Medisys Corp Intenscare Main Points Essay Example

from all critical functions (R&D, Marketing & Sales, Product Engineering, Software Design, Regulatory, and Production). These people were supposed to work together continuously to move a product from conceptual stage to final production. Core Team project leader role: orchestrate the work of the team, keep an eye on the complete project, secure resources for the team, and serve as liaison to sr. management. Leader had to have cross-functional expertise, track record of high performance and respect co-workers.

Each person in the team has different drivers:

• Marketing = Revenue Driven Production = believes the product shows off their ability to manage complex supply supply chain of software and hardware components
• Design & Engineering = integration of software and hardware elements into the design
• Feb 13, 2009: Art fears and fails to provide team with coaching MediSys Corp: The IntensCare Product Development Team 1. Art Beaumont = President 2. Peter Fisher = VP, Sales & Marketing
• Core Team: 1. Aaron Gerson ± Scientist/ R&D, original concept team 2. Bret O’Brien ± Senior Engineering Manager, Original Concept team.

Karen Baio- Regulatory Affairs. Issues in the IntensCare Project Team?

Issues in the IntensCare Project Team:

1. Jack Fogel was far too focused on the details on the product side and far too little concerned about the business issues and impending launch

2. Instead of working towards single goal, it seemed they were concentrating on their own departments and roles.

The group required to work or do the right thing for the company and not just their own departments.

Art Beumount wanted to develop an

executive team that would jointly create and implement a strategy for growing the business swiftly.

a. He believed that some of the managers would be entrenched in tier functional role and progress could take some time.

b. The management style does not reflect the entrepreneurial spirit- it was more of command and control culture with more emphasis on technical excellence.

c. Although it fit their entrepreneurial and team-like approach, it was more disciplined and formal then they were used to.

d. Core team members continued to report to their functional managers whoc ontinued to supervise and evaluate them.

Tight deadline given by Beumont for the launch of innovative, world class product by August 2009.

e. Team considered the deadline set by Beumont to be very aggressive, considering the different difficulties they were facing.

Any changes in design would threaten a delay in production. The team had tomeet strict quality, and regulatory standards.  List out the factors contributing to team conflict?

Two well-known public competitors, with deep pockets and strong reputation in industry, were moving into MediSyss key markets with products designed to compete with IntensCare. The belief that teams make us more creative and productive - and are the best way to get things done - is deeply entrenched. Where teams go wrong.

Shockingly, most of the time members don't agree on what the team is supposed to be doing or even on who is on the team. The belief that bigger is better also compounds problems; as a team grows, the effort needed to manage links between members increases almost exponentially. Leaders need to be ruthless about defining teams and keeping them small (fewer than 10 members), and some individuals (like team destroyers)

should simply be forced off. The leader also must set a compelling direction for the team - but in so doing, may encounter intense resistance that puts him or her at great risk.

Hackman explores other fallacies about teams - for instance, that teams whose members have been together a long time become stale. In fact, research reveals that new teams make 50% more mistakes than established teams. To avoid complacency, though, every team needs a deviant - someone who is willing to make waves and open up the group to more ideas. Unfortunately, such individuals often get thrown off the team, robbing it of its chance to be magical. Leaders can't make a team do well.

However, by being disciplined about how a team is set up and managed, instituting the right support systems, and providing coaching in group processes, they can increase the likelihood that a team will be great. Key topics include designing teams, managing teams, managing conflict, group dynamics, project management, product development, interdepartmental relations, and organizational change. MediSys, a U. S. -based medical equipment maker, has been developing IntensCare, a new medical system for monitoring intensive-care patients.

MediSys has invested heavily in IntensCare, which is eagerly awaited by the market. The product development team, representing several functional areas of the company, has been working on the product for six months but is now running into significant problems with the product design, the schedule, and their own group dynamics. Recently, pressure increased when they learned that two more powerful competitors had begun work on their own products for this market. Several team members are concerned about meeting the team's targets.

Struggling especially hard to overcome

the various problems is the marketing manager who has profit-and-loss responsibility for IntensCare. Managerial leadership and the organizational environment must be conducive to the professional needs of the project team. I reached this conclusion after conducting a field study of 80 technology- intensive project teams in 27 companies. This paper aims to improve the project management field's understanding of team performance as it is influenced by the organizational environment and managerial leadership.

The results of this research suggest that many of the factors that drive project team performance, such as commitment and the ability to deal with conflict and risk, originate in the work environment. While effective management of the technical aspects of the project is critical to success, team leaders must also pay close attention to managing relations across the entire work process, including support functions, suppliers, sponsors, and partners. In this paper, I discuss the implications of - and criteria for - effective team leadership.

Leadreship Issues:

• Lack of leadership, be it Art’absence or Jack’s weak leadership
• Jack handles his team as a group of individuals
• Vague boundaries for members, open communication is not stimulated
• Art seems to have no idea what is going on in the group despite the tight deadline and the company’s reliance on a working product Lack of Shared Purpose
• Jack treats the team as group individuals
• Everyone has their own goals, drivers and motivations * Competing environment, no collaboration We all have different drivers, which really complicates our ability to make good decisions together (O’Brien, Sr. Engineering Manager)

Other possibilities:

• The team is too far into the project to survive the loss of Valerie
• Valerie needs to have a face-to-face conversation
  

with co-worker Bret and Jach * New structure of company will allow for Valerie to operate more effectively in the project team