Calgary Oil Shale Technologies Inc

Question: Write a report about the "Calgary Oil Shale Technologies Inc". Answer: Introduction This is a report which is based on some of the skills that are necessary to run a business smoothly. The smooth functioning of a firm not only requires a robust and stable workforce but also it requires something more. A firm should have a strong management team who can guide the workers and can generate a smooth workflow in the business. The report highlights some of the most important management qualities that Mr. Carlos Debrito has that helps to resolve some of the issues among the employees. Calgary Oil Shale Technologies Inc (COST) is an oil refinery firm. Martin Bouchard was appointed as the president and CEO of the company. The firm was facing issues with the productivity. There were issues of dispute among the employees of the company. As the president and CEO of the company, Martin wished to resolve all these disputes and to increase the productivity of the firm. The company faced problems in its operation site at Alberta. The firm COST specializes in data management activities, and it supplies technologies to be used for refining and optimizing oil from the oil shales in Alberta. The technologies that the firm COST uses are capable of distinguishing rocks that bear oil. In this way, the firm helps companies working with energy sources to gain high productivity and profit from the production of oil shale. The company COST has a workforce that is blessed with high-skilled professionals such as engineers, geophysicist, and geologists who are capable of handling sophis ticated technology. The company uses semiskilled and skilled laborers to run the operations on the field. These two groups of workers, the technical group and the field operators, regularly opposed each other on some issue or the other (Northouse 2015). Debritos leadership techniques To resolve the conflicts between the two groups of workers of the firm, COST hired Ms. Algoma Howard, who was supposed to develop a program to foster teamwork and hence increase productivity. In the Alberta location, an experienced employee named Carlos Debrito was present to assist Howard to accomplish her task. Having worked in different departments in COST for over a span of twenty-six years, Debrito had a clear knowledge of the problems and conflicts that the workers at different levels were facing. Hence, Debrito agreed to guide Howard to accomplish her task. The three groups of workers that worked in the Alberta oil field included the workers who maintained and operated the logging operations, the group consisting of geophysicists, geologists and engineers and a group of workers who maintained the drilling equipment. To bring these groups of workers together Howard and Debrito planned to arrange a meeting of the workers on the fireside. The main objective to organize such meetings was to improve the interpersonal relationships among the workers. In these meetings the organizers probed the workers to open up to each other in a tension free environment. The organizers arranged for free food for the people who turned up in the meeting (Dubrin 2015). The next step which Howard and Debrito adopted was forming the "problem busting teams". These teams were temporary, and it consists of members from different hierarchical levels and of the different operations team. The managers wanted the leaders of these teams to address the issues which the workers were facing that were discussed in the fireplace meeting. They wanted the problem busting team to resolve these issues raised in the meeting. The fireside team evolved at the initial stage of team development, whereas the problem busting team evolved at the final team development stage. Techniques to be followed by Howard in Colorado The author would like to advice Howard to closely follow the steps of Carlos Debrito. Debrito played a very important role as a team leader to resolve conflicts among the workers of the company and to increase the productivity of the firm. His role would inspire Howard to work in a similar manner in the oilfields of Colorado to solve the issues. The formation of the teams that gathered in the fireside chat and also the problem busting teams helped to improve the interpersonal relationships among the workers in the Alberta site. Hence, the workers openly talked to each other about their problems, and this helped to increase the productivity of the company. Following a similar method would prove to be useful in the Colorado site.In his leadership, Debrito adopted the conflict resolving approach. Debrito has a better understanding of the problems of the workers following this approach. Secondly, the cohesion between the groups of the workers increased under the leadership of Debrito. Th e role of Debrito reflected the contingency quality of his leadership. Howard is of the view that if she got the guidance of Debrito in the Colorado project, the project would have succeeded. The author also feels the same as Howard. The leadership qualities which Debrito has in his character prove to be very fruitful in drawing the laborers to work. Though Howard implemented the same techniques as developed in the sites of Alberta, it did not work well in the sites of Colorado. Debrito had a better understanding of the psychology of the workers. Hence, he had a better knowledge of the techniques that would generate the result from the workers (Avolio and Yammarino 2013). The author would like to advise Algoma Howard that she should closely follow the steps shown by Debrito to manage the whole process. The Colorado site also faced similar problems as that faced in the Alberta site. Hence, employing the similar techniques with a better understanding of the situation would generate fruitful results. Howard can improve the involvement of her workers among each other by talking to them in a friendly manner and gathering them in some meeting in an informal environment. The management can reduce the cost of production if there exist a smooth workflow in the process. The management can only achieve this by improving the environment of work in the site. If the workers do their job in a peaceful manner maintaining a steady pace of workflow the company can easily meet the goals which are set regarding production (Mendenhall and Osland 2012). Conclusion The article depicts the work environment of the Calgary Oil Shale Technologies Inc. It describes the efficiency of Debrito in handling the issues which the workers at different levels of the company are facing. The efficient leadership and team management qualities of Debrito had lead to the resolve of all the conflicts among the workers and fostered a smooth flow of work in the company. This resulted in increased productivity and lowered the cost of production of oils by the firm. Research work The title of the journal that describes the leadership qualities required to maintain peace is "Embedding the peace process: the role of leadership, change and government in implementing key reforms in policing and local government in Northern Ireland". The Journal says that ethical leadership can give rise to many outcomes in the society that brings positive results (Rozand Joanne 2016) . Another journal that describes the leadership traits required in business is titled as leadership theory and research in the new millennium: current theoretical trends and changing perspective. The article talks about the rise in the research done by scientists regarding new theories of leadership in business. The article says that there are a vast number of theories on leadership that are evolving in the new millennium which needs to be taken care of, as leadership quality is one of the most important traits in making a mark in the world of business (Jessica et al. 2016). Another journal talking about leadership qualities is "advances in leader and leadership development: a review of 25 years of research and theory". The Journal says that almost all business organizations focus on the development of efficient leaders and effective leadership behaviour (David 2016). Another article on educational leadership titled Educational leadership and leadership development in Africa: Building the knowledge base talks about early childhood leadership qualities. It says that a person should have sound problem solving skills since childhood to become a good leader when the person grows up (Tony 2016). Reference: Avolio, B.J. and Yammarino, F.J. eds., 2013.Transformational and charismatic leadership: The road ahead. Dubrin, A., 2015.Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education. Jessica E. Dinha, Robert G. Lordb. William L. Mendenhall, M.E. and Osland, J., 2012.Global leadership: Research, practice, and development. Routledge. Northouse, P.G., 2015.Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.