Abstract
The Chattanooga Ice Cream Division of the Chattanooga Food Corporation faces a major crisis in that it has experienced multiple years of declining revenues and profits. Recently appointed Chattanooga Ice Cream Division President, Charles Moore is challenged with solving the issues of a divided team, a recent loss of a major account, and how to plot the next steps for the company. This paper analyzes the causes of Chattanooga Leadership Team’s dysfunction, how that team can better understand each other’s perspectives, and provides recommendations of what Moore should do to better work together and solve the issues at hand.
Introduction
The Chattanooga Ice Cream Division is subsidiary of Chattanooga Food Corporation and is a producer of mid-priced, basic ice cream products. For the past 4 years, the Ice Cream Division has experienced flat or declining sales and profits.
Taking steps to improve the division’s performance, the company promoted Charles Moore to head the division. Moore stepped into the role replacing a Chattanooga veteran of more than 45 years, who had stepped down at the age of 72. The previous General Manager preferred to make management decisions without involving his immediate team and so Moore stepped into a non-collaborative environment despite his preference for that management style.
The senior leadership team was made up of seven members, including Moore. The seven members were the Vice President of Marketing, Barry Walkins; Vice President of Sales, Les Holly; Vice President of Production, Billy Fale; Vice President of Research & Development (R&D), Kent Donaldson; Vice President and Controller, Stephanie Krane; and the Vice President of Personnel, Frank O’Brien.
Of the seven member senior leadership team, three were relatively new and as a result, Moore was having difficulties employing his open management style since the team was still in a Forming stage (Tuckman, 1965). With recent news that Chattanooga was about to lose...