1. George is the Director of Operations for an international SME based in Ontario. He is a quiet man who has over 20 years of experience in the management of large departments. George has rarely had to be hands-on with a project; rather he usually oversees a team of leaders and has his assistant update him on the progress of the team.

George has been assigned five team members from different departments within the company to completing a project. To complete work under the tight deadline, all five team members need to work collaboratively.

The team members include:

Jose from Finance on site

Muhammad from Marketing satellite office

Sarah from IT on site

Mark from Design satellite office

Eli from Legal on site

Because the team members are all in different cities and departments, they have never worked together as one team, although some have interacted with each other on smaller projects. Additionally, some have never met face- to-face.

This project must be delivered in fourth quarter, giving the team only 12 weeks to complete it. George has been hearing rumours that Jose and Muhammad are frustrated with being put on the team and say they are too busy to help out. However, this project requires input from all departments, so they are both needed.

Although George has significant management experience, he is unsure how to approach this situation.

Your job is to answer these questions:

What type of team is George leading?

What approach do you think George should take with this new team?

What would be a good starting strategy for George?