TerraCog Global Positioning System: Conflict and Communication on project Aerial - Mayank Shah

Background and Critical Issues: TerraCog is a privately held company specializing in high-quality Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and fishing sonar equipment. The company has a strong customer base of serious outdoor enthusiasts who value the durability and value-added features of TerraCog’s GPS units. In spring 2007, the company embarked on a project to enhance their high-quality GPS handheld with satellite imagery; the project was named Project Aerial. The decision to develop the new enhancement resulted from increased customer demand, and lost market share to competitor Posthaste, who in October 2006, introduced BirdsI,
We see this occurring quite a lot in the meetings Emma called to discuss the price of Aerial. Allen Roth and Ed Pryor both interrupt other team members while they were speaking, and most of the team members, given their status in the organization, are all very vocal in the discussions. This sets the tone and norm for this particular work group. Although the cross-functional team structure it has was probably intended to foster diversity of ideas, the status and embedded norm is causing some inefficiency in decision making and problem solving. In addition to the points already analyzed, Emma’s problem-solving team is also plagued with a few properties of an ineffective team. There are four key components of effective teams – contextual influences, composition, work design, and process. Looking at contextual influences, we see that the group is somewhat lacking in leadership and structure of the team, as well as trust. As mentioned before, it’s not quite clear who is responsible for making the final decision, and what specific input and contribution is needed from each member. To add to this, there is a slight lack of trust on the part of Tony Barren given past quality problems in production. The other team members have placed increased pressure on him, making him less likely to take risks. This team is also lacking in the area of team composition. Let’s focus on two properties of team composition – personality and size. In