Not Your Dream Team - Assignment Example

The first stage is formation where the team members will come together with the aim of fulfilling a goal. The second is the storming stage where each member is struggling for his or her ideas to be heard and therefore marked by chaos and conflicts. The third stage is the norming stage where now the members come to know each other and start accepting each other’s ideas. The next is the performing stage where the group now focuses on achieving the goal and hence no conflict at this stage. Finally, having achieved its purpose, the group adjourns. 2. Mallory joined Think Link as assistant marketing manager for new products; two software programs were being designed to help high school students learn algebra and geometry.

Murray’s manager is Lin Chen (marketing manager). Other members on the cross-functional development team with her are Todd Schlotsky (senior programmer); Sean Traynor (vice-president for marketing); Joyce Rothman (a former high school teacher who co-founded Think Link; she works only part-time in the company); and Harlow Gray (educational consultant). In this paragraph, the bases of power are mentioned and this will determine the decisions made in the organization. Sean for example is the Vice president and he has therefore the most authority in the company based on the positional power he is holding.

The decisions Sean will make will therefore not be contested or argued with as a result of his prestigious position in the organization. Sean holds legitimate power due to his position as the vice-president, Lin and Todd and Mallory hold expert power as a result of their knowledge in their different fields. Mallory, Joyce and Harlow also hold referent power due to their ability to be consulted by others in different places. Sean also holds coercive power which is portrayed later when he fires Lin.

The above team also hold reward power which they use to give bonus on software. 3. After her first week on the job, Mallory was considering quitting. “These people are so opinionated and competitive,” she complained. Sean, Joyce and Harlow, in Mallory’s opinion, don’t listen to anyone’s ideas at team meetings; they only talk about their concerns. “Sean thinks his rank entitles him to make all the decisions in the team. Joyce thinks her opinions should carry more weight because she was instrumental in creating the company.

And Harlow views everyone as less knowledgeable than he is and discounts their information as “out-of-date”, because he consults with the “outside” – other software firms and school districts. Lin, who is supposed to have the leadership role in this team, is passive and quiet. While he sends out agendas, and organizes meetings, people ignore him at the meeting; when he is speaking, people interrupt him or talk over him. He appears to avoid all the conflict and lack of progress by rushing off to another meeting.

The team didn’t accomplish any agenda items at the first meeting I was at.” When a group is forming, it undergoes several stages and the hardest and most challenging one is the storming stage where every member wants his or her opinion to be taken into consideration. This is exactly the stage this group is in where the members are not willing to listen to each other’