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The objective of this paper Is to rate a positive Influence plan for a team within Esquire Services, a software company. The team was assigned with a large project of Implementing new collection software for Compact Cable, a system that will replace Compact’s legacy platform. Esquire team consists of three members: Lyle, Leslie, and Rant. The plan will match each person with the compatible task, present applicable motivators with consideration to individual needs while avoiding any interruptions to the project timely completion.
Plan overview The positive influence plan basic assumption is that performance will improve with better motivation. The incentive list consists on two classes of components: motivators that promote satisfaction from work itself, and motivators related to external conditions that although not work related, will contribute to Job satisfaction. Illustration A: Motivators to consider [Pl] The second class of motivators Is applicable for any Job, regardless of work type.
For example: constructive relationships between colleagues, appreciation, time flexibility, wages, and benefits. The opportunity to learn and creativity will fit into the first classification of motivators. “You should think of personality as the sum total f ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 106). Satisfaction at work depends also on the individual’s personality. Some prefer harder challenges, learning opportunities, and taking risks, whereas others will be happier with simple tasks.
Esquires’ team positive influence plan persists on principles from the job characteristic model, described by Robbins and Judge (2007). The first step Is to divide the project Into tasks, and ranking them in importance for each segment. The second step Is to Identify skills within the team, and assign the tasks according to members’ ablest. Task Identification customization development, functionality testing, performance testing, defect management, training, and data conversion into the new system.
The table below describes the skills requirements for each Job. Requirements. I Task I I Design I Description Figure C: Project tasks and Job Bibb Requirement I Meet with the customer and perform gap analysis. Knowledge of collection systems, good interface with I people, documentation skills I I Development I Software customization programming, based on the gap I Programming knowledge. The ability to work independently. I I I I Testing analysis. I Functionality as well as performance testing. Militarily I I Collection application and business knowledge, I with the new system. Accuracy and persistence. I I Defect Management Document the defect found while testing, communicating with IA well organized person with good communication skills. I I the development team for a timely fix. I I Training I Perform group training as well as individual guidance to the I Knowledge of the new collection system, and good lend users of the system I communication skills. I I Data Conversion I Write and implement a method to take all the customer data
I Technical skills with knowledge in databases and I from the legacy system to the new Esquire’s collection I programming, and planning skills. I software. Team Members Personality Assessment Each of the team members performed the self-evaluation to identify the personality, talents and attitude to systematically match the right Job to the individual. Upon completing the evaluations the team met, compared, and discussed the results. Figure D shows the highlights of the team member self assessments. Figure D: Team member’s personality evaluation results.
I Member I Lyle I Leslie I Rant Management-oriented, with ask-oriented, difficulties I I Assessment’s highlights I Goal-oriented, practical, and able to I Technical, I leadership and project management I multi-task. Organized, team-oriented, Communicating with people, organized, I I Skills. Strong people skills, with Longing to go the extra mile to looting and try to finish tasks as I I I the ability to organize, lead, and Complete a project. Quickly as possible. People too common goal. I I Teaching and coaching skills.
Task-oriented score I Very task-oriented I motivate a I Very task-oriented Very task-oriented I Very people-oriented I Highly outgoing energetic I I People-oriented score Every people-oriented I Not people-oriented I looting, I Fairly I Procrastination score I Seldom procrastinator Seldom procrastinator I Very organized I Loraine Assigning Members to Tasks I Never procrastinating I Score for being The next step in the plan is to assign each member of the team to the right task. According to the assessment’s results, the team decided to assign the members to each tasks, as described on Figure E.
I Team member Figure E: Task assignments to members I Reasons I Excelling in organization and team skills, Leslie will work with her team members nil I reading a design in an organized and efficient manner. Development I Besides being a programmer, Rant is task-oriented and non-procrastinator, and I therefore, will finish the Job on time. No people skills required for this Job, I which makes is very suitable for the specific personality. I Testing requires someone that is organized, detailed, and goal-oriented therefore I I I Leslie is the perfect person to perform this task.
Testing and finding solutions to I I Lana problem efficiently is important for a smooth implementation and a satisfied I I I I Defect Management I customer. IA team leader with management kills is needed to manage a defect solutions team I I lifestyle. Lyle will lead and motivate a team that will track and resolve all I I I defects as they arise. Training I The end-user training will need someone with excellent presentation and people I I skills. Lyle will run the training program that will be motivational, interactive, I I land captivating for the end users. I I Data Conversion requires focus on schedules.
Rant is a I The conversion is a one-time task that I non- procrastinator, task-oriented with the technical skills and motivation to I perform the Job. Project Plan with Positive Influence Factors After identifying the main components, and assigning team member for each task, the following is the project plan with a section describing the action that will provide positive influence to the task. Figure F: Project Plan with Positive Influence I Week 111-4 I Positive Influence I Design Phase, Gap Analysis I Leslie will lead the design efforts with the rest of the team helping with I I brainstorming and suggestions.
I creativity for designing a new system. 1 15-10 I Programming I Rant will lead the code writing assignment. The main reward of the task is I creativity, solving logical algorithms, and working individually without I interruptions. I Ill-14 I Testing, and defect monitoring I Leslie will lead the testing team. Each time a defect found, the issue will be I I passed to the defect manager, to push for resolution. I logged and I The testing team should be rewarded according to the amount of defect found. I Lyle will manage the defects, and coordinate between the various teams to find I I I resolution.
The management opportunities and communication requirement are the I I I primary motivators for the defect coordination task. 1112-14 I Training I The training will be performed on a proto-type system with “dummy’ customers. I I The trainer should gain motivation from working with people, from traveling, I I land from the teaching experience. 115 I Conversion I The conversion is a one-time effort to move customer data from one system to I I other. Normally, the conversion should last no more than one day to I the during this process.
I minimize any inconvenience from the system bring down I The conversion team will be rewarded according to the conversion success, I lisped, and the lack of defects. Additional Motivators Flexibility Although the work can be exiting and interesting, the Job must not interfere with arsenal obligations and individual limitations. Therefore, although each task completion due date is set to meet the project timeline, but the team member in charge is free to perform the Job at any time, according to personal convenience. Additionally, if an individual faces difficulties to perform a task, another team member can assist with the effort.
In extreme cases, the team leader can call a meeting, if nobody volunteers to help. Autonomy and Dispute Resolution A research made by Chunk-Yawn (2010) from the University of Windsor stated that engaging employees with the power of decision-making and granting autonomy gives he psychological belief of involvement, which serves as a motivator and provides a positive work environment. In some cases, appointing a team leader can create a motivated disciplined team environment in which the leader can have a group of people follow specific instructions.
Such a situation must be managed properly because it can easily damage group attitude and interrelationships, decrease self- esteem, and create negative emotions. Therefore, the positive influence plan should specify the role of the team leader as merely administrative rather than a decision maker. Each member of the team will have an equal opportunity to be sections. If a dispute arises over a decision, the team leader will organize a group discussion to resolve the problem. Emotional Contributors Emotions, according to Pugh (2007) are associated with a specific event and have short-time duration.
The affective events theory (ARE), presented by Robbins and Judge (2007) stated that the Job characteristic, degree of autonomy, variety at work, and relationship with managers are some of the factors contributing to positive or negative emotions at the workplace. Excitement, for example can be a positive emotion that contributes to motivation at work. “Excitement (also an emotion) titivates us to take on situations in which we require energy and initiative” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p. 264). Making the project exiting by adding creativity, involvements and achievement opportunities will make the group more motivated at work.
Conclusion Creating a motivated team that works as one unit toward a successful project completion requires a considerable amount of effort, sacrificing, and compromises, but can yield significant positive results. The positive influence plan that the paper shows consists on democratic ideas suggesting that everybody can make decisions, and the majority counts. The plan presents “give and take” ideas, where each member contributes the best according to personal talents while gaining satisfaction from learning activities and creativity.