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Question: Teams are taken very seriously at Whole


Teams are taken very seriously at Whole Foods. Not only are company employees referred to as “team members,” but teams are given a great deal of freedom to make important decisions. For example, teams help decide what items to order and sell, and how to price and promote them. Although it might not seem all that unusual for a company to give teams the liberty to make decisions so they can carry out their core functional responsibilities, Whole Foods goes much further in providing autonomy to its teams. Perhaps there is no better example of this than how new team members are hired at the company.
In most organizations, individuals seeking employment fill out an application form or submit a résumé. Those with qualifications that are judged to match a job description are interviewed by human resource personnel or a manager to make sure the applicant fits with the job and organization. At Whole Foods, the process is quite different and much more involved. Applicants not only fill out an application and have one-on-one interviews with managers, but they also have interviews with panels composed of recruiters, managers, and select team members. But that’s not all. An applicant who makes it through this process is placed on a team for a 30-day trial period, after which the team votes for whether or not to accept the applicant on their team. Applicants who don’t get a two-thirds vote are out of that team. They may be placed on a new team, where the trial process begins anew, or they leave the company.
This hiring process typically takes about 60 days and is applied at all levels of the organization, from employees who stock shelves in the stores to accountants who work in the corporate office. Whole Foods believes that hiring decisions should be made by the team members, in part, because they’re the ones who are most directly affected by the choices that are made. A new hire who ends up hurting a team’s performance will reduce bonuses paid to team members, whereas the opposite would be true of a hire that ends up promoting a team’s performance. Whole Foods also believes that the team members themselves are the best judges of who might fit within their team. Finally, involving team members in the hiring process promotes a sense of ownership for the decision, and following from this, team members may be more inclined to help a new hire who is struggling to catch on.
11.1 What label would best describe the type of team that Whole Foods uses in its stores? Explain.
11.2 Describe the advantages and disadvantages of Whole Foods’ hiring process with respect to managing team composition.
11.3 What steps could Whole Foods take to mitigate potential disadvantages of their hiring process?


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> If you worked in a matrix organization, what would be some of the career development challenges that you might face? Does the idea of working in a matrix structure appeal to you? Why or why not?

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> Which is more important for an organization: the ability to be efficient or the ability to adapt to its environment? What does this say about how an organization’s structure should be set up?

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> The time-sensitive and life cycle models of leadership both potentially suggest that leaders should use different styles and behaviors for different followers. Can you think of any negative consequences of that advice? How could those negative consequenc

> The time-sensitive model of leadership argues that leaders aren’t just concerned about the accuracy of their decisions when deciding among autocratic, consultative, facilitative, and delegative styles; they’re also concerned about the efficient use of ti

> Before reading this chapter, which statement did you feel was more accurate: “Leaders are born” or “Leaders are made”? How do you feel now, and why do you feel that way?

> What would it take to have a “politically free” environment? Is that possible?

> Who is the most influential leader you have come in contact with personally? What forms of power did they have, and which types of influence did they use to accomplish objectives?

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> Describe the communication process in a student team of which you’ve been a member. Were there examples of “noise” that detracted from the team members’ ability to communicate with one another? What was the primary mode of communication among members? Di

> Think about the team states described in this chapter. If you joined a new team, how long do you think it would take you to get a feel for those team states? Which states would you be able to gauge first? Which would take longer?

> Before reading this chapter, how did you define teamwork? How did this definition correspond to the definition outlined in this book?

> How would you describe your student team in terms of its diversity? In what ways would there be advantages and disadvantages to increasing its diversity? How might you be able to manage some of the disadvantages so that your team is able to capitalize on

> Think of something that you “know” to be true based on the method of experience, the method of intuition, or the method of authority. Could you test your knowledge using the method of science? How would you do it?

> Think about a highly successful team with which you are familiar. What types of task, goal, and outcome interdependence does this team have? Describe how changes in task, goal, and outcome interdependence might have a negative impact on this team.

> Think about your student teams. Which aspects of both models of team development apply the most and least to teams in this context? Do you think these teams function best in an additive, disjunctive, or conjunctive manner? What are the advantages and dis

> In which types of teams have you worked? Were these teams consistent with the taxonomy of team types discussed in this chapter, or were they a combination of types?

> Think of experiences you’ve had with people who demonstrated unusually high or low levels of emotional intelligence. Then consider how you would rate them in terms of their cognitive abilities. Do you think that emotional intelligence “bleeds over” to af

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> Do you consider yourself to be a “rational” decision maker? For what types of decisions are you determined to be the most rational? What types of decisions are likely to cause you to behave irrationally?

> What does the term “expert” mean to you? What exactly do experts do that novices don’t?

> Companies rely on employees with substantial amounts of tacit knowledge. Why do companies struggle when these employees leave the organization unexpectedly? What can companies do to help ensure that they retain tacit knowledge?

> In your current or past workplaces, what types of tacit knowledge did experienced workers possess? What did this knowledge allow them to do?

> Which component of ethical decision making do you believe best explains student cheating: moral awareness, moral judgment, or moral intent? Why do you feel that way?

> Putting yourself in the shoes of a manager, which of the four justice dimensions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, informational) would you find most difficult to maximize? Which would be the easiest to maximize?

> Consider the three dimensions of trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity). Which of those dimensions would be most important when deciding whether to trust your boss? What about when deciding whether to trust a friend? If your two answers di

> Which would be more damaging in organizational life—being too trusting or not being trusting enough? Why do you feel that way?

> Describe a job in which citizenship behaviors would be especially critical to an organization’s functioning, and one in which citizenship behaviors would be less critical. What is it about a job that makes citizenship more important?

> Think about a job that you’ve held in which you felt very low levels of psychological empowerment. What could the organization have done to increase empowerment levels?

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