Develop a plan for building an effective team with representatives from different functional areas at GenaTech that will work together to solve a business problem. Introduction In the first assessment, you learned about the different functional areas of a business and where you would like to intern first in your new job at GenaTech. Then you were assigned to the IT department at GenaTech to work on the mission, vision, and code of ethics pages for the corporate website. Up to this point you have looked at a broad view of the company functions and then a more narrow view of one IT project. Now you are ready to learn more about one of the key points of the mission of the company: teamwork. For this assessment, you will get to know some of your colleagues around the GenaTech company and practice working on a team to solve a problem in the company. The ability to build, lead, and contribute to high-performing, collaborative teams are critical skills in any size organization. In today′s rapidly changing business world, organizations rely heavily on the ability of employees to work on multiple teams that vary in duration, have a constantly evolving membership, and successfully manage change. Understanding the challenges involved in teamwork can help organizations avoid chaos and achieve their desired results. In this assessment, you will select members from different functional areas to form a team and plan the team guidelines for success and communication. Then analyze how the different members of the team might contribute to solving a business problem. Scenario In Assessment 1, you developed a well-rounded view of the GenaTech company functional areas from the three internships you completed as a new employee. In Assessment 2, you worked with the IT department on a GenaTech corporate webpage. Your task for Assessment 3 is to build and plan for a cross-functional GenaTech team to solve a business problem. The business problem to be solved: The logistics function for GenaTech (warehousing, trucking, and inventory) is having a problem with channels of distribution. Some customers have recently complained that their orders are delayed 2–3 weeks, while others have praised the company for delivering the orders in advance. It will require a cross-functional team to study and brainstorm solutions for the situation. For this assessment, you will: Use the Team Planning Worksheet [DOCX] to review the profiles of ten current GenaTech employees and select five to be members of the team with you. Using the Team Planning Worksheet, highlight the strengths that each member brings to the team and indicate why those characteristics are important to an effective team. Develop a plan on the worksheet for building your team that you could present to the CEO. You will also create some effective team communication practices and conflict resolution strategies that will support a successful team. Instructions Develop a plan for building an effective team with representatives from different functional areas at GenaTech that will work together to solve a business problem. Use the Team Planning Worksheet [DOCX] for the team building plan. In preparation for this assessment, study your Fortune 500 company website to see what characteristics make their teams successful. Notice if they have any particular team guidelines or communication strategies that contribute to the group functions. You may have to observe the images on the website to make some assumptions about their teamwork. Read the articles in the ″Teamwork and Soft Skills″ activity to identify key characteristics of effective team members, group processes such as conflict resolution, and communication strategies that make teams successful. Review the 10 profiles in the Team Planning Worksheet. Select five people to be members of your team based on their representation of the various functional areas and their individual characteristics. Fill in the grid with the information about each team member. Consider the business problem presented above and in the worksheet. List 3–5 steps of a plan to solve the problem. Predict how the team will delegate the various responsibilities in each step. Describe how business skills from the functional areas will contribute to problem-solving and how individual soft skills of the team members will help to maintain a positive working relationship and functional problem-solving on the team. In the Team Planning Worksheet, create a communication plan that includes recommendations for how the team will connect daily, weekly, and over the course of the project. Use the worksheet to explain strategies that the team can use to resolve conflict.
