HBS Case Study Summary Teaming
Case:
Teaming
Professor:
Amy Edmondson
Prepared By:
Summary
In today’s fast-moving, ultracompetitive global business environment, you can’t rely on stable teams to get the work done. Instead, you need “teaming.”
Teaming is flexible teamwork.
It’s a way to gather experts from far-flung divisions and disciplines into temporary groups to tackle unexpected problems and identify emerging opportunities. It’s happening now in nearly every industry and type of company. To “team” well, employees and organizations must embrace principles of project management—such as scoping out the project, structuring the group, and sorting tasks by level of interdependence—and of team leadership, such as emphasizing purpose, building
Psychological safety, and embracing failure and conflict.
Those who master teaming will reap benefits. Teaming allows individuals to acquire knowledge, skills, and networks, and it lets companies accelerate the delivery of current offerings while responding quickly to new challenges. Teaming is a way to get work done while figuring out how to do it better.
Background
Many challenges must be approached by people working together across disciplines. To succeed in a changing and competitive global economy, organizations must also be able to learn. Expertise in almost any field is a moving target. To keep up with developments in their field, people must become lifelong learners, and success will belong to those who can master new skills and envision novel possibilities. Employees must absorb, and sometimes create, new knowledge while executing. Because this process typically happens among individuals working together, collective learning-that is, learning in and by smaller groups-is regarded as the primary vehicle for organizational learning. Consequently, to excel in a complex and uncertain business environment, people need to both work and learn together. The implications of this new reality are enormous for leaders, professionals, and anyone
Teaming
Professor:
Amy Edmondson
Prepared By:
Summary
In today’s fast-moving, ultracompetitive global business environment, you can’t rely on stable teams to get the work done. Instead, you need “teaming.”
Teaming is flexible teamwork.
It’s a way to gather experts from far-flung divisions and disciplines into temporary groups to tackle unexpected problems and identify emerging opportunities. It’s happening now in nearly every industry and type of company. To “team” well, employees and organizations must embrace principles of project management—such as scoping out the project, structuring the group, and sorting tasks by level of interdependence—and of team leadership, such as emphasizing purpose, building
Psychological safety, and embracing failure and conflict.
Those who master teaming will reap benefits. Teaming allows individuals to acquire knowledge, skills, and networks, and it lets companies accelerate the delivery of current offerings while responding quickly to new challenges. Teaming is a way to get work done while figuring out how to do it better.
Background
Many challenges must be approached by people working together across disciplines. To succeed in a changing and competitive global economy, organizations must also be able to learn. Expertise in almost any field is a moving target. To keep up with developments in their field, people must become lifelong learners, and success will belong to those who can master new skills and envision novel possibilities. Employees must absorb, and sometimes create, new knowledge while executing. Because this process typically happens among individuals working together, collective learning-that is, learning in and by smaller groups-is regarded as the primary vehicle for organizational learning. Consequently, to excel in a complex and uncertain business environment, people need to both work and learn together. The implications of this new reality are enormous for leaders, professionals, and anyone