Henry Tam & Mgi

A Case analysis Report On “Henry Tam & MGI Team” In partial fulfillment of the course requirement

Written Analysis & Communication

Submitted By:

Submitted To:

Himanshu Mehta (18)

Prof. Madhushri Shrivastava

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Prof. Madhushri Shrivastava Communication Area Indian Institute of Management, Indore India

01’ March 2015

Re: Report submission on article “Henry Tam & MGI Team”

Dear Ma’am, As per your instructions, I have prepared a detailed analysis report on Henry’s dilemma, the difficulties he encounters as culturally & functionally diverse team progresses with varied ideas to market the product in absence of roles, structure & leadership. I recommend Henry must emerge as a team leader to clarify & communicate the roles to the other members, consequently increasing effectiveness of the team & meeting deadline. The following pages presents a detailed analysis of the situation faced, options available, evaluation of options, recommendation & action plan to be followed. I hope you find report reasonable, awaits your feedback on the same

Sincerely Himanshu Mehta Participant, PGP Mumbai Indian Institute of Management, IIM Indore

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Within a short time frame, seven diverse team members assemble to write a business plan for a new company and struggle to define their roles, make decisions together, and resolve conflict. Henry Tam & Dana, second-year Harvard MBA student, joins MGI with aspirations. The founders are two internationally accomplished musicians and a 1987 Harvard MBA, all Russian, who are trying to create, produce, and sell a unique computer-based music game. Conflict builds as the team generates a range of ideas about how to market their product, but has trouble agreeing on which ideas to pursue. Henry Tam wrestles with how to bring the team on track of succession & fix the problems that have hindered the team's progress. I recommend Henry must emerge as a team leader & clarify roles to increase team’s effectiveness so as to submit the business plan within the deadline

(Word Count 144)

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Cover Page

………………

I

2. Memo of Transmittal

………………

II

3. Executive Summary

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III

4. Situational Analysis

………………

1

5. Problem Statement

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1

6. Options/Alternatives

………………

1

7. Criterion of Evaluation

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1

8. Evaluation of the alternatives

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2

9. Table (Evaluation)

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3

10. Recommendation

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3

11. Action Plan

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3

SITUATION ANALYSIS MGI team needs to come up with a business plan within three weeks for the Harvard Business School (HBS) Business Plan Contest. The seven diverse team members comprised of the three founders, HenryTam and Dana of HBS, Dav from MIT and Alex from Boston College. The team had little success thus far working together having experienced conflicts and tensions. Conflict builds in as they did not divide the task into sub tasks, there seemed to be a main group and subgroups with no integration. No team leader was officially appointed or nobody was empowered to define the role structure, the decision-making process and assessing team performance. And they did not set the norms and values for developing a good working culture from the start. They were brainstorming in a disorganized manner and specific outputs were not determined from each meeting or from individual. Hence there were missing pieces in putting the business plan together Though team strengths lies with its variegated composition but it lacks co-ordination. The founders' commonality in ethnic background, close friendship and shared passion on their product was great and there was complementary skill sets contributing from the various team members and their shared commitment to the business. However, one danger sign was the personality of the MGI team founders; they had a history of not getting along with outsiders very well. Henry is on the crossroads of contest versus long term goals of MGI, with deadline for contest approaching, team muddles over idea of launching the product into entertainment or education industry How can team move out of the scenario tactfully?

PROBLEM STATEMENT What actions must Henry take to meet the deadline for the HBS contest?

OPTIONS / ALTERNATIVES 1. 2. 3. 4.

Emerge as a leader & clarify roles & tasks. Emphasize open & positive communication to enhance group’s cohesiveness. Develop common objectives & agendas to focus on goals. Hire a consultant/manager to assist for the business plan

CRITERION OF EVALUATION 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Focus on meeting deadline. Progress in stages of team development. Creativity / Productivity improvement of the members. Elimination of role conflicts Cost Effectiveness

EVALUATION Emerge as a leader & clarify roles & tasks.  Emerging as a clear team leader with capability to influence members will develop credibility within the team.  There will be clarity & consistency on roles & goals set by the leader.  Team’s performance will improvise.  Team members become contented with team membership and begin to value the team’s values more than their own personal goals.  Apparently no conflicts; since roles would be explicitly stated. Emphasize open & positive communication to enhance group’s cohesiveness.  Communication will ensure consensus on joint team decisions & would foster greater interdependence amongst the team members.  Open communication will lead to happier members resulting into improved productivity.  Team members will be able to decide what role to accept Develop common objectives & agendas to focus on goals.  Organizing agendas will assist in establishing efficiency in task & time.  Goal setting will enhance the performance of the team members.  Articulate a motivating vision for the team. This would set out to evoke greater meaning and deeper commitment among the team members. Hire a consultant/manager to assist in developing business plan  Third party consultant can direct team members without bias & members would adapt & grow under his assistance  No identity issues/conflicts since members would find it comfortable to work with outsider The summary of the above evaluation is presented in the following table:

Options

Criteria

Option1:

Option 2:

Option 3:

Option 4:

Emerge as a leader & clarify roles

Develop common objectives

Emphasize open & positive communication

Hire a consultant/ Manager

Criteria 1: Focus on meeting deadline

Criteria 2: Progress in stages of team development

Criteria 3:







Maybe

Maybe





˟









Elimination of role conflict



˟





Criteria 5:







˟

Creativity / Productivity improvement

Criteria 4:

Cost Effectiveness

RECOMMENDATION Based on the above evaluation, I recommend Henry should emerge as a leader to focus on task accomplishment & to clarify roles so as to submit the business plan within the stipulated time

ACTION PLAN 1.

2.

3. 4.

5.

As a primary step Henry must establish healthy relationship with each member of the team, Henry should arrange an informal lunch meeting/outing & advice team about urgency of leader requirement. Next, Henry should specify short term & long term realistic goals; Henry could convince the MGI team to follow the educational market for its short term goal and chose the entertainment market as its long term goal and planned in advance for the next Christmas holiday. Share the detailed action plan with the team on ways to achieve the stated short term goals. Subsequently he should define each of the member’s roles, duties, team work norms and delegate the responsibilities. He should meet each of the team members individually and in group setting to determine the best fit. Henry should then keep a close watch in the next two weeks to ensure the team members communicate smoothly with each other. He should monitor the socio-emotional need of the team members to ensure that they were happy and were being productive.