Life of Alex Sander free essay sample

1) Investigate the 360 feedback system as a performance evaluation tool. List key advantages and problems associated with this method. 360 degree feedback system as a performance evaluation tool as long as the understanding of its intent is understood. â€Å"There are three key steps in the successful implementation of 360 degree feedback systems in an organization. The three steps are that it must fit the organizations culture, make it psychometrically sound, and used with care† (â€Å"Best Practices†, 2012). It is also important to train the feedback providers to be sensitive, respectful and polite.Treating employees in a friendly and respectful manner and offering constructive advice will make them more open to accepting the performance appraisal system. Major advantage to the 360 feedback system is that it provides an opportunity for all the employees associated with the project to offer feedback. All members of the project are to be evaluated on a scale that is defined by the organization to insure fairness and accuracy. We will write a custom essay sample on Life of Alex Sander or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Another advantage of the 360 feedback system is that it is designed with customer focus in mind. The customers can be internal or external.Employees may not understand the impact their daily activities have on other individuals or departments within the company. This provides essential feedback to the employees which may have a positive effect on his/her performance for future projects. The 360 evaluation is particularly strong when coupled with an action plan developed by the person receiving feedback and shared with those who provided the feedback. The main disadvantage to using the 360 feedback system is that management and employees may not be trained correctly on how to effectively use the process.Another problem that occurs with this type of system is with its consistency in using this process. Companies sometimes get overwhelmed with other important issue and forget or do not have time to conduct this evaluation in a proper time frame or not at all. This will provide unreliable information for improvement on the next project. 2) What challenges does Alex face relating to the unity of command principle at Landon Care Products? Alex faces many challenges when relating to the unity of command principle. Working through the chain of command, designated supervisors or managers coordinates the work of their subordinates† (â€Å"Chapter Summary†). Alex shows having problems with authority and is very unconcerned with what his immediate supervisor Sam Glass’s perception of his project management skills are and what Glass has to say. Alex shows a lack of concern about the company’s other responsibilities and projects. This was apparent when meeting other virtual team members. The German team members had concerns over the time line that Alex wanted to get things done in and this was in conflict with other commitments that they had already made.Alex refers to every project that he works as â€Å"my product† and â€Å"my brand† which he should refer to them as Landon’s product and Landon’s brand. Alex should show respect and listen to what Glass has to say. Alex is not only showing disrespect to Glass but to the entire organization by not fully participating in the 360 feedback system. 3) Given Alex’s overall skill set, approach, and personality, will Alex be successful in future projects that are more demanding and require influence over strategic decisions?Alex’s overall skill set, approach, and personality at the present time will have a negative impact on future projects that are more demanding and require influence over strategic decisions. Even though his understanding and willingness to learn is exceptional, when dealing with people Alex expects that team members and peers to understand things the same way he does. This is a problem when communicating tasks and objectives to the team. The approach that he takes to get tasks accomplished is to place â€Å"fear† in the project team. Alex intimidates his team members to work.This form of management promotes resentment and unnecessary stress on the organization, which in many cases causes mistakes. The personality that is portrayed by Alex is that he is the best and no one can do it better. This type of personality causes a problem in communication and has a negative effect on stakeholder and other members of upper-management. Understandably his direct supervisor, Sam Glass wants to keep Alex on his team because of his performance of meeting the project goals and finishing them on time and in budget.Unfortunately Glass is receiving negative comments from his colleagues over Alex’s negative personality when dealing with members of the organization. 4) If you were Alex’s boss, what action would you take based on the 360 feedback and your overall assessment of Alex? As Alex’s immediate supervisor I would schedule a meeting to discuss and review the 360 feedback on this project. By scheduling a meeting this would establish that there is a necessity for changes to be made in his project management skills. After reviewing the 360 feedback system I would make several uggestions to Alex Sanders on the results of the responses made. First I would explain to Alex that this was not a meeting to criticize his work ethic but to give insight on ways to improve his project management skills. I would explain to Alex that the company believes in his ability to accomplish projects and that is why he was given the opportunity to be the project manager over two very important projects simultaneously. I would reiterate Alex’s aggressiveness, intelligent and willingness to work hard is illustrated in the accomplishments he has made for the organization.His ability to multitask and problem solve is a credit to his project management skills. As Alex’s supervisor it is also my job to discuss points of concern and suggest ways of improvement. The first concern is over trust of the employee’s capability to accomplish task on their own. The responsibility of a project manager is to delegate appropriate tasks and ensure project control and adherence to the project plan. This lack of trust was illustrated when Alex Sander showed a lack of interpersonal skill when failing to communicate correctly to Hansen Long over a task that was assigned and effectively taking the task away from Long.I would make Alex aware that fear is not a powerful motivator and this type of environment causes unwarranted stress on the team members. This type of management will manifest into resentment of team members. Another concern that was mentioned in the feedback package was the lack of organizational skills when dealing with other project managers. Even though there is lot of positive comments on Alex’s ability to be a project manager but they do not see him as a leader.As Alex’s supervisor I would like to work with him to ensure his success as a project manager in the organization and discuss better ways to communicate his requirements of others to help eliminate the negative feedback. 5) Is Landon Care Products organized through departmentation by function or departmentation by product? Which departmentation method do you believe would work best for Landon? â€Å"Departmentation by function groups similar tasks within their own function, with sub functions, as appropriate and divisions may also be made by occupational categories† (â€Å"organization structure†, 1994).Departmentation by function has the advantage of specialized areas and a broad base of technical personnel within each functional department. The disadvantage to this type of departmentation is that it has slower results and lack of o wnership which discourages commitment. â€Å"Departmentation by product organizes employees based on which product line or set of services they work with. Each product line has a department of its own, and each department has specialists in all of the functions needed to produce and sell that product, such as marketing, manufacturing, accounting and human resources† (â€Å"Functional Vs.