You are a consultant hired by an established medium-sized manufacturing corporation with 250 employees. The corporation directly markets one unique product. The corporation is run by a new CEO and 11 other executives who have been with the organization for varying lengths of time. The new CEO has an aggressive growth objective for the corporation of 100 percent over the next five years. The current business model will not support this objective and needs to be updated.

Create a team that will work together over a 9-month time frame to develop a proposal for a new business model and growth strategies. The team members must come from at least three different functional areas because the CEO wants input from a variety of stakeholders. The challenge is that under the old business model, none of the functional areas communicated or collaborated, and the former CEO never asked for new ideas and seemed oblivious to issues the corporation was facing.

When a team works well together, it can feel like magic. The ability to build and lead high-performing teams is a critical skill in any size of organization. Write a paper in which you answer the following questions:

1. What are the three functional areas from which you will choose the team members? Explain why you selected these areas. What will each area bring to the project that is relevant and crucial to its success?

2. What are the characteristics you will look for in the team members you choose? Describe these characteristics.

3. How will you ensure that the team understands its objectives? Will you write a mission statement? Explain what you will do.

4. What strategies will you use to delegate responsibilities? Will you assign tasks or ask for volunteers? Explain the strategies.

5. In what ways will you build trust and respect between team members and between yourself and the members of the team?

6. What strategies will you use to handle conflicts between team members? Describe the strategies.

7. How will you measure the success of the team?