Vidsoft Case and Leadership

Question 1

Summary of the situation at Vidsoft.

Babatunde, a senior manager at Vidsoft needed to create a new layer consisting of 2 managers, between himself and his eleven reporting engineers, as his responsibilities had recently increased and he was unable to remain effective. The culture of the organisation was to promote from within and Jennah Li was the only candidate Babatunde felt comfortable would continue the success of the team. She had no prior managerial experience, however Babatunde believed he could develop her into the role and the team agreed.

A few weeks into the promotion of Li, Hsu approached Babatunde with various issues he had regarding working under Li. He felt that as she did not possess a science degree she would be unable to understand the difficulties he had encountered in attaining his computer engineering degree. He also stated that he had joined the organisation as he had been impressed with Babatunde's management style. His last issue was that he would be unable to learn from Li due to her lack of experience in managing people. Hsu wanted to be transferred over to the team that Babatunde had yet to find a manager for.

Babatunde met with Li afterwards and conveyed Hsu's problems in working for her. She was surprised, upset and felt she was failing as a manager. Several meetings with Hsu, Li and Babatunde then took place over the next two weeks. Hsu remained inflexible on wanting to be a member of the other team. Li wanted Hsu to remain on her team concerned that the transfer of Hsu could have a negative impact on her team.

How can this situation be best resolved?

"Resolution aims somehow to get to the root causes of the conflict and not merely to treat its episodic or symptomatic manifestation, that is, particular dispute."( Avruch, 2007 p 26)

This is the first problem encountered by the team and Babatunde had not expected this problem to develop. Firstly, the team could at this point be involved with the conflict between Hsu and Li. The team has trust in Li and as a successful team, could utilise their personal connections to convince and persuade Hsu of Li's abilities. However, Hsu is not a team player and as he lacks respect for Li, it is likely he lacks respect for the rest of the team and therefore will require more convincing than the team are able to provide. Exploring Hsu's reasoning for not been happy working for Li can shed light on how to deal with negotiating a solution to the conflict. Hsu is technically orientated and believes his leader should be too, as in the previous situation where he worked directly for Babatunde. Exploring this, one needs to question why a technical manager is more suited to managing him than a people orientated team player as in the case of Li. There is a strong indication from the text that one of Hsu's motivators was in having direct contact and appraisals from Babatunde. He appears to have enjoyed the focus and believed his career could advance more quickly under Babatunde's leadership. Having Li in between, Hsu believes, will inhibit his progression. Making Hsu understand that the company still has the same goals and objectives should help alleviate some of his concerns. Hsu's last problem with Li was that he would be unable to learn anything from her as she was new to management. Hsu needs to understand that whilst he values a learning environment, Li values the same and this is her opportunity to learn and progress. As a team, Li's values need supporting and it is preferable that Hsu takes part in this process. Hsu perceptions and behaviour needs to alter.

This conflict is dysfunctional and needs to be resolved. The situation is in stalemate. There are various conflict handling techniques and the ones appropriate to the situation need to be utilised. Robbins (2005) utilises the following methods to resolve conflict. Using competition conflict handling intentions is not appropriate to this situation. Collaboration would be better suited as a solution. Working through the feelings of both individuals and gaining insight into their differences will help establish cooperation to find a mutually beneficial outcome. A win -win solution should be sought whereby both Li and Hsu are able to achieve their goals would be the best outcome. However, this cannot occur until Hsu is able to understand how his perceptions of the problem are misaligned. Trying to accommodate Hsu and Li's goals will be difficult. Until Hsu is prepared to accept the change in his reporting structure, he would be unable to accommodate Li's goals. Using a comprising conflict handling technique would not be conducive to ensuring the team remains intact and effective. However, having Hsu remain on the team will also reduce the effectiveness of the team. The conflict cannot be ignored and avoided. Babatunde could try to smooth the conflict by reinforcing the shared goals of Li and Hsu.

Finally, Babatunde needs to decide whether the effort is actually worth it. If a resolution to the conflict cannot be concluded, what does Babatunde perceive as being most of value to the organisation. Would transferring Hsu, an average performing employee to the other team send the wrong message to Li's team and undervalue her as a manager? Would the team be able to function effectively if Hsu remains in it? If all the answers are no, then conceivably, it is in the interests of the organisation and the effectiveness of it's best team, not to continue supporting Hsu in disrupting the structure Babatunde put in place.

Could Babatunde have avoided this situation?

"Effective communication is the key to the success of any team. Gather your team together for a team building meeting. Have everyone list and discuss any potentially unacceptable team behaviors. Are there any issues or activities adversely affecting the team? What issues could impact the team in the future?"

Kettenhofen (2006)

If Babatunde had been more aware of the motivations and drives behind Hsu, his values and his beliefs, Babatunde may have been able to avoid the situation. By reinforcing Babatunde's needs to create a new layer of management and making sense of it to Hsu, there may have been less resistance. If Babatunde had communicated more effectively with the team it may have alleviated the situation that occurred. Babatunde needed to reinforce his reasoning on selecting Li for the role prior to her taking the new position. Hsu obviously trusts and respects Babatunde and Babatunde could have been the key influence in persuading Hsu of the value of his decision.

What can the Company do