PRIMAN MBA Standard

3rd Term, SY 2017-2018 Daniel Angelo A. Besa

Case Study: Are We A Team? 062318

CASE STUDY: ARE WE A TEAM?

Cast of Major Characters

Jenny McConnell
 Chief Information Officer (CIO) of a medium sized technology firm, X-Company

X-Company’s team of Regional CIOs and IT department heads

 14 Regional CIOs, and IT department heads
 All team members report to Jenny McConnell
 Team dynamic is summed up as problematic

Case Situation
Jenny McConnel is the newly appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO) of X-Company, a
medium sized technology firm based in the United States. The company operates in a dozen states
but mostly in the Northwestern US. Its’ overall talent pool is described as “amazing” both in its’ IT
department, and across the company. Despite this, the CEO states that X-Company is not
operating to its full potential but appears to be doing fine on the surface.

Jenny will be inheriting a team which is described to be “super” but according to the CEO,
has been performing poorly. He tasks Jenny to form this collection of IT stars into a cohesive team
that would meet the company’s needs for new IT systems, and services faster and more
efficiently. To resolve this situation, Jenny held one-on-one meetings with each team member to
acquire the following points:
 Honest assessment of the team
 Major areas for improvement
 Clear vision for future team efforts

Jenny’s predecessor was reported to be awed by the team’s talent but lacked an effort to
handle the team. This was seen in the way meetings were conducted since, Bob, the former CIO
would simply begin a meeting, fade away, and let the team members take over. In terms of day
to day tasks, or the team’s general direction the previous team leader would simply allow the
team members proceed by doing as they thought best for themselves. Most disturbing of all, Bob
was said to agree with everything that each member was suggesting. There was a concerning lack
of group-initiative, and cooperation between team members since each reported that everyone
was constantly checking their mobile devices. Collaboration, and information sharing efforts were
lacking since it was said that one member of the team was trying to resolve a certain problem
only to find out that someone else in the team solved it previously and the information was never
shared.

1
PRIMAN MBA Standard
3rd Term, SY 2017-2018 Daniel Angelo A. Besa
Case Study: Are We A Team? 062318

Case Analysis
The information behind the case indicates that Jenny as X-Company’s CIO will be working
with a horizontally structured team. This is seen in the fact the each of the members, who have a
strong IT, or business background, all report to her and, are each distinguished only by the
department or region they oversee. Despite the supposedly stellar backgrounds of each of the
team members, Jenny’s team was dysfunctional because there was a lack of unifying leadership
since it did not really set team goals, create projects which needed the members to collaborate,
or encourage each of the different team members to act as a unit. On the side of each of the
regional CIOs, they did not see any reason for them to share information and start projects that
will cause each of their respective regions to collaborate with each other.

Jenny may have inherited this dynamic from the team because her predecessor did not:
 set any shared goals for the team to achieve
 introduce any programs for the team members to collaborate on
 assert his presence or establish ground rules during meetings
 define team member roles or utilize the specialization that each region (or department)
that the team member oversees

The lack of shared goals may be a contributing factor to the team’s current state since to
this collection of regional CIOs and department heads, it was unclear what the unit is really set to
achieve, or why each team member should try to forge a connection other than them occupying
their respective posts. Based on the feedback from the team members, there is a lack of presence
from their former team leader since he did not establish or steer meetings to a certain direction
or assert any ground rules since it seemed normal for each of the members to constantly check
on their mobile devices. There was also an absence of details about inter-region projects which
may indicate that there were no projects for each of these regional CIOs to work on together and
establish networks between each other. Related to the lack of projects, is the lack of definition
between team members or ways for each region or department to complement each other in
improving X-company’s operations.

Recommendation
For Jenny to make this collection of regional and department heads into an effective unit,
she can use the following steps:

1) Lighten each member up by having lunch or dinner with all of them

2) Assert her presence over the team by:
 Setting ground rules for each meeting
 Defining the team’s goals
3) Create avenues, and opportunities for the teams to collaborate based on their
department or regional specialization

2
PRIMAN MBA Standard
3rd Term, SY 2017-2018 Daniel Angelo A. Besa
Case Study: Are We A Team? 062318

Step 1 is crucial since each of these individuals are essentially human beings with their
own collection of interests, and experiences. Since the case mentioned that each of these
individuals originate from similar backgrounds, there is a load of opportunities for each of the
team members to connect which can begin when they relax during a meal, a night of drinking, or
board game night. Much of the dysfunction that Jenny’s team experienced was partly because
her predecessor was unable to assert himself over the team. She can make a more definite
impression by establishing her ground rules for each meeting to ensure that each person is giving
everyone in the room their undivided attention. Some of the ground rules that she can put may
include refraining everyone from using their mobile devices during a meeting, and in exchange
limit these conferences to one hour or less to assure her people that time in a meeting will not be
wasted. Setting shared goals for each of her people to work towards will create a sense of purpose
for the unit, to exist, and better create more defined avenues for the teams to collaborate one
based on based on what each of their department or region’s contribution to X-Company’s
operations.