Deck 12: Managing Teams

Question 1

Which of the five dysfunctions of a team in Exhibit 12.2 are apparent in this team. Why?

Answer 1

A team comprises of two or more members who work together for achieving a common goal. An effective team requires key contribution from each member.
The five dysfunctions of a team are lack of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of commitment and inattention to results.
In the present case there is a team that comprises of five members who are students of a course. The goal of the team was to give a class presentation on a marketing project with contribution from each member.
JT who was one of the main contributors in making the project had raised concerns at the last stage that the other team members had not contributed well into the project. He was apprehending that the invigilator would ask each team member about the contribution made by them in the project.
JT had not revealed this thing at the initial or in the mid when the project was going on as he was not ready to reveal mistakes. This shows lack of trust in the team. Other team members also did not share their concerns when the project was going on.
There was also fear of conflict in the team as the team decided to go by the motion and only realized in the end that there were concerns that needed to be addressed.
There was also inattention to results as only two of the members contributed in the development of the project and left others from making any kind of contribution. The collective result would have been making a project with the efforts of the whole team, which was missing in the given case.
Thus, the dysfunctions that were evident in the present case were lack of trust, fear of conflict and inattention to results.

Question 2

Why do you think the owner Mikey LeBlanc is encouraging the idea of "team" among his employees? LeBlanc said it is hard to bring new people onto the team. Why do you think that would be the case?

Answer 2

In the present case the owner of a company by the name of HO is encouraging the idea of team among the employees because the owner feels that the company can achieve much more in terms of design, innovation and inspiration by working in a team as compared to working individually.
The owner also likes the idea of team because it brings people together which eventually brings various ideas together and leads to innovation and creativity. The owner also believes that in case people are not able to work in a team then there is something wrong going on in the company, which could be identified and sorted out.
Brining in new people in the team is hard because in the apparel industry the designs made by a company and the methodology used by the company in developing new designs are the main secrets of success for a company.
By bringing new people in the company the company would be opening its secrets to someone who is completely unknown to the company. Thus, risk is involved when new people join a company that deals in designing new apparels.

Question 3

Should team members take their concerns to Leroy or discuss them directly with Brando? Exactly how should they bring up and discuss the issue with either person?

Answer 3

In the present case there is a company that makes advertisement for other companies throughout the world. The company has a team that is mainly responsible for creating, developing and implementing the advertisement content.
The team has been constantly recognized as top performing team. There are five members in the team who have been assigned specific roles, but it has been observed by all the members that one of the team members whose name is MB is taking over the role of other team members.
It has been observed by all the team members that MB makes changes in the ideas of other team members at the last moment. She imposes her own idea and imagination. This has made the team members feel dissatisfied as they are feeling worthless in the team.
It would not be advisable for the team members to take their concerns directly to the CEO. The team members should discuss out the issue with MB. They should tell their concerns and should emphasize the need of working as a team as compared to working as an individual.
The team members should tell MB that her contributions are very much appreciated and accepted in the team but her imposing of her own ideas on somebody else's idea is robbing the other person from making contributing in the team.
In a team contribution from all the members should be taken into consideration otherwise the other members would feel worthless and would eventually stop making contribution.
It should also be discussed with MB that the last minute changes that she has been doing in various advertisements should be done after consulting the entire team. In this way the person who proposed the original idea would not be robbed from making contribution in the team.

Question 4

What team roles are recognizable, and what roles are needed but missing in this scenario?

Question 5

Nikki Brush switched from freelancer to design manager. What conflicts might she feel about being part of a team? What advantages do you think a designer would experience by working alone?

Question 6

Review and analyze the list of contributions for team members in the chapter and analyze which are or are not being performed on this team. Which members are doing what?

Question 7

What factors do you think caused the breakdown of the team? What should John and Khalid do now?

Question 8

Working as a team is fairly new at Holden. At what stage of team development do you think they are? Why?

Question 9

Are these people really a team? If you were one of the members, what would you do to increase cohesiveness? Why?