1. Your boss is not happy with the performance of the cross-functional teams that are working on an enterprisewide risk-analysis project. She asks you to suggest some possible reasons why the teams are not performing well. What would you tell her?

2. Your boss likes the suggestions you made in your answer to question 1 above. Based on that information, she asks for recommendations about how to improve the performance of these teams. What would you say?

3. When it comes to rewarding members of these teams, for example, using bonuses, your boss asks whether she should consider peer ratings as an input to her decisions. What would you recommend?

The gold medal performance of the U.S. ice hockey team in the 1980 Winter Olympics has been described as the “Miracle on Ice” The “miracle” was the product of an effective performance-management system implemented by the U.S. team’s head coach, Herb Brooks. This article discusses common ways in which teams can get out of control and cause harm in the absence of a properly designed performance management system. It then provides six best-practice recommendations for the proper design of a performance management system that considers team performance explicitly, thereby avoiding a “me” versus “we” dilemma.

The link to the article is: http://www.hermanaguinis.com/BHTeams.pdf.