Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups.

Case Analysis

Problem Statement

The main issue in this case is due to the team's lack of cohesiveness. Cohesiveness is defined as a level of attractiveness from individual member toward the team and their willingness to persist in it (William, 2011).

Case Analysis

Factor 1: Valerie Merz lacks of confidence against other team members

The first factor that contributes to IntenseCare team problem is Merz's perspective at her teammates' competence. Researches have showed that in order to obtain an effective teamwork, trust among members is one of the three essential conditions (Druskat and Wolff, 2001). The article also suggests that lack of trust among member lead to an ineffective collaboration because everyone is not fully engage and they just end up with their own identity issue.

Through the case, we can see that Merz is totally frustrated with how the team works and everyone's responsibility towards the project. According to article "Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups", it is said that by creating a team's norm that encourages interpersonal perspective may identify one's issue (Druskat and Wolff, 2001). However, clearly in the case shows that Merz is not in the same emotional wave-length with the rest of the team. And she feels like she doesn't have enough authority within the team to complete her task.

Factor 2: Disagreement in method of launching the new product

Another major factor that worsens the situation is the conflict between O'Brien's and Merz's opinion in launching the product. As we know, conflict is not a bad thing to avoid but we need to make sure that the team is experience the right kind of conflict and structure it (Williams, 2011). In this case, the team is experience the affective conflict, which result in O'Brien's conversation with Jack Fogel behind Merz's back about either he or Merz have to quit the project because he can't corporate with how Merz works. Since Merz is a new member of the team, she has an impression that O'Brien and Fogel always have each other back. Hence, it adding up to her lack of trust among the team members as stated above. Conflict happens at every team; O'Brien shouldn't talk about his perspective