This part of the Uber continuing case focuses on Chapter 13 and covers principles related to groups and teams. This continuing case's real-world application of management knowledge and skills is designed to help you develop critical thinking ability and realize the practical power of sound managerial skills for solving problems in your job and career.

Read the continuing case and respond to the questions that follow.

Groups and Teams: The Three-Pronged Leadership Model

Teams are a necessary part of today's organizational life at Uber as in other businesses. An example is the Uber growth and product team, in which former CEO Kalanick emphasized the importance of focusing one team on driving the growth of the business. Paul Clayton Smith volunteered to lead the part known as the design team which does things such as design new signup features, monitoring things like button clicks, conversation rates, and new accounts created.

To manage Uber's drivers, former head of global operations Ryan Graves developed a team in each new city the company moves into that consists of a three-pronged leadership model:

• General manager (GM). The GM heads the team and is in charge of the company's growth in a city. The most successful ones have been found to be "entrepreneurial, agile, and knowledgeable about the culture and quirks of their regions," according to writer Gwen Moran. A recent job posting for an Uber GM says this role is "by far the most demanding position Uber has to offer." Uber expects its GMs to have a nuanced understanding of their local markets so they can provide tailored solutions to problems specific to their area.
• Community manager. The GM is supported by a community manager who handles marketing, social media, and local business development. Job requirements included in a recent Uber community manager job posting include proactively engaging positive conversations about Uber's brand and monitoring broad social trends and press mentions across a variety of social channels.
• Driver operations manager. The GM is also supported by a driver operations manager who oversees driver relations and ensures that drivers are present where and when they need to be. Driver operations managers' job requirements include developing unique processes to retain and engage drivers, analyzing metrics to make supply (driver) allocation decisions, and "constantly innovating to manage situations unique to your city."

With this arrangement in place, the team is then built out based on the needs of the specific city. "The Los Angeles team might need more people focusing on media, movie, and television partnerships that you wouldn't find in Minneapolis," Graves told Moran. "Most of our teams are from the cities where they work. It's not just, 'Let's evaluate this as a customer,' but it's more like, 'These are my people, this is where I'm from, [they are] like my family and friends.' So there's a cool mirror about the city team cultures relative to the city that they serve."

Melanie Curtin, herself a community manager on the East Coast for nearly a year, says team members kept in touch through a weekly all-team meeting, held virtually on Skype. "It's unreal watching baby cities grow into monster cities," she says, "or small teams blossom into huge ones . . . like being on the inside of a real live game of SimCity."

1. Imagine that you are a General Manager of a leadership team in one of the cities in which Uber operates. You and the Community Manager disagree on the best way to message Ubers new rideshare partnership, although the Community Manager feels more strongly about his idea than you do of yours. Which conflict-handling style would work best to empower the Community Manager in this situation and why?