Your Attitude Determines your Altitude: We-R-Radio Case Study

Initial Analysis:

In the case “Your Attitude determines your Altitude”, the employees of We-R-Radio

participate in a team building exercise that seems to be problematic for some and does not quite

have the outcome it was intentionally striving for. In this team building exercise, employees were

expected to train for a climb up a mountain. In theory this is a great team building exercise, it

encourages employees to depend on each other and motivate others to train. It also gives a sense

of accomplishment being a long-term goal to achieve as a team. The overarching problem of this

case is the execution of the team building exercise. Some employees felt as if this event was too

strenuous and that if they brought their concerns to their boss, they would disturb their overall

work environment. 

One of the first issues expressed in this case was the way the boss, Jack Welton,

addresses and manages his employees. His overall leadership style does not seem to connect so

well with the other staff of the organization. Even though he seemed very motivational, positive

and excited about what this team building exercise was going to do for the work group, he comes

off to some as condescending in the way that he implemented things and how he did not seem

open to employee feedback. “While we are taking a vote about this, I’m the majority and we're

doing it”- Welton (Page 42). Welton’s overall management style comes off as a Theory Y

manager but he implements strategies that are of a Theory X manager. He seems fun, light and

easy, but in reality, he wants to do things one specific way and he wants them done on a certain

schedule. An example of this was the frequent email reminders he sent out to the staff about

getting in shape for the climb. The emails inherently were overseeing what people were doing in

their free time to train while highlighting his motivational communication style. Jack Welton’s
communication style also seems to not connect with the rest of his staff. He has a very matter-of-

fact way of message communication. He is not giving problem-focused support to his

employees, rather he sends some encouraging emails then expects his employees to be on board

with his ideas and follow his exact schedule of events. His communication is overall dictatorial

and surface level. “I just didn’t know what to think of that-- if it was motivational or

derogatory… are they just waiting for us to fail”-Kalee (Page 43)

The key issues of this situation have two underlying causes as to why this is the common

organization culture at We-R-Radio. The first is Jack Welton’s bounded rationality. Welton is

a wealthy man who has been around said lifestyle for a while. Because of this he is ignorant of

different social situations. For example, he has been going mountain climbing for a while and

has a home in Colorado, so the idea of him hiking a mountain is not a far-fetched idea. Even

though he likes the event and thinks it would be beneficial for the group, not everyone can fully

commit to his expectations because they do not have the luxury of climbing a mountain as

frequently as he did. He is ignorant of the other staff’s situations and cannot comprehend how

someone could not make it to the top of the mountain like he can. The second underlying cause

of this problem is Welton’s communication style. He seems to have a classical approach on

communicating with his employees. He uses downward vertical communication flow; he is very

task oriented and many of his communication channels are written. An example is how he uses

emails to send reminders about the team-building exercise. This is a very one-sided way of

communication that does not expand on his values of building on his team’s skills. In order to

team build you need open communication so there is flow and correspondence.  

Application:
 Given the leadership and communication circumstances for We-R-Radio, Jack Welton is

considered as culturally separated and overall lacks awareness concerning his organization and

staff. We have identified two specific interventions created to help address these issues. The first

would be to have a consulting session with Welton himself to reflect on his leadership and

communication styles demonstrated within the workplace. Following his evaluation of himself,

we would then discuss our analysis of the situation and improvements we believe can be

implemented. Next, we would suggest a bi-weekly newsletter used to create a more positive

work environment and culture for all staff members to be involved in. 

The purpose of the initial consultation session is to understand how Welton’s decision

making process is rationalized and the logic behind his organization implementation. With this

information, we are able to compare and contrast our overall analysis of the situation with him.

Our questions and analysis could then prompt him to think more critically about his decision-

making process. This strategy is important because in order to make a change, he must be able

to identify his bounded rationality and how his lifestyle and culture differs from the general

staff’s organizational culture. Welton is a lot wealthier and lives a more elite lifestyle and has

little to no understanding about how the other half lives. For example, he's accustomed to

routinely climbing the mountain while being physically fit, then going to his country club for

dinner to celebrate an accomplishment. His ignorance reflects in the disconnection he has from

his employees due to him not taking into account the mitigating factors of his final decisions

and his classical and autocratic approach in communication styles. This intervention is helpful

because this allows Welton to have a reflective moment, as well as identify ways he could be

more present and self-aware within the workplace. Those from the consulting firm are the ones
who will lead the initial consultation session with Welton to ensure a productive and beneficial

intervention. 

Instead of suggesting specific activities, we have created a channel for employees to now

have the opportunity to freely communicate their ideas. Introducing the bi-weekly newsletter,

You Said/We-R-Radio Did…, is a wonderful way to enable Welton to be more aware, involved

and not as ignorant to staff’s individual situations. This helps open up the conversation to

potentially create a new team bonding activity that is beneficial for the group as a whole. This

newsletter is a more efficient way to receive constant feedback, boost employee’s morale,

prevent burnout, and help to increase occupational commitment. Aspects of the newsletter will

include a suggestion box section to enable open communication directly to management. A staff

and management highlight section boosts team morale and instills a sense of community among

the organization. An employee happy hour section is included which is an employee submitted

forum that allows them to share a social aspect of their personal life to stay socially connected.

The final section of the Newsletter will be the appreciation station to acknowledge and show

gratitude for their hard work, positivity and attitude. This intervention is helpful to this

organization because it allows for constructive criticism and staff involvement. We’ve assigned

the Human Relations manager to implement this Newsletter strategy by providing a fun layout

for the We-R-Radio community, making it as interactive as possible to encourage staff

involvement. With the help of this digital Newsletter, the employees will feel more comfortable

communicating certain situations while also bringing about change to the organizational culture. 

Projection:

After the strategies above are implemented, the two main business metrics that will be

impacted are employee retention and quality of product. The main concern within this case was
how employees felt about being in communication with their management in regard to things

they did not feel comfortable doing (the mountain climb). Some staff members were so put off

by how much stress this was adding on to them. Changing a management perspective and asking

employees for more input versus implementing something a manager likes personally is not

always the best fit for someone else. It may prompt employees to quit due to the high stress

aspect of producing work, while also having other responsibilities outside of the office space.

This series of events may lead to burnout. When burnout occurs, employees have been exposed

to emotional and physical stressors for a prolonged period of time. Increased and frequent

burnout leads to low employee retention. In short, no employee actively wants to be in a

negative and toxic environment if they do not need to be.

The other business metric that will be changed through the strategies to implement is

quality of product. Inherently if employees are not feeling positive about their work

environment, appreciated at work or if their attitude at work is negative, then what they produce

will not be as well made than what it could have been with a more positive outlook on their work

environment. To ensure a good quality of products and services, morale should be high and work

should not seem like a chore but more of an enjoyable activity to partake in.

For the first metric of employee retention, we believe that 50% more employees will be

less inclined to look elsewhere for employment after these changes. This will be measured

through the participation and feedback that is given through the implementation of the

Newsletter. Quality of product will also go up by 50% since this is encouraging more upward

communication which is where the fundamental disconnects started with the original team

building exercise. We connected this to the current organization Amber and I work for. At our

job we receive “Thank You points” for different sales, leadership and help that we partake in for
our job. These points can be redeemed for free products our organization carries. We also have

employee meetings where we review our last couple of months, evaluate our performance, and

talk about some improvements we could make if necessary. This gives us as employees

something to look forward to and makes us aware that we are able to openly communicate with

our management. This encourages us to be employees there and to be a positive force in the work

environment.

One mitigating factor that may arise after our implementations include the willingness

of the owner, Welton, to rethink and reorganize how he makes his decisions. Since he has been

running this organization a certain way for a while, he might feel threatened to even make little

changes to his leadership style, including the use of a Newsletter that centers on staff interaction.

Since our implementations for this specific situation are heavily participation based, another

mitigating factor is low participation both on the regular staff’s end and on the management side

as well. If few employees want to participate in the open communication of the Newsletter, then

it does not fully reach its potential for creating a different work culture at We-R-Radio.