Preparation

Research the characteristics of effective teams as well as strategies for leading teams. Then consider the following case study:

You are a consultant hired by an established medium-sized manufacturing corporation with 250 employees. The corporation directly markets one unique product. The corporation is run by a new CEO and 11 other executives who have been with the organization for varying lengths of time. The new CEO has an aggressive growth objective for the corporation of 100 percent over the next five years. The current business model will not support this objective and needs to be updated.

Your task is to create a team that will work together over a 9-month time frame to develop a proposal for a new business model and growth strategies. The team members must come from at least three different functional areas because the CEO wants input from a variety of stakeholders. The challenge is that under the old business model, none of the functional areas communicated or collaborated, and the former CEO never asked for new ideas and seemed oblivious to issues the corporation was facing.

This case study is the basis for your assignment.

Instructions

When a team works well together, it can feel like magic. The ability to build and lead high-performing teams is a critical skill in any size of organization.

• What are the three functional areas from which you will choose the team members? Explain why you selected these areas. What will each area bring to the project that is relevant and crucial to its success?
• What are the characteristics you will look for in the team members you choose? Describe these characteristics.
• How will you ensure that the team understands its objectives? Will you write a mission statement? Explain what you will do.
• What strategies will you use to delegate responsibilities? Will you assign tasks or ask for volunteers? Explain the strategies.
• In what ways will you build trust and respect between team members and between yourself and the members of the team?
• What strategies will you use to handle conflicts between team members? Describe the strategies.
• How will you measure the success of the team?

The purpose of this assignment is to create an overview of what should be considered when developing teams. It is not intended to be an in-depth analysis. You should be able to write at least 2–3 well-developed paragraphs for each bullet point. Some bullet points will require more than 2–3 paragraphs. Support your choices and explanations with at least three resources from your research. Be sure you include a title page, introduction, conclusion, and reference page.

Refer to the Building Effective Teams Assessment Scoring Guide to ensure that your work meets the grading criteria for this assignment.

Requirements

• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• References: References and citations are formatted in consistent style, with a preference for APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
• Number of resources: Minimum of 3 scholarly resources to support the ideas presented.
• Length of paper: Approximately 2–3 typed double-spaced pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.