Team management

Your organization is building a new plant in the southwestern United States. This is the first time that a human resources professional will be part of the design team that is establishing the new personnel systems for the plant. You expect your candidates to be very diverse in their backgrounds and experience levels.

The plant director has asked you to focus on how you will develop the newly hired personnel into a strong team that crosses organizational boundaries within the plant. Prepare a presentation that addresses the following elements of a diverse workforce:

• How will you determine whether the candidates are a fit for the team?
• Discuss your design for a cross-functional training program that aligns strategic plant goals with each work group.
• Identify the training topics that you will use to foster diversity, intergroup relationships, and productivity within the plant.

As teams progress, they pass through stages of development. You understand that being prepared with tools and techniques at each stage is important. There is a team forming that will take on a production line. You want to be ready to provide training and development resources for this team as soon as they start working together.

You research various team-development models and pick one model that you will use to determine team-building activities before the team members start working together. Develop a plan that addresses the following:

• What will you do to prepare the team for working together before they start?
• Discuss the training and development activities that you will use to build trust and productivity in the group once they start working together.
• How will you measure whether trust exists within the team?
• How will you measure the effectiveness of this new team in each of the early stages of 3, 6, and 9 months of them working together?