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Henry Tam Case Write Up

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Henry Tam entered the HBS Business Plan contest hoping to gain experience above and beyond the normal HBS curriculum. He teamed up with interactive music-based game start-up company, Music Games International (MGI). From the outside, Henry seemed to be part of a well designed and diverse team. However, the lack of team preparation has led to poor team processes and left MGI with no tangible business plan three weeks before the deadline. However, MGI’s team processes can still be improved through Henry’s integration efforts. The real crux of MGI’s poor ‘Team Process’ or, the “the interactions that group members undertake in a team environment that convert members skills, expertise, and other inputs into a group project or other form of output” (Polzer, HBS Case #9-403-094), was based on the following: a lack of common goals, lack of team roles, and lack of information exchange. Fundamental components such as the 'Available Resources', 'Incentives or Rewards', 'Roles and Responsibilities' were never reviewed during the Launch Meeting (Polzer, HBS Case #9-403-094). The MGI team’s failure to agree on common team goals and to define formal roles for its members upfront are the root causes for its poor team processes. Henry and Dana saw the business plan competition as an opportunity to gain business development experience with a start up and contribute to MGI’s vision; however, Sasha envisioned them as “interns”. When Sasha handed them an envelope of alumni names to cold-call, the initial conflict between Sasha and Dana began (Polzer, HBS Case #9-403-094). Such misalignment had certainly led to some discomfort. The divided team also failed to agree on which market segment (Education vs. Entertainment) to choose as MGI's primary target. This indecisiveness also explains the MGI team norm of constant brainstorming without action. As commented by Dana, "the

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