growing managers case study

Q;1: According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and David McClelland’s acquired needs theory identify and justify which needs dominate the 5 team members and the team leader.

Answer:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory: Team Leader

Melissa Richardson

Belongingness Needs Highly Dominating

Self-actualization Needs Moderate to High

Justifications  Richardson had personality more like an agreeable person. She was highly dominated by social needs. In belongingness she preferred friendly environment and her acceptance in team and affection as well. For example she kept thinking of pizza lunches and ice cream in Friday afternoons after achieving sale targets. She also preferred to build good communication with her team. When she came at Phoenix she was expecting a protocol from her group members and her boss Campbell. She was so social and friendly that Ruiz did easily convince her to take his resume for higher designation through his good skill of communication or while conversing friendly with her.  She was moderate to high in selfactualization because she was putting her potential to cope with her job. She had a goal too to achieve, she wanted to make phoenix one of the best sales offices but somehow she distracted from her goal and instead fulfilling the requirement of this seat she was trying to accomplish her goal in other means like building good relations with others.

Team Members

Self-esteem Needs

Self-Actualization Needs

Justifications

High

High

Hoffman had conscientiousness personality type; he had reliability, conformity and organization. Instead of being social and friendly he was hard working and put in effort to achieve his goals.  Hoffman was high at self-esteem because he was so confident about what he was doing to get maximum sales. He had also a dismissive attitude about others and he was also egoistic and status conscious because he do not like to tell any kind of information unless asked from him. And he refused so clearly to Richardson about contacting with every little momand-pop florist as well.  He was high at self-actualization because he was using his full potential to achieve his targets. Being self-actualizer he was selfdirected and was independent and resourceful. He was highly missioned in himself and he also enjoys his own company and feels comfortable being alone.

Alex Hoffman

Gregorio Torres

Social Needs Moderate

Self-esteem Needs Moderate

Justifications Torres personality traits were more like an openness to experience person. He liked to be more creative than following the pre-decided lines of doing work.  Torres was a relaxed kind of person. He always talk nicely with Richardson and quite ready to help her. For example, in June when nobody doing his paper works so she asked Torres to do some of his colleague’s

reports for them in order to meet their deadline. Richardson also asked him to meet her and a new big buyer to fulfill demands of this customer. He also had good relations in team and he kept convers them in their Spanish language.  He is moderate at self-esteem needs because he was not status conscious and egoist person but he wanted recognition through getting accomplishments by trying new ideas and was willing to change the old ways to grape customer’s attentions. He was confident about his new idea for website to manage customer’s services.

Social Needs Nick Ruiz

Self-esteem Needs

Moderately Moderately dominating dominating

SelfJustifications actualization Needs High Nick was an extraverted person. dominating He liked to meet new people and was willing to confront others.  He kept interacting people in other departments and asking about their jobs. He also knew about the product from his conversations with customers. He also built good relation with Richardson and convinced her to take her resume for sales post.  He was moderate at selfesteem because he wanted to get recognized through his ability of having lots of knowledge. He was confident about his

knowledge which he took from workers while visiting greenhouse in his free times. He was also had self-confidence.  Nick was high at selfactualization because he was ready to put each and every effort to get sales position no matter whatever it took. His attitude proved refreshing to Richardson. He was ready to use his full potential in work and in return seek growth, achievement and advancement in his career. He was so directed, and resourceful. He was highly purposed as well.

Chelsea Peterson

Safety and Security Justifications Needs Highly dominating She had a neurotic personality. She was emotionally unstable and out of control.  She was pessimistic and insecure about her job. She was nervous all the time. She was unable to build good relation with her immediate boss and to build her good impression. She criticized others in spite of having look on herself as being unskilled and inexperienced and still thought herself to be eligible for promotion to sales position. As she was openly hostile to Richardson in her first meeting.

Sarah Vega

Physiological Justification Needs Highly She was moderate at agreeableness personality type. The data dominating given for Sarah Vega was not enough to judge her personality exactly. She was not high in any level of Maslow’s hierarchy except at physiological level. Because she was so unconcerned with her work, she often came late and left soon, kept on texting on mobile. She was so careless that her work was piled on her table but she did not bother to do that. She off and on went on leaves for different reasons. Her sales were so uneven. So she just concerned with her basic needs which were fulfilled from her recent designation and she did not need something more than that.

McClelland’s acquired needs theory:

Melissa Richardson

Needs of Affiliation High

Needs of Achievement Moderate to High

Needs of Power low

Justification  Richardson had personality more like an agreeable person. She was highly dominated by social needs. She preferred friendly environment and her acceptance in team and affection as well. For example she kept thinking of pizza lunches and ice cream in Friday afternoons after achieving sale targets.  She was also moderate to high in needs of achievement. She had a goal to make phoenix one of the best sales offices. But she was a little misdirected towards others aspects like building good relationships with team members. She lacked to focus on the requirements of her new designation and through other ways she wanted to achieve her goal.

 She was so low in needs of power. She never thought of herself being an authoritative person. As a good leader she must be moderate in needs of power instead of no need of power. The use of power also needed to reshape and remold the team into her terms.

Alex Hoffman

Low

High

High

 Hoffman had conscientiousness personality type. Instead of being social and friendly he was hard working and put in effort to achieve his goals. He was the top sales man in the company and he had earned every reward and perk ColorTech offered. He achieved his sales goals in any case even he had to make phone sales outside his area.  He was so confident about what he was doing to get maximum sales. He did not like to tell any kind of information to others because he liked himself being authoritative person. Even he refused to follow the Richardson’s terms to make high sales and asked her to deal himself in his own ways.  He was very low in needs of

affiliation. He was not social and liked being alone.

Gregorio Torres

Moderate

Moderate

Low

 Torres personality traits were more like an openness to experience person. He always talk nicely with Richardson and quite ready to help her. He also had good relations in team and he kept convers them in their Spanish language.  His needs of achievement were moderate because he wanted to perform well but the communication method with customers was going on in the office did not suit him. He wanted to achieve sales through his own idea of website.  He did not want power or to be authoritative on others directly but he wanted to be distinctive from others so he could be powerful in a different way and had privileged than others. So his needs of power were low because he was just had an idea and no practical work was going on.

Nick Ruiz

Moderate

High

Low

 Nick was an extraverted person. He was moderate in needs of affiliation. He liked to meet new people. He also built good relation with Richardson. He kept interacting people in other departments and asking about their jobs.  Nick had high needs of achievement. He was ready

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Chelsea Peterson

Low

Low

High

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

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to put each and every effort to get sales position. He was ready to use his full potential in work and in return seek growth, achievement and advancement in his career. He was so focused and ingenious in order to achieve his goals. He was low in needs of power because he did not want to command on others. Peterson had a neurotic personality. She was emotionally unstable. She was insecure about her job. Her needs of power were high because these kinds of personalities want to be in power so that they can feel secure. Same case was with Peterson that she got insecure under Richardson and she wanted to get promoted so that she could be more secured and have control on others too. She also felt more insecure when she heard about the promotion of his colleague from the same designation as she had. She was so low at needs of affiliation because she was not interested in building good relations with others. And in her very first meeting with her new boss she was so argumentative in her behavior. She was low at needs of achievement too because he was not putting effort in her work to achieve something she was just criticizing others. She did not have some goals to achieve.

Sarah Vega

Moderate to low

Low

Low

 She was moderate in agreeableness personality. She was just fulfilling her basic needs from this job. She was moderate to low in needs of affiliation/social in the office with boss and her colleagues. She was not concerned more what is going on in the office or with the office work.  She was low in needs of achievement. She was not interested to put special effort to do her work even her work was compiling on her table and she did not bother to complete that. She did not have some kind of goal related to her job.  She was so low in power too. As she did not want growth so no needs of power were existed in her.

Q.3) Explain and justify how can Melissa Richardson use the Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory to improve her team’s performance, lead them effectively and motivate them? Answer The Expectancy theory states that employee’s motivation is an outcome of how much an individual wants a reward (Valence), the assessment that the likelihood that the effort will lead to expected performance (Expectancy) and the belief that the performance will lead to reward (Instrumentality) Effort

performance

Rewards

Individual goals

As given in the case study some of the team members cannot put their efforts for better performance so the following steps should be taken by Melissa Richardson by using victor Vroom’s expectancy theory to improve her team member’s performance. 1. Alex Hoffman: As Hoffman was the top salesperson in the company, and he had earned every award & received every perk ColorTech offered. As a top seller Alex show dismissive attitude and resistance to sell new stem products. So Melissa Richardson should clearly define him objectives and the performance necessary to achieve them and also tie performance to rewards. 2. Gregorio Torres: Gregorio is account representative; he seems uninterested in discussing his sales performance. But he has much creative ideas about customer service website. He also understands product and customer services, so Melissa Richardson can use Pygmalion effect to motivate and improve his performance. 3. Sarah Vega: Sarah Vega is an account representative and was new to sales. Sarah Vega is unfocused and distracted by events outside of the work. She had uneven performance and often late or absent from the office. So Melissa should persuade her to get training to

improve her job performance and also making her responsible and motivating her by praising. 4. Chelsea Peterson: Chelsea is a store merchandiser and has hostile relationship with her boss Melissa. She is more interested in sales position when opened, but have no experience & skills. However Melissa can motivate Peterson by telling her that hardworking, capable and a good performer will lead to sales position. So giving her training and helping her would be best for her. 5. Nick Ruiz: Nick is also a store merchandiser. He is very enthusiastic & knowledgeable person. Ruiz had apparently expressed interest in joining the sales team and he is ready for sales position when open. Melissa can motivate him by making him believe that whatever she says she will do. Giving training those who need, using Pygmalion effect, praising rewarding, helping those who had low performance and making her team to believe her and respect and follow her would motivate her team.

Q.4) Using the Reinforcement theory of motivation explain and justify which reinforcement technique(s) Melissa Richardson should use to motivate each of the 5 team members. What might be the pros and cons of using a particular reinforcement technique for each team member? Answer: Richardson should communicate to the team about the desired behaviors expected from them and undesired behaviors they should avoid.

Alex Hoffman Reinforcement

Ways to Motivate

Pros

Cons

Techniques

Positive reinforcement

As he is the go-getter top sales person in the company and has always achieved his sales targets he should be motivated by giving him praise, promotion, increased status and increasing the control over the job which offers challenge, or bonuses.

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Avoidance Reinforcement

Although he was a top sales person yet he has a dismissive attitude and used to ignore Richardson and never showed respect towards her. He was unpleasant, rude and argumentative. To increase the desired behavior Richardson can

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He will tend to repeat the same behavior in order to gain appreciation & reward because he is driven by commissions. It’s the best motivator that would increase his productivity & performance. It will build his confidence. Will increase the employee morale.

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Nagging, and reprimanding may generate and improve his work performance & behavior.

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Too much positive reinforcement can lead to fatigue or praise overload which can diminish the desired results and performance expected from the Hoffman. Positive reinforcement that is administered haphazardly can also cause problems, as the employees receive the same signals no matter what they do, which reduces the power of the signals. In case of Hoffman he used to behave as he wants. It does not encourage employees to strive beyond the minimum levels required. Creates a stressful environment for the employee.

Punishment

do so by setting strong routine rules, warning him that his negative behavior will be documented in his reviews, reprimanding or nagging him until he shows the desired behavior. As Hoffman deliberately defies Richardson and chooses to disobey a direct order, and not to contribute his fair share of effort to the team Richardson can Motivate him to listen to her and follow her directions by cutting down his incentives, fining, taking away the perks.

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Cutting down the incentive may correct his behavior, so here incentive acts as a catalyst to change the behavior of the employee.

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More Hostile attitude towards the manager. He will be less motivated when he will be not receiving any incentives. He can quit his job.

Gregario Torres Reinforcement Techniques Positive Reinforcement

Avoidance Reinforcement

Ways to Motivate As he was innovative and has so many creative ideas Richardson should motivate him for that by giving him praise and appreciating him, encouraging him, accepting his idea and creativity.

As his sales were low Richardson can motivate him through avoidance reinforcement too by pressurizing or nagging him to achieve his sales targets in a given time periods and telling him if

Pros 

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Cons

It’s the best motivator that would increase his productivity & performance. It will build his confidence. Appreciating him would drive him more towards the success and will increase the employee morale.

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Appreciating him just on his ideas can make him not achieve his sales target.

He will try his best to achieve the sales targets and will improve his performance to seek a reward.

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This will create a negative condition in which he will be subjected to an unpleasant situation.

he does so he will receive a reward. And if he continues to underperform she can also punish him.

Nick Ruiz Reinforcement Techniques

Ways to Motivate

Pros

He was a merchandizer who is a capable person, Positive and Reinforcement enthusiastic knowledgeable his performance was good, based on the performance Richardson can motivate him by giving him a sales position or rewarding him on his performance through bonuses etc.

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He will tend to repeat the same behavior in order to gain new position and growth. It would increase his confidence, productivity, morale & performance He can come up with creative ideas.

Cons 

Giving him a sales position or promoting him can arise conflicts among the team members on the basis of seniority and tenure issues.

Chelsea Peterson

Reinforcement Techniques

Ways to Motivate

Pros

Although she has a low performance and lacked the skills and experience she can be motivated by taking training courses to gain skills and improve the performance, and continuous motivation and encouragement by the manager to work hard can make her perform well.

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She is a pessimistic Avoidance Reinforcement person hostile in behavior and don’t pay attention towards the direction

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Positive reinforcement

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Cons

Performance can increase. Employee morale will increase. Negative attitude can end

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She might change her hostile behavior to avoid more severe

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Even after taking training courses she might not be able to develop the skills and increase the performance. she might only do the work just too attain a reward or perk and when anything is not given to her then she won’t pay attention to work She will tend to exert the minimum effort necessary to keep herself out of trouble.

given by Richardson. So Richardson can motivate her by reprimanding her to change her behavior and be cooperative with the team or also she can nag her to complete her tasks.

consequences and punishment.

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It does not encourage employees to strive beyond the minimum levels required. If negative reinforcement involves excessive anger, or threats, the person who's responsible for it could face legal repercussions.

Sarah Vega Reinforcement Techniques Avoidance Reinforcement

Punishment

Ways to Motivate

Pros

As she was totally nonserious about her work and used to come late and take leaves more often. Richardson can motivate her by reprimanding or warning her and telling her to come on time and get serious about the work. Having strong rules about the work timings can make the employees to come in time. Also she can warn her about “writing her up” and documenting lateness (i.e., give a negative response to the employee no one wants to be written up), telling her if she completes her targets and work overtime within the five days of the week then she can get a day off.

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Even after warning if she doesn’t come on time and stays non serious towards her work then

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She will come on time and will improve her performance.

Cons 

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She might change her attitude and becomes serious to avoid the danger of

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She will tend to exert the minimum effort necessary to keep herself out of trouble. She is least bothered even after warnings.

Hostile attitude towards the manager. Creates a stressful environment for the

Richardson can motivate her by cutting her work hours (i.e., take away money/income from the employee), taking away $1.00 per minute late from her paycheck, giving her a “bad” work shift or putting her on overtime. (i.e., give a bad thing to the employee: a late at night or when the employee doesn’t want to work, a time when no customers come in, etc)” or can fire her.

losing job.

employee.

Q.6: What did Melissa Richardson do right when she started her new job? What mistakes did she make? What might have helped Melissa Richardson get off to a better start?

Richardson did right when she started this job: When she came and joined the Phoenix office which was headquarter of the ColorTech company, she did so many things right. 1. When she reached the Phoenix office she took stock of her office and the supplies she would need, and made a few notes of them. 2. The next that was Saturday she returned to the office to order everything in her office so that when she will be on work at Monday she could officially start the office. 3. On the Friday when she was near to leave the office, Richardson took a quick tour of the area where her salespeople worked. Nobody was at work that day and it was only four o’clock except for the receptionist and a few administrative staff. So she got an idea at the very first day that her team needed to get into shape. 4. On the Saturday when she was arranging her office for the Monday Richardson assembled some basic information on her team that could be helpful for her to better understand her team and would be beneficial for the effective communication for reshaping her team. 5. She was so enthusiastic in doing her work at the new place as a sales manager in Phoenix. So she didn’t waste her time to call for a meeting with her team and to tell them what her goal was. 6. Then she arranged one on one talk with her each team member for better communication and after that she made some more notes on her team members about their personalities and interests. 7. She had been reading leadership books on her own and started to develop her vision and ways to share with her team. Richardson’s mistakes she made: As she did lots of good things she also did some mistakes at Phoenix. 1. From the very starting day she got to know that her team is not in shape but she didn’t took any steps to reform their behaviors.

2. The second mistake she did that she arranged a meeting in urgency at the very first day without informing in advance even after knowing that her team was not in shape and ordered. 3. She conducted a bad presentation because she could not transfer her goal to her team. 4. Another mistake she did was that she had not noticed the product ready for the customers was placed in wrong pots. This mistake would mean the team would be charged for emergency repotting costs as well as discounts offered as compensation for delayed delivery if they did not act quickly. 5. She did not have “we” perspective so that her employees could feel that they are on the same side. 6. Richardson was accused for the gender discrimination at the working place and this was claimed by Chelsea Peterson, one of her store merchandizers. And this was might be due to the communication gap between a leader and her team members. 7. She did not get any kind of knowledge about paper work and management issues which was required for this sales manager’s seat. 8. When she was given to prepare a quarterly report she took a previous quarterly report as a reference and then rebuked by her regional manager Campbell for this act. She did not take information on it because her predecessor was fired from this seat due to falsifying these reports by using previous data. 9. She was not focused on her goals instead focusing other unimportant work. 10. She did not decide the means to achieve goal in three month time period. 11. She did not have some kind of preparation for contingency situations. 12. She was not democratic at all. She did not have guts to take her member to move with her to achieve goal. Some steps which might help Richardson get off to a better start: 1. She should have taken some steps in the start to reshape the team member’s behavior so that she could remold them into her interests and for the good of the office reputation at phoenix. 2. She should inform to the receptionist on Friday for meeting so that receptionist could convey the message to the members. And consequently all could be at meeting in time. In this way she might be able to communicate with them in an effective way.

3. If she went through each area which was in her supervision she could save herself and her team members from extra costs that was charged from repotting in emergency and discounts offered as compensation for delayed delivery. Because each big-box customers received plants in plastic pots that showed its unique bar codes for price scanning and inventory management. 4. After misunderstanding with Chelsea Peterson about job promotion she that this kind of misunderstanding existed in the environment than it should be clarified at the spot and should pay equal attention to all the team members, but there was a lack from the Richardson if she covered it ingeniously she could save herself from accusation on the gender discrimination. 5. From the start if she kept focused on the goal and decided the way that how to achieve that goal and assign duty everyone in a more leadership style that definitely help her towards a better start towards success. 6. If she already understood her job requirements like paper work, management issues and process covered in the classes then she would be able to better handle paper work assigned from her regional manager. 7. If she would have an authoritative and leadership attitude with her team members then she could be able to move to betterment in achieving goals and for her job too. So she could prove herself a very effective sales manager after performing her role ingeniously. But in the she pictured the Friday afternoon pizza lunches and ice cream cart celebration she would sponsor when they exceeded their quarterly sales goals. But as a leader she should have to do something more right and important then thinking about a treat was reasonable. Q.7) Critique Melissa Richardson’s first meeting. How could she have made a stronger impact on her team that first day? Recommend some ways which will help Melissa Richardson build her team effectively? Answer: We all know that Richardson first meeting wasn’t effective at all firstly her team members were informed of the meeting just an hour before. She should have informed them early or in advance like when she visited her office on Friday she could have told the receptionist to inform every one of the meeting that would held on Monday morning. Because as Campbell wasn’t there to

introduce her to the staff. She should have come more prepared with a more detailed speech instead of short speech that would have made a stronger impact on the members. But due to her short unproductive speech no one was interested whatever she was saying and she felt a tension in the air. She should have taken an orientation or should have asked for it. Initial team meetings are where expectations are set, a feeling process occurs, and opinions get formed. She could have made a stronger impact on the team if she would have set a supervisory tone, established initial credibility, clearly communicated confidence in the new position and moreover first meeting is not about telling your team things — it’s about you asking your team questions and listening so instead of just speaking and telling she would have made her team members speak and listened to them and asking them about 

The individual and team goals

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Most important things for them to achieve this year

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Hurdles that would come in their way to achieve their goal

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Challenges they are facing

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Their expectations and their sales strategies

By doing this she would have made a strong connection with the members because this way she would have involved them in her speech and discussing goals and if any person didn’t have clear goals for the year, she should have planned on establishing them fairly soon. It’s way easier to manage people if they have clear goals. And knowing each everyone would have helped her to achieve success. Recommending ways Richardson can build her team effectively: As a manager, Richardson is to make her group more productive than it would have been without her. Focusing her energy from the first day on the things that only she, as a manager, can do. She is the leader. She is responsible for training and developing her people and for building them into a team. To build her team effectively and have a positive impact on the team it only takes insight into three key areas: Alignment, Motivation, and Performance. 

Team should have a sales process and set goals, but it works best to align those organizational goals to the team.

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Setting general routine rules and guidelines for the team members would make them more efficient and effective. For example Richardson didn’t say anything to Sarah when she used to come late there should be strong rules of coming on time and sharing ideas.

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Relationship building is the most fundamental element of leadership. Establishing strong relationships with people enables them to trust and respect you, in turn giving them a reason to follow your lead.

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Inspiring employees to work together to develop solutions to company problems. A manager who does not promote teamwork develops a staff that is apathetic toward working together.

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Stressing teamwork and cooperation; emphasizing open and candid communication both ways; and the no surprises rule (if they have problems or Difficulties, they should be brought to the new managers attention).

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Appraising the team as a whole and individually. And reward them in a social format that brings out the best in them in a way that inspires everyone.

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The most important part of her job is to motivate her employees. Start that from day one. She should find numerous ways to motivate the team members. Give them positive feedback when she can and negative feedback only when she must.

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Placing a high priority on coaching will build confidence and drive production for the team better and faster than any other single practice.

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Give flexibility to team members on how to meet their work goals, encourage employees to make suggestions and give creative ideas.

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Learning how to deal with problem or resentful employees.

Q.8) In your opinion who is at fault for Melissa Richardson’s poor performance as a Sales manager and Team Leader? Answer: The team leaders are those who can lead and direct without misuse of their power. They must be able to inspire others in a direction or greater good. They must be strong enough to stand firm in decision making and leading others without an egotistical attitude. A great team leader will encourage others to brain storm and contribute to the whole. They also lead by example and intelligently. However, with reference to case study Melissa Richardson is not a good team leader as she did not know how to lead, direct or inspire her team members. For example the

behavior of Alex Hoffman is very rude towards her but she did not take any action. Some as the one of other team member Sarah Vega who did not pay full attention towards her work and much busy with her cell phone. She also comes late on work but Melissa didn’t do anything for her this type of behavior. The sales manager is the person responsible for leading and guiding a team of salespeople. A sales manager's tasks often include assigning sales territories, setting quotas, mentoring the members of her sales team, assigning sales training, building a sales plan, and hiring and firing salespeople. Because a sales manager's compensation is tied to how many sales her team makes, she's highly motivated to get her salespeople producing. This often leads to a scenario where she micromanages her sales team, hanging over their shoulders and constantly asking for updates. As a sales person, Richardson had not been exposed to many of the management issues, paperwork, and processes covered in the classes of the manager training course. Legal issues related to human resource had been stressed repeatedly, but Richardson had little confidence in her understanding of the risks and requirements. One of the other reason of her poor performance as a sales manager is that her regional manager didn’t give her information about the duties and responsibilities of her new job. Due to all above issues she shows a poor performance as sales managers.