Entrepreneurs versus Executives at Socabacom - Essay Example

The initial years of success made Dave, Joe, and Ryan think that they knew everything and became close-minded toward learning new skills. Besides, when senior experienced executives were appointed they had enough opportunities of learning new skills. However, these situations point to a lack of proper communication and leadership.

At this point of time when Dave, Joe, and Ryan are in trouble and are thinking of plans to shape their future, it is important to learn from their mistakes. Having regular meetings with each other is good and essential. But in the future, it should be not three of them rather it should be six of them. Managing groups and teams in the workplace is a key area of competence required by any company and this is the area in which Dave, Joe, and Ryan need to specialize. Taking into confidence the three newcomers should have been on the priority list, however, none of the three took the initiative towards this. They were more worried about their position in the company.

Though they had good communication with each other, they were not able to communicate with Cliff, Darlene, and Margaret. There should be frequent open discussions between the six of them. Such meetings would be fruitful in taking decisions on whether to partner with OfficeOne. Besides these meetings would be a stage to bring out the positive and the possible negative impact on Socaba.com. Each meeting needs to have specific goals/agenda set. This makes the team focus on one issue rather than making it a place for solving conflicts.

The strength of a company is its people, working together with a common purpose. Although methods, equipment, and procedures are important, and should constantly strive to improve them, the most valuable assets are loyal and capable people. The top management is responsible for creating a workplace of fairness, dignity, and respect. The diversity of our workforce results from a sincere effort to hire and retain dedicated people from the communities.

Conflict can be defined as a “difference of opinion.” With that definition, it is easier to see conflict as something natural to a working group. Conflicts occur as a result of a lack of proper communication between the team. Failure to share ideas and feelings allows the other person to fill in the gap with false anticipation. Then, we often suspect negative things which aggravate anxiety leading us to look for the worst. If this continues, trust becomes lower and we may become suspicious and defensive.

Differences of opinion and the resulting conflict are common to any group. When people of different backgrounds and interests come together to share decision-making, some disagreements are to be expected. Finding common ground and resolving differences will result in a stronger organization or more effective action. At Socaba.com both the new managers and the founders need to take initiative. However, it should not be a reason to avoid such a meeting. Transparency plays an important role in the success of an organization.

A lack of effective leadership or decision-making is another problem faced at Socaba.com. The new managers should have taken the initiative to train the young team.
Lack of agreement about “who’s in charge” or “how they are going to get things done” in any situation can be a source of conflict. But the three new managers with their experience should have figured out the real cause of the failure. Dave, Joe, and Ryan did not have any prior experience with VC funding, and realizing this Karen brought in three managers who were experienced.

If the founders lacked experience, it’s up to Cliff, Margaret, and Darlene to help shape the company. However, they showed their lack of leadership, by not taking charge of the situation. It is seen that Cliff lacked leadership as he should not have gone first to the VC with his problems. He should have tried to solve the problem through discussion with the founders, Margaret and Darlene before going to VC.

At this point, Socaba.com needs a team coach who would initially monitor the team and then suggest the roles and responsibilities of each team member. I agree with Ted Murguia, that if Socaba’s management team can build trust, articulate clear business goals, and accept coaching, it will be able to share the ideas essential to continued business success in a very competitive world. To reap the benefits of teamwork, one must build a team and in this case, it should involve all six of them and not three. Calling a set of people a team or exhorting them to work together is insufficient. Instead, clear action must be taken to establish a team’s role and responsibilities.

The problem with the decision on OfficeOne is an opportunity to learn. The company is not on the verge of failure, rather if the founders and the managers work together as a team, they can bring back the step-by-step success that they experienced in the initial years. Strong interpersonal commitments drive several aspects that distinguish high-performance teams. Fueled by interpersonal commitments, team purposes become even nobler, team performance goals are more urgent, and the team approach more powerful. The notion, for example, that "if one of us fails, we all fail" pervades high-performance teams. Read More