May 2009

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Team of five formed in an advertising co. , to produce a commercial for a luxurious 60 plasma TV. Team was given by the upper management full autonomy to act. One member took leadership of the team, pushing up his ready made idea, the rest reacted passively preferring to keep team moral high rather than to discus the issue .

Shooting up the commercial and presenting it to the client ( TV co.).

Project was a failure, rejected by the client as it didnt meet his needs.

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Question 1:
a. What factors contributed to poor performance?

Team roles were not defined.

They did not perform a decision making process.

No responsibility, rewarding system reflecting team members contribution was set in place.

Leadership existed but ineffective to situation.

Team homogeneity gave no room for creativity.

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Question 1:
b. What would you do to help team perform better? Assign group leader ( the most experienced with the client ) and distribute roles.

Verify the decision taking process before going into action.

Define accountability for the group as well for individuals. Guide team by highlighting expected results.

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Question 2:
Team was given a high degree of autonomy, how did this contribute to group thinking? Each person was given the freedom to select his role within the team.

The fact that was no predefined objectives, targets or individual accountability lead to social loafing.
As no positive or negative reinforcements set in advance, the team preferred to bypass conflicts during decision making in the benefit to keep group moral. Group thinking was dominated by single person thinking. Group shift was high towards conservatism.

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Question 3:
Teams are either homogeneous or heterogeneous. How do you characterize the team case, how did this affect creativity and performance? The team was homogeneous :

All bright, talented individuals.

Around the same age. Almost same tenure. All tend to be sociable, friendly . The fact that their personality seemed to mesh and being such homogeneous team, affected team efficacy, minimizing conflict and creativity as well as and promoting groupthink social loafing.

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Question 4:
What are some group decision making techniques that could have helped reduce conformity pressures and groupthink among the advert team? Interacting group meetings. Brainstorming. Nominal group technique.

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Question 5:
a. What different form of communication could have been employed to improve the sharing of ideas among the team?

. . .

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Question 5:
b. How would this affect its performance and satisfaction?

Affecting Performance: Reach of mostly satisfying solution to client. Minimizing risk on both the team and client as well as preventing misleads. Affecting Satisfaction: Motivating team by contribution in decision.

Satisfying to upper management by comprehensive Yet shot to the point reporting of the activity.

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

Question 6:
How do you describe Conners leadership style? Why do you think it was not effective? In what situation might Conner be an effective leader? The leadership type of Conner is authoritarian . It was not the most successful style in this situation as it did not leave room for creativity discussion and sharing ideas. If the team was more task performance oriented than creative thinking, as in a task force or project, where creativity and imagination comes last , a predefined activity project with dead lines as example, Conners style would have been more effective..

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

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Experience: the blanket

To understand how five heads could be really better than one, here is an experience to understand team work:

- Five volunteers and a blanket.

- the volunteers stand over the blanket on the floor. - the task is to flip the blanket to the other side while everybody is standing on it. ( Rule: No body is allowed to set foot out during the process.)

Are Five Heads Better than One? ESLSCA 28B group 3

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