Case Study

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Entering the MBA program at Mays, I was very nervous about the prospect of being placed on a consistent team for the entire two years. I knew that the effectiveness of my team would be the lynchpin to my success or failure within the program. As we learned in class, high quality team coaching cannot make up for low quality design. While I had not learned this formal lesson, my instinct told me to pay particular attention to attributes of my newfound team members. I knew that I had no direct say in the makeup of my team, but I was hopeful that luck would provide a well-designed, cohesive group of individuals who could act more like a team and not a work group. (Challenges) Coming through residency week and being initially introduced to my team, I began to note some of the specific behaviors that may potentially lead to structural weakness in our group. To begin, we had several strong personalities. Constant attempts to assert influence over the group manifested itself in many of our initial meetings. Disagreements often lead to conflict and this conflict lead to frustration. In addition, we often had to pull two team members back into focus during difficult assignments. This led to frustration by other members of who felt the team’s efforts should be laser focused on the deliverable. Lastly, we all came from very different ideological backgrounds. Outside of the MBA process, our walks of life seemed so different that no amount of close quarter interaction could overshadow our backgrounds. However, not only did we overcome these obstacles, we were able to function as one of the most effective and successful teams in the program. Consistently delivering high marks and gaining the praise of many of our instructors. In lo... ... middle of paper ... ...both the single leader and team discipline. As stated in the book, “It’s a matter of applying the right discipline at the right time against the right challenge.” I feel that several of our strong personalities stepped up and succeeded as appropriate leaders which in turn helped us succeed as a team. (Closing) Katzenbach and Smith argue, “performance challenges create teams, not the desire to be a team”. This was especially true in the MBA process. I strongly feel that the personalities of our team would have been incredibility comfortable navigating the MBA program individually. However, by the introduction of the requirement of teaming and the push to perform at a high level, our work group ran the risk of failing as a team. However, because we had trust, process, and appropriate leadership we were molded into one of the most effective teams in the program.

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