Reference no: EM132166083

Joe must assign a project to a couple of employees. The project involves assessing and realigning the process for ordering and retrieving purchased items from the warehouse to ensure that they are delivered in a timely manner to the customer service desk for pickup. There have been a lot of complaints about long customer wait times. Joe has been avoiding assigning the project because he believes the assignment will be met with resis- tance. The project will be challenging and time consuming. It will also require two employees, which could double the amount of resistance he will receive. Joe believes that Fred Staid and Sally Ambitious would be the ideal candidates to assign to the project. Fred has an analytical mind and methodical approach to addressing problems. He would probably have a lot of great ideas about how to improve warehouse efficiency and would take a deliberate, step-by-step approach. Sally is one of Joe’s most energetic employees. She is the team leader in the warehouse, and it would not sur- prise Joe if she eventually moved to a sales or management position. Sally has good instincts about how to improve processes and has, in fact, implemented many of them already. She is a go-getter and would be a good balance with Fred’s more methodical approach. Joe anticipates the following resistance: 1. Both Fred and Sally may suggest that the customer service function is not their area of responsibility. Indeed, there is a vacancy for the position of team leader of the customer service desk, so they may argue that Joe should do the project himself, assign a couple of team members in the customer service desk to do it, or wait until a team leader has been hired. Yet, Joe and Jim Talent believe all functions are interrelated and that cross training is important. They also do not believe that any of the customer service employees possess the qualifications or drive to take on this project. 2. Joe has some reservations about whether Fred and Sally will work well together. Though generally cordial to each other, they do not spend a lot of time working together. Joe thinks they would be a good team because of their unique work qualities that are needed for the project. However, he is concerned that their personalities may clash. 3. Joe is concerned that either Fred or Sally or both will be annoyed by his continued overtures to en- courage them to collaborate. Joe has suggested that they work together on other projects in the past but was rebuffed. Joe has been patient, but this project is too important to let go. Joe is concerned that if he is too insistent, either or both individuals will be more emphatic in their refusal to work together. Then, they will build up resentment toward Joe, putting at risk a relatively good working relationship Joe currently enjoys with them. 4. Fred may express resistance because the problem does not appear to involve delivery and the loading dock, while it does involve the warehouse, which is Sally’s area of responsibility. Because of this, Fred may also think that he is not qualified to address customer service issues. Fred is also a little set in his ways and seems to focus only on the delivery function to the exclusion of any concern about other functions. 5. Though Sally is energetic, she may express resistance because she does not have the time to devote to it because of all the changes and new procedures she is trying to implement in the warehouse. She may also be resentful about the project, feeling perhaps that she is being faulted for the long wait times between the warehouse and the customer service desk. However, Joe believes that the problem is more systemic than anything Sally could have corrected through her efforts alone. 6. Sally may feel threatened by Fred’s involvement in addressing warehouse issues. She may see this as an intrusion into her “turf.” Joe must approach Fred and Sally individually and encourage them to accept the assignment and work together to accomplish the task. Procedure There are two options for selecting players for this role-play: (1) Three students volunteer to play Joe, Fred, and Sally or (2) all students pair up in groups of two. Option 1: If the first option is selected, the students who volunteered will role-play two scenes: (1) Joe engaging in collaboration with Fred and (2) Joe engaging in collaboration with Sally. Allow approximately ten minutes for each scene. All other students will observe the role-plays and critique whether the efforts to collaborate were successful. Option 2: If the second option is selected, each pair of students should role-play the two scenes, as fol- lows: (1) the first student plays Joe and the second student plays Fred and (2) the second student plays Joe and the first student plays Sally. Allow approximately ten minutes for each scene. After all students have finished their role-plays, the class will reform and discuss whether they succeeded and what challenges they faced in encouraging collaboration. With either option, players should be encouraged to fully assume the personality of the character selected. They may also be creative in adding additional facts and information regarding Joe’s need for collaboration and Fred’s and Sally’s resistance to it, provided the facts and information are consistent with the scenario and the role profiles. Though the players role-playing Fred and Sally should not be unduly obstinate, they should not willingly collaborate either unless a truly workable plan for collaboration can be achieved. Additional role-play option: To extend the role-play, consider a third role-play scenario. In this option, assume Joe has been successful in encouraging one of the two individuals to work with the other, but unsuc- cessful in encouraging the other individual. In this scenario, leave Joe out of the scenario and have the student role-playing Sally approach Fred to encourage collaboration, or vice versa. Whoever role-plays the individual being approached should continue to offer resistance, at least initially, depending on how effective the collab- orative party is in his or her approach.,

Discuss the following:

1. How successful was Joe in applying the building blocks of collaboration?

2. How successful was Joe in his attempts to encourage Fred and Sally to collaborate with him and accept the assignment?

3. What aspects of the collaborative discussion went smoothly? What aspects were more difficult?

4. What creative ways did you come up with to overcome barriers to collaboration?

5. If the third role-play option was used, address the preceding questions from the perspective of Sally or Fred.