EFFECTIVE LEADERASHIP

ASSIGNMENT # 3
CASE NO.3
LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATIONGROWING MANAGERS: MOVING FROM TEAM
MEMBER TO TEAM LEADER




Submitted to: Maam Saima Naseer


Submitted by:
Munazzah Iqbal
Wajeeha Razzaq
Samar Iqbal
Hira
Maria
MBA-10


Case Summary

Growing Managers: Moving From Team Member to Team Leader, describes a fictional scenario
about a company called ColorTech Greenhouses Inc. The case describes the company, originally
located in Phoenix, as a high-tech color supplier that quickly became the largest and most global
grower in the western hemisphere. The status of the declining sales from the Phoenix division,
which once bragged of their highest production levels, was examined through the eyes of
Melissa Richardson, a recently hired sales manager for ColorTech corporate headquarters. This
case discusses the reasons for the difficulties currently confronting ColorTech.
ColorTech Greenhouses, Inc.
ColorTech was a privately held supplier of annual and perennial flowers to big-boss stores.
Along with the rest of the color industry, ColorTech was facing increased price competition as
well as a steady declination in sales. At this time, the market was experiencing a very low
demand for the flower industry. ColorTech particularly was constantly receiving pricey
customized orders, and being insisted upon for demands for lower prices.
Issues of ColorTech Sales are Falling
In an attempt to grow revenue, ColorTech was expanding rapidly through the use of vertical
integration and diversification. They operated largely in southern North America, with a few
greenhouses in the northeast and Mexico for the seasonal flowers those regions offered.
ColorTech had plans to expand into Ecuador to enter the long-stemmed rose market. They also
purchased a Columbian company that specialized in cut flowers to incorporate themselves into
the florist industry.
Management was a vast majority of the issues that arose from ColorTechs Phoenix division.
Richardson settled into her new sales management position feeling unsure of her ability to lead
teams due to the few management issues she had ever been exposed to in real life. The courses
and classroom instruction Richardson attended offered little benefit when she was left with
vague expectations from her regional sales manager, Beth Campbell.
Furthermore, the lack of communication was chaos. From Campbell, a middle manager, to
Richardson, a first-line manager, there were no guidelines for Richardson to consult. With this as
an initial language barrier, it was inevitable that Richardsons first interaction with her team
would be unclear without a strategy and plans to follow. As a result of miscommunication, and
lack-there-of, one of the greenhouses stationed in Columbia was infected with a fungus that
resulted in weeks of delay, loss customers, and ultimately potential profits for the company.
Lastly, Richardsons unassertiveness contributed largely to the issues derived from the Phoenix
division. She felt attitude from certain employees and allowed tardiness and texting through
meetings, etc.




Q.1) According to Maslows hierarchy of needs theory and David McClellands acquired
needs theory identify and justify which needs dominate the 5 team members and the team
leader (Melissa Richardson).
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory:
Dominated Need
Level
Team
Leader
Team Members
Melissa
Richardson
Alex
Hoffman
Gregorio
Torres
Sarah
Vega
Chelsea
Peterson
Nick
Ruiz
Physiological
Needs
_ _ _
High

_ _
Safety Needs
_ _ _ _ High _
Social Needs
High _ Moderate _ _ Moderate
Self-esteem
Needs
_ High Moderate _ _ Moderate
Self-actualization
Needs
Moderate High _ _ _ High

JUSTIFICATIONS:
Melissa Richardson
Richardson was highly dominated by social needs. In belongingness she preferred
friendly environment and her acceptance in team and affection as well. For example she
kept thinking of pizza lunches and ice cream in Friday afternoons after achieving sale
targets. She also preferred to build good communication with her team. When she came
at Phoenix she was expecting a protocol from her group members and her boss Campbell.
She was so social and friendly that Ruiz did easily convince her to take his resume for
higher designation through his good skill of communication or while conversing friendly
with her.
She was moderate in self-actualization because she was putting her potential to cope
with her job. She had a goal too to achieve, she wanted to make phoenix one of the best
sales offices but somehow she distracted from her goal and instead fulfilling the
requirement of this seat she was trying to accomplish her goal in other means like
building good relations with others.
Alex Hoffman
Hoffman was high at self-esteem because he was so confident about what he was doing
to get maximum sales. And he refused so clearly to Richardson about contacting with
every little mom-and-pop florist as well. He had also a dismissive attitude about others
and he was also egoistic and status conscious because he do not like to tell any kind of
information unless asked from him.
He was high at self-actualization because he was using his full potential to achieve his
targets. Being self-actualizer he was self-directed and was independent and resourceful,
and he also enjoys his own company and feels comfortable being alone.
Gregorio Torres
Torres is moderate in social need. He always talk nicely with Richardson and quite
ready to help her. For example, in June when nobody doing his paper works so she asked
Torres to do some of his colleagues reports for them in order to meet their deadline.
Richardson also asked him to meet her and a new big buyer to fulfill demands of this
customer. He also had good relations in team and he kept converse them in their Spanish
language.
He is moderate at self-esteem needs because he was not status conscious and egoist
person but he wanted recognition through getting accomplishments by trying new ideas
and was willing to change the old ways to grape customers attentions. He was confident
about his new idea for website to manage customers services.
Sarah Vega
She was high in physiological need. Because she was so unconcerned with her work, she
often came late and left soon, kept on texting on mobile. She was so careless that her
work was piled on her table but she did not bother to do that. She went on leaves for
different reasons. Her sales were so uneven. So she just concerned with her basic needs
which were fulfilled from her recent designation and she did not need something more
than that.
Chelsea Peterson
She was high in safety needs as she was insecure about her job. She was nervous all the
time. She was unable to build good relation with her immediate boss and to build her
good impression. She criticized others in spite of having look on herself as being
unskilled and inexperienced and still thought herself to be eligible for promotion to sales
position. As she was openly hostile to Richardson in her first meeting.
Nick Ruiz
He was moderate at social needs. He kept interacting people in other departments and
asking about their jobs. He also knew about the product from his conversations with
customers. He also built good relation with Richardson and convinced her to take her
resume for sales post.
He was moderate at self-esteem because he wanted to get recognized through his ability
of having lots of knowledge. He was confident about his knowledge which he took from
workers while visiting greenhouse in his free times. He was also had self-confidence.
Nick was high at self-actualization because he was ready to put each and every effort to
get sales position no matter whatever it took. His attitude proved refreshing to
Richardson. He was ready to use his full potential in work and in return seek growth,
achievement and advancement in his career.



McClellands acquired needs theory:
Dominated Need
Team
Leader
Team Members
Melissa
Richardson
Alex
Hoffman
Gregorio
Torres
Sarah
Vega
Chelsea
Peterson
Nick
Ruiz
Needs f or
Achievement
High High Moderate Low Low High
Needs for Power Low High Low Low High Low
Needs for
Affiliation
High Low Moderate Moderate Low Moderate

JUSTIFICATIONS:
Melissa Richardson
She was high in needs of achievement reflecting especially when she studied Spanish
prior to her start day. She had a goal to make phoenix one of the best sales offices. But
she was a little misdirected towards others aspects like building good relationships with
team members. She lacked to focus on the requirements of her new designation and
through other ways she wanted to achieve her goal.
She was so low in needs of power. She never thought of herself being an authoritative
person. As a good leader she must be moderate in needs of power instead of no need of
power. The use of power also needed to reshape and remold the team into her terms.
She was highly dominated by affiliation needs. She preferred friendly environment and
her acceptance in team and affection as well. Richardson made efforts to get everyone
together that Saturday morning to correct the pots themselves, a potential opportunity for
team building. For example she kept thinking of pizza lunches and ice cream in Friday
afternoons after achieving sale targets.
Alex Hoffman
He was high in need of achievement. Instead of being social and friendly he was hard
working and put in effort to achieve his goals. He was the top sales man in the company
and he had earned every reward and perk ColorTech offered. He achieved his sales goals
in any case even he had to make phone sales outside his area.
Being high in need for power, he was so confident about what he was doing to get
maximum sales He did not like to tell any kind of information to others because he liked
himself being authoritative person. Even he refused to follow the Richardsons terms to
make high sales and asked her to deal himself in his own ways.
He was very low in needs of affiliation. He was not social and liked being alone.



Gregorio Torres
His needs of achievement were moderate because he wanted to perform well but the
communication method with customers was going on in the office did not suit him. He
wanted to achieve sales through his own idea of website.
He did not want power but he wanted to be distinctive from others so he could be
powerful in a different way and had privileged than others. So his needs of power were
low because he was just had an idea and no practical work was going on.
He was moderate in need for affiliation. He always talk nicely with Richardson and
quite ready to help her. He also had good relations in team and he kept converse them in
their Spanish language.
Sarah Vega
She was low in needs of achievement. She was not interested to put special effort to do
her work even her work was compiling on her table and she did not bother to complete
that. She did not have some kind of goal related to her job.
She was so low in power too. As she did not want growth so no needs of power were
existed in her.
She was moderate in needs of affiliation in the office with boss and her colleagues. She
was not concerned more what is going on in the office or with the office work.
Chelsea Peterson
She was low at needs of achievement too because he was not putting effort in her work
to achieve something she was just criticizing others. She did not have some goals to
achieve.
Her needs of power were high because these kinds of personalities want to be in power
so that they can feel secure. Same case was with Peterson that she got insecure under
Richardson and she wanted to get promoted so that she could be more secured and have
control on others too. She also felt more insecure when she heard about the promotion of
his colleague from the same designation as she had.
She was so low at needs of affiliation because she was not interested in building good
relations with others. And in her very first meeting with her new boss she was so
argumentative in her behavior.
Nick Ruiz
Nick had high needs of achievement. He was ready to put each and every effort to get
sales position. He was ready to use his full potential in work and in return seek growth,
achievement and advancement in his career. He was so focused and ingenious in order to
achieve his goals.
He was low in needs of power because he did not want to command on others.
He was moderate in needs of affiliation. He liked to meet new people. He also built
good relation with Richardson. He kept interacting people in other departments and
asking about their jobs.


Q.2) Considering Hertzbergs two factor theory and identify and justify which factors
(extrinsic or intrinsic) motivate each of the 5 team members and the team leader (Melissa
Richardson).
Melissa Richardson
As Richardson preferred friendly environment and her acceptance in team and affection as well.
And she also preferred to build good communication with her team. She had a goal too to
achieve, she wanted to make phoenix one of the best sales offices but somehow she distracted
from her goal and instead fulfilling the requirement of this seat she was trying to accomplish her
goal in other means like building good relations with others. So she will be motivated with both
maintenance and motivator factors by having good relations with her team and regional manger.
She will also prefer proper job design and job analysis of her team to accomplish her goals.
Alex Hoffman
As he is the top sales person in the company and has always achieved his sales targets he should
be motivated by motivating factors like giving him praise for his work recognition, promotion,
and increased status offers challenge, or bonuses.
Gregorio Torres
As he was innovative and has so many creative ideas Richardson should motivate him with
intrinsic motivators for that by giving him praise and appreciating him, encouraging him,
accepting his idea and creativity.
Sarah Vega
As she was totally non-serious about her work and used to come late and take leaves more often.
Richardson can motivate her with maintenance factors by informing her company policies about
her job. Having strong rules about the work timings can make the employees to come in time.
Telling her if she completes her targets and work overtime within the five days of the week then
she can get a day off.
Chelsea Peterson
Although she has a low performance and lacked the skills and experience she can be motivated
with maintenance factors. By taking training courses to gain skills and improve the performance
that will also increase her relationship with team members and continuous motivation and
encouragement by the manager to work hard can make her perform well.
Nick Ruiz
He was a merchandiser who is a capable person, enthusiastic and knowledgeable his
performance was good, based on the performance Richardson can motivate him with job
motivator by giving him growth opportunity for sales position or rewarding him on his
performance through bonuses etc.




Q.3) Explain and justify how can Melissa Richardson use the Victor Vrooms expectancy
theory to improve her teams performance, lead them effectively and motivate them?
Expectancy theory purposes that people are motivated when they believe they can accomplish
the task, they will get the reward, and the rewards for doing so are worth the effort.

Melissa Richardson had a great attitude as a manager for the Phoenix division of ColorTech.
Unfortunately due to hasty decisions, lack of communication, and deficient training, ColorTechs
sales quickly began to fall. Applying victor Vrooms expectancy theory to improve her team
members performance Richardson had the potential to be a committed and successful manager.
Alex Hoffman
Hoffman was account representative and top salesperson in the company, and he had earned
every award & received every perk ColorTech offered. As a top seller Alex show dismissive
attitude and resistance to sell new stem products. So Melissa Richardson should clearly define
him objectives and the performance necessary to achieve them and also tie performance to
rewards. That way, a job design and job analysis would have been very easy to assess based on
her teams skill level.
Gregorio Torres
Gregorio is account representative; he seems uninterested in discussing his sales
performance. But he has much creative ideas about customer service website. He also
understands product and customer services, so Melissa Richardson can use Pygmalion effect to
motivate and increase expectations for his performance.
Sarah Vega
Sarah Vega is an account representative and was new to sales. She had uneven performance
and often late or absent from the office. Sarah Vega is unfocused and distracted by events
outside of the work. So Melissa should persuade her to get training to improve her job
performance and also making her responsible and motivating her by praising. Richardson should
have implemented control systems to monitor and evaluate how effective the organizations
structure is and offer feedback systems, surveying the success of the strategies.

Will my Effort
leads to high
perfromance?
Efforts
Will performance
leads to
outcomes?
Performance
Do i find the
outcomes
desireables?
Rewards
Desired goals
leads to
Motivation
Goals
Chelsea Peterson
Chelsea is a store merchandiser and has hostile relationship with her boss Melissa. She is
more interested in sales position when opened, but have no experience & skills. However
Melissa can motivate Peterson by telling her that hardworking, capable and a good performer
will lead to sales position. So giving her training and helping her would be best for her.
Nick Ruiz
Nick is also a store merchandiser. He is very enthusiastic & knowledgeable person. Ruiz had
apparently expressed interest in joining the sales team and he is ready for sales position when
open. Melissa can motivate him by making him believe that whatever she says she will do.
Richardson should have introduced her business level plan and business level strategy during the
initial meeting. Doing this would have revealed her tactics, and how she intended to implement
them to compete against rival color companies. It would have been beneficial for Richardson to
perform a needs assessment of her team.

Q.4) Using the Reinforcement theory of motivation explain and justify which reinforcement
technique(s) Melissa Richardson should use to motivate each of the 5 team members. What
might be the pros and cons of using a particular reinforcement technique for each team
member?

Alex Hoffman
Reinforcement
Techniques
Steps to Motivate Pros Cons
Positive
reinforcement

As he is the top sales
person in the he
should be motivated
by giving him praise,
promotion, increased
status which offers
challenge, or bonuses
Its the best motivator
that would increase
his productivity &
performance.

It does not encourage
employees to strive
beyond the minimum
levels required
Avoidance
Reinforcement

Due to his dismissive
attitude Richardson
can do so by setting
strong routine rules,
warning him that his
negative behavior will
be documented in his
reviews.
It may generate and
improve his work
performance &
behavior.
Creates a stressful
environment for the
employee.



Gregorio Torres
Reinforcement
Techniques
Steps to Motivate Pros Cons
Positive
reinforcement

As he was innovative
and has so many
creative ideas
Richardson should
motivate him for that
by giving him praise
and appreciating him,
encouraging him,
accepting his idea and
creativity.

It will build his
confidence.
Appreciating him
would drive him more
towards the success
and will increase the
employee morale.

Appreciating him just
on his ideas can make
him not achieve his
sales target.


Sarah Vega
Reinforcement
Techniques
Steps to Motivate Pros Cons
Avoidance
Reinforcement

As she was totally
non-serious about her
work Richardson can
motivate her by
warning her and
telling her to come on
time and get serious
about the work.
Having strong rules
about the work
timings can make the
employees to come in
time.
She will come on time
and will improve her
job performance.

She will tend to exert
the minimum effort
necessary to keep
herself out of trouble.









Chelsea Peterson
Reinforcement
Techniques
Steps to Motivate Pros Cons
Positive
reinforcement

Although she has a
low performance and
lacked the skills and
experience she can be
motivated by taking
training courses to
gain skills and
improve the
performance, and
continuous motivation
by the manager to
work hard can make
her perform well.
Performance can
increase and also
employee morale will
increase.

she might only do the
work just too attain a
reward or perk and
when anything is not
given to her then she
wont pay attention to
work

Avoidance
Reinforcement

She is a pessimistic
person hostile in
behavior. So
Richardson can
motivate her by
reprimanding her to
change her behavior
and be cooperative
with the team.

She might change her
hostile behavior to
avoid more severe
consequences and
punishment.
It does not encourage
employees to strive
beyond the minimum
levels required.

Nick Ruiz
Reinforcement
Techniques
Steps to Motivate Pros Cons
Positive
reinforcement

He was a enthusiastic
and knowledgeable
person and his
performance was
good. Richardson can
motivate him by
giving him a sales
position or rewarding
him on his
performance through
bonuses etc.
It would increase his
confidence,
productivity, morale
& performance.
Giving him a sales
position can arise
conflicts among the
team members on the
basis of seniority and
tenure issues.

Q.5) What does Melissa Richardson think makes a good sales manager? What is the
difference between an account/sales representative and a sales manager?
As Melissa Richardson was a sales person at Greenhouse and was promoted to sales manager on
the basis of her brilliant performance as sales representative, but at the same time she was
transferred to a different place that she wasnt even much familiar with its language. So she
made mistakes unintentionally and tried to make them correct as well but at the end she was fail
in this.
Being a manager she realized her role is now as a sales leader. This means shifting her focus to
leveraging the strengths of the sales team and each individual salesperson. Now she was
supposed to increase her team members performance more than her own. She was at the stage
where she needs to think strategically and strive to understand each person on the team.
She knew if she want to be great sales manager she have to know each person on their team is
different, therefore, she have to manage them accordingly to their unique needs and
opportunities. But she couldnt handle them so well.
As a sales representative she only had to focus on her performance to make strategies for her
own or follow her bosss instructions but being a sales manager she had to learn to listen the role
of sales managers has changed. It was no longer about being taskmaster; it was about enablement
and support.
She believed on having empathy, remembering what it was like when she sold. She tried to use
that empathy to see things through her teams eyes.
She found that there are several big challenges in the transition from salesperson to sales
manager, but the hardest may be changing her perspective on her time. She couldnt present the
reports on time.
Q.6) What did Melissa Richardson do right when she started her new job? What mistakes
did she make? What might have helped Melissa Richardson get off to a better start?
Richardsons right things:
When she reached the Phoenix office she took stock of her office and the supplies she
would need, and made a few notes of them.
The next that was Saturday she returned to the office to order everything in her office so
that when she will be on work at Monday she could officially start the office.
On the Friday when she was near to leave the office, Richardson took a quick tour of the
area where her salespeople worked.
On the Saturday when she was arranging her office for the Monday Richardson
assembled some basic information on her team that could be helpful for her to better
understand her team
Then she arranged one on one talk with her each team member for better communication
and after that she made some more notes on her team members about their personalities
and interests.
Richardsons mistakes:
As on her first day she got to know that her team need some changes in their behavior but
she didnt took any steps to change their behaviors.
She arranged a meeting at the very first day without informing in advance.
She did not give them a detail speech or instructions.
Another mistake she did was that she had not noticed the product ready for the customers
was placed in wrong pots. This mistake would mean the team would be charged for
emergency repotting costs as well as discounts offered as compensation for delayed
delivery if they did not act quickly.
She did not get any kind of knowledge about paper work and management issues which
was required for this sales managers seat.
She did not decide the means to achieve goal in three month time period.
She was not prepared for such kind of situation in which there is no communication did
not have some kind of preparation for contingency situations.
Recommendations:
She should have taken some steps in the start to reshape the team members behavior
She should take sum steps to remove the communication gap.
She could save herself and her team members from extra costs that was charged from
repotting in emergency and discounts offered as compensation for delayed delivery.
Because each big-box customers received plants in plastic pots that showed its unique bar
codes for price scanning and inventory management.
If she want to kept focused on her goals she should assign duty everyone in a more
leadership style that definitely help her towards a better start towards success.
If she already understood her job requirements like paper work, management issues and
process covered in the classes then she would be able to better handle paper work
assigned from her regional manager.
If she would have an authoritative and leadership attitude with her team members then
she could be able to move to betterment in achieving goals and for her job too.

Q.7) Critique Melissa Richardsons first meeting. How could she have made a stronger
impact on her team that first day? Recommend some ways which will help Melissa
Richardson build her team effectively?
As Richardsons first meeting wasnt effective at all firstly her team members were informed of
the meeting just an hour before. She should have informed them early or in advance like when
she visited her office on Friday she could have told the receptionist to inform every one of the
meeting that would held on Monday morning. Because as Campbell wasnt there to introduce her
to the staff. She should have come more prepared with a more detailed speech instead of short
speech that would have made a stronger impact on the members. But due to her short
unproductive speech no one was interested whatever she was saying and she felt a tension in the
air. She should have taken an orientation or should have asked for it.
Recommendations:
Melissa Richardson needed to recognize the strewn rapid expansion when she began her
management position in order to help the company expand with an objective.
The management difficulties that arose could have been avoided very simply. Foremost, a
management information system should have been previously in place by the middle and
top managers. That way, Richardson would have been able to enter the Phoenix division
and access important information regarding each employees role and how to property
execute them.
Another colossal concern was that Richardson had never been exposed to management
issues, paperwork, and processes working as a salesperson in Chicago. Had Richardson
practiced on-the-job training, she would have experienced the setting and expectations
prior to her first day.
Miscommunication was the second largest issue in this case. ColorTech needed to
implement group norms per division. There was a clear lack of direction when
Richardsons team openly acted and performed as they wished.
Lack of authority from Richardson played a significant role in the turmoil of ColorTechs
Phoenix division. Richardson should have introduced her business level plan and
business level strategy during the initial meeting. Doing this would have revealed her
tactics, and how she intended to implement them to compete against rival color
companies.
It would have been beneficial for Richardson to perform a needs assessment of her team.
That way, a job design and job analysis would have been very easy to assess based on her
employees skill level.
Finally, Richardson should have implemented control systems to monitor and evaluate
how effective the organizations structure is and offer feedback systems, surveying the
success of the strategies.
As a manager, Richardson is to make her group more productive than it would have been without
her. Focusing her energy from the first day on the things that only she, as a manager, can do. She
is the leader. She is responsible for training and developing her people and for building them into
a team. To build her team effectively and have a positive impact on the team it only takes insight
into three key areas: Alignment, Motivation, and Performance.
Q.8) In your opinion who is at fault for Melissa Richardsons poor performance as a Sales
manager and Team Leader?
The sales manager is the person responsible for leading and guiding a team of salespeople. A
sales manager's tasks often include assigning sales territories, setting quotas, mentoring the
members of her sales team, assigning sales training, building a sales plan, and hiring and firing
salespeople. Because a sales manager's compensation is tied to how many sales her team makes,
she's highly motivated to get her salespeople producing.
The team leaders are those who can lead and direct without misuse of their power. They must be
able to inspire others in a direction or greater good. They must be strong enough to stand firm in
decision making and leading others without an egotistical attitude. A great team leader will
encourage others to brain storm and contribute to the whole. They also lead by example and
intelligently.
However, with reference to case study Melissa Richardson is not a good team leader as she did
not know how to lead, direct or inspire her team members. For example the behavior of Alex
Hoffman is very rude towards her but she did not take any action. Some as the one of other team
member Sarah Vega who did not pay full attention towards her work and much busy with her
cell phone. She also comes late on work but Melissa didnt do anything for her this type of
behavior.
As a sales person, Richardson had not been exposed to many of the management issues,
paperwork, and processes covered in the classes of the manager training course. Legal issues
related to human resource had been stressed repeatedly, but Richardson had little confidence in
her understanding of the risks and requirements. One of the other reason of her poor performance
as a sales manager is that her regional manager didnt give her information about the duties and
responsibilities of her new job. Due to all above issues she shows a poor performance as sales
managers.