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Case 2B Problem-Solving Orientation Curtis Braithwaite is the…
Case 2B Problem-Solving Orientation
Curtis Braithwaite is the owner of a downtown Canna-Smoke cannabis boutique franchise. His staff of 15 includes eight sales representatives who sell the store’s products, and three managers who manage these employees, as well as logistics, finance, and marketing staff.
The store has been open for just over two years. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the location was doing brisk business. Customers included people who live downtown, as well as people who work downtown. Both groups would drop by regularly (sometimes up to three times a week) to pick up various cannabis products. In the first six months his location was open, Curtis’ sales were growing at around 6% per week and head office was very happy.
In the winter of 2019-2020 the Covid-19 pandemic led to workplace shutdowns and at various times retail shutdowns; as a result, fewer people had reason to come downtown. Office workers were working at home and weekend shoppers who would normally come downtown were no longer coming downtown as all but essential retail (e.g., pharmacies, groceries) were allowed to stay open. Soon, sales were declining rapidly, even though as a “medicinal” retailer, Canna-Smoke was allowed to stay open during all the various shutdowns and lockdowns.
After some prodding from head office, Curtis decides to create a team consisting of his managers: Cathy, Steve, and Harpreet to try to solve the problem of declining sales. He’s given the team four 30-minute paid meeting times on Tuesdays over the next month to meet, figure things out, and report back to him.
At their first meeting the team sits around a table in the back of the store. They are looking at each other across the table, not really knowing what to say or do. This lasts for the first five minutes. Finally, Harpreet says, “What are we going to do?” Steve replies: “This is kind of above our pay-grade if you ask me . . . ” Cathy nods her head in agreement. Harpreet checks her phone. Soon 30 minutes is up . . .
*
A week goes by. None of the teammates has been in touch with the others to discuss the problem Curtis has asked them to solve. It’s now the second Tuesday and they are meeting again before their shift.
“I think we need a plan”, Steve says to the team.
“I agree”, Cathy replies, “but whenever I’ve tried helping my boss out with a problem, it always ends up coming back to haunt me”.
“What do you mean?” Harpreet asks.
“Simple”, Cathy says. “They have something challenging to figure out and so they give it to their employees to deal with instead of dealing with it themselves! They say it’s empowering us, but it’s actually a no-win situation. If you come up with a good solution to the problem, they take the credit. If you don’t come up with a good solution they blame you and maybe even get rid of you”.
“Wait a sec, though”, says Harpreet. “If we used that kind of logic we’d never do anything our boss asked us in case it didn’t work out well . . . Shouldn’t we at least try?”
Harpreet looks around the table but the eyes of her teammates are focused on the table they’re sitting at. And in the case of Steve, on his phone.
“Well, what would you suggest?” Cathy says to Harpreet.
“I mean let’s at least brainstorm some ideas”, Harpreet says. “Most of us have can take an educated guess about the decline in sales, right?”
“I’m with Cathy – I don’t want to go out on a limb for Curtis”, Steve says, looking up from his phone. “But I also don’t want to lose this job by doing nothing. So, here’s my two cents: sales are down for obvious reasons: Covid, Covid, and Covid”.
Harpreet can’t help rolling her eyes. She feels like they owe Curtis a decent attempt at solving the problem. Should she just do the work by herself?
*
It’s the fourth Tuesday, and Curtis is expecting a short presentation from the team about what they found out and what they propose.
Cathy and Steve have contributed very little. After the team’s last meeting, Harpreet and Steve stayed back for a while and did some brainstorming. They decided to focus on reasons other than Covid, which they reasoned was not controllable by Curtis or head office. Still, Steve left the meeting and didn’t get in touch with Harpreet by the weekend, like he said he would.
So Harpreet did research by herself. She looked at their competitors, potential for growing online sales, and suggestions for temporary cuts to store staff. Without doing any secondary research, however (she reasoned their 30-minute meetings didn’t give them enough time to do more than observational primary research), she was only able to create a three-slide PowerPoint. The first slide explored the problem, the second slide offered three solutions, and the third slide simply said “Questions?” She hasn’t shown the slide deck to Cathy and Steve, because they haven’t bothered being in touch with her. And she doesn’t want to look like too much of a keener
When they present the slides to Curtis that morning, he’s visibly underwhelmed. It’s clear the team hasn’t discussed the slides ahead of time. But still, he makes a point of thanking the team and telling them he’ll give their suggestions some thought. Privately, he starts to consider slimming down his staff and cutting back opening hours.
Assignment (10% – team grade)
Answer the following questions about the case.
Questions 1, 2, 3, and 5 are due at the end of class in Week 10. Submit them via BB in Week 10 module.
Question 4 is due with your presentation next week. In your presentation, spend up to 5 minutes summarizing your solution and then show us your skits for Q4.
1. What are the positive and negative examples of soft skills in this case?
2. Which of the negative examples is most serious and why?
3. Explain how concepts from psychology (e.g., social learning, personality, etc.) can be used to explain the problematic soft skills demonstrated in this case, and to offer solutions. Feel free to use a table format if helps you.
4. Script and present three “improved” scenes based on this case (Scene 1: The team’s first meeting; Scene 2: The team’s second meeting; Scene 3: The team’s presentation). Your improved scenes will show what should have happened if characters had used excellent soft skills. Use the “problem solving orientation” language and behaviour strategies we learned in class in your answer. A complete answer to this question includes a written script and a filmed/acted-out version of the script in Week 5.
5. Locate two recent (i.e., past 10 years) high-quality articles on positive problem solving orientation in the workplace from newspapers, magazines, or academic journals. Google Scholar will be helpful. What main pieces of advice did you learn from these articles that were not already covered in the course? How could this advice help the characters in this case?
