Profit & Solutions Management Research Publication Series
Researched & Written by Deb (Debadip) Bandyopadhyay
The TerraCog GPS case describes a conflicting situation between departments over the launch of a new product, Aerial. The first issue is that there is a big problem between organizational groups having their own visions of goals and objectives, which leads to conflict and poor communication. For example, the sales department wants to set a low-price for the product, the production team doesn’t want to cut costs, the design and development team wants to release the product as soon as possible, as well as move to other projects, and the CFO, Becky Timmons, searches for ways to make greater margins. All these conflicts have led to a big gap in communication and cooperation during meetings where everybody blames and interrupts each other without making any effort to suggest solutions as a team. The departments work separately, which prevents them from keeping one another accountable. In addition, personal goals prevail over organizational goals. For example, Roth “was eager to prove his readiness to be the next VP of design and development” (Beer & Yong, 2008, p.4).
The second issue is that there is a lack of strong leadership, which directly contributes to the lack of structure and unclear objectives. Fiero and Whistler, as founders of TerraCog, are not engaged in the launching process and make quick decisions. Emma Richardson, as a VP and leader, shows an inability to set clear expectations for each department and set proper agendas for the upcoming meetings in order to avoid conflict. The meeting that she led broke into several conversations, (Beer & Yong, 2008) which caused confusion and indifferent attitude between departments towards project Aerial. As a leader, she wasn't able to provide any motivation for the team to concentrate on working on project Aerial. Instead, the development team “had several other ideas for new products…and Project Aerial was forcing them to put aside this more exciting project” (Beer & Yong, 2008, p.4).
The first alternative would be to resolve the issues internally. Richard Fiero would, first, recognize that Emma Richardson has not been a suitable lead for this project as she is lacking various characteristics that are necessary in a good leader. “Fiero had tasked her with moving TerraCog toward greater operational alignment and increasing cross-departmental cooperation,” which Richardson had not accomplished (Beer & Yong, 2008, p. 2). Consequently, Fiero would have to instruct Richardson to step down as project lead and, recognizing the areas for improvement, lead himself. He would need to give the teams more support and direction, and create a strategy plan that would “show the relationships between various strategic objectives and demonstrate how the objectives will enable the organization to achieve its overall mission” (Operational Alignment, 2005). Each department would have goals to meet prior to transitioning to the next department, allowing everyone to stay updated on progress throughout, and helping avoid situations where it is unclear who or what is contributing to not meeting their goals. However, this alternative would require time as it would involve establishing structure.
The second alternative would be to resolve the issues by hiring an outside consultant. The consultant would have ample experience in this field of work, as well as experience dealing with the conflicts that the teams are experiencing. The consultant would begin by having each department provide him/her with data. After completing the data analysis, the consultant would be able to pinpoint the key issues and make appropriate recommendations on how to resolve them. He/she would be able to present the data to the teams, make recommendations that would help reduce cost, help reduce finger-pointing with respect to their issues and, overall, provide clear, strategic direction. The benefit of a consultant is that his/her experience helps expedite the process of data analysis and problem solving, which is ideal when a company is short on time. A consultant is also able to give an outsider’s perspective on issues, and provide valuable insight on how to improve group dynamics and communication.
The best course of action for the TerraCog team is to hire an outside consultant because they are already late into production. According to MindTools, it’s not easy for Emma to manage a cross-functional team as each team has it’s own unique talent. Emma needs to find a way to lead the team to success and fight through outside pressure of costs and deadlines. Since TerraCog does not have an in-house consultant to address their team management issues, an outside consultant can help “analyze the current state of affairs and develop a management intervention” (Problem solving, n.d). The consultant would be objective to the company’s team dynamic, and would be great at implementing the problem solving framework to help Terracog assess it's current situation of working in a cross-functional team. “A good consultant comes in to listen, has no agenda, becomes a partner in the project to help implement a new strategy to move things forward.” (Willis, n.d). Emma can use the findings and suggestions from the consultant to come up with the best solution and decision making to improve their cross-functional team behavior as well as her own management skills going forth.
The implementation of hiring a consultant will help the organization build strong communication and improve leadership skills to solve the current business decision. Emma or the President would hire one or more consultants to teach the employees skills for improving communication, as well as develop their leadership skills (Wasburn, 2012). Emma would work closely with the consultant to build a better team and improve collaboration, which will help the company’s executive team and yield more productive results in terms of decision making and teamwork. The consultants can also analyze the department’s interactions to identify key communication issues. All of the departments involved with decision-making lack good communication, as well as problem-solving and leadership skills (Worstall, 2012). As a result, the teams are not aware of the appropriate way to achieve the current business goal. The first option the consultant could use is a combination of utilizing the Brainstorming and Affinity Techniques (“Management Consulting”, 2014). Even though these techniques seem to be simple, they may work well with this particular business decision. By implementing the Affinity Technique, the consultant gives the team a chance to suggest various solutions and focus on developing the best solutions. Moreover, Brainstorming can be useful for determining the best solutions and generating pros and cons.
The second approach the consultant could use is allowing the teams to work out their problems naturally by providing overall management. This solution involves giving the teams time to naturally solve their problems, as an impasse is natural during difficult times of problem solving (Gavett, 2013). The consultants can instill these skills in the employees by, first, observing the interactions of the employees during group discussion, as well as within each department. The consultants can also give group lessons to the employees of what leadership and communication looks like when trying to problem solve. Later, the consultants can utilize the methods from the Six-Hat Model as a guide to helping the employees brainstorm from different perspectives to better view their team dynamic issues (“Management consultant”, 2014). In addition, the introduction of trust building can be utilized to develop the concepts of respect and understanding that would be useful for good group communication and collaboration (Wasburn, 2012). By doing this, the structure of the teams’ communication will become less centered around Groupthink and more around equality, supportiveness, creative thinking and discussion.
Taking into account the issues that the TerraCog has been facing, if it continues at its current pace, it will not be sustainable in the future. In Exhibit 1 (citation, 2008, p.7), the company adapted a horizontal organizational structure. The structure of the organization has no levels of middle management between the executives and staffs (Sarna, 2013, p.3). In the Design and Development department, Harold Whistler (Vice President) supervises Director Allen Roth, which also manages Software and Firmware Design (Cory Wu) and Hardware Design (Alice Gorga) departments. When a leader is overseeing several departments, it reduces the amount of work oversight and review for opportunities (Beer & Yong, 2008, P.5). It also causes the workload to be overwhelming and increases stress (Sarna, 2013, p.5). The continuous pressure may cause miscommunication between the senders and receivers. A leader could bring out the best of individual roles and higher levels of creativity to capitalize the growth of a company (Beer & Yong, 2008). Likewise, a leader may miscarry the team in the absence of a communication policy. A communication policy could improve teamwork, decision-making, and problem solving in difficult settings without creating conflicts and negative behaviors from individuals (Robinson, L., Segal, J., & Segal, R., 2014). Perhaps, establishing a communication policy may help Executive VP Richardson improving the overall cross-departmental cooperation (Beer & Yong, 2008). According to Russell Huebsch, it is harder to foster a culture of teamwork as the business is growing (2010). TerraCog has expanded from manufacturing fishing equipment into the electronic industry. The interesting part is, the company was not always first to introduce their products to the market (Beer & Yong, 2008). The assumption to this study has led to whether TerraCog has been facing the same problems for many years in decision-making and the indecisive leadership response. Overall, this is a useful study for managers as it provides valuable insight in communication between departmental groups. Managers have the chance to put their thinking hats on, to understand how decision-making can effect an individual’s characteristics and departmental obligations.
References
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Washburn, S (September, 5 2013). How to hire a management consultant
and get the results you expect. Retrieved from http://www.dklaycock.com/pdf/h2h.pdf
Willis, C. (n.d.). Five reasons companies can benefit from a consultant. Inside Indiana Business. Retrieved from http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/contributors.asp?id=2026
Worstall, T (February, 2 2014). Why do companies hire management consultants? (March, 02 2014). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/02/03/why-do-companies-hire-management-consultants/
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http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_30.htm
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