Answer discussion question and case question.

2. Before reading this chapter, how did you define teamwork? How did this definition of respond to the definition outlined in this book? 22 Thunk of a team you've worked in that performed poorly. Were any of the causes of the was most problematic? What steps, if any, did your team take to deal with the problem! Poor performance related to the forces that tend to create process loss? If so, which force 23 Think about the team states described in this chapter. If you joined a new team, how long do you think it would take you to get a feel for these team states? Which states would you be able to gauge first? Which would take longer? 12. Describe the communication process in a student team of which you've been a member. Were there examples of "noise" that detracted from the team members ability to com- municate with one another? What was the primary mode of communication among members? Did this mode of communication possess an appropriate level of information richness? Which network structure comes closest to describing the one that the team used to communicate? Was the level of centralization appropriate? 125 Which types of teamwork training would your student team benefit most from? What exactly would this training cover? What specific benefits would you expect? What would prevent a team from training itself on this material? CHAPTER 12 Team: Processes and Communication QUESTIONS aly to the accom decision making DISCUSSION 399 amplishment and interper accomplished competence of e. the minds of n states include -mance and a h interven- aining, team to compete p. 385 P. 385 P. 386 p. 387 p. 388 . 389 3. 389 - 389 390 390 392 CASE: MICROSOFT In 2013, Microsoft recognized that the company would have to make some fundamental changes industry that rewards fast-paced innovation. At the time, there were several competitors for resources and bonuses. An engineer on a product team in one division might discover something that could be useful in another division's product, but there was no incentive for the engineer to share what was learned with the other product team. To address this problem, and to promote teamwork across the organization, Microsoft replaced the product groups with four broad divisions based on functions that absolutely need to collaborate to get anything done. For example, a team responsible for developing a new Xbox would now likely include engineers from the devices and studio engineering division, the operating systems division, the applications division, and the cloud division. To support Microsoft's new structure and emphasis on teamwork, the company redesigned two buildings at corporate headquarters. The corridors and private offices that once filled these buildings were completely torn out. Now the buildings are filled with large open shared rooms called neighborhoods, which teams can customize using stipends provided by the company. There are smaller "focus" rooms and cozy alcoves that employees can use when privacy is needed, but there are no private offices. The buildings are light and airy, and are decorated with art and interesting objects that encourage employees to walk around and to meet and com- municate. Rather than e-mailing, employees are encouraged to engage with each other in person and to connect in ways that are more spontaneous and rich. Employees who may have never met face-to-face may run into each other at one of the coffee bars and discover they're working on Similar projects Of course, the redesigned buildings may present the company and its employees with certain 396 396 896 296 96 96 26 Challenges. For example, some employees likely have a strong preference for privacy, or may be bothered by the distractions and interruptions from teammates. As another example, limited for fear that conflict will be exposed. Finally, because employees play an important role in the design and development of their neighborhoods, they may not be as open to changing teams 12.1 Describe how the building redesign is likely to influence process gain and process loss in 12.3 What are the advantages and disadvantages of the building redesign with respect to com Sources: T. Halvorson, K. Eichenwald. "Microsoft's Lost Decade," Vanity Fair, July 24, 2012, http://www.vanity av.com https:/ews.microsoft.com/stories/b16/: and T. Warren, "Microsoft Axes its Controversial Employce Ranking System. The Ferge, November 12. 2013. http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/12/5094864/microsoft-kills-stack-ranking-internal struct news/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer: J. Warnick, "Productivity by Design, Microsoft Story ER 12 Teams: Processes and Communication projects evolve and the needs of the company change. the teams at Microsoft. 12.2 Describe how the changes at Microsoft have likely influenced team states munication? What can be done to mitigate potential disadvantages? LESS SURVIVAL