Organizational Capability and Managing Project Teams Discussion – Description
Chapter 4: Organizational Capability: Structure, Culture, and Roles
Functional organizations
Project sized organizations.
Matrix organizations
Organizational culture
Project lifecycle standards.
Wall Street Journal Articles
“Kroger Spent Hundreds of Millions on Tech Before Covid-19, but It Wasn’t Enough,” Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/krogers-tech-bets-fell-short-during-coronavirus-11599736720 (Links to an external site.)
“Amazon names Doug Herrington as new boss of world wide stores,” Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-names-doug-herrington-as-new-boss-of-worldwide-stores-11655832770?mod=Searchresults_pos6&page=1Links to an external site.
Describe how Kroger could have used an Agile Project Life Cycle to improve the experience of digital customers. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of using Agile Project Management for this project? This is an older article, but relevant in regard to Agile Project Management.
Describe how Amazon will be able to maintain or improve the corporate culture of the company with the shake-up in senior leadership. Especially in entering a period of cost-cutting after two years of tremendous growth.
Chapter 5 is titled “Leading and Managing Project Teams” and includes the following topics:
Acquiring a project team.
Developing a project team.
Managing project conflict.
Virtual teams
Wall Street Journal article titled “Companies’ New Back-to-Work Dilemma: Who Comes First?” This link to this article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-new-back-to-work-dilemma-who-comes-first-11600488032?mod=business_lead_pos4
Assume that you have been selected as the Project Manager to develop a process for returning employees to work for a large bank. The goal for your project is to identify which employees should come back to work first, and which employees can work from home permanently. This article is from 2020 when companies thought they could figure this out in a much shorter time frame. But, three years later, companies are still trying to figure this out. And, covid restrictions are not the only variable as current workforce demands are also a variable.
Please identify the four most important characteristics of a high-performing team working on this project. Why is each characteristic important
Conflict at the bank already exists between employees that have returned to work, and employees who are still working from home. Describe which conflict resolution strategies could be used to motivate the project team to work together.
first reply
Jared
Chapter 4: Organizational Capability: Structure, Culture, and Roles
To improve the experience for digital customers, Kroger could have used an agile product life cycle to help them to adapt quicker to customer needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a traditional plan-driven project, steps and milestones are devised in advance of the project’s beginning, which can make it more challenging to shift when different iterations are needed. In an agile project management approach, project managers are provided the advantage of being more adaptable when changes in consumer digital needs arise due to establishing an initial iteration and prioritizing the most valuable work for additional steps of projects. Additionally, agile project management can help to decrease time spent on a project, cost, and overall risk of losing time to competitors, as seen with Kroger coming in behind competitors like Albertsons and Target. However, one of the challenges is knowing the proper starting point for a project like Krogers which involves digital investment. Additionally, there is a need for experienced team members who know how to adapt to an agile project management system, which Kroger may not have had at the time of this article.
With the shake-up in senior leadership at Amazon, it can be challenging to ensure that corporate culture is maintained and recognized when new leaders enter the picture. On the positive side, Doug Herrington who was moved to become Amazon’s CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores has a track record of experience as an executive and has been a part of the Amazon organization since 2005. Additionally, John Felton is also a longtime Amazon executive. Having leaders within the organization who understand the business and the culture of the company is bound to help maintain a level of consistency around the corporation’s culture. They are leaders who understand the organization, its people, and values, and will do what they can to protect that. It will also be important for Amazon leaders to encourage the company employees to keep their heads up, despite being in an environment of cost-cutting which has the potential to be detrimental to employee morale.
Chapter 5: Leading and Managing Project Teams
The four most important characteristics of a high-performing team working on a project to develop a process for returning employees to work include team members helping each other out, having all important topics openly discussed, proactively identifying and solving problems, and jointly planning the project. First, a high-performing team working on this project will be required to work together on all aspects of the project from communication to meetings with employees, which will require that help other team members when needed. Successful teams need to be willing and able to help when others need it. Second, open communication among members of the team about all important topics is required to ensure all team members are on the same page about what is needed for the project. Third, as the project progresses and employees return to work are identified, it will be important for team members proactively identify when problems arise and work with other team members to solve them. Finally, at the beginning of the project, it will be important for the team to plan the steps of the project together and how to proceed with identifying what employees should return to work.
To cultivate a positive team culture, I believe that the “collaborating/problem solving” and “compromising” approaches are the best strategies to motivate the team to work together. I believe these two strategies have the highest likelihood of being successful because they both have a medium to high concern for others. When it is shown that team members care for and are concerned for others on the team, this has the highest likelihood of generating a positive response from each party involved in the conflict.
sec reply
Mark George
Chapter 4
Describe how Kroger could have used an Agile Project Life Cycle to improve the experience of digital customers. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of using Agile Project Management for this project? This is an older article, but relevant in regard to Agile Project Management.
Kroger could implement an Agile Project Life Cycle in the same manner it would implement a traditional project, by starting with the project charter working with the customer and to identify which small projects will most improve the experience for the customer. In doing so the customer would see small immediate improvements as the team collaborates and documents what is working and what is not working. This would allow the project to adapt to changes in technology and allow the company to see if the teaming up with Ocado Group will be a success.
Some of the benefits of the Agile Project would be its ability to adapt and change while learning what works and what does not work. It would be helpful since the scope of the problem in not understand what will work for the customer and what changes will not work and need modified. It is more collaborative working with the customer. The disadvantages would be that it is hard to define when the project is completed.It would seem there would always be ways of improving the project and developing a new iteration to fix problems found in the last iteration.
Describe how Amazon will be able to maintain or improve the corporate culture of the company with the shake-up in senior leadership. Especially in entering a period of cost-cutting after two years of tremendous growth.
Amazon will be able to maintain and improve the corporate culture of the company since they are promoting from within the company. They are people leaving are being replaced with long-term employees who understand the culture of the company and are in-line with the tasks at hand in working to cut costs and develop a leaner business model. The company can improve the culture if the new senior leadership is involved in the project at hand, assesses the plans and gets all the members on track and working as a team to improve the business model. They will need to be at the front of providing rewards and feedback and solving conflicts as they arise. They also will need lead through ethical actions and be understanding to the personal culture of the people who may be affected by the cuts and show interest allowing people in the team to advance and further develop their own career.The new senior leaders should be up to the task and will bring trust into the positions with their own growth and personal development they have accomplished while working for Amazon.
Chapter 5
Assume that you have been selected as the Project Manager to develop a process for returning employees to work for a large bank. The goal for your project is to identify which employees should come back to work first, and which employees can work from home permanently. This article is from 2020 when companies thought they could figure this out in a much shorter time frame. But, three years later, companies are still trying to figure this out, and covid restrictions are not the only variable as current workforce demands are also a variable.
Please identify the four most important characteristics of a high-performing team working on this project. Why is each characteristic important?
Personal Values – important to put the project needs ahead of their own needs. Be willing to accept alternative views
Communication methods – share information freely, overcome barriers
Behavior Methods – Innovative, such as open to alternative methods using technology. Wanting to show improvement in the project
Project Methods – identify and solve problems before they happen, hold everyone accountable, plan the project together
These four characteristics of a high-performing team working on a project will help produce the highest quality project results, which will allow the members to enjoy in the reward in the knowledge they were key in the successful outcome of the project.
Conflict at the bank already exists between employees that have returned to work, and employees who are still working from home. Describe which conflict resolution strategies could be used to motivate the project team to work together.
The best strategy to solve the conflict for the project team is through the use collaboration. This would give the team the ability to have input into how to solve the conflict and allow for a win for both sides of the conflict. It would allow both sides of the conflict a chance to see each other’s prospective and work as a team to come up with solutions that allow the project to work together to achieve the desired goals.The ability of the team to communicate issues and needs would be key in the resolution strategy to work.
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