The effective work of any team depends on several critical aspects and its major attributes. At the same time, the transition to a new structure and model requires collaboration between team members and a correct understanding of current goals. Otherwise, there is a high risk of failure. Thus, in the MediSys IntensCare team responsible for launching a new project, several important features can be outlined. First of all, it is vital to focus on leadership roles. Beaumont is a new leader who is expected to act as the major facilitator of change and monitor the work of a heavyweight team. However, there is a lack of connection with other department leaders who view him as too aggressive or ineffective. It serves as a significant barrier to the successful work and achievement of current goals.
Moreover, the team has severe problems with communication and reporting. For instance, the discovered engineering problems are not presented to the leader and discussed during the meeting (Donnellon and Margolis 5). One of the central reasons is the fear of conflict and the strict demands on time and performance. As a result, ineffective communication deteriorates strategic planning and decision-making as necessary changes are not introduced immediately. Moreover, leaders of other departments might have false representations of the project. The existing communication patterns negatively influence the whole team as poor communication prevents members from building a strong collaboration and focusing on a problem resolution. Furthermore, it might stimulate the emergence of the final product with flaws that should be corrected.
Team members’ roles and their satisfaction are other important attributes of the team. The case shows that most specialists are not satisfied with their current roles (Donnellon and Margolis 4). First of all, it comes from the lack of organizational culture and poor planning. The cross-functional structure employed before implied using employees from various departments within a single product. The model helped to resolve various issues linked to it and ensure that groups were focused on crucial aspects of a new offering. However, the new manager altered the scheme and focused on creating a heavyweight team, implying control over all procedures and changes in other departments’ work to meet the current goal and timeline. As a result, a high level of stress and lack of commitment emerged.
Finally, the team suffers from a lack of organization and coordination. The case shows that team meetings are not effective in outlining the current goals and how to achieve them. Moreover, the timeline is not clear, meaning departments leaders cannot coordinate the work of their teams regarding a new parallel management system (Donnellon and Margolis 6). It results in the reduced effectiveness of the whole project and deteriorates outcomes. Assessment is another vital part of an effective organization as it provides relevant information about the current state and progress. However, the top manager does not have effective tools helping to collect this sort of data. It has a negative influence on the work of the team and their ability to evolve.
In such a way, the outline features show that MediSys IntensCare has several critical problems that should be addressed to ensure it can preserve the desired level of sales. A set of aspects indicated above show that it is not consistent with the heavyweight structure. The lack of cooperation, reporting, evaluation and poor organization might result in the failure. For this reason, autonomous teams can be viewed as an alternative to the employed approach as it might help address the abovementioned issues. The top leader can control the work of these teams and be responsible for the result.
The MeidSys IntensCare case can also be analyzed regarding the success syndrome and its influence on teams. The company managed to become one of the leaders in the market due to the fast and successful launch of a product that became popular and demanded by numerous clients (Donnellon and Margolis 2). As a result, the positive feelings linked to this attainment became a strong stimulus for the further company’s evolution. However, at the moment, success syndrome can be viewed as one of the factors causing the negative influence on members’ behaviors and final results.
The problem is that all specialists starting from the employee and ending with the top managers are sure that the final success of a new product is inevitable. However, it might be a risky situation as this belief can undermine performance and readiness to work hard to achieve existing goals. Moreover, it can serve as a new pressing factor leading to burnout and depression. The high level of expectations and demands linked to previous success impact leaders. As a result, they suffer from increased responsibility and the inability to relax when working on the project.
Work Cited
Donnellon, Anne, and Joshua Margolis. “MediSys Corp.: The IntensCare Product Development Team.” Harvard Business School, 2009. Web.