Developing a Work Prop - Essay Example

Work Prop Part A Ans a) Two personal short-term goals for Jose Jose requires a change in his attitude towards himself, the job and his colleagues. At the moment Jose appears to thoroughly demoralized and lacking in confidence. He has to go for training to gain some confidence. 2. The second immediate short-term goal for Jose is to fine tune his working relationship with his team members and other colleagues, so that he gets the due respect and recognition. (b) Two work team short-term goals for Jose and his team 1. Team must deliver the pending orders immediately and bring back the customer confidence in the company. It must be emphasized here that the strength of a chain is equal to the weakest link in it. 2. Proper allocation of work and responsibilities amongst his work team. For example if Jacinta has been showing some promise in work scheduling then her help must be must be taken in this field. Ans 2. (a) Responsibilities related to Jose's personal goals and work-team goals. 1. Leadership 2. Management 3. Scheduling 4. Work Allocation 5. Complaint redressal/ resolution 6. Interaction with customers 7. Delegation of power (b) A good leader owns responsibility for failures while distributing the credits for success. Therefore the thinking on the part of Jose that "it was not his fault that things are not being done in time", sends across a very poor reflection. Management looked very easy when Jose was part of the service staff - means Jose has not yet taken the word 'Manager' in the right spirit. A person not having a title/ post of manager is also supposed to manage the things. If someone thinks that only 'manager' has to manage that means either he is running away from responsibility or he is not skilled enough to manage. Jacinta is good in scheduling technique so, instead of, discouraging and suppressing her ability, Jose must try to make good use of her scheduling expertise. This will have a positive impact on the outcome of Jose's section, which in turn will enhance the reputation of Jose - the Manager. It appears Jose is ill prepared to take on additional burden, while his staff desires to have suitable work. This leaves enough room for proper work allocation. Instead of ignoring the 'same old complaints' Jose must try his best to address the issues in consultation with his staff. It is important that customer's are kept in good humor by being in regulat touch with them and updating them about the latest on their orders. Customers, if taken in confidence, do take the occasional delays in their stride. Delegation of power to suitable and capable subordinates is very crucial for smooth functioning of any organization. Reassigning the responsibilities in such a manner that if someone is not in a position to come to office for couple of days then there must be a stop gap arrangement who can take over the responsibility and the overall functioning doesn't come to a halt. For example Jose himself is feeling overburdened already therefore he must stop insisting that all communication about the installation was routed through him. Ans 3: Action Plan for Jose Goal Action/ tasks Standard applied Who Date Change in Attitude A motivated manager Behavior monitoring Jose Sept 1, 2006 Fine tuning relationship with others A cohesive team formation Team management Jose and other team members Sept 10, 2006 A good leader Leadership Training: A leader owning responsibility for failures while distributing the credits for success Leadership skill and respect from other members Jose Oct. 17, 2006 Action plan for Jose's Team Goal Action/ tasks Standard applied Who Date Mutual respect Start respecting each other's viewpoints Behavior monitoring All team members Sept 1, 2006 Fine tuning relationship with others A cohesive team Team management Jose and other team members Sept 20, 2006 Meeting deadlines All orders to be completed within the deadline The team output Team Oct 5. , 2006 Clearing the backlog All delayed projects to be completed Team output as well as customer's goodwill Team As soon as possible Better co-ordination and communication amongst team-members Healthy discussion amongst team members on issues of priority etc. Fixed meeting schedules Jose followed by team Sept. 20, 2006 Part-B Ans. (a) Performance agreement for Jose Jose has to; Become a Manageable manager Become a Good communicator Be a Team Leader Be a Motivated team member Become a good listener Develop empathy for others Be clear about his goals Be in a position of influencing others Ans. b: 1. Jose has to realize that he is a 'Manager'. And a manager is responsible for making 'things happen'. For the newly appointed manager this is the first big role change. Rather than having to actually sell products, produce software, or deliver the meals on wheels, the manager must make sure that other people do these things, and do them well. 2. Jose as a Manager must work to make the total effect of his team's work meaningful. 3. He has to quickly get to know his team's activities, the strengths and weaknesses and ensure that the team is working together, not duplicating each others work. 4. The activities will have to be balanced and focused towards an ultimate goal so that customers are delivered the final solution by the promised time. 5. Together with coordinating the activities of the team a manager must act as a facilitator as well, bringing together the disparate skills of the team so that team members can share skills and learn from one another. 6. The manager must also act as facilitator in driving the momentum of the team's energy, maintaining good morale and focusing the team on their goals. 7. Jose must encourage others to contribute, for example he must take Jacinta's assistance in Scheduling. 8. The world of work is a political world as well, and being a manager is a political job. Taking a more political role is often a hidden, unspoken part of management, but it is an important part of one's success as a manager. Being politician also means improving one's personal and professional networks. 9. The traditional role of a manager is that of commander or captain of the ship. Like Jose, in many ways this is the role model which most managers are exposed to at an early stage in their career. The command and control model has serious drawbacks though. It can mean that staff is limited in the degree of initiative they take, and constantly refer back to the manager for instructions (as has been the norm in this case), making more work in the long run. In particular long serving or skilled staff may become de-motivated if they do not have enough responsibility, or feel that they are not trusted. 10. Jose is responsible for drawing out the best in his team and ensuring that his staff's efforts become more and more effective. This can be done by helping others to improve by removing the obstacles in their way. Such obstacles might be; a. Lack of confidence b. Lack of clarity over personal and professional goals c. Confusion over which techniques and approaches to take to a situation Part C: Ans. 1 Evaluation of Jose's Performance: A good leader has to; Become a master of change: Unfortunately Jose is yet to be adjusted to the changes around him. Earn the trust of team members: Well so far his team members have been blaming him for all the shortcomings. Build enthusiasm amongst team members: Jose has failed to inculcate enthusiasm amongst the team members. Get involved: It looks very nice to pass the orders and then sit in the cabin. A leader is always 'felt' around by the team. Be a motivating force: Only a motivated leader can motivate others, which Jose is not able to do at the moment. Management looked easy to him when he was a part of the service staff. Evaluation of Team's Performance: So far the team has not acted as a team. Working under one roof and not working as a cohesive force do not form a 'team'. Team members must have an empathetic approach towards each other, which is least apparent at the moment. Team members must respect each other, which is not the case as of now. Jacinta and Toby has to give due recognition and respect to Jose as a Manager. Jose, the manager, is suffering from inferiority complex, which is not a very healthy sign for a team. Because of these factors the team has not worked to its fullest potential which has created bad impression amongst customers. Ans. 2 Professional Development and Training Plan for Jose and his team 1. Purpose: This plan outlines the requirement of training to Jose and his team basically in the following areas (respectively); How to manage and motivate your team. Work and Time Management 2. Trainee's Profile: Jose, having and IT background, has been working for the company for 7 years now. Though a technically sound person, he has not been able to cope up with the pressure of after becoming a Manager. He has not been able to plan and motivate his team to keep the deadlines. At times he himself felt apologetic about his new role. Jose's team on the other hand has been missing the deadlines quite often. Last minute changes to specifications are part of the professional hazards that one must take into stride. Instead the team members must try to supplement each other's task instead of blaming the other units for the delay. 3. Outcomes expected: Training will help Jose understand the intricacies associated with the task of management and motivational technique. Training will help the team organizing tasks. Jacinta having high level scheduling, communication and customer relationship skill must learn not annoy his manager too often. Toby must use his desire to take up new assignments in strengthening the team. 4. Course Descriptions: For each course identified above, synopsis and case studies will be taken up to which will form a basis for comparison. The training material includes materials such as lectures, viewgraphs, workshop exercises, examples, and brainstorming exercises with trainees from other units/ companies.. 5. Funding: We can prepare the total dollar cost estimate for training preparation, presentation, and travel costs (for both providers and learners). This can be done in a tabular form. Part D Ans-1: The primary goal of monitoring and control is to observe the success of our plan and its impact on the overall functioning on the company. The Monitoring and Control also provides the end-to-end monitoring processes that can used to monitor services or individual components. To assess the overall success of our plan we will observe the following procedures/ objectives; Improved overall availability of services. Greater focus on customers. An improved understanding of the components within the infrastructure that are responsible for the delivery of services. A corresponding improvement in user satisfaction with the service received. Quicker and more effective responses to service incidents. A reduction or prevention of service incidents through the use of proactive remedial action. Mutual communication amongst the team members. Relationship with other units. Ans-2 Tools that can be used to monitor and track Jose's and his teams' success: Feedback questionnaire to be filled up by customers: This can include questions regarding the timeline, work quality, timely updated information regarding the progress of the project, inclusions of all the latest inputs from customer etc. Questionnaire to be filled up by the team members: This can include question regarding the intra-group cohesion, punctuality, interest in work, interruptions, feedback from other units etc. Gantt chart: These charts are useful tools for analyzing and planning more complex projects as these Help in planning the tasks that need to be completed Give us a basis for scheduling when these tasks will be carried out Allow us to plan the allocation of resources needed to complete the project, and Help us to work out the critical path for a project where we must complete it by a particular date. CPM: Critical Path Method is a tool to analyze project and determine duration, based on identification of "critical path" through an activity network. In this method; Knowledge of the critical path can permit management of the project to change duration. A single estimate for activity time was used that did not allow for variation in activity times Activity times are assumed to be known or predictable ("deterministic") PERT: Project Evaluation and Review Technique is another derivative of the GANTT chart. It involves; Multiple time estimates were used for each activity that allowed for variation in activity times Activity times are assumed to be random, with assumed probability distribution ("probabilistic") Activities are represented by arrowed lines between the nodes or circles Over time, CPM and PERT merged into one technique referred to as "CPM/PERT". Read More