Mccelland's Need Theory Case Study

1. There are several things Cindy could have adjusted that may have worked better. After looking at the results from the Big-5 Personality that each employee submitted, sorting the employees that had similar personalities are more than likely to butt heads by wanting to do the same tasks or not agreeing on everything. With having a broader group of different personalities, the employees are more than likely to talk things out and spread out task evenly to best fits each person. Not distributing personalities equally does not promote teamwork and will be more problematic rather than success.
Secondly, she split up the employees by the ages, whether they are younger or older than forty years old. In the text, Cindy states the older individuals, the “Gen-Xers,” are “often more experienced than those who are younger.” This could be problematic because if you put all of the more experienced ones together, …show more content…
Drawing from McCelland’s Need Theory, it is possible that workers within teams are not satisfied with their teamwork due to so-called “needs” not being satisfied. As teams of eight are now working on projects that were initially meant for solo work, team members may feel a lack of drive to push forward due to the job being simplified to that of eight players instead of one. This indicates no satisfaction for the need for achievement or, “desire to accomplish something difficult” (Soleymani 311).
Additionally, the need for affiliation, defined as “desire to spend time in social relationships and activities” (Soleymani 311) as well as the need for power or, “desire to influence, coach, teach, or encourage others to achieve”, are likely not satisfied due to the mixture of young and old workers. As members from opposite groups don’t get along, they were perhaps much more satisfied working alone than with the rival age group. They cannot engage in social activity nor encourage the other group to strive forward, which possibly contributed to lackluster