Henry Tam and the MGI Team - Essay Example

Henry Tam and the MGI Team Questions 1. What is your evaluation of the MGI team process? What were the root causes of the team’sprocess problems? The MGI team process The team was made up of seven members consisting of three founders- Alexander (Sasha) Gmpelson, Igor Tkachenko and Roman Yakub, Alexander Jan Sartakov, Dana Soiman, Henry Tam Jr and Dav Clark. The group had five stages of development which included: Forming, Norming, Storming, Performing and Adjourning. The forming stage had few meetings since all the members had not been inducted in the group. Roman was not present in the first meeting while Alex and Dav were introduced in the second and third meetings respectively. In the storming stage there were conflicting expectations and confusion. Henry and Dana viewed themselves as leaders and facilitators in shaping the vision of the company but Sasha perceived them as interns and business plan writers. Confusion was also evident when Sasha introduced Dav to the team. He brought Dav to the team without consulting any one hence this made Henry to doubt his intentions and wonder if both the HBS students and Dav were used as ploys to enter the business contests. There were bigger problems in the norming stage since the team had not discussed the values and norms to be followed. At this stage the team lacked cohesion as Henry and Dav were disagreeing with Sasha and Roman was disagreeing with the Russians. Dav and Henry also argued that the brainstorming meetings were too lengthy and ineffective while the others disagreed. The performing stage was characterized with high conflicts, lack of decision making and difference in orientation of tasks hence making the development of the business plan to be behind schedule. Root causes of the team’s process problem The team did not divide its task (was to come up with a business plan for MGI) into sub tasks hence they were not able to accomplish their goal. This is evident from the case study since they were not organized and there were no determined specific out puts from each person or meeting. The team was also divided into main group and sub groups. The main group was made up of the three founding members and the other members formed the sub groups. The members did not clearly define the roles of each group hence there was no integration between the main group and the sub groups. The team was very much disorganized since there was no team leader officially appointed to define the roles of each individual, take the responsibility of decision making and evaluate the performance of the team. There were no values and norms set by the members and they did not develop a good working culture at the beginning. This caused a lot of conflicts among them as the team members were not able to communicate effectively. 2. What were the strengths of the MGI team? First of all, the team had a product that had the potential to do very well in the market. They had an idea of what they wanted to sell and were ready to make their business prosperous. If they did their job well, they would have no problem at all selling their product to their intended market. The team was made up of multi-talented individuals. The three founding members of MGI were very talented and skilled with each one of them being able to stand on his own reputation. For instance, Roman had a good reputation in composing his own music and has won awards. He had performed in both Europe and US hence well experienced. Igor similarly had a great reputation in the music industry, had worked both in US and Europe hence well exposed and experienced in business. Sasha was a Harvard Business School MBA graduate and he brought extensive management skills to the business. Igor’s and Roman’s technical skills as well as Sasha’s business prowess could be well utilized for the greater good of the company. The individual members could integrate their various skills to make their team better and more competitive. The founders were also good friends who had a common ethnic background and shared passion on their business. They were immigrants to Unites States from the former Soviet Union. The three founders were equally passionate about their business and worked very hard to see it succeed. They also shared a common bond and were able to solve their disagreements without jeopardizing their friendship or business. Lastly, the members were committed to the business and contributed their skills and ideas to see it succeed. Roman brought in his knowledge in both traditional and computer composition. Igo’s reputation, knowledge and good network in music industry was also important to the business. Sasha had good management skills while Henry and Dana joined the team to test their business skills. How would you have evaluated the MGI team “on paper,” that is, before their first meeting? Based on their knowledge, expertise and skill sets, the team had enormous potential to succeed but personality differences could threaten their existence. They had great ideas and individual team members whose contributions could go a long way in helping the company reach far beyond its perceived potential. Although they were not initially Americans, the three MGI business partners were ready to take on a market that they hardly understood. Their determination and willingness to take on a risk like that shows just how much they wanted to have a successful business. However, the three had significant personal differences that sometimes threatened to tear down the group. Communication was also a major issue in the group. While Roman and Igor communicated freely in Russian, Sasha was content speaking in English and an attempt from the other two to get him communicating in Russian bore no fruit. This could have increased the tension in the team. Despite all the differences and moments filled with tension, the three were able to appreciate and compliment each other’s strengths. This could be reason why their business did not crumble. The team, though not open to other members at first, was able to recognize the need to more members to help them draft a workable business plan. They did not let their differences cloud their better judgment, and this effectively might have been the ultimate saving stroke of MGM. In my view, Igor, roman and Sasha made an incredible team since they were ready to work together and give their all to the business. A few changes in their attitudes was all that was needed to propel the business forward. 4. What could Henry have done earlier to avoid the team problems? The first problem of the team was that it lacked a leader who could assign the team members roles to perform. Therefore, Henry should have volunteered to lead the team since he had demonstrated good leadership skills and viewed both people and tasks to be equally important. The second problem of the team had not identified its norms and values. They had problems in decision making process, stating their objectives and managing their time well. Henry should have developed or set values and norms for the team to assist in solving these problems. The third problem of the team was the continuous conflict between the members. Therefore since Henry had succeeded to resolve the conflict between Dana and Sasha, he should have used preventative strategies to manage the conflicts between the other members. 5. At the end of the case, what actions could Henry have taken to increase the team’s effectiveness? Firstly, he should remind the team of the limited time they had to complete the plan and advice them to appoint a leader who could run the team and motivate them to work as a team. But since he had displayed good leadership styles than the other members, he should have stepped up as a leader and speedup the decision making process which was slow. Since Christmas holidays had passed, Henry should have convinced the team to target the educational market for the short term goal and the entertainment market for the long term goal. Henry should have also defined roles, duties, responsibilities and team work norms to be carried out by each member of the team. He can meet each member of the team separately and determine their capabilities so as to assign them duties that they are likely to perform at their best. In the next three weeks Henry should closely watch the members to ensure that they communicate smoothly with each other. Also, to ensure that the members were happy and productive, he should monitor their socio-emotional needs. Work cited Polzer Jeffrey T., Ingrid Vergas and Hillary Anger Elfenbein. Henry Tam and the MGI Team. 2003 Read More