West Coast Transit Case Study

West Coast Transit West Coast Transit is a small chart airline and who offers affordable, hourly flights in California to neighboring states. West Coast Transit is known for its friendly and employeecentered culture, however the one complaint is that there is of the demand of the employees in the turnaround demand. In the following essay, the management of effective teams at West Coast Transit with a focus on the stages of team development, behavioral roles, communication, conflict and conflict management, leadership, and the application of motivation theories will be discussed. Effective Teams The three criteria for evaluating effective teams in an organization is achievement of levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and future viability. Team performance is the capacity to achieve an organizations goals and objectives that will lead to an improved outcome for team members and outcomes that are produced or influenced by a team (Cooke & Hilton, 2015). Member satisfaction is where an individual can take pleasure from the team’s accomplishments and contributions, and future viability is where the social fabric and work climate that allow members to be able and willing to work well together in the future as needed (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). The organizational leadership team at West Coast Transit is not an effective one based on the criteria of effective teams. The leadership team consists of the following: the vice president of marketing Bernie Hollis, manager of the marketing department Pete Denson, and managers of Lea Jing, Jon Mahonney, and Katarina Tanney. The first aspect, team performance, was not met due to the concerns that the time, agenda, and workloads are not attainable (Oke, n.d.). The second aspect, member satisfaction, was not satisfied by the organization by not paying for overtime or support given to complete projects (Oke, n.d.). The third aspect, future viability, was not apparent in any team members. For example, Jing, did not seem particularly interested in assisting the team in meeting the project deadline due to her relocating to another department (Oke, n.d.). Tensions were present across the entire leadership team that affected how the group would work together. The ineffectiveness of the leadership of this organizational team began within the give stages of the group formation or in the team development. Five Stages of Group Formation There are five stages in the team development or group formation which are the forming stage, storming stage, norming stage, performing stage, and adjourning stage. The forming stage is where the initial meeting occurs and interpersonal testing and connections are made, the storming stage is where interpersonal conflicts can occur and is the most critical stage in team development, the norming stage is where individuals in a team begin to cooperate and is the second portion of the critical stage in team development, the performing stage is where the team is has a more stable and clear structure, motivated by team goals, and refine how the team is to operate and build relations, and the adjourning stage is where team members prepare closure and disbandment (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). The stage of team development that the managers of West Coast Point are in are the storming stage. Storming is a critical stage in team development and can be filled with tensions, emotions, and hard to move to the next stage (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). The forming of the team began with an initial meeting at 4:30 p.m. on a Tuesday to discuss a marketing strategy to improve the sales at West Coast Point within the next six weeks, however during the meeting the agenda presented was not attainable according to two of the managers (Oke, n.d.). During the forming stage, it is crucial to form relationships with those involved by establishing relationships, getting acquainted, and how others perceive the task of the team. While Denson did provide the agenda for what tasks were expected prior to the meeting, the other components were missing in establishing positive relations with the managers that would transition in to the second stage of the team development and caused for the ineffective team development to occur such as the tensions that arose between Denson and Tanney. Behavioral Roles The three behavioral roles that Edgar Schein identifies within a team is the tough battler, friendly helper, and objective thinker. A tough battler is defined as a person who is frustrated by a lack of identity in a new group and who may act aggressively or reject authority (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). In the team that was formed the individual that fits this role would be Denson because he acts with aggression and forcefulness when the other managers raise concerns about the workload by stating “we all have problems, we all have complaints, let’s just all get it out now” (Oke, n.d.). A friendly helper is defined as a person who shows support for others, behaves in a dependent way, and seeks allies in subgroups or cliques (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). The role of the friendly helper can be seen in Mahonney as he attempts to maintain a positive relationship with Tanney and Jing to maintain the comradery of the team (Oke, n.d.). An objective thinker is defined as one who is anxious about how personal needs will be met in the group and tends to act in a passive, reflective, or single-minded manner and struggles to fit between the individual goals ad group directions (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). The individual who can be seen as an objective thinker in this case would be Lea Jing as she was quiet and observant during most of the meeting, but when she did speak that she only had a month left at the current department and was only focused on her needs and not that of the team. Effective Communication Effective communication is when the intended meaning is fully understood by the receiver and in organizational communication there are five elements of communication that are essential: empathy, positive communication, clarity, assertiveness, and self-reflection (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021 & Elliadis, 2020). In the West Coast Transit team, communication was not effective. The managers that participated in the meeting were not responsive or open to the information that was given to them, there was miscommunication between Denson and Tanney which caused Tanney to leave the meeting abruptly, and there was no resolution to the issue of why the managers were in the meeting (Oke, n.d.). Two Types of Conflict The two types of conflict are known as substantive conflict and emotional conflict. Substantive conflict is a fundamental disagreement on how a goal is to be obtained and how it is to be accomplished Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). In the case study, substantive conflict is evident in how the marketing team could promote the success of the newest product while dealing with small restraint, limited resources, and additional staffing not being available to fulfill the needs to be required to meet the goals of the organization (Oke, n.d.) Emotional conflict is conflict that involves interpersonal difficulties that occur over feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, and a clash of personalities (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). Emotional conflict is evident during the team meeting due to the tensions that arise between the managers. One of the managers, Tanney, regularly attends counseling after work and that working overtime would not be a feasible option for her, which her coworkers had been made aware of prior to the meeting. Denson was frustrated by the negative comments from the managers and stated that “we all have problems” and referred to her personal issues as a “complaint” which was a result of the substantive conflict turning into an emotional conflict (Oke, n.d.). Direct Conflict Management Approach A direct conflict management approach that West Coast Transit can use would compromising. Compromising is when a team shows a moderate level of assertiveness and cooperation where each party is willing to give up something of value to the other (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). This approach would be ideal and be implemented by Denson and Tanney to resolve the concerns that they both have in addresses the organizations goals and personal issues that they are facing. Denson is concerned with meeting the goals of the organization within the allocated date that was set by Hollis while Tanney is concerned about the workload, time constraints, and that she is unable to work overtime due to her personal issues. In compromising, Denson could be more considerate of the time of the team by compromising on what date and times would work best for them, offering a different method of communication such as through Zoom, and being more patient and empathetic to the other managers that are in the meetings. For Tanney, she could compromise by speaking with the team to find a time that would work best to work around her personal issues such as finding a day that she is free after work to attending meetings or by Zoom and to be able to speak to Denson on how his comments on how her personal issues were not a “complaint” and to find a way to settle their differences to come together as a team to find a solution to meet their deadline (Oke, n.d.). Compromising is one of the best styles of direct conflict management approaches that an organization can take to come to an agreement and has a positive outcome in handling conflict (Lee, 2008). Leadership, Maintenance, and Disruptive Activities Leadership is “the process of inspiring others to work hard to accomplish important tasks” and use activities known as maintenance activities that help support the emotional life of the team (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). A leadership and maintenance activity that is present in the West Coast Transit case study would be leading through maintenance activities such as when Mahonney tried to encourage the other team members and reduce the tension that was created (Oke, n.d. & Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). But, disruptive activities are in opposition to team task and maintenance activities which are self-serving behaviors that interfere with team effectiveness (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). An example of a disruptive activity that is present at West Coast Transit would the incivility and aggression that Denson shows towards the team members and Tanney withdrawing abruptly from the meeting which led to the meeting becoming ineffective and hostile for all involved (Oke, n.d. & Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). Motivation Problems and Solutions Motivation is the force that an individual has that can account for the level and persistence of an effort that is expended on a task and has three components of direction, level, and persistence (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). In the case study the three managers experienced different individual motivation problems that directly affect the function of the organization are unaligned values, lack of self-efficacy, and disruptive emotions. Unaligned values are a motivational problem that is faced by Jing as her values and that of the marketing department do not align together due to her not being motivated to contribute to the meeting when conflict arises between Tanney and Denson although she did come performed with suggestions to the agenda (Oke, n.d.). Lack of self-efficacy are a motivational problem that is faced by Mahonney as he notes that the agenda are “massive and unattainable” due to the time constraints and workloads that are being demanded of the managers and employees (Oke, n.d.). With a lack of self-efficacy, workers might believe they lack the capacity to conduct a task or not be motivated to do it due to it requiring more time and energy that they can afford to (Clark & Saxberg, 2019). Disruptive emotions are a motivation problem that is faced by Tanney as she has personal family issues that have a correlation to spending more time at work than at home and would cause more stress on her personal life (Oke, n.d.). Disruptive emotions can cause one to be unmotivated to conduct tasks, such as when Tanney abruptly left the meeting after the hostile environment that was created by Denson (Clark & Saxberg, 2019). Content Theory One content theory that could be used by Denson to motivate a member of team is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has five levels of individual needs that includes self-actualization, esteem needs, social needs, safety needs, and physiological needs (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be used by Denson to motivate Tanney would be her physiological needs. The physiological needs in Maslow’s theory are one’s physical requirements for human survival such as air, water, food, sleep, and warmth, and by promoting a healthy workforce both physically and mentally can help motivate individuals (Kaur, 2013 & Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). The team member that Denson can motivate with physiological needs is Tanney. Tanney has made it known that she has had personal issues that have stemmed directly from her work and personal life balance which has her seeking professional counseling, and in Denson understanding and motivating this need of Tanney’s that her physiological needs will come first then the organization’s needs, then this will benefit both her and West Coast Transit (Oke, n.d.). Process Theory One process theory that could be used by Denson to motivate a member of the team is the self-efficacy theory. The self-efficacy theory is the belief that an individual has that they can perform a specific task (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). There are four ways to increase self-efficacy through enactive mastery- confidence through positive experience, vicarious modeling- learning through observation, verbal persuasion- verbal encouragement to perform a task, and emotional arousal- being highly stimulated and energized to perform well in a situation (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). The individual that Denson can motivate using this theory is Mahonney. Mahonney states that the task of the agenda is “massive and unattainable considering the constraints of time and workloads” (Oke, n.d.). Denson can acknowledge that he is aware that this is a massive workload for Mahonney and his team, however, encourage him by expressing that he has confidence in him that he is able to complete the tasks within the allocated timeframe and mention past successes that he may have had regarding deadline can be ways that he can motivate Mahonney. Reinforcement Theory One reinforcement theory that could be used by Denson to motivate the team is positive reinforcement. The positive reinforcement strengthens or increases the frequency of the desirable behavior (Uhl-Bien, et al., 2021). Positive reinforcement has been proven to “directly reward the behavior you want to see continue and/or expanded… behaviors you want to see your employees engage in” by creating a momentum, consistency, being future oriented, allowing for feedback from employees, and sharing successes and achievements publicly are ways that have had a positive impact on motivation (Huhman, 2017). Denson can use the positive reinforcement theory to motivate Jing by acknowledging her achievements as a manager at West Coast Transit that have allowed for her to be relocated to a more high-profile task within the next month and ask for any feedback that she may have regarding the agenda or what might help the marketing team perform better within the next six weeks to meet their target objective (Oke, n.d.). Conclusion The management team at West Coast Transit that studied is shown to be ineffective due to the conflict that occurred during the forming and storming stage between the managers in the marketing department. In the paper, West Coast Transit’s management was discussed with a focus in the management of effective teams at West Coast Transit and the stages of team development, behavioral roles, communication, conflict and conflict management, leadership, and the application of motivation theories.