Group Two: Regional Sales Directors

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 regional sales directors of Strickland Propane. Before the implementation of the new system, you have been using Excel to store all your data in a very simple way. You have no training in data analysis, but you have a very close relationship with your customers. You are afraid of the new system for two reasons. First, you think that it will be too difficult to use because you have very little technological skills. Second, you think that if the system is successful, then you will lose your jobs because customers will no longer need to work with you. For this reason, you have been wasting a lot of time; you have taken a long time to send all the relevant data to the data analysts and haven’t explained very well what it all means to them.

In your group, discuss:

• Are we happy or unhappy with the managers? 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 the other 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?