Deck 14: Managing Quality Improvement Teams and Projects

Question 1

Do you believe that Whole Foods' emphasis on teamwork is appropriate for the grocery store industry? Why or why not?

Answer 1

WF is the number one brand in the nation that functions in the name of Whole Foods Market, Bread Circus, Bread of Life, Fresh Fields, Merchant of Vino, and Wellspring Grocery. This company has faith in teamwork and emphasizes the participation of teamwork.
Benefits of team work are as follows:
• It develop cooperation among the employees. It helps in the development of a strong and powerful feeling and results in the development of work ethics.
• It increases competitive spirit among its employees.
Thus, it emphasis on teamwork results in better performance of the company. Thus, teamwork participation is important in grocery store industry.

Question 2

Why has increased complexity in the workplace resulted in an increased emphasis on employee participation and teamwork?

Answer 2

Increased complexity in the workplace demands higher knowledge, devotion, team work, and participation of employees. It provides greater emphasis on employee participation and teamwork. With increase in complexity of the business processes, strength of individual employees reduces. Since, increased complexity demands new set of necessities that need to be analyzed, resolved, and finished.
The situation can be handled with good communication and coordination between employees. Individual and team research also helps to cope with this complexity. Therefore, employee participation and team work help to enhance the performance of a firm by reducing the complexity in workplace.

Question 3

Perform a cost-benefit analysis with payback period for a project where indirect costs are $50,000, direct costs are $25,000, and annualized benefits are $60,000.

Answer 3

Performing a cost benefit analysis with a payback period for a project :
It is given that
Indirect cost
Direct costs
Annualized benefits
Total project costs
The payback period is defined as the ratio of total project costs and annualized benefits. It is written as
…… (1)
Where,
Total project costs is represented by
.
Annualized benefits is represented by
.
Substitute
for
and
for
in Equation (1) yields Payback Period for the project.
Hence, required payback period for the project is
.

Question 4

What is your opinion of Whole Foods' practice of sharing team performance data with all company employees? Do you believe that this practice risks creating "too competitive" a spirit among the firm's teams and employees? Explain your answer.

Question 5

What is the difference between routine work and knowledge work? Provide examples of each type of work.

Question 6

Perform a cost-benefit analysis using the following data:
Direct Costs
• 10 laptops-$2,000/each
• A server-$2,000
• Network installation-$15,000
• Software-$20,000
Indirect Costs
• Training-$15,000
Annualized Benefits
• Increased capacity-$100,000

Question 7

Would you enjoy working on a team at Whole Foods? Why or why not?

Question 8

What is meant by employee empowerment? What is the relationship between employee empowerment and teamwork?

Question 9

Following are activities, precedence relationships, and task times for a number of tasks.
a. Construct a precedence diagram.
b. Compute early and late times.
c. Compute the slack for each task.
d. Which tasks could the project manager delegate?
e. Find the critical path.
f. Which tasks would you shorten first to shorten the project completion time?
g. What is the expected project completion time?
h. What is the probability of completing the project in the time identified in g?

Question 10

In what ways can employee empowerment facilitate and contribute to organizational learning?

Question 11

Following are activities, precedence relationships, and task times for a number of tasks.
a. Construct a precedence diagram.
b. Compute early and late times.
c. Compute the slack for each task.
d. Which tasks could the project manager delegate?
e. Find the critical path.
f. Which tasks would you shorten first to shorten the project completion time?
g. What is the expected project completion time?

Question 12

What are the major disadvantages of multiple layers of management in a business organization? Is teamwork typically implemented in organizations that have multiple layers of management or organizations that have fairly flat hierarchies? Explain your answer.

Question 13

For the following data:
a. Draw an AON diagram.
b. Compute the expected completion time for each task.
c. Compute slack for all tasks.
d. Identify the critical path and the expected completion time.
e. Your project manager wants you to compute a completion time (in days) that gives you a 95% chance of success. He will use this time estimate in negotiating a completion date for the project.

Question 14

Describe the principal attributes of Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership model. Is this model of leadership appropriate for a quality-minded company?

Question 15

For the following data:
a. Draw a PERT diagram.
b. Compute expected completion times for all tasks.
c. Find the critical path.
d. What is the completion time that gives you a 75% chance of success?

Question 16

What does readiness refer to in a leadership context? What are the two variables that an employee's level of readiness is a function of?

Question 17

(Team project) Develop a project plan for buying a house. Use the following steps:
a. Use a work breakdown structure (tree diagram) to identify tasks for completing the project. Be complete (at least 50 tasks), and use sticky notes.
b. Laying out your sticky notes, identify the precedence relationships for each task.
c. Brainstorm optimistic time, most likely time, and pessimistic time for each task.
d. Compute expected completion time for each task.
e. Draw your network diagram, compute early and late times, and find the critical path.
f. Compute the 90% completion time for your project.

Question 18

In general, do employees enjoy working in teams? Why or why not?

Question 19

(Team project) Complete the steps in Problem for the following project: completing a university degree program (choose any major).
Problem
(Team project) Develop a project plan for buying a house. Use the following steps:
a. Use a work breakdown structure (tree diagram ) to identify tasks for completing the project.
Be complete (at least 50 tasks), and use sticky notes.
b. Laying out your sticky notes, identify the precedence relationships for each task.
c. Brainstorm optimistic time, most likely time, and pessimistic time for each task.
d. Compute expected completion time for each task.
e. Draw your network diagram, compute early and late times, and find the critical path.
f. Compute the 90% completion time for your project.

Question 20

Briefly describe the five stages of the life cycle of a team. Is it important for a team to pass through each of these stages? Why or why not?

Question 21

(Team project) Develop a Gantt chart for welcoming a new baby into the world (conception has already occurred). Remember you only have nine months to complete the project.

Question 22

What is the purpose of a process improvement team? Provide an example of a process improvement team for a business organization.

Question 23

Complete a cost-benefit analysis for a college degree at your university. Be sure to include all direct and indirect costs. Take into account the time value of money for future income.

Question 24

What is meant by a self-directed work team? In your judgment, are self-directed work teams a good idea? Explain your answer.

Question 25

Complete a cost-benefit analysis for a marriage. Be sure to include both the benefits and costs in your model. Model the marriage given two scenarios-a strong marriage and a poor marriage. (Hint: You should find that the benefits for a strong marriage approach infinity and the benefits of a poor marriage approach zero.)

Question 26

Describe the role of the facilitator of a team. Is the role of the facilitator important, or is it primarily ceremonial?

Question 27

Meet with a favorite professor to perform a force-field analysis relating to adding a new course to your major in your university. Would you recommend this project?

Question 28

What is meant by team building ? Is team building a concept from which all teams can benefit?

Question 29

In a meeting management context, to what does parking lot refer?

Question 30

What are the primary sources of conflict in work teams? What are some of the methods for resolving team conflict?

Question 31

Describe what is meant by virtual teams. Provide an example of a virtual team in a business organization.

Question 32

How does a project charter help a team identify issues relevant to team success?

Question 33

Describe the critical path method for organizing work projects. When is the use of this method appropriate?

Question 34

Describe the difference between critical tasks and a critical path.

Question 35

Describe an experience you have had working in a team (in a work setting or in a college class). Describe how your experience either confirms or refutes one of the principles of teamwork described in this chapter.