1. How well is this team performing? (Scale of 1-5 effectiveness, 5 most effective). Discuss.
Team is not performing well. I can give 2 or maybe 3 at most for its effectiveness. Because firstly, there is a serious motivation problem. Beaumont’s new policy of cross-functional team to look at the bigger picture did not change the way of reporting and evaluation of the team members. They were working both in the project and in their functional area but they were evaluated only on the basis of performance on their functional area. So there is no indication of extrinsic or intrinsic reward for the team performance. This situation is not motivational at all. Secondly, there are many kinds of conflicts in the team such as information conflict because of poor communication and relationship conflict because of personalities of the team members and the main reason for these conflicts may be the lack of motivation.
2. What external forces are affecting the IntensCare team’s behavior, culture, outcome? (i.e., Technology, competition). Discuss.
Competition is the most affecting external force for the team. Because the formation of cross-functional team and the time pressure created by Beaumont was just because of competition with two well-known public competitor.
Another external force is technology. Since the software design and development for the monitoring system is outsourced to a firm in India it is difficult to control and monitor progress. Therefore, Mukerjee who is responsible for this task is spending most of his time in India and he can’t talk about the integration of software and hardware into the design with O’Brien who is senior engineering manager.
Economic recession is another important external force. Because company had to make some companywide cutbacks and staff reduction which made the project more challenging and difficult for the team.
3. Describe