FRAMING THE PROBLEMIdentify the Problem Step 1Following the announcement for this year's "Employee of the Year" there have been many disheartening changes within departments. Working relationships that had at one time been strong and productive, are now strained and producing mediocre work. Communication seems to be forced as opposed to being free-flowing, and boardroom meetings are filled with a tension that can only be described as awkward. The yearly award winners seem to have been ostracized by their various work centers. Once considered to be the unofficial team leaders, envy and jealousy have now plagued the teams and has caused the other members to draw away from them.
To say that we anticipated this problem could not be further from the truth. The program has been in place for five years now, but for some reason, this most recent announcement seems to be a little different. At first, the Senior Vice President noticed something was amiss, but once she began being approached by section heads with similar observations, the company knew they had a very serious problem on its hands.
TRIZ process for creative problem solving
English: Col. Lillian Dixon, garrison commander, p...
English: Col. Lillian Dixon, garrison commander, p...While certainly communication and teamwork were suffering, management began to notice reports not being turned in on-time, and in some cases, not at all. People, who ordinarily had stellar attendance records, were suddenly calling in sick or filing paperwork for unexcused absences. A total of 20 man-days have been lost so far. Lastly, and probably most importantly to the corporate office, our branch has seen a revenue loss of 0.75% in just 3-month period. This 0.75% loss may not seem like great deal, but do the math, and it equates to be just over $250K.
At first, a decision was made to ride it out in the hopes that the animosity would subside and things would return to...