Case Study for Group D

Team building: sociable climbing

Outdoor, mud-spattered team-building the sort involving hiking boots, rain coats and woolen hats remains an immovable object in the corporate world. When the Financial Management magazine asked 50 companies how they turned their workers into cohesive, tight-knit units, there was a deluge of similar responses. From web design firms to pork pie makers came tales of survival weekends with the Parachute Regiment and assaults on Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.

But why? Does trudging through mud do any good? And arent there any better options that boost morale and togetherness without requiring office workers to trudge, half frozen, up a mountain? Bruce Renny, founder of mobile software group Rok, sums up the thoughts of many grumbling employees: I went on a residential team-building course about six years ago with a previous company what a fiasco. It ended up with the two teams loathing each other. Claims and counter-claims of cheating were made, people stormed off in a huff, there were injuries on the road-run and, eventually, a big fight afterwards.

Outsourced service provider EDS is one company thats searched high and low for something a little more civilized. Its answer? Playing with Lego. No joke. In fact, the name of this team-building exercise is Lego Serious Play and its endorsed by such strait-laced organizations as Deloitte, IBM and even HM Treasury. Created by two business professors at IMD business school in Lausanne, its now offered by dozens of consultancies across Europe and the US. The object of the exercise is to create visual representations of abstract concepts using Lego bricks. Team members might be asked to construct a 3D image of the companys divisions or the reporting structure. When they start scratching their heads and wondering how finance relates to marketing, breakthroughs start occurring. The clients seem impressed. James Johns, of EDSs government industry group, says: Im convinced that we covered more in that one day [of Lego Serious Play] than would have been possible in a week of workshops facilitated by more traditional means.

But the more physically challenging teambuilding experiences have not yet been overshadowed. When the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) wanted to introduce different teams to each other, it booked a day with Go Ape!, a provider of assault courses featuring rope ladders, Tarzan swings and zip slides high in the forest canopy.

Brett Shepherd, the RNLI manager in charge of training and development, explains: The high ropes course gets the lifeguards to interact with different teams from different beaches in a non-beach environment. Then we set them a challenge: teams of ten lifeguards have to get everyone safely around the course, plus a 70kg manikin. Including the manikin changes the focus of the task. Instead of simply going around as individuals, the lifeguards must become more interactive. The course improves their ability to work in teams and as leaders. We have nothing but positive feedback from our lifeguards about it. Nestl, Nokia and Unilever are three of the many blue-chip organizations that keep coming back to Go Ape! for more.

The testimony that Financial Management magazine has received from firms suggests that the traditional company teambuilding outdoor exercises arent quite so bad after all. One event organizer, Zibrant, measured the effects of its participation (employees, clients and suppliers of the firm were all involved) in the three-peaks challenge. This involves scaling the highest mountains in Scotland (Ben Nevis), England (Scafell Pike) and Wales (Snowdon) on consecutive days and the firm made the following observations:

There was a reduction in staff turnover from 16 per cent to seven per cent (the industry

standard is 22 per cent), which could be directly attributed to employee involvement in

the challenge.

The event helped the company to develop shared values with its stakeholders.

More than 15 per cent of the employees who took part later asked to join the firms

corporate social responsibility committee.

The feedback from employees was pretty encouraging, too: 97 per cent enjoyed the event and said they would take part again; 90 per cent thought that the event was very well organized; and 97 per cent were interested in participating in another charity challenge. Words cannot properly describe my sheer delight at being involved in the three-peaks challenge, says one of the companys climbers, Cecilia Curry. The months of training beforehand were demanding and exhausting but, above all, fun. The event itself gave us excitement, fear, pride, pain and an all in this together feeling. The atmosphere and sense of bonding with everyone was something that I will never forget. The slopes of Scafell Pike wont be falling silent just yet

Questions

1. Do you believe that team-building activities increase productivity? Why or why not?

2. What are some other ways besides those described here to build effective teams and increase teamwork among company employees? How might these alternatives be better or worse than those presented?

3. What should companies do about employees who lack athletic talent but are still pressured to participate in physical activities with their colleagues?

4. In relation to the above case, recommend how sustainable practices can be promoted in UAE, in the area of Environmental, Social and Economy

Source: Adapted from C. Orton-Jones (2008) Sociable climbing, Financial Management, pp. 1619.

Case Study for Group D

Team building: sociable climbing

Outdoor, mud-spattered team-building the sort involving hiking boots, rain coats and woolen hats remains an immovable object in the corporate world. When the Financial Management magazine asked 50 companies how they turned their workers into cohesive, tight-knit units, there was a deluge of similar responses. From web design firms to pork pie makers came tales of survival weekends with the Parachute Regiment and assaults on Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.

But why? Does trudging through mud do any good? And arent there any better options that boost morale and togetherness without requiring office workers to trudge, half frozen, up a mountain? Bruce Renny, founder of mobile software group Rok, sums up the thoughts of many grumbling employees: I went on a residential team-building course about six years ago with a previous company what a fiasco. It ended up with the two teams loathing each other. Claims and counter-claims of cheating were made, people stormed off in a huff, there were injuries on the road-run and, eventually, a big fight afterwards.

Outsourced service provider EDS is one company thats searched high and low for something a little more civilized. Its answer? Playing with Lego. No joke. In fact, the name of this team-building exercise is Lego Serious Play and its endorsed by such strait-laced organizations as Deloitte, IBM and even HM Treasury. Created by two business professors at IMD business school in Lausanne, its now offered by dozens of consultancies across Europe and the US. The object of the exercise is to create visual representations of abstract concepts using Lego bricks. Team members might be asked to construct a 3D image of the companys divisions or the reporting structure. When they start scratching their heads and wondering how finance relates to marketing, breakthroughs start occurring. The clients seem impressed. James Johns, of EDSs government industry group, says: Im convinced that we covered more in that one day [of Lego Serious Play] than would have been possible in a week of workshops facilitated by more traditional means.

But the more physically challenging teambuilding experiences have not yet been overshadowed. When the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) wanted to introduce different teams to each other, it booked a day with Go Ape!, a provider of assault courses featuring rope ladders, Tarzan swings and zip slides high in the forest canopy.

Brett Shepherd, the RNLI manager in charge of training and development, explains: The high ropes course gets the lifeguards to interact with different teams from different beaches in a non-beach environment. Then we set them a challenge: teams of ten lifeguards have to get everyone safely around the course, plus a 70kg manikin. Including the manikin changes the focus of the task. Instead of simply going around as individuals, the lifeguards must become more interactive. The course improves their ability to work in teams and as leaders. We have nothing but positive feedback from our lifeguards about it. Nestl, Nokia and Unilever are three of the many blue-chip organizations that keep coming back to Go Ape! for more.

The testimony that Financial Management magazine has received from firms suggests that the traditional company teambuilding outdoor exercises arent quite so bad after all. One event organizer, Zibrant, measured the effects of its participation (employees, clients and suppliers of the firm were all involved) in the three-peaks challenge. This involves scaling the highest mountains in Scotland (Ben Nevis), England (Scafell Pike) and Wales (Snowdon) on consecutive days and the firm made the following observations:

There was a reduction in staff turnover from 16 per cent to seven per cent (the industry

standard is 22 per cent), which could be directly attributed to employee involvement in

the challenge.

The event helped the company to develop shared values with its stakeholders.

More than 15 per cent of the employees who took part later asked to join the firms

corporate social responsibility committee.

The feedback from employees was pretty encouraging, too: 97 per cent enjoyed the event and said they would take part again; 90 per cent thought that the event was very well organized; and 97 per cent were interested in participating in another charity challenge. Words cannot properly describe my sheer delight at being involved in the three-peaks challenge, says one of the companys climbers, Cecilia Curry. The months of training beforehand were demanding and exhausting but, above all, fun. The event itself gave us excitement, fear, pride, pain and an all in this together feeling. The atmosphere and sense of bonding with everyone was something that I will never forget. The slopes of Scafell Pike wont be falling silent just yet

Questions

1. Do you believe that team-building activities increase productivity? Why or why not?

2. What are some other ways besides those described here to build effective teams and increase teamwork among company employees? How might these alternatives be better or worse than those presented?

3. What should companies do about employees who lack athletic talent but are still pressured to participate in physical activities with their colleagues?

4. In relation to the above case, recommend how sustainable practices can be promoted in UAE, in the area of Environmental, Social and Economy

Source: Adapted from C. Orton-Jones (2008) Sociable climbing, Financial Management, pp. 1619.