Group One: Managers of Strickland Propane

Description of the situation:

This situation takes place at Strickland Propane, a company that sells propane and propane accessories in Texas. It is currently November. The team is working together on a very important project. The team is creating a new system that will store, organize, and analyze all the company’s sales data. This system should also be integrated into a website so that customers can place their orders online. The project started in March, and normally it should have been finished and operational in July. However, the project is still ongoing with no end in sight.

Team Members:

Group One – the managers
Group Two – the regional sales directors
Group Three – the data analysts

Description of your group:

You are the managers of Strickland Propane. You are the leaders of this team project. You are responsible for the big ideas of the project, but you want your team to construct the system without a lot of input from you because you have other work to do. The CEO of the company is very angry that the project has not been completed yet, and he is putting a lot of pressure on you to complete the project. You are afraid that you will lose your jobs if the project is not completed soon. For this reason, you have been very harsh with the data analysts, and you believe that they are all incompetent and lazy. The sales directors are not in charge of creating the technical system, so you think that they are not causing problems, and you continue to have a good relationship with them.

In your group, discuss:

• Are we happy or unhappy with the regional sales directors? Why?
• Are we happy or unhappy with the data analysts? Why?
• What emotions do we have about this situation?
• What variables are affecting our perceptual filters? (possibilities: emotions, experience, culture, religion, etc.)
• What information should we find out from the other two groups?
• What should we tell theother two groups in order to solve this problem?

With the entire class, discuss:

• Why is the project behind schedule?
• Who has a problem with whom? Are these problems fair or unfair? Are they based on reality or perception?
• What are the sources of miscommunication?
• What are our solutions to finish the project as soon as possible?