Needs Assessement

Team Paper 1 Ð'- Needs Assessment Unit 1

March 10, 2005

OVERVIEW

Our team decided to choose to evaluate the needs assessment pertaining to Pro Specialties Group. In regards to improving the team structure, we have narrowed our discussion down to two areas: Structure and Compelling Direction. We will make suggestions on how the two areas can be revamped from a team perspective, resulting in the divisions of Pro Specialties Group to work together, grow together, and inspire each other. Ideally, after implementing these suggestions as well as others, the departments will work better together, the artists will function as a unit, money will be saved, production will improve, and profits will rise.

STRUCTURE

The art department team at PSG has a strong structure; their duties are clearly defined for them. Each team member knows specifically what sales rep they're responsible for, deadlines, and the manner in which sales representative desires their particular art work. Each artist has the power to make decisions regarding their own work and standards. Each artist has been with the company for a lengthy amount of time therefore allowing for greater cohesion of the team overall. The art department is familiar with each other, the sales representatives, clients/teams, and confident in the ability to maintain a high standard of excellence. The structure currently in place proves to get the job done, yet the question is: Are they getting the job done efficiently?

The structure of PSG is stable but not yet sturdy. The area that would make this organization sturdy would be better communication and more unity among the divisions. To accomplish these tasks, experience, discussion, interpretation, and the transfer of ideas, must be established.

The organization needs to begin with bringing sales and artist teams together with weekly or daily meetings; this can create better unity among the separate divisions and begin creating better communication. The next step that will follow is the growing unity of the team leading to greater efficiency and a more positive work environment. This opportunity for greater team work and more unity will lead to bigger and better things among the whole organization including greater employee retention.

Finally, the idea for group meetings to help with communication and unity would create more understanding of what goes on with in each division and a better understanding of what each person does. As a result, allowing everyone to get to know each other better. This also is an excellent opportunity for less animosity and better understanding of each other.

These meetings could also include new employee training, for the new hires to walk in another's footsteps, almost shadowing others in different departments.

Another solution for better communication is revamping the filling structure to be more efficient. Currently some corporate artists are given projects that involve working on licensed sports products while the licensed sports artists are completely unaware of where their help may be needed because of the inefficient filing structure. In return, the corporate artists have some information that could be useful to the licensed sports artists (such as the email addresses of domestic vendors, etc.). A better filing system, incorporating these two divisions, as well as a standardization of the "art-requisition processing" would be beneficial to this team.

With the division of responsibilities, it's important that each artist be held accountable not only for their own sales representatives, but for group goals as well, these goals can be set as a team within the team meetings. By providing information of what is going on in each division to the entire team more regularly, as well as the means by which to use this information, the team's goals are reinforced and accomplishments of the goals are attainable. If these ideas are accepted, the organization has a much stronger ability to become more efficient, retain their employees, and able to generate greater revenue.

COMPELLING DIRECTION

The various divisions at Pro Specialties Group need to be strengthened and unified in a compelling direction. Regardless of their division, corporate or licensed sports, the artists' work has a direct reflection on another artist's art. This artwork eventually affects sales, quality of products, and pricing of those very products. By having a daily or weekly meeting (as addressed in our "structure" section) of artists and sales representatives, this relationship can be addressed and discussed further.

It would be a good idea to have a simulation to open one of these meetings. A role-playing situation that requires the various divisions to fulfill an objective not directly related, but similar enough to make the connection. This role-playing simulation should reverse the "roles" the divisions play: the sales team as the aggressor, and the artist team receiving the blunt, and the production/sales assistant making all the money! This role reversal will ideally help the two parties relate and understand, so solutions and improvements can be created.

In these meetings, as a team, a mission statement reflecting the organization should be created by all parties involved. Letting the individuals all take