Date: November 16th, 2013

Personal Application Assignment Problem Solving Mr. Bruce Squires

Harshal Naik #100953980

A. Objectively describe the experience Answer: During the time that I worked for Accenture as a team lead, many a times we were faced with problem that were seemingly unsolvable. While we are often certain there is at least one answer, the solution is not objective. In fact, we are typically facing a wide array of possible choices. The situation calls for a visionary or artistic effort, not a technical one. Once found, the solution will not be obvious; it may remain controversial well into implementation. Rather than expertise, the most pressing need is for judgment, intuition, innovation, even courage.

One of my team members was only working four days a week, taking the fifth day off to follow her vocation. When I told her I really needed her to be there every day, she said her former supervisor, who was now my manager had given her permission that clearly overruled my objection. I confirmed with him that this was the case. The problem was that I was frequently travelling between 3 offices in Mumbai and sometimes to our offices in Bangalore and hence I was dependent on her to keep things running while I was away. Even though I clearly conveyed her priorities to her, she worked on whatever she wanted to whenever she wanted. The situation was that I was new to the company and she was a tenured employee. Moreover, she was the only person trained to manage our complex database. The only other person in the company who could pull data from it was on my managers staff and traveled frequently. Her reports were late to me so my reports were late to everyone else. The CEO would come to my office every morning asking for the latest numbers, which were the measure of progress in a new venture.

2. Subjectively describe your experience. I identified the problem that an employee who wasnt getting her job done and thereby was impacting my ability to do a high profile part of my job. Initially, when I realized the problem, I was confused. I had absolutely no problem with her following her vocation. However, I was unwilling to allow that at the cost of quality of the work and productivity. I decided to approach her and address the issue. She cited obtaining permission to follow her vocation from manager all the same. This restricted my authority. The only feasible solution I saw was learning to extract the required information from the database myself so I didnt have to rely on her. I was able to perform the required tasks but this caused me to report ate to meetings and reflected poorly on my professionalism. I held a meeting with my other team members and they clearly expressed their displeasure at the special treatment. Although she wasnt getting paid for the day she wasnt working, the fact remained that the task still had to be finished. This added to the existing workload led to lack of motivation and frustration of being overworked and yet being unable to meeting the deadlines. So perplexed was the situation that everyone had resentful thoughts about the situation, some stronger than others. My manager was unwilling to support my request that Sharon work five days a week.

I met with the Human Resources department. They believed her behavior was due to a personal relationship with a company executive and because of that relationship, she could do whatever she pleased with no consequences. The database being used was customized, and was far more complex than we needed given the data we required.

3. Looking back at the experience, what were the perspectives of key actors?

Answer:

Sharon: She was used to working the way she had been working. No one held her accountable for the delay and the trouble. She wasnt willing to change.

Department Chairman: My department chairman called a meeting to discuss switching databases. It became clear during the meeting that there would be no change.

Manager: My manager was unsupportive when I requested permission to replace Sharon. He argued that she had been there a long time and suggested that maybe we could compromise and have her work all five days a week after all. Human Resources Department: HR advised me to place her on corrective action status and follow the company protocol in case termination became my only option.

Team Members: My team members were unmotivated and frustrated at the direction and pace at which work was progressing. Myself: I myself was demotivated and did not look forward to work. As per HRs advice I placed her on corrective action and provided a verbal warning. What I really wanted was to transfer her to a different department but that wasnt possible since her skillset was of no use elsewhere in the company. Also, it did not seem right as I was new to the company and she was tenured. I did not want to make a negative impression on my team members. At the same time, the incomplete work was making a negative impression on my clients and managers in the meetings.

4. Why did the people behave as they did?

Sharon: She had been used to working four days a week. Also since she had been provided permission by my manager, she had taken work for granted and it was impacting her productivity causing delays in the project. Moreover, she had been working there for the last five years. Her seniority and tenure gave her considerable confidence to behave in this way. She also had a good rapport with the manager which she believed was the license to ignore her duties.

Manager: My manager had known Sharon for the past five years and developed a good rapport with her. I was informed that Sharon had been extremely productive before she took up on her vocation. This may be the reason that my manager did not her in the same light as I did. Also, since I was the lead now, perhaps the onus was upon me to get the job done despite the obstacles.

Myself: I had joined Accenture in senior position of team lead. I was anxious to get into the good books of everyone and create a lasting first impression. This may have been the reason that I placed so much emphasis on performing better. Also, since I was new to the company I was on a learning curve and I was only beginning to observe the behavioral characteristics of the employees there. Moreover, I have always been recognized as a person who will perform well. I was determined to continue that impression at Accenture. This had affected my behavior towards my employees.

Team Members: My team members were frustrated and demotivated because even though they were working hard to their capacity and in a timely manner yet it wasnt producing the desired effects. They were overworked and dissatisfied.

Relate at least two concepts from the chapter.

Answer: I did not know about the problem solving methods at the time per se. However looking back the problem after the readings and the lecture, this is the approach I followed.

Situation Analysis: I identified the situation as productivity of the work being impacted. The quality of work being produced by some parts of the team wasnt up to the standards there by causing delays in the final part of the reports. Most impact factor here was timely submission of the reports to the meeting and keeping abreast of the various functions of the project.

Problem Analysis: I identified the problem as the lack of productivity on the day Sharon did not work. Another problem was lack of motivation in the team that led to quality of the work being affected with frequent corrections and re-runs of the analysis.

Solution Analysis: In order to solve this problem, I called a meeting of my team excluding Sharon and held mind mapping session. Some of the team members suggested that Sharon be terminated. I did not see that as a solution. One of the team members suggested that we all share the workload. The problem here was that no one was trained on databases to perform work efficiently. I suggested that two of the team members be appointed for the work. Then the group expanded on the idea until the foundation of a solution was created. I advised that we should train ourselves with the databases until the management decides on the Sharons behavioral problems. We decided that two of the group members would be trained during the coming month and for that matter they may have to stay late at work until the training is done.

Implementation Analysis: I recommended to the member of the senior staff, who had ultimate responsibility for maintenance of the database, that he appoint someone from his technical group to train my team members to manage the database and automate a set of reports to run each night. This added redundancy to the team but also ensured that productivity would not be hampered in absence of one of my team member. Within a month, the two members were trained with working knowledge of databases such that either one of them could manage the database on the day Sharon would not report or the rest of the team would cover his work on the day. Looking back, I believe I followed Kolbs Model of problem solving. I did not know the model at the time though and I implemented it rather hastily. Fortunately, the solution worked and we were able to achieve the desired results.

D. 1 What did you learn about problem solving or creativity from this exercise?

Answer: I learned that problem solving is objective. There are many sides to a problem and they can be easily overlooked if I do not look at the problem objectively. As in last weeks lecture, it is easier to find who rather than what is the problem. Also, there are always more than one way to approach a problem. Moreover, problem solving is a collective effort and input has arrive from all stakeholders involved. I would not have been able to put the project back on track if not for my team members.

D.2 what did you learn about yourself?

Answer: Initially I believed that Sharon was the cause of the problem, however as I realized that my manager wasnt going to help me with the problem and regardless, I still had to put the project on track and gather required information. I began to see the problem objectively and

focused on the problem being solved rather finding a person to blame for the problem. Thus, I was able to have a clear vision of the problem and could set the priority of the tasks at hand. This experience taught me many lessons about problem solving and helped me to avoid many unforeseen problems. The ROI from how I and my team handled this problem helped open our eyes to many elements that were previously being overlooked and in the long run it helped enable us to grow as a team.

D3. What action will you take to be more effective in the future?

It is important that a problem be viewed clearly and rather I have the patience to step back and see the problem at-hand through broadened observation; I must see, beneath and beyond the problem itself. The course of action that I followed allowed my team with an additional skill added to employees which were later utilized in different projects as well.

I need to have transparent communication. I believe problem solving requires transparent communication where everyones concerns and points of view are freely expressed. Communication is a fundamental necessity. Effective communication facilitates an open dialogue between people to share ideas, solutions as well as problems and different perspectives.

It is important to enable a boundary-less environment in the team focused on cross-functional collaboration and problem solving. Also it is important that team be on track and motivated. It is difficult to effectively solve problems if the participants are not motivated to reach a solution.

I have to break down communication barriers and be open-minded. I have to carefully observe and accept the opinions of others to deal with the problem.

Also, a solid strategy must be implemented in order to solve any problem. It is important to identify the strategy to solve the problem rather than dissect the problem.

E. 1. Did you integrate and synthesize the four sections? A: Yes 2. Was the PAA well written and easy to understand? A: In my humble opinion, yes 3. Was it free of spelling and grammar errors? A. To the best of my knowledge, except a few typographical mistakes I may have overlooked.

Bibliography:

Osland, Joyce, David Kolb, Irwin Rubin, and Marlene Turner. Organizational Behavior: An Experiential Approach . Eighth ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.