Aston-Blair Inc. Case

Table Of Contents

1. Organizational Context 3

2. Analysis 3

3. Problems Facing Bacon 5

4. What Should Bacon Do? 5

5. Roll Back - Creation of Task Force 6

Boundary Management 6

X-Teams 6

Team Process Methodology & Evaluation 6

1. Organizational Context

* The company had a great period of growth since it started in 1881, until 1990.

* The company sold its products to a wide range of customers.

* The company was affected by an economic slowdown and a declining price of gold (1990 recession).

* This economic slowdown affected the company's sales to industrial customers and jewelery manufacturers.

* These changes caused excessive inventories.

* Wynn Aston III, chief executive, decided to reexamine the company procedures for forecasting sales.

* Peter Casey (Vice president of marketing) and Chis Trott (Vice president of corporate planning) were chosen to create a task force to investigate and find a solution for this problem.

* The team selected passed through different steps: task force formation, initial meeting of task force, preparation of the task force report and the August 4 report.

* During these steps, the task force team made several mistakes that caused conflict in the presentation of the oral report and to other members of the organization.

2. Analysis

* Old-timers created resistance to new and young MBA members instead of respecting the designated positions (for example that a young member would lead the task force). This reflects insecurity demonstrated by the old-timers as well as a lack of trust in the decisions made by the top level officials in appointing the task force.

* Mistakes in the Team Selection for the Task: there was a lack of communication between sub groups, lack of knowledge on what they are doing separately and as team, lack of coordination, lack of feedback, conflicts, selection of the wrong leader for the team, marketing managers don't participate because they were busy and had been resistant to change, lack of boundaries management.

* Initial Meeting: leader not organized, some people did not participate, participation of the members not clarified, lack of synergy, consensus and lack of communication. The members did not know each other and there should have been an effort to introduce everyone, and compare goals and objectives as a team.

* Preparation of the Task Force Report: there was disorder and conflicts between members as well as a lack of cooperation. Employees acted at odds with one another rather than seeing the bigger picture and striving to achieve the common organizational goals.

* August 4 Report: hidden information, lack of preparation, wrong choice of presenter to begin presenting the report, they did not have adequate information, no feedback with other people before presentation, discord.

* Influence Dimension: lack of identification of the people that can affect the team success, fear by some members, opposition.

* Task Coordination: the task force is not demonstrating progress as a team, rather they are falling apart. VP's are getting involved and overpowering the authority of Bacon's leadership.

* Information: hidden information, that was brought to light at an inappropriate time to an inappropriate person. Meir seemed to be in it for himself and his department and was not acting like a team member to his task force. There lacks group cohesion.

* It is extremely important to manage the external environment and boundary management. If a team works together but believe that they are alone and separate from the rest of the company, the risk of failure increases.

* The need for information , feedback, and coordination has to be continuous. The lack of this was demonstrated going into the presentation and Meir felt like he was attacked as a result of Bacon withholding crucial information to support his case.

* Teams need to understand that they need to be connected with the rest of the organization and not just for their own departments (as was expressed by Meir and the Marketing Managers).

* The interaction within the task force has to consider in different dimensions: influence dimensions, task coordination and information.

* The strategy has to be accepted by each member of the team, common strategy.

3. Problems Facing Bacon

* Bacon is still relatively new in the Aston-Blair corporation and he is confronted with a serious ethical dilemma.

* Bacon must decide if he should divulge the confidential information that was given to him by Bodin who unlike Bacon, is an old timer and could get into serious trouble for providing Bacon with the information regarding the sales.

* Bodin went out of his way to stay up all night putting together this confidential