Organization Overview
The selected company is a call center that provides its services to a wide range of organizations in different sectors. Such outsourced activities make it possible for all partners and clients to realize their goals much faster and fulfill the demands of their respective customers. This firm has around 24 employees who undertake various tasks, such as managing operations, contacting customers, addressing complaints, developing new objectives, and monitoring the effectiveness of different technological systems.
The selected organization is medium-sized and operates in the e-commerce industry. The current purpose or mission is to become the leading provider of high-quality services and customer experiences in the region. The center’s manager pursues and implements new changes and transformations that can deliver this aim.
Project Description
Currently, this organization promotes an individualistic model whereby workers meet the needs of their assigned customers independently. Workers and managers in each department collaborate to address every emerging issue. Although this model has been appropriate for this firm, a new change is needed to introduce or implement the concept of teamwork.
The proposed project is to create a new strategy whereby employees can work in groups depending on the nature of the targeted objectives (Bashaer, Singh & Sherine 2016). Each team will have several members to maximize coordination. The new project will require the adoption of a powerful change model to deliver the intended results within the specified period.
The concept of responsible management will be taken into consideration since the change leader will be concerned with the welfare of all stakeholders inside and outside this organization. This professional will apply his or her competencies to address the demands of all customers, employees, companies, and different communities (Dyllick 2015).
The sustainability of the intended project will be realized by considering the expectations of both present and future generations. This strategy will support the entire change process and increase the chances of success. All individuals will have to be involved in the implementation project by supporting decision-making and problem-solving processes.
Team Type
Due to the nature of this call center and the anticipated goals, self-managed teams will be considered for this project. These groups are usually comprised of employees who collaborate even though they have their unique objectives. To function effectively, there will be no person in charge of the others.
Such a model will encourage all team members to solve their problems amicably and pursue their obligations effectively (Smith & Pazos 2018). This suggestion is essential since the targeted members will feel more empowered and continue to focus on the anticipated goals.
The Team Effectiveness Model (TEM)
The selected model for supporting and guiding the intended project is that of forming, storming, norming, and performing. Developed by Bruce Tuckman in the year 1965, such a framework has become a powerful tool for guiding organizational leaders and business people to establish new teams and support them to deliver desirable results (Bashaer, Singh & Sherine 2016).
The forming stage is pursued to bring different people together by analyzing their unique weaknesses and strengths and applying evidence-based strategies to transform performance (Bashaer, Singh & Sherine 2016). This approach will encourage all the targeted individuals to avoid potential conflicts and start to focus on the concept of teamwork.
The second phase is that of storming and it empowers individuals to become closer to one another and be ready to solve possible barriers that might disorient productivity. During the norming stage, the team starts to appear whereby individuals focus on the common plan or goal. This phase is essential since it presents a new opportunity for the developed group to function effectively. The last one is the performing phase whereby team members accept the outlined goals and work exceptionally to achieve them.
This model is essential since it guides leaders and managers to support the creation of effective and responsible teams that can deliver the intended results. When planning to achieve such an objective, the use of a team effectiveness model (TEM) is something critical. Its value is that it helps those in charge to figure out the most appropriate strategies, resources, attitudes, and tools for a specific team.
The purpose of such a framework is to guide leaders or change agents to understand what might not be working in the targeted organization. They will go further to consider the best attributes to deliver the intended results (Dyllick 2015). Through the use of a TEM, any group will develop into a powerful team that can achieve its objectives promptly. Any project aimed at supporting the establishment of a team-based organizational structure will, therefore, require the adoption of an effective TEM.
As described above, the selected TEM framework has four stages that are critical towards supporting the intended teams in this call center. To deliver positive results, a change model will be needed in an attempt to make it achieve the objectives of a responsible management process. The most appropriate theory is that of Kurt Lewin.
Such a model presents these three key steps to any user or leader: refreezing, changing, and freezing (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown 2016). The adoption of this strategy is essential since it will ensure that the suggested TEM delivers positive results and resonates with the unique issues affecting the entire call center.
During the refreezing phase, all employees, customers, and other key stakeholders will be informed about the targeted teams. They will get pamphlets and guidelines detailing the current operations and how the anticipated groups will revolutionize performance and meet the needs of the greatest number of individuals (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown 2016).
This approach is also critical since it will ensure that the level of resistance reduces significantly. When all people are guided and informed about the intended results and change, they will be willing to remain supportive and be part of any emerging problem. Such an initiative will ensure that all employees are informed about the intended goals.
The second phase will be considered to support and sustain the entire project. After the major stakeholders are updated and informed about this new change, the TEM framework will be introduced by encouraging all workers in the call center to be involved. Those in charge will identify specific employees who will be part of specific self-managed teams (Smith & Pazos 2018).
This should be informed by the unique strengths, abilities, personality traits, and expectations of such individuals. While focusing on the second attribute of Lewin’s theory, the leader will pursue the forming stage whereby the identified workers will be guided to start relating positively with one another. During the phase, all partners will be guided to remain polite and watchful. They will receive timely guidelines to address any form of confusion that might arise (Bashaer, Singh & Sherine 2016).
Throughout the storming phase, employees will be required to confront and criticize when necessary. Emerging conflicts will have to be identified and addressed promptly.
The third stage is that of norming whereby all team members will be guided and empowered to make involved, pursue the established procedures and be ready to give honest feedback to one another. They will have addressed their unique differences by coping with all emerging issues. These practices will ensure that the call center has several self-performing teams that can add value to the targeted customers (Dyllick 2015).
The last stage of performing will support the creation of effective groups whereby all members remain flexible and open-minded. A new team culture will develop since all employees will focus on the targeted organizational goals. These individuals will support each other, address emerging issues and go further to maximize the experiences of all customers.
Lewin’s third stage will become a powerful guideline for ensuring that the established teams are sustainable and capable of achieving their aims. This will be realized by guiding all participants to appreciate such a change and make it part of the call center’s business model. It is during this phase when potential gaps will be identified and addressed.
Workers can also be guided to engage in lifelong learning in an attempt to improve their interpersonal communication abilities, establish better workplace relationships, acknowledge the nature of their obligations and manage emerging conflicts (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown 2016). When these issues or considerations are taken seriously, chances are high that this call center will benefit from the established self-managed teams and eventually improve the quality of services available to different customers.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The above discussion has presented TEM as a powerful framework for supporting the intended project. This model will ensure that different workers form teams that have the potential to deliver positive results.
The value of applying this TEM to the proposed project is to understand the most appropriate strategies and tools that can deliver high-performing teams to maximize the outcomes and experiences of different customers. The model is also appropriate since it supports the concept of responsible management by ensuring that the issues affecting different stakeholders are identified and addressed promptly (Smith & Pazos 2018).
As described above, all individuals are involved in such a way that they can offer their guidelines and recommendations to improve project management. The inclusion of an effective change theory makes the entire process responsible and capable of taking the call center to the next level.
To apply the proposed plan successfully, there are specific recommendations to take into consideration. The first one is to consider the importance of combing TEM with an effective change theory. The second suggestion is ensuring that there is a contingency plan to implement after the original strategy fails. The third recommendation is providing adequate resources throughout the process to ensure that positive results are recorded promptly (Dyllick 2015).
Finally, the goals and objectives of the targeted teams should resonate with the wider mission or objective of this call center. These measures will eventually improve the level of performance and meet the demands of the greatest number of companies and customers.
Reference List
Bashaer, A, Singh, S & Sherine, F 2016, ‘Determinants of organizational performance: a proposed framework’, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 65, no. 6, pp. 844-859.
Cummings, S, Bridgman, T & Brown, KG 2016, ‘Unfreezing change as three steps: rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management’, Human Relations, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 33-60.
Dyllick, T 2015, ‘Responsible management education for a sustainable world: the challenges for business schools’, Journal of Management Development, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 16-33.
Smith, NCM & Pazos, P 2018, ‘Self-managing team performance: a systematic review of multilevel input factors’, Small Group Research, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 3-33.