Reference no: EM133213003

CASE STUDY - DEEP BOREHOLES

Based in Cape Town, Deep Bore Holes sells drilling equipment around the world. Its factories in Argentina, Russia, the Czech Republic, India, and South Africa run three shifts to keep up with strong demand in developing nations. Deep Bore Holes enjoys profitability, but environmental groups have expressed concern about its impact on climate change. As executives explored their response, they saw that achieving more sustainable resource use could also make the company more efficient and create a more favourable business environment for the long term.

The executives decided to form a group called the Deep Bore Holes Willing Team, made up of representatives in each of its locations. Each facility's managers chose three employees, one each from engineering, production, and finance, with leadership skills, English-language ability, and interest in the topic of environmental sustainability. These 18 employees formed the Willing Team.

To save money as well as fuel, the Willing Team operates as a virtual team. Its members meet by video conferencing once a month. Between meetings, they share thoughts via email and on a social media style page Deep Bore Holes created for this purpose.

Initially, all the Willing Team members were enthusiastic. The Czech and Argentinean representatives even came to the first meeting with specific ideas. Other team members were inspired to prepare ideas for the next meeting, but several were concerned that the team needed a plan establishing goals and a timeline before the team addressed specific actions. Most of the meeting was devoted to debating whether to establish an action plan or refine the ideas already submitted. Frustrated, the South African representatives took one idea to their facility's management for approval and began to implement it without telling the rest of the team.

By the fourth meeting, the representatives in India and the Czech Republic were openly complaining that meetings were always scheduled at times convenient for the headquarters employees. The Chinese team members agreed; in fact, one had quietly stopped attending meetings, although she did continue to participate in the exchange of email ideas. The debate about whether headquarters should always schedule meetings lasted 45 minutes, after which no one was in any mood to discuss sustainability.

Two of the Cape Town team representatives took their frustration to their managers. The executive team investigated and decided the team needed to be unified behind a common goal. They directed the team to present three resource-saving ideas by the end of the year, and they offered a reward system to promote teamwork. The team members are each allocated 100 points a month. Whenever one team member appreciates another's actions, he or she gives that person points. All team members' point scores are viewable by the whole team on a shared website. At the end of the year, the points earned by each employee will be exchanged for cash rewards in the local currency. The executives hope the programme will motivate greater cooperation.

Question 1 What went wrong in the formation of the Willing Team? What should Deep Bore Holes have done differently? Explain. (6)

Question 2: What conditions contribute to this team's cohesiveness? What reduces cohesiveness? Discuss. (7)

Question 3: What do you think of the points plan? How should Deep Bore Hole's management help the Willing Team manage itself? Discuss. (7)