Team Project Sample 2

Oxbow Consulting Letter of Agreement Establishing Vision at Company A Submitted By: Letter of Agreement Dear Company Rep., Thank you for selecting MIT Sloan Oxbow Consulting to conduct a study of corporate vision at Company A. This letter of agreement between Oxbow Consulting and Company A establishes the engagement objectives and scope, approach, deliverables, timeline and staffing. Additionally, this document establishes a standard of confidentiality and delineates assumptions and dependencies underlying the study. 1 Engagement Objectives and Scope Objectives: 1) To analyze the impact of Company Rep.’s arrival on the senior management team at Company A from strategic, political, and cultural viewpoints 2) To suggest approaches for Company A to achieve both the management transition and the company’s short-term and long-term strategic goals. Scope: Company A hired Company Rep., the company’s new president and CEO on July 22. Company Rep. oversees worldwide operations and is responsible for managing the execution of product development, sales, and marketing efforts. Company Rep. is also responsible for managing Company A’s expansion into Europe and Asia. In the immediate term, Company Rep. is focusing his efforts on closing Company A’s Series B round of financing. Senior management at Company A clearly has differences in opinion regarding Company A’s future and strategic positioning. Company Rep.’s new global expansion vision is not highly supported by his direct reports. Internal resistance and conflicts have made it difficult for Company Rep. to implement his vision. Oxbow Consulting will focus on the underlying drivers of these inconsistencies and difficulties of implementing a new vision. We will recommend ways in which Company Rep. can most effectively implement his vision and smoothly transition into his new role. 2 Engagement Approach Our team will work closely with senior management at Company A to uncover inconsistencies and differences in plans for Company A’s future. Our approach is to analyze Company A from different organizational perspectives: strategic, political and cultural. We will conduct interviews focusing on specific inconsistencies and formulate recommendations to address them. The team will organize its work in five stages. Stage 1: Data Collection x x x The team will conduct five to ten interviews with Company A’s senior management team The team will conduct a culture survey for employees The team will collect documentation that may reveal differing visions of Company A’s direction (e.g. resumes of senior managers, whitepapers, proposed mission statements, website, etc.) Page 1 of 3 Letter of Agreement Stage 2: Conduct Analysis The team will analyze the information gathered in the Data Collection stage, summarize major discrepancies, and generate and test hypothesis to explain the sources of differing opinions. Stage 3: Validation The team will share findings and validate assumptions with senior management before starting to formulate recommendations. Stage 4: Recommendation The team will formulate strategic, political and cultural recommendations on how to reconcile disagreements in vision as well as how to effectively implement future changes and minimize resistance. Stage 5: Presentation of Results The team will give a formal presentation to the CEO and the senior management on final recommendations. 3 Engagement Deliverables x Final Recommendation: Analysis of disparate visions of Company A’s future direction and recommendations for implementation strategies x Presentation: Oral presentation of results to the Company A senior management team 4 Engagement Timeline Stages 7 October 14 21 28 4 November 11 18 25 2 December 9 16 23 • Data collection — Interviews — Culture survey • Conduct analyses i Meeting with CEO/Senior Management • Validate findings • Generate recommendations • Presentation to senior management management 5 i Final recommendations i TBD Engagement Team Page 2 of 3 Letter of Agreement The group will work with Company A on a part-time basis to complete the project. It is important to note that the team has many other coursework commitments outside of this project and will contribute 80 to 100 person hours over the duration of the engagement. The team members will assume project manager and Company A coordinator roles. Team Member A will manage the communications between Company A and Oxbow Consulting. He can be reached at (555) 5555555. 6 Confidentiality The MIT Sloan Oxbow Consulting will conduct this engagement while protecting the confidentiality of the information gathered at Company A. The documentation analyzed and generated as a result of this study will not be distributed outside the engagement team with the exception of two professors who will grade the project. Company A’s name will not be disclosed in any documentation that may be shared with other students or in class discussions. 7 Assumptions / Dependencies x Company A will provide access to the CEO and his direct reports for one hour interviews during the three weeks of data collection Company A will provide access to documentation such as mission statements, whitepapers, senior management job requirements, etc. Company A will provide presentation facilities and projection equipment for a results presentation in December / January. x x 8 Acceptance of Proposal My signature below signifies my acceptance of MIT Sloan Oxbow Consulting’s proposal and authorizes MIT Sloan Oxbow Consulting to begin work therein described. Signed By: Company A Name: __________________________________________ Title: __________________________________________ Date: ________________________ Signature: ____________________________ My signature below signifies my acceptance of Company A’s confidentiality agreement and of MIT Sloan Oxbow Consulting’s commitment to delivering the work described in this document. Signed By: MIT Sloan Oxbow Consulting Team Manager Name: __________________________________________ Date: ________________________ Signature: ____________________________ Page 3 of 3