benchmark assignment

Consider the vision for a successful West Coast Transit marketing team composed in Topic 3. Narrow down the team selection to four individuals for presentation to the director. Decide which strategies will be most effective for leading the agreed-upon team. Compose a PowerPoint presentation (10-12 slides) with a justification for the team selection and summary of the decision-making process that addresses the following:

1. Who are the four team members, and what was the primary reason each person was selected?

2. What are the primary strengths of the team? What are its potential weaknesses? How positive is the management team about the team's potential? Justify your answers with evidence from "West Coast Transit Team Member Profiles."

3. What strategies will be most effective for motivating the team, managing conflict, and ensuring its success? Cite specific motivational theories, conflict-resolution strategies, and leadership strategies in your answer.

4. How difficult was it to come to a decision regarding team selection? Which potential team member was most difficult to come to a consensus about? Why?

5. Justify how the selected team embodies the values of Conscious Capitalism how the tenet of stakeholder orientation played a role in the team selection process.

6. Describe how value is created for each stakeholder, and in what ways will the team positively impact the business as a whole?

You are required to use at least three academic references to support your reasoning for the team selection process.

While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

West Coast Transit Company Profile

West Coast Transit began as a small, charter airline in 2005. Its initial vision was providing affordable, on-the-hour flights from California-based airports to its three adjacent states: Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon. West Coast Transit saw the need for affordable and convenient flights out of California was high enough to sustain a business. The company began its success using smaller commuter planes to transport customers to surrounding airports. There was no flight longer than two hours and there was minimal service during the flight. The company’s mission was customer-focused. They wanted to provide an opportunity for companies to fly their employees at an affordable rate and whole families to travel affordably.

West Coast Transit tripled in size after its first year. Growing demand required the addition of flights, employees, and larger airplanes. The founders of the company re-evaluated the vision and future of West Coast Transit. They were determined to maintain an emphasis on convenient, affordable flights and keep their focus on customer needs. This strategy proved successful. The company has established itself as a dominant regional competitor. They have over 10,000 employees and continue to see growth in their future.

Most employees at West Coast Transit rave about the company and appreciate its friendly and employee-centered culture. The company’s leadership cares about its employees and makes every effort to provide them with satisfactory benefits. Most employees are enthusiastic about the impact they make on customers, their salaries and benefits, and the advancement opportunities the company provides. They feel valued and respected. One major complaint a majority of the employees have is the turn-around demand. Employees are given very little time and support to complete a project. There is just too much work to be done. Most employees are successful under pressure, but would appreciate an environment that provides adequate time to complete projects productively.

West Coast Transit Marketing Project

As a manager in the marketing department, you have been handed a last-minute project and need to work with the other managers to develop a team that can complete the project swiftly and flawlessly. Failure is not an option. West Coast Transit’s biggest competitor just released 50 new flight plans at highly competitive fares. This has caused a significant decrease in sales for West Coast Transit. The marketing team has been given the task to develop a marketing strategy to drive up sales. West Coast Transit was planning a release celebration for their new Boeing-747 in six weeks. The CEO demanded a new marketing campaign that will be introduced to the public simultaneously with the new aircraft. This task will require the team to collaborate effectively in a short timeframe. The ultimate goal is to develop a marketing strategy that will keep customers loyal to West Coast Transit.

You and the other managers must develop a team that is prepared to work under demanding conditions. There is a significant time crunch. Employees are already overburdened by their daily tasks. Staffing has not kept pace with the recent growth of the company. Many employees are relatively new and are not yet fully trained in all aspects of their jobs. While leadership is empathetic to the demands placed on employees, the simple fact is that additional staffing is not an option at this time and the work must get done to support the ongoing success of the company. West Coast Transit was hopeful the introduction of the new jet would be significant enough publicity to boost sales, but they were caught off-guard by the competition’s recent move and now the company is much more uncertain.

This project is critical for the future of the company. The company is at risk of laying-off hundreds of employees. With the release celebration for the new jet only six weeks away, employees need to be prepared to put in significant amounts of unpaid overtime to complete the project before the deadline. The project budget is adequate, but could fall short considering the impressive results the company is hoping to achieve. This assignment requires a team that can work together for the good of the company and produce the needed results. West Coast Transit employees are counting on this team to drive up sales and re-establish the company’s market dominance.

West Coast Transit Team Member Profiles

Natalie

Natalie has been with the company for two years. She is positive and ambitious. She hopes to own her own business someday. People like Natalie and like to engage her in conversation. Natalie always listens politely, but finds her colleague’s somewhat annoying and resents their tendency to gossip.

Although Natalie works well on the team, her preference is to identify ways to have her individual ideas and accomplishments shine through. Some people find her to be overly competitive.

Natalie is a smooth talker and can easily win people over to her point of view. She is great for smoothing over tense situations. She is a real negotiator and is comfortable in any kind of speaking situation. Her written communication skills are very strong as well. When she can get away with it, she prefers written communication since people often monopolize her time in conversations.

Motivation:

Natalie is motivated by challenges and enjoys competitive opportunities where her skills and talents can take center stage. She enjoys doing great work.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Natalie is an excellent communicator, is charismatic, and is a natural leader. However, she has a bit too much disdain for her colleagues to fully trust them and some sense her negative attitude toward them. Also, her efficiency is sometimes impacted by her colleagues who she allows to monopolize her time in conversation.

Michael

Michael has been with the company for five years. Overall, his attitude remains positive, but he can be cynical at times. He attempts to look for the best in people and prefers to give people the benefit of the doubt. He is working on getting his PhD and has plans to eventually work in personal and corporate wellness consulting.

Michael considers himself to be a leader and motivator to the people around him. He has compassion for the emotional needs of people and values their individuality. At times he is overly confident and speaks his mind a little too freely. He enjoys collaborating with his co-workers, and brings out others’ strengths during their collaboration experience.

He prefers to resolve conflict passively through joking, but will often take things personally. Some colleagues describe him as passive-aggressive. Michael enjoys verbally communicating with people. He prefers open and informal conversations and shies away from formal communication. He is not afraid to ask questions until he is sure he understands a project. Michael has strong written communication skills as well.

Motivation:

Michael is motivated by interesting and complex tasks. However, his depressive tendencies can cause him to lose interest in a project and he has been known to abandon projects without finishing them.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Michael thinks both tactically and strategically. He has the ability to see discrete parts of a project and relate them to the holistic project goal. He can be impulsive and demands instant feedback from those around him. He battles with depression and can appear lethargic. This interferes with his ability to concentrate on the task in front of him. His lack of attention to detail can contribute to oversights during projects or assignments. His weaknesses are damaging to his confidence.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth has been with the company for four years. She enjoys the collaborative aspect of the job and has a positive attitude. She can look at the big picture, keeping in mind that change is a great attribute in any company. Her long-term goal is to move up in the company.

Elizabeth is perfectly comfortable in the team environment. She enjoys working with others. Her teammates find her flexible and non-threatening. She has taken on the leadership role on several projects and has demonstrated that she can get the job done.

Elizabeth is flexible and will listen to other’s perspective with an open mind. She will; however, tell you what she is thinking and defend her position when she feels strongly that she is in the right. She is considered to be diplomatic and her goal is to settle on a resolution that makes most sense for the company and clients. She prefers open communication and is eager and willing to hear others thoughts. Her teammates consider her to be a good listener.

Motivation:

Elizabeth is motivated by a culture of trust in her abilities and work ethic. She thrives under a flexible management style that supports growth in her skills. She prefers to be treated as a peer rather than a subordinate.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Elizabeth’s strengths lie in problem solving. She is constantly researching and compiling information to complete her final product. She considers herself to be detail-oriented and contentious about maintaining quality work while meeting all required deadlines. She may rush to meet deadlines when necessary. Her primary area of weakness is in developing new skills. She is comfortable fostering the skills she already possesses, but is hesitant about branching out into new and unfamiliar territory.

Katelyn

Katelyn is new to the company and has been employed here less than a year; however, she has demonstrated great promise with her knowledge and abilities. She is very driven and seeks promotion. While she feels committed to her employer, she is somewhat impatient and will seek opportunities elsewhere if they do not present themselves at West Coast Transit.

She has very high standards and strives for perfection in all that she does. This impacts her performance in teams because her team members may fail to meet her high expectations, which can be unreasonable at times. This can cause friction on the team. She also has the tendency to try to take over projects due to lack of trust and dislike of inferior work, which can cause her teammates to resent her. She has difficulty accepting blame as well.

When encountering conflict over projects, Katelyn generally perceives herself to be in the right and is often unwilling to yield. However, she greatly dislikes conflicts of a personal nature and tends to avoid colleagues and others who put her in uncomfortable situations. Katelyn prefers written communication and formal speaking situations. She can be uncomfortable with conversations, especially with people she just met.

Motivation:

Katelyn is highly motivated by challenging tasks and by praise and public accolades.

Strength and Weaknesses:

Katelyn enjoys being engaged in challenging tasks and can produce impeccable work under pressure. She is highly detail oriented. While she has the tendency to grumble when assigned tasks she does not favor, she will eventually get over it and commit herself to get the job done. She is relatively flexible and is generally an early adopter when it comes to change. On the other hand, she can take criticism, even tactfully delivered criticism, personally and sets unreasonable standards for her teammates.

Bob

Bob has been employed with the company from nearly the beginning. He believes the length of his tenure at the company gives him clout. His attitude is positive, but he prefers to downplay this attitude with comments such as: “I don’t care,” “oh well, things happen,” or “that’s not my problem.” Bob is on the edge of retirement.

Bob is a team player and exhibits this in his eagerness to assist team members when needed. He is quick to volunteer when a task needs to be completed. However, he is sometimes perceived of as surly and he is not always pleasant to work with.

When conflict occurs he tends to over-react, which can escalate conflicts. He prefers a direct communication style. He is sometimes brash. Some might consider his style unprofessional.

Motivation:

Bob is motivated by a simple “job well done” compliment and prefers to not be publically recognized. He is highly motivated in the form of a raise or bonus.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Bob’s eagerness is both a strength and a weakness. He has been known to take on too many tasks, which lowers the quality of his deliverables. Still, he is perceived of as a person who will come to the team’s assistance in order to get the job done.

William

William has been employed with the company for over four years. He is positive and has an easy-going disposition. He sympathizes with others easily. He is nearing retirement and is satisfied with his accomplishments.

William considers himself a team player. While he prefers to work independently, he works well with his co-workers. He is willing to jump in and lead on a project when necessary, but is content with others leading if they prefer. His teammates like him and enjoy his company. He is perceived as non-threatening and non-confrontational.

William tends to shut down when conflict occurs, often refusing to give any further input in order to end the conflict as soon as possible, whether he agrees with the resolution or not.

William prefers face-to-face communication. He enjoys participating in conversations with fellow co-workers. He feels that sitting in a cubicle day in and day out can be demoralizing. Engaging with his colleagues enhances his daily tasks.

Motivation:

William struggles to get motivated if he does not see immediate value in a project. When he views a project as relevant, he can be easily motivated by challenging tasks. He is also motivated when shown appreciation for the work he produces.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

William is a veteran in his area of expertise and is confident with his performance. His primary weakness is inefficiency. He is a bit of a perfectionist, which can make it difficult for him to complete projects in a timely manner.

Benchmark - Final Team Selection for West Coast Transit Presentation