ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

CASE STUDY: Arctic Mining Consultants

Summary

Tom Parker, 43 works as geological field technician and field coordinator with

Artic Mining Consultants. He specialized in all non technical aspects of mineral

exploration, including claim staking, line cutting and grid installation, soil sampling,

prospecting and trenching. He is responsible for hiring, training and supervising field

assistant. Parker did a job that staking 15 claims near Eagle Lake, Alaska with his former

field assistant, John Talbot, Greg Boyce and Brian Millar. To stake claims would

required almost 60 miles of line in total. Each of the four stakers needs to complete seven

lengths each day in total of seven days. On day one, they discussed the job and divided

the works equally which each person need to complete seven and a half lengths per day.

There is also bonus $300 if they finished the works in time. Day two, Millar six lengths,

Boyce six lengths, Talbot eight lengths and Parker eight lengths. Day three, Millar five

and the half lengths, Boyce four lengths, Talbot seven lengths and Parker eight lengths.

Parker gets anger and shouted at Boyce and Millar because of their poor performance.

Boyce’s problem is he was slowed down by unusually thick underbrush in his assigned

area and Millar promises to pick up the pace. Day four, Millar finished seven lengths,

Boyce six and half lengths, Talbot eight lengths and Parker eight lengths. Parker grunted

uncommunicatively. Day five, Millar six lengths, Boyce six lengths, Talbot seven and a

half lengths and Parker eight lengths. Parker again blew up but focusing on Millar. Then

Millar comment to Boyce that he hates to be dumped and wondering why Boyce never

get blame. Day six, Millar raced through breakfast, the first one dropped off by helicopter

and arranged to be last one to pick up. The result is Millar eight and a quarter lengths,

Boyce seven and half lengths, Talbot eight lengths and Parker eight lengths. Day seven,

Millar six lengths, Boyce five lengths, Talbot seven and Parker seven and quarter lengths.

That night Miller collapsed in an exhausted heap, too tired. Parker blaming Miller for

never finishes the tasks and too much wasting time and not works smart. Day eight,

Parker instructed each assistant to complete eight lengths and promises to finishes the

other ten lengths if they finished early. At noon, Millar do his best but only finished three

1

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

lengths. He gave up and thought there is no point to finish the job. At night, Parker livid

when Millar reported that he had completed five and a half lengths. Parker completed ten

and a quarter lengths, Talbot eight lengths and Boyce seven and a half lengths. Millar

balance work finished the next morning and then the crew demobilized. After that Millar

has never worked for Artic Mining Consultants again. Boyce sometimes staking and

Talbot works as full time with the company.

The chronology of the project:

Symptoms

2

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

1. Communication

Good communication is important for both sides in order to make sure everything

will be done correctly and satisfied both party. In this case, there is only one way

communication between parker and his workers. Parker is a person that likes to

command and scold his workers if they did not get what he wants but never want

to know what exactly the problems and situation that occurs to his workers.

Parker also cannot accept any suggestions from his worker because he always

thinks that he is right. For example, in day 3, Talbot had suggested that he want to

switch the area with Millar to help Millar perform better but Parker rejected. So

with such communication, it is very hard for Parker to create win-win situation

between he and his subordinates. That is why things were going poor till the end

of the project.

2. Pressure and stress

From the case, we can see that how pressure and stress mixed together that lead to

this problem. Parker had pressure his workers so much in order to make sure they

get at least seven and a half length per day. When his workers cannot reach the

target, he will shout, scold and keep pressure them especially on Millar. Even

Boyce got less than Millar, Parker never scold him. This make Miller stressed

because he do not know why he is the only one that was blamed and scolded.

Miller worked so hard. He was the first in the site, do not take the lunch and had

collapsed because of tired. When Miller reached the target, Parker never praised

him or gives motivation to him. Miller become more stressed and starts to feel

down and thus affects his performance.

3. Capability

3

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

Capability is the quality or talent of being capable to do a job or ability to perform

actions. In this case, we can see that only Parker that have real capability to do the

job because he always reach the target that he want. For others, they may have the

capabilities but maybe is not enough to do the job. That is why their performances

are still below par even they tried so hard to finish it. Because of that, Parker must

hire people that really suitable for the job rather than hire his friends.

Problem Analysis

4

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

1. Teamwork

This problem first related to the teamwork. First it needs to know that

organization work as a team or group. Here, in this case, it is sort of informal

group. It is unofficial and emerges to serve special interest. Under the group there

is classified as friendship groups that emerge through personal relationship or

special interest within organization. Teamwork is work performed by a team. The

quality of teamwork may be measured by analyzing the effectiveness of the

collaboration in the following ways which are communication, coordination

balance of contributions, mutual support, effort and cohesion. The case shows that

the group lack of these elements.

From the case study, it found that they do not have a good teamwork. His friend,

Talbot is consistent with his job and able to catch up with the target. But

unfortunately, he did not persuade his teammates to be like him although at

certain incident he volunteered himself to switch place with Millar on day 3. The

group members do not take serious in delivering the task. They do not put much

effort in completing the task. Only Parker meet the objective of seven and half

lengths compare to other teammates. They left Parker alone struggling to finish

the job on target.

2. Leadership

Second problem related to leadership style. From the case study, it can be

concluded that Tom Parker type of leadership is authoritarian. All decision-

making powers are centralized in the leader. This leader does not entertain any

suggestions or initiatives from subordinates. This style describe leaders that tell

their employees what they want done and how they want it accomplished, without

getting the advice of their followers. Parker should use an authoritarian style by

relying on several condition which are first, a new employee who is just learning

5

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

the job, second, the leader is competent and a good coach, third, the employee is

motivated to learn a new skill and finally the situation is a new environment for

the employee.

Tom Parker was being too strict in dealing with the situation. He easily get mad

when his field assistants namely, Brian Millar and Greg Boyce unable to meet the

target. He also refused to accept Talbot’s idea of switching place with Millar.

Parker should consider several factors before taking any action to his field

assistants. He should make a close and frequent monitor on their performance

day-to-day. Purpose of having monitor is in order to observe a situation for any

changes which may occur over time. If there is a problem whether the employee

itself or the environment, corrective action can be made as quick as possible.

Here, Parker is not a good coach since he is unable to guide his assistant

efficiently.

3. Motivation

Third problem is in term of motivation. In order to motivate employee, we need

the element of reward and appreciation. This is to express recognition to the

employee on the task that had been successfully done. Based on the case study,

Tom Parker had already mentioned regarding reward of $300 bonus each for

completing the task. It is good as reward will motivate people. But reward in term

of money just not enough. It needs sense of recognition in order to boost

employee’s inner self. Here, Parker did not appreciate his field assistants when

they performed well. For example, it this case, Millar able to complete production

with eight and a quarter lengths which higher than other colleagues even better

than Tom Parker. Unfortunately, Parker remains silent. No such appreciation

came out from his mouth. This will under motivate Millar to work harder and

maintain the performance for the next day. As a result, he only managed to get six

lengths and it is believed that exhausted is not just the only reason why he unable

6

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

to score higher. One of the factors is lack of motivation or appreciation from his

superior, Tom Parker.

4. Conflict

Last problem is regarding conflict among people. Conflict occurs when parties

disagree over substantive issue or when emotional antagonisms create friction

between them. In other word, it is an actual or perceived opposition of needs,

values and interests. Conflict as a concept can help explain many aspects of social

life such as social disagreement, conflicts of interests, and fights between

individuals, groups, or organizations. Conflict faced by them is emotional

conflict. It involves interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of anger,

mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment and others.

From the case study, it is clearly stated that Tom Parker practiced discrimination

and treat the employees unfairly especially towards Brian Millar. Although both

Brian Millar and Greg Boyce performed below the target, only Brian Millar was

got scolded by Tom Parker. Moreover, Greg Boyce had the lowest lengths on that

day Tom Parker scolded Millar. From the situation, Millar started to blame

Boyce. He argued why Boyce did not get scolded by Parker even though he gets

better than Boyce. And by the same time, Boyce get job done less and lesser. The

discrimination starts to have the impact when Boyce’s performance had not

improved. It is because he assumed that Parker discriminate and didn’t pay any

attention to him so that his performance never been improved. He never get better

than others. Conflict start to arise right after the above event occurs. It can be said

that interpersonal and intrapersonal conflict had occur. Intrapersonal conflict

occurs when a tension experienced within the individual due to actual or

perceived pressures from incompatible goals. Then interpersonal conflict arises

from intrapersonal conflict. It is a conflict occurs between two or more

individuals in opposition to each other. There are a debating and blaming each

other on certain issue relating to job.

7

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

Recommendation

1. Teamwork - improving team communications

Teamwork is work performed by a team. The quality of teamwork may be

measured by analyzing the effectiveness of the collaboration in the following

ways: communication, coordination, balance of contributions, mutual support,

effort, and cohesion. In order to develop an excellent teamwork, they must have

an effective communication. Communication is a process whereby information is

enclosed in a package and is channeled and imparted by a sender to a receiver via

some medium. In order for a team to be effective and high-performing, the

interaction pattern and communication network should fit well with the task at

hand. In fact, one of the most common mistakes discovered during teamwork is

that teams do not communicate well to each other. When task demands require

intense interaction, this is the best done with decentralized communication

network. Everyone in the team communicates as needed with everyone else. The

information flows back and forth constantly, with no one person serving as the

centre point. This would create an interacting team in which all members

communicate directly and share information with one another. For this case,

Millar should communicate with Parker and tell him the condition that he has

being through for all the days as regard to achieve their team’s target. Millar also

should present his working performance throughout the project and compare to

other team members performances. Millar should deliver his dissatisfaction

against Parker’s leadership style and try to discuss among team members on how

to overcome the problem.

2. Effective leadership

Leadership has been described as the process of social influence in which one

person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a

common task. There are several ways for Parker to be an effective leader. Firstly,

8

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

care for his team and stay close to them. Secondly, inspire his team for example

set objectives for each team member. Thirdly, review the performance of each

team member. Have a review session where he assess performance, give feed-

back and agree future objectives and training. Next, thank and praise constantly

and that will be appreciated by team members. Besides, communicate constantly.

Don't assume that team members know what he is doing, still less what he is

planning or thinking. Moreover, delegate work. He doesn’t have to do everything.

Develop his team members by training them to do more and trusting them to take

over some of the things he has been doing. Furthermore, empower. A really

effective leader sets clear objectives for his team members, but leaves detailed

implementation of these objectives to the discretion and judgement of individual

members of the team. Next, really listen and accept honest criticism. Lastly,

constantly revisit and review the performance of his crews.

3. Motivation - build intrinsic and extrinsic rewards

Intrinsic rewards are psychological rewards that employees get from doing

meaningful work and performing it well. Focus conversations on meaningfulness,

choice, competence and progress. There are four types of intrinsic rewards and

how the crew views them. Firstly, sense of meaningfulness where this reward

involves the meaningfulness or importance of the purpose you are trying to fulfill.

Secondly, sense of choice where they should feel free to choose how to

accomplish your work. Thirdly, sense of competence where they should feel that

they are handling their work activities well. Lastly, sense of progress where they

are encouraged that their efforts are really accomplishing something. Extrinsic

reward is a positive outcome that is obtained by performing work but which is

separate from and not inherent to the work task. Parker did gave the extrinsic

reward which is awarding a cash bonus for $300 if the job done in time. Actually,

bonus reward is not necessarily enough for Parker to motivate their crew. He

should praise and recognition them for their works and try to motivate them in

9

ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS MGT 700

order to work harder thus to complete the job in time. From that point, their crew

will be more motivated and feel being appreciated in what they have done.

4. Conflict management

Conflict is actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. A

conflict can be internal (within oneself) to individuals. Conflict as a concept can

help explain many aspects of social life such as social disagreement, conflicts of

interests, and fights between individuals, groups, or organizations. In this case,

Millar and Parker should manage their conflict in order to overcome the

disagreement between both of them. Firstly, regularly Parker as a leader has to

review job descriptions and get his crew’s input to them. He should write down

and date job descriptions to ensure the job roles don't conflict and no tasks "fall in

a crack". Secondly, intentionally build relationships with all crews. Conduct a

meeting in a day and ask about accomplishments, challenges and issues. Thirdly,

develop procedures for the tasks and include the crews’ input. Have crews write

procedures when possible and appropriate. Get their review of the procedures.

Distribute the procedures. Train the crews about the procedures. Regularly hold

management meetings to communicate new initiatives and status of current

project. Last but not least, he should consider his crew’s suggestion.

10