Making the Tough Team Call (a)

13 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2008

See all articles by Lynn A. Isabella

Lynn A. Isabella

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

Set in a German automotive company, this case traces the dynamics of a consulting project team doing a high profile strategic project as part of a company-specific international management program. With weeks to go, the team is in shambles, the project presentation a disaster, and the team dynamics terrible. A decision about what to do with this team must be made immediately by the project director. This case focuses on making a tough management call with serious implications as well as on how to intervene constructively in a cross-functional, international team. This case is the first of a 2-part case: Cases A & B (UVA-OB-0705, UVA-OB-0706).

Excerpt

UVA-OB-0705

MAKING THE TOUGH TEAM CALL (A)

Gudrun Dammermann-Priess was stunned after this latest round of project presentations. In the nine years since the international management program (IMP) began, she never had a project so bad that she considered not allowing it to go forward. With only six weeks until the final project deliverable in mid-May 2000—a 15-minute presentation in front of 100 top executives at Continental A.G., including the chief executive officer (CEO) and at least four other members of the Vorstand—the software team project was a potential embarrassment in a very high-stakes environment.

The CEO's concluding remarks from the previous year's IMP–1999 echoed in her ears. “I would like all my top managers to take notice. If only your presentations were as good as those we have seen this afternoon.” The IMP program had risen substantially in stature and useful strategic output over the last several years, and the risks of presenting a poor project were, for Dammermann, acutely felt.

Literally from the very first module of IMP–2000 in November 1999, when teams were put together and matched to mentors and projects, the three members of this project were in complete disagreement about almost every aspect of the project and its development. They disagreed on what the mentor wanted them to accomplish and how they might begin to approach answering the key questions. Furthermore, even though there were some personal interest overlaps, the styles of two team members mixed like oil and water. Despite repeated conversations and interventions by the facilitators to help the team gain momentum, the team floundered, and its work languished. It was painfully obvious to Dammermann that the team had made very little progress in the last several months.

The decision about just what to do weighed heavily on her mind. If the team went ahead and presented the poor project in May, Dammermann's credibility as the director of the training program and her oversight of the project work could be negatively affected. Ending the project now meant that the senior line-manager, who had paid (German deutsche marks) DEM35,000 for this investigation, had wasted his time and his money. Adding to the complexity, one of the project mentors was a senior executive at TEVES, the newly acquired subsidiary of Continental, and this was Conti-Teves' first project in the program.

. . .

Keywords: conflict management, teams, international

Suggested Citation

Isabella, Lynn A., Making the Tough Team Call (a). Darden Case No. UVA-OB-0705, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1281290 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1281290

Lynn A. Isabella (Contact Author)

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business ( email )

P.O. Box 6550
Charlottesville, VA 22906-6550
United States
434-924-4818 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.darden.virginia.edu/faculty/isabella.htm

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
77
Abstract Views
1,321
Rank
122,024
PlumX Metrics