The Chattanooga Ice Cream Division Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Abstract

The paper presents the scenario that is faced by the Chattanooga Ice Cream Division of the Chattanooga Foods Corporation. The division is suffering from lack of team effort and the general manager is concerned about the issues that are being faced by the company. The company has lost a major client and is in financial crisis and the dysfunctional team is creating more complexity in handling the situation. The paper identifies the reasons that are leading to dysfunctional team and the impact the Charles Moore, the general manager has in creating a dysfunctional team. Furthermore the paper suggests different ways to the team members to increase collaboration among them and suggests ideas to Moore in order to overcome the issues. The mission statement, the goals, and the way of creating team commitment and to build trusts are being mentioned. The action plan to achieve profitability in six months supported by the conclusionis also exhibited in the paper.

Introduction

The senior functional officers of Chattanooga Ice Cream are having a conflict over a decision to be made in order to turn the business that is on the verge of decline. These senior functional officers from different departments, including manufacturing, marketing, control, R&D and human resource possess different ideas and alternative options which is the main reason of the conflict. The general manager of the company has to address certain challenges at the same time, which includes the declining position of the company, and to choose between the ideas that seem competitive.

On the other hand, he also has to manage the conflict that exists among the team members and also has to assess the probability of applying his consensus oriented style in the current situation and the chances of success this style has.The Chattanooga Ice Cream Division serves as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chattanooga Foods Corporation and has been a major source of revenue since its inception in 1936. However, the company or the division is under real threat and the situation is becoming a concerning factor for the general Manager Charles Moore.

The company is faced with some issues like the financial crisis, which is highly apparent and is threatening to seize the company. On the same end the intense competition is also causing trouble and the division is expected to lose one of its highly significant and an important client to one of its competitors. In this regard another issue as discussed above arise that exhibits team dysfunction. Team work is very important in the current corporate structure and a highly dysfunctional team can create further damage.

The challenge is quite clear to the general manager Charles Moore and the task as well, for which he needs to assess the situation more clearly. On the other hand, a complete action plan needs to be developed in order to bring the division out of concern. Therefore, Moore as general manager and the leader of the team needs to highlight the importance of his role as a leader and also have to exhibit the changes that are essential in order to overcome the issue faced by the division.

Team Dysfunction

Assessing the situation and the reasons that lead to dysfunction in Moore’s team it can be stated that there can be multiple reasons that are leading or causing a dysfunctional team. First of all the team members of the senior executives had never experienced working in a team or are not trained to do so. Secondly, it is the first occasion when they have been consulted or involved in decision making as the previous general manager has clearly ignored the importance of consulting these executives. Furthermore, Charles Moore faced difficult times in translating his consensus based decision making philosophy to the team members.

On the other hand, the lack of trustworthiness among the team members about the abilities of each other and their defensive approach reading company issues are also major factors. Besides that the senior executives are only willing to support the success of their own departments and are not ready to own the errors made by them or the problems occurred due to them. The company lost a major client Stay & Shop and every executive has his own opinion or ideology regarding this issue. The blame game is clear and everyone is trying to shift the blame to each other without emphasizing or focusing on delivering the solution to the issue. These reasons have been highly significant in creating a dysfunctional team.........................

This is just a sample partial case solution. Please place the order on the website to order your own originally done case solution.

Share This

SALE SALE

Save Up To

30%

IN ONLINE CASE STUDY

FOR FREE CASES AND PROJECTS INCLUDING EXCITING DEALS PLEASE REGISTER YOURSELF !!

Register now and save up to 30%.