Introduction: Chattanooga Ice Cream Essay

Introduction

Chattanooga Ice Cream Division was part of a larger family run company named Chattanooga Food Corporation. The ice cream division was one of the three divisions that rolled up to the larger enterprise, whose primary product line consisted of mid-priced basic ice cream products (Sloane, Carl, CICD case study, 1997). Charles Moore, who took over as the president and general manager in 1993, was responsible for a team of six senior leaders across the division. There were additional changes to the leadership team since Charles took over in 1993. A new VP of marketing, Barry Walkins, was brought in to replace a thirty-year veteran of the company. Additionally, Stephanie Krane, was hired to upgrade the IT systems in hopes of having better control function. In addition to the personnel changes, the division introduced a new product line of frozen yogurt. In an effort to control and reduce costs, the original manufacturing plant located in Chattanooga was closed, and all production was moved to two newer plans in different cities. All of these decisions caused changes that resulted in a shift in the direction and culture among the leadership team. The division was used to operating a certain way under a certain team with decisions being made autocratically. Charlie Moore, whose style was much different than the veteran he replaced, found it difficult to not only implement his leadership style but also found his team had difficulty adapting to it. Moore was of the opinion that decisions should be based on group feedback. With a democratic style, he liked the groups to have discussions before coming to a decision.
Recently, out of the blue, CIC received news that they lost their third-largest customer, Stay and Shop, to the Sealtest brand in all of the Southeastern Supermarkets. Stay and Shop was responsible for over six million dollars in revenue to Chattanooga. Charles Moore had called a morning meeting to let his team know of the news. While the news may have blindsided them, the writing was on the wall. The division had shown a decline in sales and profitability for four consecutive years. Competitors are rolling out new mix-in flavors and saturating the market making it difficult for CICD to keep up with their current product line.
The following sections will cover the CICD team and its current dysfunctional state as well as Charles Moore's contribution to the dysfunction. The division and leadership team can fix this current state that they are in. A section of this analysis will cover what the group can do to work together with each other and Charlie moving forward. I will supply recommendations on what Charles Moore can do right now to help his team come together and resolve conflicts more effectively. These recommendations will consider company goals, visions and employee trust. The paper will conclude with what decisions Charles Moore needs to make to ensure his company returns to profitability within the next six months.
The Teams Dysfunction
It is evident that the teams dysfunction is a combination of multiple factors. As we read in part four of Lencioni's, The Five Dysfunctions of a team, a dysfunctional team is built on an unstable foundation- lack of trust – and is ultimately exposed by its inattention to results. When Charlie made the announcement about the loss of Stay and Shop, his leadership team was inquisitive as to why. Charlie supplied the only answer he was given, which was that the product line, service and promotional offers were all part of the decision. As soon as the team heard that, they began to answer with their own reasons, which consisted of blame on each other and their respective departments, instead of coming together to figure out how to fix the situation. Since there was no trust among the team, more proof of the dysfunction was that they were unable to accept constructive criticism or come to a consensus around decisions that needed to be made moving forward, in essence fearing

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