency and
encourage inclusivity.

• Team members should be suitably rewarded for completing their

objectives and the accomplishments should be communicated Inside
the organization.