Henry Tam Case - Recommendation

Student: Julian Slotty

VENTURE CREATION – DESCRIPTION OF A CASE BRIEF

CASE 1 – Henry Tam and the MGI Team

1.) Proposed Action

From my point of view, Henry should advise the team to appoint a leader right away (because of the lack of leadership) in order to define a clear organizational structure, align the team and distribute the tasks clearly. As he is widely accepted throughout the entire group (“good listener”, “able to create analytical and creative symbiosis”, “confident and calm”) he should step up and express his willingness to operate as CEO. This would accelerate the decision-making process of the whole group. He needs to take care that all of the team members experiencing a feeling of importance and establish a healthy working culture with mutual norms and values.

Further, he needs to assign the team roles and set specific goals (long-term and short-term) and break up the faultline between the subgroups. All of the group members should solve the internal issues that destroyed the teamwork.

Henry should then keep a watch in the next couple of days to ensure the team members communicate in an appropriate manner with each other. He needs to monitor the productivity on a daily basis (deadlines etc.).
Another solution or an additional alternative that Henry could do to increase the team's performance would be to look for a neutral third party as the leader/as his mentor.

Henry supposed that a neutral party with industry expertise and diversified leadership skills could help the team to develop and move forward way quicker. The problem with this solution is that they don’t have enough time and an external would not have the chance to understand each team member's mentality and skills. All in all, I think that Henry should appoint himself as CEO.

2.) Rationale

An empowered team leader would maximize the group efficiency by setting specific goals, dividing tasks, delegating responsibilities, improving the communication within the team and creating a sense of cohesiveness. The problem at hand were not the individuals, their expertise or the diversity it was just a feeling of togetherness and leadership (specific goals and task distribution).

The optional solution of an additional mentor or leader would provide external help to organize the team and give the group members someone to speak with in order to release the tension within the group. The mentor can also strengthen the role of the new, unexperienced CEO (leadership skills) and operate in some kind of an advisory function throughout the decision-making process. Furthermore, he could provide deep market knowledge and industry expertise. Most of the team members were in deep conflicts with each, they did not respect each other and there was an increased tension between the groups.