Henry Tam and MGI Team

Learning Objectives

Launching a teamManaging Diverse membersDiagnosing team processesIntervening to improve a dysfunctional teamEvaluating team effectiveness

Case Questions: Henry Tam and the MGI Team

1. a) What is your evaluation of the MGI’s team processes? b) What were the root causes of the problems?

2. a) What were the strengths of the MGI team? How would you have evaluated the MGI team “on paper” that is, before their first meeting?

3. Were the differences among team members a liability or an asset?

4. What could Henry have done earlier to avoid the team’s problems

5. At the end of the case, what actions could Henry have taken to increase the team’s effectiveness

6. Was the MGI Team effective

Q1. What is your evaluation of the MGI’s team processes? What were the root causes of the problems?

(definition) Team process refers to: team members behaviours and interactions, occurring over-time; it describes how a team work together to get its work done

Team processes include all the interactions among team members, for example, including those in pairs or sub-groups, outside of whole group meetings

MGI suffering from:

Ineffective Decision-making processes;

Unhealthy Conflict;

Q1 (b) What were the root causes of the problems?

• Team Composition: Multiple Differences among Members

– Functional Diversity– Demographic Diversity– Personality Diversity– Differences in Prior Relationships

• Unclear Goals, Roles and Leadership

– Unclear, unshared team goals– Unclear individual roles– Unclear leadership

• Why Unclear Goals, Roles and Leadership

- impression formation processes- threats to identity- lack of interpersonal congruence

Q2. What were the strengths of the MGI team? How would you have evaluated the MGI team “on paper” that is, before

their first meeting?

• Diverse skills

• High creativity and idea generation

• Passion about product

• Good connections

• Prior relationships and open interaction

• Clear timeline and high autonomy

Q3. Were the differences among team members a liability or an asset?

• (think about) How team diversity as an advantage or disadvantage?

• Potential for synergy v potential for disruption

• (Paradox of diverse teams) Task complexity increases the need for diversity and task interdependence increases the need for integration. Problem of balancing integration and differentiation. Diversity a double-edged sword. It offers skills, perspectives and expertise but can also create misunderstanding and conflicts

• (need to) put in place conditions under which diversity is likely to benefit rather than harm team functioning, for example:

– High interpersonal congruence– Integration and learning perspective– Group culture that emphasises shared goals

Q4. What could Henry have done earlier to avoid the team’s problems

• Team launch

• Impression formation

• Norm formation

Q5. What actions could Henry have taken to increase the teams effectiveness

• Shape teams informal norms

• Restructure the way members coordinate their work

Q6. Was the MGI Team effective?

• On the one hand MGI took second place in the business plan contest, winning cash, services and generating publicity and exposure to several people in the investment community

• On the other hand, Henry and Dana left the team after the contest (in part because of difficulties experienced working with the founders).

• MGI had spent considerable time and energy bringing in additional members who produced a business plan that was not followed

Learning (Take-Aways)• Diverse teams have several advantages over homogeneous teams but also several potential

disadvantages

• Team members who look good on paper and during interview often fail to get along when the real work begins. Team leaders and members need to guide and shape members initial interactions to set in place productive norms from the beginning

• Launching a team requires thorough introductions and discussion about desired norms for working together. Discussion should set the stage for agreement on team goals and individual roles in a way that capitalises on diversity

• Team members should conduct ongoing diagnosis of team processes to ensure that members are working together. When dysfunctional conflict and ineffective decision-making impeded the team’s progress, team members should consider intervening to improve team functioning with the aim of a) changing informal norms and interactions or b) restructuring interactions among team members

• Multiple criteria should be used to evaluate team effectiveness: whilst the MGI team achieved a good outcome in the business plan contest, they did not improve their ability to work together in the future or meet members individual needs

• A team’s diversity, launch activities and ongoing processes are interrelated and they work together to influence team effectiveness. Team leaders and members should attend to all of these elements and their interrelationships, when guiding their team’s activities