Teamwork in Crisis Jerry Jones, a second-year learning team mentor, stared at his notes again. His interaction with the team last night confirmed what he suspected. Only three weeks into the first year of an BSc. program at a big-name school in Barbados, the learning team was in trouble. From his own experience the year before, Jones knew that a first-rate learning team made a huge difference in a students first-year experience. The corollary was also true: a bad or difficult learning team experience could taint the entire first-year school experience. Although Jones wanted to help, he was not at all sure how to do so. Perhaps describing the situation to his fellow peer mentors in his second-year elective class on managing teams would draw out some good ideas. In his mind, Jones could hear himself explain the story:

Let me first describe the team members.

Essentially, they were all around 26 years of age, athletic, and had professional backgrounds in finance or economics. Ill start with Bobby Bromfield, who was a self-professed introvert and who was passionate about the Reggae Boys Football team from Jamaica. Professionally, Bloomfield worked as a financial analyst for a few different firms. He had not travelled outside Barbados much over the past few years. With plans to target investment banking firms for his summer internship, Bloomfield had been spending a lot of nights networking with banking alumni and recruiters.

Jeff King was from Barbados. He worked for Intel in Bridgetown for six years before pursuing his first degree. King spoke fluent English and was a huge cricket fan. He followed his favourite team passionately and was also very involved in the informal Barbadian club at the school and planned to make his favourite dish for the International Food Festival this year. After graduation, King wanted to pursue a career in consulting and hoped to get sponsored for a visa to live and work in the United States permanently.

Joy Gordon was the only woman on the learning team and came from a mixed-race familyAfro- Caribbean and Caucasian. In 2002, Gordon was awarded the crown for Miss Jamaica and had been Miss Jamaica Teen in 1999. She worked as an analyst for a private foundation. Gordon planned to focus her career on private wealth. Despite the great amount of networking that her chosen career path required, Gordon was very involved in the school community. She spent a lot of time working on projects for the Black Business Student Forum and the National Association of Women.

Keith James was originally from Nigeria and had been living in the Barbados for more than 10 years. James worked as a policy research analyst for the government of Barbados, then changed career paths and worked as a real estate analyst. James was a first-generation college student and awarded the Robert Toigo Foundation Fellowship upon entering the BSc. program. While James was not very involved in the school community, through the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Barbados organization he was a Big Brother for local youths. James planned to target the consulting industry for his summer internship.

Cameron Mitchell was the only scientist in the group. Mitchell was a member of the universitys soccer club. Mitchell worked for Air and Product Chemicals in Barbados. He was hired into the competitive Engineering Career Development Program consisting of three one-year rotational assignments in varying locations and functional roles. Being single, Mitchell embraced the social life of the school community and could often be found at the Thursday night drinking club. Like Bloomfield, Mitchell planned on going into investment banking after graduation.

This brings us to the sixth learning team memberFredrick Black. Black was also the captain of the varsity football team. He spent five years in real estate investment. Black was the only married member of the learning team, and his wife worked in the schools admissions office. He was very involved in the Christian fellowship program at the school and planned to continue his career in real estate.

Now heres what I saw that night that brought me to share this story with you. Jones was already in the room when team members began to arrive, and James was the last to enter. I didnt realize you were going to be here tonight, Mitchell said looking up from his computer screen. We havent seen you all week. Where have you been?

Ive been very busy, James responded while smiling at Mitchell, I had to head up north for an interview on Tuesday. But thanks for sending me all the answers and class notes, so I could stay caught up.

Youve already had an interview!? This was an eye-opener for Mitchell who continued, Company briefings havent even started yet! And dont thank me. Joy Gordon was the one who put everything together.

With that, Mitchell looked at Gordon, nodded his head, and sat down. When it looked like everyone was ready to go, Gordon cleared her throat. Ok guys; lets do takeaways from the cases from today.

Mitchell groaned lightly in response. With an arched eyebrow, Gordon asked, Is there something wrong? Mitchell hesitated for a moment and looked around at the other group members. Well, we never really agreed that we should do takeaways every day. They take up at least a half hour every meeting and we might be able to make better use of that time or at least get out of here earlyIm sure that Blacks wife would appreciate that!

Black just shrugged his shoulders. I think that takeaways are great and they should really help us when assignment time rolls around. King agreed with Black as did Bloomfield. Gordon asked James what his opinion was. He shrugged his shoulders and said that it didnt really matter to him either way. Well, I guess Im outvoted then, Mitchell said smiling slightly. Lets keep going.

Gordon looked at Mitchell, If it helps, I can take ownership of the document and put something together at the end of the term for all of us.

Anything that helps with this assignment is great, Mitchell responded.

Okay so none of this seems that bad right? Well please just keep listening. Gordon started with her own notes of takeaways and then asked for additional ones from the rest of the group. As they worked, they passed around the table some chocolate cookies that Blacks wife had made. Black gave his takeaways and stood up to draw a chart on the board, replicating something that his professor had done in class. As King began covering his takeaways, his cell phone went off and he left the room to answer it. The group paused and several members started to check their email.

King walked back in, apologized for the interruption, and presented his takeaways. Then Gordon, who had been taking notes for the group, asked James if he had anything to say. James passed because he had no input, but he looked flustered. Whos leading the marketing case tonight? he asked. Well since none of us are marketing experts, Black replied, were just going to have to struggle through this together.

I spent some time this afternoon on the first two questions, Bloomfield told the group.

Let me go through my responses and we can talk about it as a group, OK? Gordon and Black nodded their heads, but none of the other team members responded. Bloomfield started the case and made sure to mention that everyone was welcome to add anything as he worked his way through the questions. Once Bloomfield started to repeat himself, King interrupted. Let me share some of the stories Ive heard about people having problems with OnStar technology, he looked at Bloomfield for approval before continuing. I think that customer perception is a good indicator of brand awareness. Black spoke up with his interpretation of the case study questions. Mitchell, who had been sitting silent the entire time then spoke up to mention that OnStar was purchased by affluent people. No joke, James said, laughing sarcastically. Mitchell quickly turned his eyes back to his laptop.

QUESTION

Evaluate at least five (5) characteristics that the team lacks that are preventing it from performing more efficiently. Your evaluation must be clear and specific.