Case Study in Ob
In Partial Fulfilment of Requirements
In Organizational Behavior
A Case Study Analysis
CASE INCIDENT – A Virtual Team at T.A. Stearns
Rae Andre (1999)
Prepared by:
Mary Joyce S. Roman
MBA – 1st year, 1st Semester
Submitted to:
Prof. Fidel A. Oblena
August 24, 2013
The Virtual Environment Work team T.A. Stearns was a national tax accounting firm whose main business was it 's popular tax preparation service for individuals. Stearn’s superior reputation was based on the high quality of its advice and the excellence of its service. Key to the achievement of its reputation was the superior computer databases and analysis tools that its agents used when counselling clients. These programs were developed by highly trained individuals, usually lawyers and tax accountants who had picked up programming skills on the side. The programs that these individuals produced were highly technical both in terms of the tax laws they covered and the code in which they were written. Perfecting them required high levels of programming skills as well as the ability to understand the law. New laws and interpretations of existing laws had to be integrated quickly and flawlessly into the existing regulations and analysis tools. The work was carried out in a virtual environment by four programmers in the greater Boston area. Four work sites were connected to each other and to the company by e-mail, telephone, and conferencing software. Formal meetings among all the programmers took place only a few times a year, although the workers sometimes met informally outside of these scheduled occasions. The following paragraphs describe the members of the virtual work team. Tom Andrews was a tax lawyer, a graduate of State University and a former hockey player there. At 35 years old, Tom had worked on the programs for six years and was the longest standing member of the group. Along with his design responsibilities, Tom was the primary liaison with Stearns. He was also
In Organizational Behavior
A Case Study Analysis
CASE INCIDENT – A Virtual Team at T.A. Stearns
Rae Andre (1999)
Prepared by:
Mary Joyce S. Roman
MBA – 1st year, 1st Semester
Submitted to:
Prof. Fidel A. Oblena
August 24, 2013
The Virtual Environment Work team T.A. Stearns was a national tax accounting firm whose main business was it 's popular tax preparation service for individuals. Stearn’s superior reputation was based on the high quality of its advice and the excellence of its service. Key to the achievement of its reputation was the superior computer databases and analysis tools that its agents used when counselling clients. These programs were developed by highly trained individuals, usually lawyers and tax accountants who had picked up programming skills on the side. The programs that these individuals produced were highly technical both in terms of the tax laws they covered and the code in which they were written. Perfecting them required high levels of programming skills as well as the ability to understand the law. New laws and interpretations of existing laws had to be integrated quickly and flawlessly into the existing regulations and analysis tools. The work was carried out in a virtual environment by four programmers in the greater Boston area. Four work sites were connected to each other and to the company by e-mail, telephone, and conferencing software. Formal meetings among all the programmers took place only a few times a year, although the workers sometimes met informally outside of these scheduled occasions. The following paragraphs describe the members of the virtual work team. Tom Andrews was a tax lawyer, a graduate of State University and a former hockey player there. At 35 years old, Tom had worked on the programs for six years and was the longest standing member of the group. Along with his design responsibilities, Tom was the primary liaison with Stearns. He was also
References: John R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith, “The Discipline of Teams,” Harvard Business Review, July-August 2005, p. 171. John W. Newstrom, “Human Behavior at Work,” Organizational Behavior, 2007, p. 305 Greg Giesen, “Updates on Conflict Resolutions”, g.giesen@comcast.net William Pirraglia, “Organizational Problems in the Workforce,” http://smallbusiness.chron.com/organizational-problems-workplace-12570.html Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, “The One Minute Manager,” 1982 Irving L. Janis, “Victims of Groupthink, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin,” 1972 James Kochanski, “Hiring in Self-Regulating Work Teams,” National Productivity Review, Spring 1987, pp. 153-59