Case Study

Amazon a global e-commerce giant has set an ambitious target of opening three large warehouses across major cities in Europe: London, Paris, and Berlin. This ambitious project aims to foster fast and reliable delivery services across Europe and is led by Tom Jackson. Tom is required to build a team before embarking on this project and to divide tasks and obligation for all members of the team to achieve. But it is evident that some aspects of the interaction between Tom and the rest of the team is flawed. As team members are not able to get over some differences that has led to so much conflict and disagreement from the early stages of the project. There were issues with team formation as Toms approach was poorly constituted. There was no suitable channel of communication used which impacted the way the team members communicated on the project. Commitment was also a major problem for the team. As two members of the team (Mihaela and Spencer) were not committed to the achievement of the teams objectives. They were rather interested in what they were going to get and what they were going to gain from the project. Should these issues persist, the success of the project could be compromised. Therefore, requiring Tom to seek advice from your consultancy firm on possible solutions that will enhance collaboration and teamwork for successful delivery of the project.

Questions: 1. How to develop an effective team and what team development stages model can be used? (A relevant model of team development should be used, and Belbins team roles should be included.) 2. What team roles are needed to create an effective team? 3. What are the benefits of teamwork? 4. What are the barriers to effective teamwork identified in this scenario?