Henry Tam and Mgi Team Case Study Analysis.
BACKGROUND
Henry Tam and the MGI Team have three weeks to submit their business plan to HBS and are struggling to define roles, make decisions and resolve conflict.
MGI’s team has diverse talents: Igor and Roman are accomplished musicians. Sasha has a keen business and finance acumen, Alex has substantial experience in music and business, Dav is software developer and an MBA student at MIT, Dana is a finance and banking major and currently a HBS MBA grad while Henry is an investment banker, has experience in business development and is currently also an HBS MBA graduate student. MGI’s product is a critical success but a commercial failure. The founders wish to market it as a game while the student team believes it should be used as an educational tool.
ANALYSIS:
The MGI team was multi talented, functionally diverse, extremely passionate and had a valuable product. However the team had little success working together due to individual conflicts, dysfunctional team processes, cultural differences, lack of organization and structure, lack of formal roles and norms, formation of sub-groups with no team integration, all resulting in an extremely anti-productive working culture. Most importantly, no leader was officially appointed to define the role structure, the decision-making process and assess team performance.
The blend of creativity and business was the teams major strength but an asset not effectively utilized. It helped them to create a product which would definitely succeed if marketed and positioned effectively but the team was unable to merge their capabilities.
A strong bond is visible between Igor, Roman and Sasha though from different backgrounds, which is important for team success. Such diversity and cohesiveness was an example for new members to act likewise, exhibited by Henry who developed a strong bond with the team.
The team consists of distinctly different cultures. The Americans are from a culture with low uncertainty avoidance
Henry Tam and the MGI Team have three weeks to submit their business plan to HBS and are struggling to define roles, make decisions and resolve conflict.
MGI’s team has diverse talents: Igor and Roman are accomplished musicians. Sasha has a keen business and finance acumen, Alex has substantial experience in music and business, Dav is software developer and an MBA student at MIT, Dana is a finance and banking major and currently a HBS MBA grad while Henry is an investment banker, has experience in business development and is currently also an HBS MBA graduate student. MGI’s product is a critical success but a commercial failure. The founders wish to market it as a game while the student team believes it should be used as an educational tool.
ANALYSIS:
The MGI team was multi talented, functionally diverse, extremely passionate and had a valuable product. However the team had little success working together due to individual conflicts, dysfunctional team processes, cultural differences, lack of organization and structure, lack of formal roles and norms, formation of sub-groups with no team integration, all resulting in an extremely anti-productive working culture. Most importantly, no leader was officially appointed to define the role structure, the decision-making process and assess team performance.
The blend of creativity and business was the teams major strength but an asset not effectively utilized. It helped them to create a product which would definitely succeed if marketed and positioned effectively but the team was unable to merge their capabilities.
A strong bond is visible between Igor, Roman and Sasha though from different backgrounds, which is important for team success. Such diversity and cohesiveness was an example for new members to act likewise, exhibited by Henry who developed a strong bond with the team.
The team consists of distinctly different cultures. The Americans are from a culture with low uncertainty avoidance