Situation: You have volunteered and been selected to join a work group that has been given the assignment over the next two months of developing a critical new marketing plan for your organization. This plan will result in a significant expenditure of money for your organization and if successful could have significant impact on the bottom line. All of the members of the team already know each other with many having served previously together on similar task forces.

Assignment 1: Please rank in Column A the ten steps as listed below in the order that you think will lead to successful completion of the task. Place the number 1 by the step that occurs first, the number 2 by the step that ought to occur second, and so on to number 10.

Col. A		Col. B	Col. C
My Ranking	Steps to Task Accomplishment	Expert Ranking	Absolute Difference
	Goal Pressure
	Work Facilitation (Ensuring individuals have the skills and resources required.)
	Time Emphasis
	Upward Communication & Participation
	Control of Details
	Recognition
	Making Goals Clear & Important
	Delegation
	Obtaining & Giving Feedback
	Orderly Work Planning & Problem Solving
		Total

Assignment 2: Consult the expert ranking provided by the facilitator and determine the accuracy of your rankings by computing and recording the absolute difference (ignore plus and minus signs) between your ranking, Column A, and the expert ranking, Column B, in Column C. Then total Column C.

Interpreting Your Score⁽¹⁾

10 You have superior knowledge of the sequencing of managerial tasks that lead to high performance.

11-15 You have above average knowledge of the sequencing of managerial tasks that lead to high performance, and some fine tuning of your sequencing could improve the results that you achieve.

16-20 You have average knowledge of the sequencing of managerial tasks that lead to high performance, but some improvement could yield vital improvements.

20-30 You have below average knowledge of the sequencing of managerial tasks that lead to high performance. Significant reordering of your managerial tasks should yield pivotal improvements.

30 Your knowledge of the sequencing of managerial tasks that lead to high performance needs improvement. Reording your approach to how a task is to be managed should yield tremendous improvement.

Key & Reasons⁽²⁾

1. Making Goals Clear and Important

If the task force does not know what it is to do and why it is important from the beginning, the task force should be dissolved.

2. Upward Communication & Participation

All members must feel free from the start to both contribute their ideas and to object. Otherwise, the task force is a team in name only.

3. Orderly Work Planning & Problem Solving

Planning and problem solving in the early part of a task will decrease frustration and save the team countless hours and other resources when done early.

4. Work Facilitation

(Ensuring individuals have the skills and resources required.)

Ensuring that all members of the team have the skills and resources required to accomplish the task will also decrease frustration and save the team countless hours and other resources when done early.

5. Obtaining and Giving Feedback

As the task gets underway, the use of intermediate feedback, especially of a positive nature, is frequently overlooked. Asking before blasting can prevent disintegration and keep the team highly motivated.

6. Time Emphasis

In a competitive environment where speed to market is a deciding factor regarding product and organizational success, an emphasis on meeting deadlines is needed, but only after sufficient knowledge is available to set realistic goals or when a problem is evident.

7. Control of Details

Similarly, in a competitive world where quality is key (if you do not provide it, your competitor will) and where quality is a matter of details (the devil is in the details), exercising control of details is essential, but only when quality is slipping. This is not an excuse for anyone to be ignorant of details that impact them.

8. Goal Pressure

The use of goal pressure is effective only when used after all the prior steps have been accomplished and when used surgically.

9. Delegation

When to delegate is a tricky issue. Delegating before setting clear goals, planning for their accomplishment, establishing deadlines, and obtaining knowledge of critical details can lead to disaster.

10. Recognition for Good Performance

Recognizing individuals and teams for good performance is one of the best ways to keep a high level of motivation. What is reinforced tends to be repeated and what is not reinforced tends not to be repeated. Waiting for outstanding performance while failing to reinforce good performance is one way to ensure that outstanding performance does not occur.

This sequence of steps represents an ideal for tackling the initial assignment for a work unit, task force or autonomous team whose members are already familiar with each other. A group of strangers will need to go through a socialization process before it tackles an assignment. Effective, mature teams will usually stay within this model, but will go back to prior steps or jump forward as suggested by progress on the task.

References

Rosti, Jr., R. T., & Shipper, F.(In Press). "A Study of the Impact of Training in a Management Development Program Based on 360 Feedback." Journal of Managerial Psychology.

Shipper, Frank, (1995). "A Study of the Psychometric Properties of the Managerial Skill Scales of the Survey of Management Practices," Journal of Educational and Psychological Measurement, Vol. 55, No. 3, pp 486-497.

Shipper, Frank, (1994). "A Study of Managerial Skills of Women and Men and Their Impact on Employees' Attitudes and Career Success in a Nontraditional Organization." Abstract published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Management, Dallas, Texas, August 14-17, 1994, p. 471.

Shipper, Frank, (1991). "Mastery and Frequency of Managerial Behaviors Relative to Sub-unit Effectiveness," Human Relations, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 371-388.

Shipper, Frank & Davy, J. (1996). "A Comparative Study of Women's and Men's Self Perceptions of Managerial Skills and Their Impact on Others' Perceptions, Employee Attitudes and Managerial Performance." Winner of the Walter F. Ulmer, Jr. Applied Research Award from the Center for Creative Leadership.

Shipper, Frank & Dillard, John E., Jr., (1994). "Comparing the Skills of Early Derailers vs. Fast Trackers, Late Derailers vs. Long-Term Fast Trackers, and Mid-career Derailers vs. "Recoverers." Abstract published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Management, Dallas, Texas, August 14-17, 1994, p. 424, Winner of the Outstanding Paper on Management Development Award.

Shipper, Frank & Neck, Chris, (1990). "Subordinates' Observations: Feedback for Management Development," Human Resource Development Quarterly, Winter, pp. 371-385.

Shipper, F., Pearson, D. A., & Singer, D. (In Press). "A Study and Comparative Analysis of Effective and Ineffective Leadership Skills of Physician and Non-physician Health Care Administrators." Health Services Management Research Journal.

Shipper, Frank & White, Charles S., (In Press). "Mastery, Frequency & Interaction of Managerial Behavior Relative to Subunit Effectiveness." Human Relations.

Shipper, Frank & Wilson, Clark L., (1992). "The Impact of Managerial Behaviors on Group Performance, Stress and Commitment," published in Impact of Leadership, Kenneth E. Clark, Miriam B. Clark, and Donald P. Campbell, eds., Greensboro, NC: The Center for Creative Leadership, pp. 119-129.

Wilson, Clark L., (1980). "Identify Needs With Cost in Mind," Training and Development Journal, pp. 58-62.

Wilson, Clark L., O'Hare, Donal, & Shipper, Frank, (1990). "Task Cycle Theory: The Processes of Influence," In Measures of Leadership, Kenneth F. Clark and Miriam B. Clark, Editors. West Orange, New Jersey: Leadership Library of America, Inc.

Wilson, C.L. and Shipper, F. (1992). Task Cycle Management: A Competency-Based Course for Operating Managers (Rev. ed.), Silver Spring, Maryland: The Clark Wilson Group.

Wilson, Clark L., & Wilson, Jane L., (1991). Teams and Leaders: A Manual for the Clark Wilson Publishing Company Training and Development Programs. Silver Spring: The Clark Wilson Group.

Steps to Task Accomplishment	Definitions
Goal Pressure	Expressing dissatisfaction with progress and on occasion, punishing people for mistakes.
Work Facilitation	Being sure that employees have the skills, equipment, time and other resources needed to perform.
Time Emphasis	Ensuring employees know when things are due and meet deadlines.
Upward Communication & Participation	Soliciting and using employees' ideas and suggestions.
Control of Details	Staying on top of details.
Recognition for Good Performance	Acknowledging and recognizing accomplishment of important and difficult goals.
Making Goals Clear & Important	Communicating what and why things are to be accomplished.
Delegation	Allowing the employees to make decisions about how the goals are to be accomplished.
Obtaining & Giving Feedback	Seeking and providing information on progress being made.
Orderly Work Planning & Problem Solving	Increasing effectiveness by keeping the task organized and systematic.

Use this page as an overhead for the participants while they are working on their rankings.

1. The results of this exercise applies only to your knowledge of the sequencing of managerial activities. It is not a test of how well or how often you engage in those skills.

2. This key is based upon Task Cycle Theory developed by Clark L. Wilson, professor emeritus, University of Bridgeport and Chairman of The Clark Wilson Group, Silver Spring, MD. It has also been supported by an expert panel and research.