CASE STUDY You are the team leader of a work project at Gulfview Architectural and

Engineering Services. The team has been involved in this project for a year.

During the year, the team has met weekly, every Wednesday at 8:00 A. M. It is

now time to assess the team’s successes and areas needing improvement.

Your goal will be to recommend changes as needed before the team

begins its second year on this project. You have encountered the following

problems.

• One team member, Caroline Jensen, misses meetings regularly. In

fact, she has missed at least one meeting a month during the past

year. Occasionally, she missed two or three in a row. You have met

with Caroline to discuss the problem. She says she has had child

care issues that have forced her to use the company’s flextime

option, allowing her to come to work later than usual, at 9:00 A. M.

• Another team member, Tasha Stapleton, tends to talk a lot during

the meetings. She has good things to say, but she speaks her mind

very loudly and interrupts others as they are speaking. She also elaborates on her points in

great detail, even when the point has been made.

• A third team member, Sharon Mitchell, almost never provides her input during the

meetings. She will e-mail comments later or talk to people during breaks. Her comments

are valid and on topic, but not everyone gets to hear what she says.

• A fourth team member, Craig Mabrito, is very impatient during the meetings. This is

evident from his verbal and nonverbal communication. He grunts, slouches, drums on

the table, and gets up to walk around while others are speaking.

• A fifth employee, Julie Jones, is overly aggressive. She is confrontational, both verbally and

physically. Julie points her finger at people when she speaks, raises her voice to drown out

others as they speak, and uses sarcasm as a weapon. Julie also crowds people, standing

very close to them when speaking.

Assignment

How will you handle these challenges? Try this approach:

• Analyze the problem(s). To do so, brainstorm. What gaps might exist causing these

problems?

• Invent or envision solutions. How would you solve the problems? Consider Human

Performance Improvement issues, as discussed in this chapter.

• Plan your approach. To do so, establish verifiable measures of success (including time

frames and quantifiable actions).