| Course | COM 140 Managing Performance and Developing Teams |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 8 |
| Paper type | Team leadership plan |
| Length | About 1,016 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for COM 140 Module 8
Leading Through Peak Season: A Supervisor's Plan for the Order Fulfillment Crew at a Retail Warehouse
Student Name
Business Administration Program, Aspen University
COM 140: Managing Performance and Developing Teams
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Leading Through Peak Season: A Supervisor's Plan for the Order Fulfillment Crew at a Retail Warehouse
From November to January, Ridgeline Outdoor Supply's online orders nearly triple. At the Aurora distribution center, the pick and pack team, which now ships 97% of orders the same day, will add eight temporary workers and move to twelve-hour shifts. Last year, same-day shipping fell to 78% during the season and three permanent team members quit in January. Marcus Webb, the team's supervisor, wants to lead the team through this season differently. This paper sets out how, drawing on research about team leadership and on the work of earlier modules.
What Team Leadership Involves
Morgeson et al. (2010) proposed a functional approach to team leadership: leadership is about meeting the team's needs, whoever performs it. They organized fifteen leadership functions into two phases. In transition phases, between periods of work, teams need leaders to compose the team, define the mission, set goals, structure and plan, train and develop, and make sense of events. In action phases, during the work itself, a team looks to its leader to watch how work is going, handle outside parties, push the team to do better, step in on the work when needed, fix problems, get resources, encourage members to manage themselves and keep the climate healthy.
Timing Coaching
Hackman and Wageman (2005) proposed a theory of team coaching. They defined coaching as direct interaction with the team intended to help members use their collective resources well. Coaching can address three performance processes: the effort members put in, the strategies they use and the knowledge and skill they apply. Coaching works best at certain times: motivational coaching about effort at the beginning, consultative coaching about strategy at the midpoint when teams are open to change and educational coaching about skills at the end, when members can reflect. Coaching also helps only when the team is well designed; it cannot make up for a poor structure.
Task and People
Burke et al. (2006) conducted a meta-analysis of leadership behaviors in teams. They grouped behaviors into task-focused, such as transactional behavior, initiating structure and boundary spanning, and person-focused, such as transformational behavior, consideration, empowerment and motivation. Both types were related to team effectiveness. Empowerment, a person-focused behavior, was related to team learning. Under the pressure of peak season, it is tempting to focus only on tasks, but the meta-analysis suggests the team needs both.
Leadership Functions Through the Season
| Phase | Dates | Leadership functions | Marcus's actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transition: before the season | Late October | Set goals, structure and plan, train | Kickoff meeting; 95% same-day goal for peak; pair each temporary worker with a permanent member |
| Action: early season | November | Monitor, provide resources, support climate | Daily huddles; hourly data screen; extra packing stations; recognize good days |
| Transition: midseason | Mid-December | Make sense of events, adjust plans | Consultative review with the team: what is working, what to change before the final rush |
| Action: final rush | Mid to late December | Back up, solve problems, encourage self-management | Marcus works the line during peaks; team leads decide breaks and rotations |
| Transition: after the season | Late January | Develop, reflect | Educational debrief: lessons for next year; recognition |
Bringing Temporary Workers In
Eight temporary workers will join a team with established norms and shared habits. Last year, they were trained for two hours and sent to the line, and their error rates were four times the team's. This year, each temporary worker will be paired with a permanent member for their first three shifts, use a one-page guide to the team's norms and attend the daily huddle. The pairing serves Morgeson and colleagues' training function and spreads it across the team rather than leaving it all to Marcus.
Managing the Boundaries
Some of the season's biggest problems will come from outside the team: late carrier pickups, shortages from receiving and system slowdowns. Managing boundaries is a leadership function in Morgeson and colleagues' model. Marcus will meet the carrier's local manager in October to agree extra pickups on peak days, ask the receiving supervisor to flag low stock on the top hundred products daily and arrange for an IT contact to be on call during the evening peak.
When Things Go Wrong
The conveyor failure in May showed what one breakdown can do. Marcus and the maintenance team will agree on a manual backup: if the conveyor stops, packed orders move to the dock on carts, with two pickers reassigned to carry them.
Building on the Course
The plan draws on earlier modules. The peak goal of 95% with an accuracy guardrail follows the goal-setting approach of Module 2. Marcus's daily feedback stays focused on tasks, as in Module 3. The team's norms from its charter, and the habit of reviewing at the midpoint from Module 6, carry into the season.
Caring for the Team
To avoid last year's resignations, Marcus will cap shifts at five twelve-hour days a week, rotate the heaviest tasks and check in briefly with each permanent member every week. He will also schedule two short recognition moments during the season, after the first sale weekend and before the holiday cutoff, using the team's own results, because Burke and colleagues found that person-focused behavior matters as much as structure, and peak season is when it is easiest to forget.
Judging Success
Success means same-day shipping of at least 95%, no lost-time injuries and no permanent team members leaving in January. Marcus will also ask the team in the January debrief whether they would want to work peak season with the same arrangements again, a simple test of whether the season was managed in a way people can sustain. Results and lessons go into a short note for next year, so that the plan does not depend on Marcus remembering what worked.
Conclusion
Morgeson, DeRue and Karam show what leadership the team needs in each phase, Hackman and Wageman show when coaching helps most and Burke and colleagues show that task and people both matter. With the course's work on goals, feedback and team development, the plan gives the team its best chance at a strong season.
References
Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Klein, C., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & Halpin, S. M. (2006). What type of leadership behaviors are functional in teams? A meta-analysis. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(3), 288-307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.02.007
Hackman, J. R., & Wageman, R. (2005). A theory of team coaching. Academy of Management Review, 30(2), 269-287. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2005.16387885
Morgeson, F. P., DeRue, D. S., & Karam, E. P. (2010). Leadership in teams: A functional approach to understanding leadership structures and processes. Journal of Management, 36(1), 5-39. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309347376
Reading the COM 140 Module 8 assignment instructions
Module 8 of COM 140 asks students to plan how to lead a high-performance team, usually drawing together the course's work on performance management and teams. The format your instructor sets for Module 8 takes priority; the Ridgeline case ends here. Describe the team and the challenge ahead. Explain what team leadership involves. Plan leadership actions for different phases of the team's work. Balance attention to tasks and to people. Connect the plan to earlier work on goals, feedback and team development. Address new or temporary members and problems from outside the team. Say how success will be judged. Cite research in APA 7 form.
How the COM 140 Module 8 example is put together
Marcus's team now ships 97% of online orders the same day, and peak season will bring nearly three times the usual volume, eight temporary workers and twelve-hour shifts. Hackman and Wageman built a coaching theory around three levers, effort, strategy and skill, each suited to a different point in a team's work. Morgeson, DeRue and Karam listed fifteen things a team needs from leadership, split between planning periods and periods of doing the work. Burke and colleagues' Leadership Quarterly meta-analysis found that task-focused behaviors, such as structuring work, and person-focused behaviors, such as empowerment, were both related to team effectiveness. The functions table assigns transition work, such as planning the season, and action work, such as monitoring and backing up, with dates. The plan includes a kickoff meeting, a midseason review in mid-December and a debrief in late January.
Reading the COM 140 Module 8 grading rubric
The best team leadership plans turn leadership theory into specific actions at specific times and connect them to the course's earlier work. This example times coaching using Hackman and Wageman, organizes leadership functions with Morgeson, DeRue and Karam and balances task and people behavior using Burke and colleagues. The table makes leadership concrete, and the plan builds on the goals, feedback and team development work from earlier modules. Measures of success include both results and the team's condition after the season. Planning for temporary workers, outside problems and equipment failure shows the leader thinking beyond the team's own walls, which is the boundary function the research describes.
COM 140 Module 8 help from the desk
Leadership papers often describe a leadership style without saying what the leader will do and when. Plan specific actions at specific points in the team's work. Another weakness is focusing only on tasks during busy periods; people-focused behavior matters too, especially under strain. Time coaching to the team's stage rather than offering the same encouragement throughout. Connect the plan to earlier modules on goals, feedback and team development. Plan for new or temporary members. Finally, judge success by the team's results and by its condition afterward. Plan for problems that start outside the team, such as late suppliers or equipment failures, since leaders are often the only ones who can manage them.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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COM 140 Module 8 questions, answered
What does COM 140 Module 8 usually ask for?
Aspen's COM 140 asks students to plan how to lead a high-performance team in this module, drawing together the course's work. Look at your classroom prompt.
When should a leader coach a team?
Hackman and Wageman argued that motivational coaching fits the start of a team's work, consultative coaching the midpoint and educational coaching the end.
What does team leadership involve?
Morgeson, DeRue and Karam described leadership as meeting team needs across transition phases, such as planning, and action phases, such as monitoring and backing up.
Where can I find a free COM 140 Module 8 sample paper?
The example above plans how a supervisor leads a pick and pack team through peak season.
Should leaders focus on tasks or people?
Both. Burke and colleagues' meta-analysis found that task-focused and person-focused leader behaviors were each related to team effectiveness.