Essay on 304 Case Study

Words: 1525
Pages: 7

Lynn Hou, Alexander Jun, Lara Kasian,
Stephen White, Jennie Zhang

Jody Tolan

BUAD 304 Section #14728

3 March 2011
Team Case Analysis: Are Five Heads Better Than One?

In the case “Are Five Heads Better Than One?” a newly formed marketing group, composed of Evan, Conner, Alexis, Derek, and Judy, failed to resurrect the firm’s revenues. First, management failed to select a group of diverse individuals who would be able to contribute unique ideas towards the project. The backgrounds of these five members bared too many similarities for the members to work together efficiently. The article states, “Evan, Conner, Alexis, Derek, and Judy were around the same age, had worked for the company for about the same amount of time, and
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Within their own group, there is no communication apprehension, members of the marketing group fear speaking up and presenting their own ideas. Conner is the dominating figure within the group and no one else feels they have the right to object to his ideas. In addition, there is a sense of downward communication: Conner begins to talk down to his group members, being rude and pressuring others to agree with his ideas. For example, in lecture, our class watched a video comparing the communication habits of women versus men. The women are far more passive, saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in an extensive manner, while men are more aggressive and straightforward. “Are Five Heads Better Than One?” presents the same scenario. The women are extremely passive and back down whenever Conner brushes off their ideas.
Group think becomes a major issue, especially when Derek gives in to Conner’s idea. Derek is the most experienced in regards to the TV client since he had worked with the client on previous projects; this gives his opinion the most credibility. This occurred during a discussion activity in the ELC. A student in this discussion section had taken a class on surviving in the Arctic wilderness. Her group members overlooked her experience when students were asked to rank the “objects that would be of most use if a plane had crashed in the middle of nowhere on an arctic island.” Even though she was formally