West Coast Transit Case Study Case Study

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The criteria for team effectiveness include productivity, personal satisfaction, and commitment from team members to one another. In the case study of West Coast Transit, the firm is at a critical juncture in its business: a competitor is beating it in terms of pricing, sales are dropping, and the marketing team must act fast to regain market share or layoffs are very likely to occur. For Pete Denson, Lea Jing, Jon Mahonney, and Katarina Tanney, the pressure is building. Jing alone seems poised, composed and ready to tackle obstacles—but she is leaving in a month for a new assignment. Tanney is facing personal/family issues outside of work and they are weighing on her. Mahonney is calm but does not contribute much other than to place the focus back on Jing and Tanney. Denson loses his cool and explodes at the team—“We all have problems, we all have complaints. Let’s just all get it out now! Are there any other complaints?” (Grand Canyon University, 2016, p. 2)—which prompts Tanney to walk out. This paper will analyze the case study by comparing Denson’s team to how an effective team should look and operate by moving through all five of Tuckman’s stages, communicating, and leading.

Effective Teams



An effective team is one that is productive, personally satisfied, and committed to its members (Schermerhorn & Uhl-Bien, 2014). Teams should be motivated, committed by a shared sense of values, emotionally stable and supportive, and dedicated to achieving performance benchmarks (Schermerhorn & Uhl-Bien, 2014). Denson’s team in the West Coast Transit case study is not operating effectively. The team is too swamped with too many projects to be as effective as is needed. There is no sense of team members taking any personal satisfaction in a job well done. The members are clearly not committed to one another: Jing is leaving at the end of the month; Tanney is sidelined by personal issues; Pete is insensitive to what Tanney is going through at home, and Mahonney weakly attempts to rally the troops but comes across as one expecting the others to do all the work. There is no sense of a willingness to serve, to personally sacrifice for others who are experiencing troubles, or to take time to empathize, demonstrate emotional and social intelligence, or to inspire.

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Tuckman’s Five Stages



Tuckman’s five stages consist of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The forming stage is the first stage and represents the moment when the group is coming together. Often this is where anxiety, fears, doubts and questions are expressed. It is obvious that the group in the West Coast Transit case study is in the forming stage. The goal of the forming stage is for members to become focused on one another rather than on work. The problem the West Coast Transit team faces is that they quickly lose sight of this goal because they are overwhelmed by work and other issues. They need to focus on one another more thoughtfully before they can progress to the next stage.



The second stage—and what should follow for the West Coast Transit team—is the storming stage. This is where dominant members of the group emerge to lead. It is a period wherein questions of duty and leadership are answered. If the first stage is adequately mastered, the storming stage is easily passed through as well. If the first stage is inadequately achieved, the storming stage is set to be all the worse and quite possibly a serious roadblock. The West Coast Transit team is in danger of this happening.



Norming is where the group begins to act cohesively as all members settle into their roles. The performing stage follows and includes the team executing at a high level so that it can achieve its objective. The adjourning stage is the final stage in which the team has executed its responsibilities and thanks one another for their work and commitment.

Behavioral Roles



Behavioral roles play an important part in the success of a team. Schein’s three behavioral profile roles during team entry that might block team operations from progressing smoothly are: 1) tough battler, 2) friendly….....

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References

Grand Canyon University. (2016). West Coast Transit case study, 1-2.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370.

Sanchez-Nunez, M., Patti, J. & Holzer, A. (2015). Effectiveness of a leadership development program that incorporates social and emotional intelligence for aspiring school leaders. Journal of Educational Issues, 1(1), 5-9.

Schermerhorn, J. (2014). Exploring management (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN-13: 97811118620199

Schermerhorn, J., & Uhl-Bien, M. (2014). Organizational behavior (13th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN-13: 9781118517376

Schyns, B., Schilling, J. (2013). How bad are the effects of bad leaders? A meta-analysis of destructive leadership and its outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 24, 138-158.
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West Coast Transit Case The West Coast Transit case study gives an example of a team that is at odds with itself. There is lack of respect, appreciation, and aim overall. The marketing team has been tasked with rescuing the company before its competition bests it in the market place. However, the team is simply not where it needs to be: Jing is leaving soon, Tanney has personnel issues that are distracting her from work, Mahonney maintains composure but offers little in the way of positivity, and Denson loses his temper completely in his attempt… Continue Reading...

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