The Product Design Team at Cell Phone Maker Sapling, Inc

Multiple Choice

The product design team at cell phone maker Sapling, Inc., has had a fantastic string of successes over the past four years. The first phone it released helped Sapling dominate the marketplace with its line of powerful and highly photo-capable devices. Lately, however, the team's manager, Serena, notices that the team seems content to rest on its laurels and bask in past glories. The team spends a good deal of time in meetings tracking the sales of last year's model and speculating about how big everyone's bonus will be. In the team's early days, the ergonomics specialist, Fritz, and the audio designer, Astrid, would argue over the ideal placement of the headphone jack and built-in speakers, but now they have built a strong bond and constantly agree with the other's proposals. With respect to group cohesion, which of the following approaches should Serena adopt to restore the team's capacity for innovation?

A) divide the team into two halves and pit them against each other
B) threaten to replace the entire team if it fails to deliver fresh ideas
C) meet with team members individually to assess their needs and frustrations
D) destabilize the team by promoting low-performing members to leadership positions
E) hire a consultant to attend team meetings and ask challenging questions when ideas stagnate