Business Management Report Assignment

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BUSINESS REPORT
by Student’s Name
Code + Course Name
Professor’s Name
University Name
City, State
Date

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the Case...................................................................................................................4
Challenges........................................................................................................................................5
Actions.............................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion/ Suggestion...................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
A group of individuals,who are committed to a definite common aim, having the skills
and abilities complementary to each other, and are accountable mutually for the accomplishment
of shared goals, is considered as a team. In today’s era of corporate development, exercise to
build a team to experience the enhanced performance on basis of bonding, skills of the group as
whole and effective communication. The main purpose of building a team is to enhance
productivity. The ability to work improves when employees are pulled out from their personal or
comfort zones by breaking the emotional and political barriers. Buller and Bell (1986) observed
and stated that team building is among most popular technique for intervention in the
development of the organization (Buller and Bell, 1986).
Background of the Case
Fire Art, Inc, a family-owned company having experience of more than 80 years in
producing in selling high quality and high priced wine goblets, beer steins, ashtrays, and other
glass novelties. With the changing era in the field of technology, the company is facing
competition due to fresh entrants in the Fine Art’s niche, which was not present in preceding
years. The CEO of the company believes that new entrants are not a challenge for the company
and strategic realignment can create a hedge from any future risk.
The challenge which lies in front of the new director of strategy, Mr. Eric, when
working towards the accomplishment of a task given to him to build a team of top people from

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each department who can collectively prepare a comprehensive plan for the strategic realignment
of the company.
Primary stakeholders and their role in the case are:
a) Jack Derry CEO
b) Eric Holt Director of strategy
c) Randy Louderback Director of sales and marketing
d) Ray LaPierre Director of Manufacturing Division
e) Maureen Turner Director of Design Division
f) Carl Simmons Director of Distributions
In the given case,CEO has given a task to Eric Holt to build a team for making plans
for company’s strategic realignment. The head of each division will be the members of the team.
Challenges
The study reveals following as the challenges faced by Eric in building a team as
directed by Jack, CEO of the company.
 Lack of clarity in goals: As The team is built on the direction of the CEO “to
have a comprehensive plan for strategic realignment”, the main purpose of the
team i.e. a shared goal on which the team can be bonded is not observed. The
members of the team do not have clear vision and motivation to understand the
need for team building. In reference to theory of motivation, a team can work
together only if they have clarity about the goals. (Lin, 2014).

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 Inefficient leadership: According to leadership theory, a team requires a
person who can offer vision, purpose, plan, and direction and can bond a team
with understanding. In this situation, Eric has working experience in the field of
consultancy and not in team building which leads to faulty assumptions with
respect to Ray and Maureen Turner. In addition, he was unable to maintain the
track of discussion in each of the three meetings. In spite of preparing the
agenda for the meeting, the meeting got disrupted (Kozlowski, 2015).
 Conflict and Grudges: In reference to the theory of social identity, it is
impossible to avoid conflict between highly intellectual and opined people.
When people from top management from various division sit together to make
plans and strategies, there are high chances of a conflict. In the given case the
team was brought together to work for the organizational objective, but in the
third meeting it was clear from the frustration of Ray and as stated by him
“forget it, this is never going to work” that the team was facing conflicts among
themselves.
 Lack of Norms in the group: In the case, while analyzing the attitude of
Randy during the meeting it came to the light that the meetings have no basic
norms, which are causing disrupt to the agenda of the meeting and bring out the
frustration in the team members (Gregor, 2015).
 The deteriorating situation of business: Through the case it can be observed
that due to advancement in technology, the market is filled with new entrants
which in turn affecting the holding of the business in the market. According to

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survival theory of strategic management, a company needs to take preventive
measures to continue its survival in the growing competitive market.
Actions
The action taken in regards to overcoming the challenges has been derived from the
Team effectiveness model so that the performance of the team can be analyzed. The first and the
foremost step by Eric is to take input from the members of the team and evaluate them, develop
the measures to motivate the team to work towards the goal. It is also necessary that the team has
clarity about the goals given to them and understand the need to achieve those goals (Maloney et
al., 2019).
The suggested actions that resolve the challenges faced by Eric in building an effective
team are as follows:
 Identifying the goals of the team building: A team formed without having a
shared goal can lead to conflicts, dissatisfaction, and de-motivation. The first
proposed action on the basis of goal setting theory is to make clarity in the goal
of the team. The members of the team should have a clear vision and goals so
that they can move forward in a focused direction (Curşeu et al., 2010).
 Taking Initiative: The theory of leadership states that a group leader should
understand the psychological need of his team. Here, Eric is a group leader and
he must take the initiative to meet each member individually and address their
issues so that they can be motivated to create a bond and work together in
harmony.

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 Creating Norms: There must be a disciplined approach to working. Eric must
set the ground rules, which will be abiding by all the members of the team. In
the given case, Randy is disrupting the environment during the meeting. Based
on the theories relating to organizational culture, Eric must take necessary steps
to make Randy abide with the norms else Randy can be asked to exit the group.
 Defining the accountability: Members while working in a team are not only
accountable for their individual work, but are also accountable for the task they
perform in a group. According to the motivational theory, the success and
failure of a team can be determined on the group effort and the whole team is
accountable for the results so drawn rather than any individual.
Conclusion/ Suggestion
To build an effective team, it requires a corporate culture that is supportive. The
leader must have managerial, interpersonal skills to motivate his members and have the quality
to bind them together for a common goal. In the given case, Eric shows none of the leadership
quality, he just has an experience of consultancy which has also proven faulty in the given
situation.
To start with, the CEO of the company, Jack Derry must take initiative to meet the
team and appreciate the efforts which they have made for the accomplishment of the company’s
goal. This will motivate members and will inspire them to work further for accomplishment of
goals. Further, members of the team must understand that building a team does not affect their
individuality, rather a team performs well only when each member of the team supports the other

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members to perform his best by acknowledging and appreciating the uniqueness of each and
every member of the team.
In the given case, Randy, director of sales and marking, has close bonds with the
CEO due to which he is very difficult to handle as he has exploited and disruptive attitude. It is a
task for Eric to utilize the talent of Randy in activities relating to researching and maintaining
records for the threats and challenges coming in the way of firearms. Further, Maureen and Ray
must learn the positive side of working in a team, come out of their comfort zones, and
synchronize their efforts with that of the goals of the company. Eric can plan to address this issue
by conducting workshops on team building and the benefits that can be drawn out of teamwork.
Members of the team must also understand that communication is very important in the success
of the team, and communication includes effective speaking, effective listening, and effective
feedback so that ideas can be shared and rephrased them and make effective plans for the
accomplishment of the goals.
Thus, with the given suggestion, the members of the team can have better clarity
regarding the importance of teamwork and can put efforts to support and motivate each other.
This will initiate the process of constructing an effective strategy so that the threat of the
deteriorating status of the business is dealt in a strategic manner.
References
Buller, P. and Bell, C. (1986). Effects of Team Building and Goal Setting on Productivity: A
Field Experiment. Academy of Management Journal, 29(2), pp.305-328.

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Curşeu, P., Kenis, P., Raab, J. and Brandes, U. (2010). Composing Effective Teams through
Team Dating. Organization Studies, 31(7), pp.873-894.
Gregor, M. (2015). Task divisions in teams with complementary tasks. Journal of Economic
Behavior & Organization, 117, pp.102-120.
Kozlowski, S. (2015). Advancing research on team process dynamics. Organizational
Psychology Review, 5(4), pp.270-299.
Lin, R. (2014). The Relationships between Transformational Leadership, Knowledge Sharing,
Trust and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. International Journal of Innovation,
Management, and Technology.
Maloney, M., Shah, P., Zellmer-Bruhn, M. and Jones, S. (2019). The Lasting Benefits of Teams:
Tie Vitality After Teams Disband. Organization Science, 30(2), pp.260-279.