Vignette: Functional Group in a Functional
System with High Influence
Abe has been the satellite office manager for four years. Every quarter he fills out a written quality control report on the office activities for the previous three months. If there is a drop in performance, then in addition to the written quarterly report, a bi-weekly phone call with his regional manager is scheduled. During their phone call, Fran and Abe go over the possible reasons for the drop. If the drop is a surprise to both Abe and Fran, they switch to a monthly reporting system.

Abe welcomes the process because he understands that Fran is there to assist him – without blame or shame.

Vignette: Functional Group in a Functional
System with Low Influence
Ben was the first to open a branch office west of the Rocky Mountains. While he has turned a profit from the first anniversary on, he resents the fact that he didn't have any help from the home office to set up procedures. On his own, he has created a highly functioning office. Ben makes sure that employees are appreciated and have regular feedback on how their efforts satisfy the customers and positively affect the bottom line.

Ben has been ambivalent about increasing the monitoring from the home office. On the one hand, he is probably doing things differently than what the home office does. He hasn't wanted them to actually change his style. On the other hand, if something were to go wrong (for example, Ben having an extended illness), it would be helpful to have the home office more involved.

Now Ben has decided to increase the involvement of the home office. He arranges to have the VP fly out once a year. He also arranged for the company's national conference to be held in his city. This increased the home office's awareness and interest in Ben's operations.

Vignette: Functional Group in a
Dysfunctional System with Low Influence
Opening a new territory was a godsend for Cameron in that now he was much farther away from the dysfunctional home office. He had been given this opportunity because of his last district office success. While there, he had been reprimanded annually for having late reports and for ignoring the office's cryptic requests. Ignoring the guidelines in the company manual is exactly what had made him successful, and he knew he was too successful to be fired.

Now with an office in a new territory, he has had valid excuses for not following the guidelines. Twice a year, he sends emails saying, "Still trying to understand the culture here. Will offer an alternative accounting system once I get settled in."

He knows they cannot argue with him when he puts more money into the company's coffers than any other office.

Vignette: Dysfunctional Group in a
Functional System with High Influence
Dennis was a successful troubleshooter. When he inherited the motley crew at his current plant, he was challenged. Knowing that his propane company's commitment was to assist in any way possible, he waited for an opportunity for success. Fortuitously, the competitor in the same town decided to close their office. Dennis struck immediately. He brought in a cadre of the top salespeople. He matched each enthusiastic import with one of his laid-back-it-is-just-a-job employees.

After two weeks of canvassing businesses and residents soliciting business, the imports' rubbing elbows with Dennis' staff worked. His employees caught the bug of enthusiasm and commitment.

Vignette: Functional Group in a
Dysfunctional System with High Influence
Although Elson and Dennis worked for different companies, their high school friendship bypassed competitive boundaries. They often talked on the phone. When Dennis phoned to share his recent success with Elson, there was a knowing silence, then they simultaneously broke into laughter. They both knew that Dennis' strategy wouldn't have worked for Elson's situation.

Elson had a fine branch office except when the home office tried to interfere with what he was doing – which, unfortunately, was constant. The meddling was inane – busywork forms were required to be completed by Elson and his line chiefs. There was no relevance to the day-to-day operation of the plant. The paperwork dragon had to be slain.

Finally, at the risk of being insubordinate, Elson decided to fight "details with details." He started asking for greater clarification from the home office on the trivial aspects of each form. This tied up the home office's left-brain approach.

Elson also started making duplicate copies of weekly reports and just changing the dates. This minutia strategy freed Elson and his chiefs to concentrate more on the functioning of the group.

Vignette: Dysfunctional Group in a
Functional System with Low Influence
Frank almost quit the company last year. He had two bullies in his department – the classic rotten apples that affected the whole barrel. The company was dysfunctional and wouldn't support his firing of the two emotional thugs.

Frank didn't quit because he had heard that the corporation that bought out his company was very functional and actively supported middle managers. He wasn't disappointed when he met Samantha, his new straight-shooting supervisor. But Frank's area was not the only one that Samantha had to clean up. She didn't have the time Frank needed for her to get a clear view of Frank's two problem employees.

Frank finally wrote her an email stating the current level and quality of productivity and what Frank's estimation of productivity could be with the two bullies removed. That caught her attention. She made Frank a deal, "Without you cuing me, if I can spot the two trouble makers myself then I will support you 100%.

The next day Samantha spent time around Frank's department. She easily detected the two members who were emotionally lazy and bullied people to do their work for them.

With Samantha's blessing, Frank delivered the bullies' walking papers the next day. Within a quarter, Frank's projections were realized.

Vignette: Dysfunctional Group in a
Dysfunctional System with Low Influence
Gerry had prudently observed both good and bad supervisors in his 30 years at various warehouses of the same company. He had convinced himself that he could do a good job if given a chance. When his supervisor walked off the job in disgust one day, Gerry skipped lunch and immediately marched into the headquarters to see Pete. "You have a lousy crew at the East side warehouse. I know that you don't have the luxury to properly train a new supervisor and none of the current supervisors at the other warehouses want to be reassigned to that warehouse.. Let me stick my neck out and take over the position at my current pay scale until I can prove that I have what it takes to lead."

More than a little stunned, Pete, the head honcho, silently sized up Gerry. Finally Pete said, "I will give you three months."

Gerry had anticipated that headquarters would not offer a realistic time line. He shot back with, "Nine months." And he calmly paused.

Pete, moved by Gerry's gutsy proposal, slowly uttered "OK."

Gerry turned to leave and then, in a "Columbo-like" manner, he turned around at the door and said, "Hey, do us both a favor – stay away for at least six months." Without another word or glance, Gerry left.

Vignette: Dysfunctional Group in a
Dysfunctional System with High Influence
When Harry took the position of managing an ineffective sales force, he pledged to try it for a year. At the job interview, he had negotiated for certain support but during the first six months, what he was promised either was not forthcoming or came with too many strings attached.

Harry had tried several maneuvers to decrease the regional supervisors' visits to his office. The supervisors were relatives of the founders and didn't know how to be useful except to visit sites and take up managers' time. Harry especially resented it when he was expected to drop everything to go to lunch with these sycophants.

At the end of the 11th month, he turned in his resignation. Harry was proud of his effort and even prouder of how clear he was that it wasn't he that was dysfunctional – it was the system. He himself was quite healthy.