24 Part 4 Moeting the Challenges ot the 21st Century A Day in the Life of Adrian Jackson ‘Adtran Jackson is a project manager at Systems Solutions, Inc, The comppany provides information technology and computer systems consulting. Ils headquarters ara in San Jose, California, with offices in Chicago and New York City ‘Adrian typically arrives at the office at 7:30 am. The day begins as usual with a cup af cotfee, a quick check for voice- and e-mail messages, @ check for relevant text messages, and a review of today’s scheduled activites. The day seems to be typical, beginning with a team meeting at 8:30, 'At7:45 Actian reviews nates from the tearm meeting that was he telephone rings at 8:00. Adrian's manager is concerned about a recent contract the company has signed, and she has some setious reservations about the company’s ability to complete the work on time. Adrian tries to reassure her that they will meet tne deadlines, but while talking, Adrian's rind wanders fo the team meeting that is set to begin in less then fiteen minutes. ‘Ackian promises the manager to put together a short report an the progress of the contract and hangs up. With less than ten minutes to the meeting, Adrian stares at the blank sheet of paper entitled "Meeting Agenda’ and quickly writes out what can be remembered from the last meeting and walks to the meeting room. ‘At 8:90 Adrian looks at the yawning faces of the group and begins by thanking everyone for coming. Immediately, Greg, the team member with the most skill but least formal education, says that they can never meet the deadline specified in a contract; infact, itis the same one the manager mentioned, An argument follows with some group members saying the work can be done and the others disagreeing, After an hour-and-a-half debate, Adrian ends the meeting and agrees to meet with Greg later in the waok to discuss his reservations. ‘Adrian gats back to the office at 10:10 to discaver @ voice-mail message urging attendance at the manager's meeting with one of tha company's partners during lunch. Adrian had planned to run some errands over lunch but decides Its nec essary to join the lunch meeting 'At 10:45 Greg stops by Acrian's office to schedule their meeting that was suggested earlier for later in the week. Adrian es trust in Greg's knowledge of computers and software and will defer to his judgment if he does not think the deadline 11 be met. Greg admits that he may have overreacted a bit during the meeting and promises to reassess the proposed scape of work. Adrian spends the next forty-five minutes retuming phone messages and replying to e-mail and text mes sages, then leaves to mest the manager for the twenly-minute drive to downtown San Jose for lunch. ‘Arriving at the restaurant at noon, Adrian and the manager are greeted by the partner They enjoy a friend and settle into their booth. The partner wants to discuss commitments made in a newly signed contract with a long-time valuable customer and begins a two-hour discussion of the merits and feasibly of the project. With both the manager and + satisfied, Adrian returns to the otfice at 2:45 and begins returning phone messages. At 9:00, Acrian joins @ scheduled conference call to discuss a different project withthe clent's management team. Itasts for forty ‘Acfian walks to the break room for an energy cfink after the conference call and then remembers that there isa retre- rent party for JJ. Jorden in the rain meeting room. J. is leaving after twenty years with the company, the last sx years as a senior vice present. Acrian decides that It is important to get to that party, especially because J.J. had been an important mentor in the past. Also, several of the other senior managers will be at this party. ‘Adrian retums to the office and answers waiting voice- and e-mail messages and begins outining a schedule for tomor row. At 5:30, i's time to go home to take both children to soccer practice at 6:30 p.m. Thank goodness they aren't on diferent teams meeting on opposite ends of town! Jc last week and begins developing today's agenda. The For Discussion 41. dent the basic managerial functions in which Adtian engaged during the day—that i, planning, organizing, leading, controling 2. When did Arian act in (a) interpersonal roles, (b) informational roles, and (c) decisional roles? 3. Did Adrian spend time appropriately? Ifo, in what ways? What adjustments might have been made to be more effective? _ REE |Part 4 Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century Tropical Sandals While vacationing in Key West with his old high school buddies, Edidie Rodriguez noticed a lot of cruise ship passengers miling around in the shops near the dock wrlle the ship was in port. He was struck by the fact that a large numioer of them ‘were wearing newly purchased Key West sandals and carrying their shoes in their hands or their shopping bags. Eddie was rious, so he started asking questions. He quickly learned that Key West sandals seemed to be the preferred footwear in this laid-back environment, and that purchasing Key West sandals was the in thing for tourists to do when they arrived in town. A litle more investigation led Edie to realize that there were several sandal shops in the downtown area near the cruise port and that these sandals were all manutactured in nearby small, cottage industry-lype shops, ‘After graduating from high school in Brooklyn five years earlier, Eddie decided that higher education was not for him his preference was to learn some kind of trade. He began working in a neighborhood shoe repair shop to ean a few extra bucks, but quickly realized that he liked working with leather. In his spare time he often crefted leather belts and watchbands for himself and his buddies. There was something special about the smell ofthe leather, and the satisfaction he got when he ‘was able to cut, stitch, and polish his finished handiwork {As Eddie continued to stall through the streets of Key West, he was struck by how beautiful the weather was. Glear blue skies, balmy temperatures, and the bive waters of the Gulf of Mexico at one end of Duvall Stret, and the Atlantic Ocean two miles down the road at the other end. Having spent one too many raw winters in Brooklyn, Eddie realized that this was the place for him. He made a few inquiries and with his background and experience with leather work, he had no problem land: ing an offer from one of the sandal-manufacturing fms. Since he was 2 single man with no family obligations back home in Brooklyn, home quickly became Key West and his new career was in the manufacture of sandal The “actory” where the sandals were made looked less ike a factory and more like @ warehouse with small workers clustered around cutting machines, stitching machines, and ieather-tooling doy in en assembly line fashion—there were just too many design variations and color choices for men, women, and children, Instead, individual craftsmen and -women tolled at their work stations cutting, stitching, tooling, ishing, After several ‘weeks of observation on tha job, Eddie was struck by the fact that most of these coworkers approached their tasks slightly differently. There seemed to be considerable variability n the way his coworkers perlormed routine tasks, anda resuiting var ability in how long it took an individual to make a pair of sandals. Workers seemed to have complete autonomy to decide how they performed these tasks. Many times Eddie would observe his workers and say to himself, “I wonder what would possess ‘someone to doit that way.” When he asked one of his coworkers why she was performing a particular task the way she wes, the worker responded, “Nobody ever sal us down and told us there was a perfect way. of ss. The sandals were not made For Discussion 1. Do you think thatthe workersin this sandal factory were provided ith tao much autonomy in selecting work procecures? 2. Review the principles of scientiic management and discus of the workers as they make Key West sandals Ce s how they might be used to Imorove the task performance