Case Henry Tam and the MGI Team

Organizational Behavior Session 5: Teamwork Case: Henry Tam and the MGI Team Please read the case and write down your answers to following questions: 1. What were the strengths of the MGI team? How would you have evaluated the MGI team “on paper”, before their first meeting? Henry-very organized, brought a lot of material to talk about,able to listen to arguments and create good analysis,cool calm,and collected.Able to observe and question surroundings Dana-able to provide overall analysis, not only looking at short term success, investment banking experience able to push team forward, financial resources Igor-able to read Sasha very well, talented musicians who is very self aware, he is like the father that holds the company together, very smart,and able to give praise to employees creative genius who likes to discuss all possible ways of success Roman-able to create and stick to vision,creative as well, able to see tension between members Sasha-integral business leader(Sasha a great sales person but couldn’t sell the product because he was overwhelmed.sasha was our production manager business manager and fundraiser and he had no time left for selling) Write down Swot analysis of the team, identify strength weakness opportunity and threats Group lack of specialized industry and market skills Their strength is creativity, but with no knowledge, they were just learning about the industry 2. What were the problems for the MGI team? What were the root-causes of those problems? It appears that the team had no systematic approach to problem solving within the organization. They spent far too long brainstorming large abstract ideas instead of concrete action plans. Not very organized, no one knew their specific role in the company or knew the mission they were attempting to achieve Each team member has no accountability and is doing individuals work rather than collaborating. The team is having trouble communicating and developing relationships with each other Do not have one major boss with seniority,and leadership and knowledge of the market to lead them in the right direction. Debates were not civil, personal feuds always take the meeting into a deadlock. Root-causes Ethic differences, Russians and Americans. They do not have the trust to founders at 1st meeting Sasha and Dana do not have correct evaluation about each other Sasha do not believe student’s abilities to develop good business plans. Dana thinks Sasha is just a sales person Sasha is lack of interpersonal skills Roles were poorly defined Russians and HBS students did not have fundamental respect for each other Did not get to know each other better as individuals It was too big a group They do not have a “real” leader 3. What should have been done earlier to avoid the team’s problems? They should appoint a temporary leader to set everyone in same direction, Henry is the perfect candidate, Each person in the team had a different vision, should have an agreed upon vision before continuing work，Prepare and Identify a clear and superordinate objective. Establishing a clear long term vision,and align all members to the same target Eliminate inherent bias and conflicts Leader should set up a systematic approach to problem solving and decision-making within the organization, each member need to represent a clear opinion of themself for what to achieve and how to approach, To avoid long brainstorming ideas, and focus on concrete action plans. a person(leader) is needed to arrange all procedure of meetings and relationship(trust) of each others, and make a overall-based decision for the whole group to follow 4. What should Henry do now at the end of the case? Need to step up as a temporary leader Set up a personal meeting with Dana and Sasha to get over their personal issues to improve their professional working relationship Suggest to the Russians to break up their professional clique Organize into 2 groups, business and innovations group, suggest innovations group meet, spend as much time as they want discussing ideas and introduce one idea to the business team, avoid some personality conflicts Let Alex play mediator throughout these conflicts between HBS and Russians,he has a clear understanding of each person’s role on the team Align everyone to one common vision