Team-Building Does Not Always Build a Team: A Behavioral Analysis Idaho State University MBA 6612 Spring 2015 Professor: Neil Tocher, PhD May 5, 2015 INTRODUCTION This behavioral analysis paper is focused on a failed organizational initiative. This situation is burned into my mind due to the complete and utter failure of what was intended to be accomplished. After taking MBA 6612, I understand that managing and leading are two very different things, but even now I am still in shock that one person can be so blind and naïve. That is why this situation sticks with me. SITUATION OVERVIEW I worked for an organization and they hired a new Regional Manager (RM), Carly, for Pocatello. Carly was new to management, but had been with the Company for a couple of years. Carly took over managing a somewhat dysfunctional team that did not work as well together. One of the team members, Lisa, had also applied for the RM position and was miffed that Carly had been chosen. This situation added fuel to the fire for the team not working so well together. I had only been with the Company for two months when this whole scenario occurred. Carly announced that she was implementing weekly meetings where we were required to participate in team building exercises. The intent behind having these weekly exercises was to create bonding and some kind of cohesion for this group of people who had been at odds to some extent or another for quite some time. Some of these exercises did the exact opposite of what they were supposed to accomplish. Every meeting was met with dread and exasperation by all of the staff. During some of the meetings, we told success stories that we had from the previous week. Other meetings we did arts and crafts together, or created “thank-you” jars to leave notes in for one another. It was all very hokey and childish. We were a team of well-trained, well-educated women who were professionals working in a professional Company. One meeting in particular stands out to me. Carly had been experiencing quite a bit of turnover in all of the positions that she managed, so our team had an eclectic variety of newbies and “old-timers” to the Company. Lisa was still on board and going out of her way to be a pain in the rear for Carly. In this particular meeting, we were being joined by Carly’s bosses, the Director, Denise, and the VP, Tonya. Carly led the meeting and had asked us to all write one positive thing about each team member as well as one thing that each person needed to work on improving. Denise interjected and asked us all to talk about the positive things for each team member and began writing these on the whiteboard in the conference room. We then had to all tell everyone the thing that each person needed to work on. All of us were expectedly polite with the negative thing that we identified, intentionally not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings. After each of us had announced our thoughts, Denise told us that we were all being “t ...

1. Team-Building Does Not Always Build a Team:
A Behavioral Analysis
Idaho State University
MBA 6612 Spring 2015
Professor: Neil Tocher, PhD
May 5, 2015
INTRODUCTION
This behavioral analysis paper is focused on a failed
organizational initiative. This situation is burned into my mind
due to the complete and utter failure of what was intended to be
accomplished. After taking MBA 6612, I understand that
managing and leading are two very different things, but even
now I am still in shock that one person can be so blind and
naïve. That is why this situation sticks with me.
SITUATION OVERVIEW

2. I worked for an organization and they hired a new Regional
Manager (RM), Carly, for Pocatello. Carly was new to
management, but had been with the Company for a couple of
years. Carly took over managing a somewhat dysfunctional team
that did not work as well together. One of the team members,
Lisa, had also applied for the RM position and was miffed that
Carly had been chosen. This situation added fuel to the fire for
the team not working so well together.
I had only been with the Company for two months when this
whole scenario occurred. Carly announced that she was
implementing weekly meetings where we were required to
participate in team building exercises. The intent behind having
these weekly exercises was to create bonding and some kind of
cohesion for this group of people who had been at odds to some
extent or another for quite some time. Some of these exercises
did the exact opposite of what they were supposed to
accomplish.
Every meeting was met with dread and exasperation by all of
the staff. During some of the meetings, we told success stories
that we had from the previous week. Other meetings we did arts
and crafts together, or created “thank-you” jars to leave notes in
for one another. It was all very hokey and childish. We were a
team of well-trained, well-educated women who were
professionals working in a professional Company.
One meeting in particular stands out to me. Carly had been
experiencing quite a bit of turnover in all of the positions that
she managed, so our team had an eclectic variety of newbies and
“old-timers” to the Company. Lisa was still on board and going
out of her way to be a pain in the rear for Carly. In this
particular meeting, we were being joined by Carly’s bosses, the
Director, Denise, and the VP, Tonya. Carly led the meeting and
had asked us to all write one positive thing about each team
member as well as one thing that each person needed to work on
improving.
Denise interjected and asked us all to talk about the positive
things for each team member and began writing these on the

3. whiteboard in the conference room. We then had to all tell
everyone the thing that each person needed to work on. All of
us were expectedly polite with the negative thing that we
identified, intentionally not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings.
After each of us had announced our thoughts, Denise told us
that we were all being “too nice” and what we had said was not
good enough. Carly was the first to volunteer a more “honest”
answer. Suffice to say, all did not go well during this meeting.
Lisa and Carly were crying by the end, one of my friends, Suzy,
was completely shut down and I was pretty much in total shock
that this whole scenario had just occurred. It felt like I was
watching a scene in a movie. Things like this do not happen in
real life, right?
This was the breaking point for the work that had been done
with the team up to this point. Lisa quit, which rolled like a
domino through the office. Carly quickly slipped in her
management duties. She began playing favorites to those who
would play nice to her face or say the things that she wanted
people to say. Carly focused her disciplinary actions toward
anyone who said anything negative about her or any part of the
office functions. Office morale was at an all-time low, and
somehow still sinking. Carly was completely blind to the part
that she was playing. Carly constantly voiced that she was the
victim of other’s attempts at manipulation and wondered out
loud why no one could see that she was just trying to bring the
office to “greatness”.
The meetings continued, but were reduced to once a month. In
these meetings, Carly would expect each one of us to contribute
“positivity” to the meetings, and would hold her ground until
she got what she wanted. Carly would ask a question, such as
“What things went well this week?” and would stand at the front
of the conference room in complete silence until each one of us
said something. If it took 20 minutes of standing in silence, she
would stand there. We were all gun shy about saying anything
after the big blow-out meeting.
The meetings continued to be rammed down everyone’s throats.

4. Since the meetings continued, Carly was able to report to
Denise and Tonya that everything in the office was great, all of
the staff contributed to the positivity and wonderful atmosphere
of the Pocatello office and there were no concerns about staff
morale. I left the Company after about a year and a half, for
reasons related directly to the RM. As far as I know, these
meetings continue to this day.
RELATED ROPES TALES
The related Ropes tales that apply here include chapters 18
(Sunrise Service), 23 (Like It Is) and 24 (Hold That Line) in
various degrees that I would like to discuss. The first chapter
that this whole situation makes me think about is in chapter 18.
The point of meeting so early in the morning was to get
everyone working together so that the meeting could be
discontinued. Initially, the weekly meetings at the organization
I worked for were intended to be negative reinforcement for a
team that did not get along well. One might think that after the
team started doing better, the meetings would discontinue, or
occur less frequently. There was irreparable damage after the
meeting where we all had to say something negative.
Chapter 23 comes to mind in relation to the content of that fatal
meeting. As with Stanley in the chapter, in an attempt to be
honest and do what her superior asked, Carly voiced her honest
opinion and created a multitude of negative problems. Chapter
24 comes to mind in the latter part of the situation discussed.
As Carly continued to push the team building meetings, she
created her maximax to match the employee’s minimax, which
was to go along with the meetings and participate in the
“positivity”.
RELATED MANAGEMENT THEORIES
The management theories that relate most to this situation
are attribution theory and employee-oriented leadership. With
attribution theory, it became clear in my mind that Carly was
attributing the low morale of the staff to their poor attitudes.
This seems to me to be a fundamental attribution error as the
staff had low morale due to external factors, not personal

5. attitude problems. With employee-oriented leadership, I believe
that Carly saw herself as an employee-oriented leader –
someone who put value on interpersonal relationships.
Unfortunately, she completely missed the mark with accepting
individual differences and valuing employee needs.
FUTURE SITUATION
Should I find myself in a similar situation in the future, I
would take time to speak to the RM and let that person know
what the team was feeling before it got to the point where there
was the big blow-out meeting. I would be more vocal about the
true effect of what the team building meetings and exercises
were doing to staff morale. As noted in Chapter 18 of the
Ropes, keeping quiet and not wanting to rock the boat can be
good at times, but there is certainly a time and place for
bringing problems to someone’s attention.
If I were the manager in a similar situation, I would do my
best to strive toward being an employee-oriented leader. There
are ways to go about talking to employees and getting a feeling
for what is contributing to the issues with the team members not
getting along. I would speak to the employees individually so
there is not confrontation with other employees and find out
what their concerns were, and delve into finding what their
individual motivations were. Knowing what motivates each
employee gives a manager the ability to offer appropriate
incentives for the team. I probably would also implement some
sort of anonymous method of reporting problems and concerns,
in an attempt to get information from all employees. At this
point, I would try solutions that fit with the needs of the team to
resolve the issues with everyone not working well together.
CONCLUSION
This behavioral analysis is an excellent process of taking a
past situation and being able to analyze what happened, what
went wrong and how I might take a different approach to my
part in the situation. The main point of this analysis is that
someone with a Manager title does not walk into a job and
always know exactly what to do. This was my first experience

6. watching someone without management knowledge flounder and
struggle to gain their bearings in a painful public manner.
Through this experience, I learned many lessons about what not
to do as a manager. Denise was completely and utterly oblivious
to the incredible damage she did that day to the tea, when she
forced people to talk about private, inner feelings that were best
left unsaid. I also learned that it is acceptable to take time to
talk to others and see what they perceive problems may be.
Once you decide upon a course of action, it most certainly does
not mean that you must stick to it for the rest of eternity. If it is
not working, change it. We know that people are resistant to
change, but having taken time to find out motivations for
employees and finding an appropriate way to overcome
resistance, such as participation, you may find yourself in a
good place as a manager. The employees who work for you and
others who work with you will be more likely respect you in the
long run for saying your plan did not work and being humble
enough to make a change.
Grade: 90 of 90
Comments: excellent job. I think you wrote an outstanding
paper and hope you learned from the course and the act of
writing the paper.
1
2
Lesson Learned
Neil Tocher
MGT 3312

7. The second I turned sixteen, my parents forced me to get a
job. I didn’t want a job at the time because I was so busy with
school and choir. But I also needed a way to pay for choir, tour,
and any activities I ever wanted to do. My parents were done
giving me money. As much as I didn’t like the idea, I was
forced to accept it. I was able to find a job at TJ Maxx, but I
didn’t really like it. The job I really wanted was at Deseret
Book. I love to read books, plus they had the perfect hours to fit
my schedule and they were closed on Sunday’s.
Of course, I was not the only person that wanted to work
there. They get ten to twenty applications a week, and there was
some tough competition, and I was still in high school with
almost no work history. Luckily, I had a friend that vouched for
me and told the manager that I would be a great addition to the
staff. It still took me two months to get the job, and I worked
very hard for it. I had to call every couple days and bug the
manager about my application, and he finally gave me an
interview and offered me the job. I was so happy.
I loved working at Deseret Book. I still miss it all the time.
I started out working in the Lionhouse Pantry, which was in the
back of the store. I would make the salads and bake the rolls. I
quickly grew bored of that. What I really wanted was to sell the
books. Each shift I would hurry and get my list of things done
in the pantry so that I could go out on the floor and sell. They

8. have a program called the Platinum Program, which is just a
rewards program. The difference in Deseret Book’s rewards
program was that customers had to pay $25 to sign up, so it was
really hard to get anyone to do that. Only for me, it was really
easy. I was a natural salesperson. I remember one time, a man
came in to buy one book for his wife and I sold him the entire
set, which was 10 books total, plus a Platinum account. I
consistently sold quadruple the number of Platinum accounts
than anyone else in my store, including the store manager. I was
good. And I knew it.
When I was nineteen-years-old, I finally got promoted to
supervisor. I was really excited to finally be rewarded for my
success and hard work. I knew I deserved that promotion. But I
knew it a little too much. Before my promotion, I had become
close friends with my coworkers. When I got promoted, I was
arrogant, and I quickly lost their respect and friendship. The
girls I had once laughed with and talked to now laughed and
talked without me, but would quiet down when I walked up.
They may have been a little jealous, but I over-exaggerated
their jealousy and made myself believe that they wished they
were me. I knew I was the best, and I knew that they knew it.
The power quickly went to my head. I thought I was
irreplaceable, an asset that the company would never want to
lose no matter the cost. Soon, I was ordering my former friends
around, acting like they never did anything good enough and
rubbing it in their faces that I no longer had to do the daily
chores that they did. I made special effort to tell them what they
did wrong so they would know who was in charge. I made them
absolutely miserable, and I knew they hated me. I wasn’t happy
with my job anymore, I was just lonely because I had alienated
the people that once made the job enjoyable.
A few months after being promoted, I was called in to my
manager’s office and they asked for my resignation. I was
crushed, not because I was happy with my job anymore, but
because I had honestly believed that they would fall apart
without me. I was the star. How dare they even think they could

9. survive if I left? I look back now and I’m horrified at the way I
acted. I can’t believe how immature I was, and how rude I had
been to my friends. Given the chance, I would do everything
different now.
One of the chapters from The Ropes that is like my
experience was chapter 6: “The Sincerest Form of Flattery.” In
this story, Stanley tries to run things the way Kerry Drake
would. Yet he finds that when he demands that something be
done, he doesn’t get the response Kerry did. His employees did
not respect him enough to care what he said, and they didn’t
have faith that he knew what he was talking about. When I was
telling my employees what to do, they didn’t always listen.
They thought I was rude and arrogant, and just telling them to
do things just because I could, which was probably true. I didn’t
always know what I was talking about, or take into
consideration what would be in the best interest or most helpful
to Deseret Book as a whole, I just wanted them to do what I said
just because I had the authority to say it. I overstepped my
boundaries, and I lost their respect for that.
Another similarity in this chapter is that Stanley wasn’t
really being himself. He was trying to be more like Kerry, and
have more power and more control than he was really supposed
to have. That is exactly what I did. They gave me an inch and I
took more than a mile. I tried to control every aspect of the
store. I told everyone not only what to do but when to do it.
And I wasn’t really acting like myself either. I am the kind of
person that really wants everyone to like me, even to a fault.
But at this point in my life, I was alienating everyone at work
and I knew it. It wasn’t good for me, and it definitely wasn’t
good for my employees.
I like to think that if I had been there a little longer, I
would have mellowed out, just like Ted. After a while he
realized that he wasn’t getting the respect that he was hoping,
and that was his own fault. I hope that I eventually would have
realized that and done some things to change my attitude and
the way I worked. I think attitude made all the difference in this

10. situation, and I think the novelty of the promotion at my age
would have worn off, hopefully to reveal a smart and kind
manager under my initially arrogant shell.
The other chapter from The Ropes that relates to my
situation is chapter 13: “Fair Day’s Work.” The part that struck
home with me was actually one of the discussion questions we
had. The question was “Why does Ted feel that the phrase ‘work
smarter not harder’ will motivate the mill hands?” In my answer
I talked about how telling the employees to work harder will
most likely not work. It will actually probably just make them
mad. I think that’s what I did, so in a way Ted had it right. I
was just telling people to work harder just because I could, not
because it really needed to be done. If I had really cared or been
a kind and smart supervisor, I probably would have put more
thought into how I told them to work. Working smarter, not
harder would have actually been great advice because it would
have showed that I care whether they do back-breaking work. It
would have showed that I at least put some thought into the way
they work, what needs done, and how they could do it most
efficiently without becoming too stressed out and exhausted all
the time.
The theory that related most to my experience was Theory
X versus Theory Y. I was definitely a Theory X manager. I
viewed my employees as lazy, and I never thought they would
get something done unless I told them when and how to do it. I
thought they needed constant supervision or they would quit
working and just sit around. I didn’t trust them at all, which
probably made it so they didn’t trust me at all! I believe things
would have turned out differently if I had been a Theory Y
manager. I just needed to give my employees the benefit of the
doubt, let them prove that they were good at their jobs, that they
weren’t lazy, and that I could trust them.
This entire experience taught me a lot, mostly because I
have regretted it for so long. I absolutely ruined the chance I
had to continue working at a place I loved. To this day I still
have nightmares about what happened, and how I treated

11. people. I was too young to accept that kind of responsibility and
to handle it properly. I hope that given the chance, I would do it
all differently. I believe I’m more mature now, and I would
never treat people the way I did when I was nineteen. I also
don’t think the power would go to my head.
I have also learned so much through school about how to
be a great manager. My regret aside, I think I now have the
knowledge necessary to make informed decisions about what is
best for my store, rather than just doing what was best for me. I
also have the knowledge from this class to know what kind of
manager I would want to be. I would definitely strive to be
more like a Theory Y manager. I think a huge part of
management is trusting people. Otherwise it would be called
“micromanagement.” I would try to give employees the benefit
of the doubt, and give them a chance to prove that they are
responsible and trustworthy.
My favorite lesson of all is just to be myself. I’m not the
kind of person that would ever intentionally knock someone
down. Even once, let alone repeatedly. Yet this is what I did to
my employees because I thought I was so much better than
them. I thought that just because I had the title, that they were
beneath me. This line of thinking made us bitter towards each
other, and working against one another is never a good thing.
The most important thing is to work together and realize what
each individual brings to the table. After all, what is a team if
there’s only one player?
Grade:95 of 100
Comments: this is an excellent paper and you are better for
both the experience and the exercise of writing the paper.
remember, any ninny can wield the ax of formal power, but it
takes faith and risk to trust others. Great managers hire good
people and support them acting mainly as a facilitator and
leading by example. You will be a great manager one day if
you choose that path again and just do the opposite of
everything you did in the past. Also, you make a great point

12. about being yourself. Perhaps you are more of a sales type
anyway and should stick with those types of jobs and leave the
administration to those who are good at that aspect. Great job
either way.
Behavioral Analysis Project
Due Date: Wednesday July 8th, 2015 at 9 AM
Assignment: This assignment is to write a 5 page reflection
paper after reading and considering the lessons in the Ropes
book. Obviously, there is no write answer. However, your
paper should contain all necessary sections, be well thought out,
and be written as a formal comprehensive course project.
Two Options:
Option 1 – Individual Incident Reflection: Identify a previous
event in your life which did not go the way you wanted,
primarily because of an interaction you had with another
individual or individuals. Reflecting on this event and the tales
in the ropes, choose one or several tails in the Ropes which
illustrate a more effective way of handling the situation
discussed above. At this point, use the ropes tail(s), and one or
several relevant management theories to explain how you would
approach a similar situation in the future. In other words, how
would you achieve different and hopefully much better
outcomes in a similar future situation?
Option 2 – Organizational Incident Reflection:Identify a
previous organizational program or initiative which did not go
as the organization planned, primarily due to people issues.
Thus, do not pick an event that failed due to non people issues
such as a lack of resources. Further, imagine you are a manager
in charge of implementing an organizational program or
initiative to address the same issue that the failed program or

13. initiative discussed above was unable to solve. Reflecting on
this hypothetical situation and the tales in the ropes, choose one
or several tails in the Ropes which illustrate a more effective
way of implementing the organizational program or initiative
discussed above. At this point, use the ropes tail(s), and one or
several relevant management theories to explain how you would
approach the implementation of the organizational program or
initiative in a more effective manner. In other words, how
would you achieve different and hopefully much better
outcomes than the organization experienced?
Parts of the Paper
Introduction:Briefly introduce the reader to the event you are
about to analyze in detail. You may consider telling a small
piece of the story, why was it such a bad experience.
Body: In the body of the paper, cover the following issues in
detail:
Situation overview: What exactly happened? Why did it
happen? What effect did the life event or failed organizational
program have?
Related Ropes chapters: What chapters in the Ropes made you
think back to the event described above? Why?
Management Theory:We will discuss a wide variety of
management theories this semester. Identify one or a couple of
these theories that relate to your situation. The theories may be
relevant in the way in which the situation unfolded, how the
situation could be handled in the future, or both.
Similar Future Situations: At this point, explain to the reader
how after considering management theories and the implications
of the specific Ropes chapters you discussed above, how would
you go about handling similar situations or implementing
organizational programs more effectively in the future?

14. Conclusion: Wrap it up! What was the main point of your
paper and why?
Format of the paper
Title page: include name of paper, your name, my name, mgt
3312, and summer 2015
Body:The paper should include approximately five pages of
double spaced, well written text in 12 point times new roman
font on 8 by 11 inch paper.
Finally, PROOFREAD!! This is a formal paper and should be
written in such a manner. Also, refer to the syllabus for
specific grading policies regarding proofreading.
Idea assignment: You are required to get your idea for the
Behavioral Analysis paper approved by me. This is so only one
of each specific type of situation or organizational program is
written about this semester. Thus, on or before Wednesday June
24 at 9 AM, you must send me an email including a short
outline of what you plan to write about. Specifically, the
outline should contain a very short description of the four
sections of the paper (situation overview, related ropes tail,
related management theory, and analysis of similar future
situation).
Point Allocation:
Idea Approval Assignment
20 Points
Paper
100 points

15. Total
120 Points
Due Dates
Idea Approval Assignment
June 24
Paper
July 8 at 9 AM