A Bug's Life

Kiel Odo,

Randee Layosa,

Therone Bridges, Kasey Fernandez, Chelsea Suzumoto

Plot Summary

• Harvest season
• Colony klutz ruins quota
• Hopper doubles demand
• Princess Atta sends Flik off
• Flik returns with "warrior bugs"
• Circus bugs decide to help defeat the Grasshoppers
• Flik devises a plan
• Hopper meets his demise

Conclusion

Scenario 3-- Ending

"You see Hopper, Nature has a certain order. The ants pick the food, the ants keep the food, and the grasshoppers leave!" --- Princess Atta

• Princess Atta embraces the others' plans.
• The ant colony uses Flik's invention to scare off grasshoppers.
• Grasshoppers show up demanding food.
• Coincidentally real bird shows up and attacks hoppers.
• Since Princess Atta adapted to new ideas and change within her colony, they are successful.
• Hopper refused to change so they suffered.

Scenario 2-- Change

• Hopper demands ants double their offering.
• Ants finally question their roles, & consider fighting back with the "warrior bugs."
• Flik's bird idea was embraced, and the decision is made.
• Meanwhile grasshoppers back under the sombrero plead to Hopper to neglect the ants and stay where they are.
• Hopper disciplines Molt and others, single-handedly deciding to go back.

Decision Making

Leadership & Power

• Individual vs. Group Decision Making

• Individual: Hopper
• Comes to decisions quicker
• Accountability
• Less Ideas

• Group: Ant Colony
• Diversity
• Commitment
• Takes Time

Team Work & Goals

• Ants, as a group, had resistance to Hopper's demands, stayed committed to their bird plan, and succeeded.
• Princess Atta eventually changes her leadership method, and includes others.
• Hopper kept as a dictator until the very end, and they suffered because of it.
• They all hold the same types of power throughout, but the method of application changes as stated.

• Goals help teams improve performance
• Ants created a goal to scare off Hopper
• Grasshoppers stayed consistent in keeping ants in line

• Team tasks
• Production tasks
• Idea-generation tasks
• Problem-solving tasks
• Team Roles
• Flik - Creator
• Molt - Communicator

Scenario 1--Beginning

Creativity

• The generation of new ideas that are:
• Original: how unique ideas are
• Fluent: # of ideas one can generate
• Flexible: how different ideas are from each other

• New ideas are difficult to be accepted

The Creative Decision-Making Process:

• The expectation is for traditions to remain the exact same:
• The ants gather food for the grasshoppers
• Grasshoppers "protect" ants from dangerous bugs
• Grasshoppers collect food at the beginning of the fall
• Ants gather food for themselves and then repeat the following year.

Leadership & Power

Characters

• Hopper uses rational persuasion to explain the ant concept to Molt and others
• Ants feel the pressure to finish making the bird before grasshoppers come back
• Flik - Expert & Information Power
• Hopper & Princess Atta -Legitimate/Reward/Coercive Power
• Molt-Information Power

Molt

Hopper

Flik

Princess Atta

Leadership & Power

• First rule of management: Everything is your fault!
• Princess Atta demands conformity to their daily lifestyle choices
• Hopper creates dependency for entire group towards ants because they gather their food

Team Work

Decision

Making

• Team Norms
• Team leadership
• Traditional manager-led teams
• Team Roles
• Princess Atta - Calibrator
• Flik - Critic
• Hopper - Coordinator
• Barriers to effective teams
• Poor performance of team members - Flik

• Making choices among alternative courses of action including interaction
• Gather information and make decisions in the company
• 3 Levels of decision: strategic, tactical, operational

Rational Decision Making Model