Robin Hood is the CEO of the group

Danielle Griffith

Professor Keck

Semester Project

7-16-19

Robin Hood Case Study Robin Hood has numerous problems. One thing I noticed is that his band of Merrymen is very large. In the Flatworld textbook by Taylor Bauer et al. it states that “Smaller groups tend to have higher levels of cohesion” (Bauer et al. 12.1). Robin needs to lower the amount of staff he has. The lower the staff the higher the cohesion level will be. Small groups tend to work better together than larger groups.

Also, with the fact that Robin is overstaffed they don’t have enough resources to provide for this group. Also, it is difficult for the men to find the revenue stream. This is because the travelers are finding more alternate paths. That means since they do not have much revenue coming in, they have little to give to the poor. The last thing I noticed is that Robin’s group keeps getting new members. The Flatworld textbook also states that “The majority of teams have 10 members or less because the larger the team, the harder it is to coordinate and interact as a team.

With fewer individuals, team members are more able to work through differences and agree on a common plan of action” (12.2). Another issue of the growing size of Robin’s Merrymen is that they could have an issue with security. This could lead to the Sheriff possibly sending people to spy. It also could lead to discord in the group and problems with discipline.

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A smaller group size would benefit Robin more because it would be easier for him to interact with his team. Also, they wouldn’t have to worry about resources. Larger groups are harder to maintain. There are more conflicts and interact with one another.

A. Robin is the CEO of the group. That means he makes all the decisions and responsible to delegate the work. Robin structured the work like this:

Will Scarlett- Scouting and Spying

Little John- Archery and to discipline the Merrymen Sherlock- Money

Much- Food

The textbook states that organizational structure is “valuable tool in achieving coordination by specifying reporting relationships (who reports to whom), describing formal communication channels, and explaining how separate actions of individuals are linked together” (7.1). Division of labor helps everything run smoothly. Everyone has a specific task, and everyone knows who to answer to.

B. Robin is currently the only commander of the group. Robin needs to separate his groups. For example, Manager, Assistant manager. This way each group has someone to answer to. Robin also probably does not know all the people. That makes it difficult for him to command all the people especially since people are rapidly joining. Right now, since Robin does not have people supervising individual groups this could lead to a waste of resources and time. Robin would be empowering his Merrymen. Empowerment “is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decision-making in autonomous ways” (1.1). Managers would help the Merrymen to manage their time wisely and to watch how many resources that are being used. Also, it would help with discipline. Everyone would know who to answer to and to empower all the men.

C. Robin makes all the decision in the group. Centralized decision making “is the degree to which decision-making authority is concentrated at higher levels in an organization” (7.1). Robin’s group is too large to have a centralized decision making. When issues happen, the people need to act quickly. They can’t go to Robin for everything. For example, if someone spots a spy they need to act immediately. If they do not act immediately, the spy could get away. The group would benefit more from a decentralized decision making. This would give more power to the lower level people in Robin’s group.

D. Little John is the only person enforcing discipline to the Merrymen. The group is rapidly growing. This makes it hard for just one person to enforce all the rules. Robin should have supervisors to help Little John enforce these rules. Little John would still be the head of discipline, he just needs help enforcing the rules. This helps everything run smoothly in the group. Also, everyone has someone to answer to. Just like I said in the Unity command, having one person could waste time and resources. This way Little John can focus on the big issues the supervisors can focus on the little issues. The process they have now is not very effective in communicating the rules. It would be easier for the group to have individual supervisor’s communication the rules. The Flatworld textbook states that “Communication is vital to coordinating actions and articulating goals” (11.1). Robin’s group would benefit from having more than one person communicating to the groups. Some people may not get the information because the group is large. Having supervisors communicate the rules would be very effective.

E. The group originally got started because of their problems with the Sheriff. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word esprit de corps as “the common spirit existing in the members of a group and inspiring enthusiasm, devotion, and strong regard for the honor of the group” (esprit de corps). The group all had a common passion. However, Robin later did not care as to why people wanted to join their group. The group going back to cohesion would be very effective. It would boost morale, motivation, and productivity.

3.) Strengths: One of the strengths is that Robin has a good team managing things (Will, Little John, Sherlock, and Much). Robin and his team are well liked by the people in the that live there. The Merrymen are also well liked and are known throughout the lands. Lastly, they have very skilled people. They have fantastic archers and the greatest thieves. All these elements make the group successful.

Weaknesses: The group is so large. This means they have very little resources on hand. Right now, Robin doesn’t have a plan to replace it. There is not enough leadership throughout the group. There is little revenue, and no one has come up with other ways to make up the money. They also aren’t training the men to have other skills and wasting the other skills the men have. The only skill they use really is archery.

Opportunities: Due to the fact that people do not like the Sheriff or the prince, people will not really argue against them being removed. There is talk of the barons disputing against Prince John and planning on rescuing King Richard to take his place. This would cause the Sheriff to be forced out of his position.

Threats: The Sheriff has strong political connections. He is building up more and more money. He also is becoming organized. He could send in spies because Robin’s group is growing rapidly. The travelers are avoiding the forests. They have found different paths. This causes Robin’s group to have little revenue coming in.

In my opinion Douglas McClelland’s theory would be effective. Flatworld textbook explains McClelland’s theory as “needs for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power. All individuals possess a combination of these needs” (13.1). Instead of Robin having a centralized decision making, he would switch to decentralized. He would need to place people that have that need for power in charge of a certain group. Also, they would need to help change the structure and watching the resources. The people with a need for affiliation can communicate with the people such as the farmers, and the villages. This would help keep the alliance with these groups. I do believe that the process-based theory would be effective as well. Process-based theories “in contrast to need-based theories, process-based theories view motivation as a cognitive (and potentially rational) process” (13.2). They would need to set goals. For example, if they need supplies such as food. They can see what stuff they need, and then they can plan to get the food. They can have a timeframe of how long it’ll take to get the food they need. Setting goals for each group could be beneficial because they know what needs to be done. They will feel accomplished once they achieve this goal.

The social responsibility is the problem with the resources. Robin had a good heart and wanted to help people. However, there is little resources in the forest. This is a problem for the townspeople including Robin’s mean. Robin should have found ways to replenish the forest with food or find alternative ways to feed people. Robin didn’t think ahead and that’s a major problem in his campaign. The ethical problem here is that since the Sheriff is very good friends with the Prince it could lead to people being killed or imprisoned because they are helping Robin. Robin forming his campaign against the Sheriff could cause danger to many people.

Economic forces: The poor is having to pay taxes. However, the rich aren’t. The travelers are now finding different paths mean the Merrymen are getting little revenue. The Merrymen group is growing and there are little resources to feed them already. The townspeople are still not making much money.

Socio-cultural forces-