Tips for forming a cohesive group, understanding socialization stages, and employing Fiedler’s Con

Forming a Cohesive Group for a Business Project

Scenario 1 In one of your business classes, you find out you have a group project that will be worth 30% of your final grade. In groups of three to five students, each group must develop a new product and then create a marketing plan for that product.  You have been chosen as a group ‘leader’ and, lucky for you, you are allowed to pick the other members of your group. QUESTION Using information from Chapter Seven (Groups and Teamwork) what steps should or could you take to make this team as cohesive as possible?  Do you see any disadvantages of having such a cohesive team for this project? Scenario 2 Every student has some expectation of what University life will be like prior to attending.  Things may or may not turn out as expected but eventually students get used to how things are done.   QUESTIONS Use the three stages of socialization to describe the socialization process of a typical/average TRU student (before coming to university and once they have arrived.)  Think about their entire TRU/university socialization experience. Based on what you know of proactive socialization behaviors, what could a student do who wants to be more proactive in their socialization process? Scenario 3 You are in charge of finding a new restaurant manager for a fast-food outlet in Kamloops, BC.The fast-food outlet is part of a large franchise and competes with companies such as McDonalds, Wendy’s, and Burger King.  In the past, new managers were hired from current assistant managers and full-time employees within the company, but the outlet has gone through an irregularly high amount of turnover and, as a result, doesn’t have anyone with enough experience to be promoted into the manager’s position.  This means you will have to find someone from outside the business who will be new to both the company and unknown to the remaining employees.  Fortunately for the new manager, the fact that they’ll be working for this franchise means that company policies and procedures help govern many aspects of work.  Policy determines pay rates and scheduling hours.  Every position is highly structured as the head office provides company-wide training videos on procedures and rules that guide almost every employee task.  These policies and procedures will allow the new manager to focus on other aspects of running the outlet.  However, the cost of not having to worry about these issues is that the new manager will have very little control or freedom when it comes to discipline.  They themselves must adhere to company policy and therefore cannot discipline or fire anyone unless they follow the correct steps. QUESTION Use Fiedler’s Contingency Theory to analyze this situation.  What leadership orientation would work best under these conditions and why?  (Make sure to use the theory to support your answer.)