Introduction. Advanced Training Solutions is a growing company, started in 1990, that provides on-line management/leadership training for small/medium sized companies that are not large enough to have their own training programs. The training programs developed by Advanced Training Solutions are turn-key, and relate to a variety of topics intended to improve leadership/management effectiveness, particularly in a multinational/global environment. The company's headquarters are located in Portland, Oregon. Small field offices, responsible for marketing, product translation, and customer service, are located in Dublin, Ireland; Seoul, South Korea; Stuttgart, Germany; and Barcelona, Spain.

After completing your graduate degree in leadership from a progressive university, you were recruited by Advanced Training Solutions to work in their Product Development and Enhancement Division. You have only been employed by Advanced Training Solutions for three months, but the director of your division has already gained respect for you, noting that you are an excellent communicator, exceptional critical thinker, and supportive member of the Product Development and Enhancement Division.

To date, Advanced Training Solutions has developed and marketed on-line training programs for corporations. However, the top-level leaders of Advanced Training Solutions have expressed an interest in expanding the scope of training solutions to include colleges and universities. The intent with this expansion would be to develop short (10-15 minute) on-line training modules with an intense focus on specific topics, concepts, and theories related to leadership and management in global organizations. Advanced Training Solutions leadership believes that colleges and universities might be willing to purchase these modules and incorporate them into their existing degree programs to supplement current program content. However, they realize that the cost/affordability, appropriate topic choice, and the availability of training modules in a variety of languages will be essential to the success of this expansion.

The director of your division has asked you to be the team leader for a new team that will be formed to make specific recommendations regarding this proposed expansion. Specifically, the team will have six months to recommend a portfolio of on-line training modules that can be offered/marketed to select colleges and universities throughout the world. Further, the team will be tasked with making recommendations that meet the essential elements of success (i.e., affordability, appropriate topics, and language options) identified by top level leaders.

Your team will be comprised of the following individuals who were selected, jointly, by your director, as well as the field office supervisors for their respective locations.

Name	Department or Area of Expertise	Home Country	Years of Service with Advanced Training Solutions
Carole (48 year old-female)	Coding and Product Development	USA	10-Company headquarters
Elise (24 year old-female)	Marketing	Germany	2-Germany field office
Alice (47 year old-female)	Technical support and customer service	Italy	8-Spain field office
Andre' (29 year old-male)	Translation and Technical support	France	3-Ireland field office
Christopher (54 year old-male)	Marketing and Technical support	Canada	7-South Korea field office
Hannah (59 year old-female)	Coding and Product Development	USA	18-Company headquarters
Jeff (25 year old-male)	Coding and Product Development	USA	2-Company headquarters
Lee (32 year old-male)	Translation	South Korea	5-South Korea field office
Adam (26 year old-male)	Coding and Technical Support	USA	3-Company headquarters
Brenda (23 year old-female)	Product Development	USA	1-Company headquarters
Jim (52-year old-male)	Technical support and Customer service	Canada	19-Company headquarters
Sandra (22 year old-female)	Marketing and Technical Support	Ireland	1-Ireland field office

Case Questions.

1. Evaluate and describe the three most significant challenges associated with leading the team in this case. In your response, be very specific in describing each challenge and why you think it will be a challenge. In addition, please include a description of how you would plan to address each of these challenges. Your response should reflect an understanding and application of related concepts that have been covered in this course. NOTE: Do NOT include interpersonal conflict as one of your three challenges in your response to Question 1.
2. It is likely that one or more of the challenges you identified is either directly or indirectly related to interpersonal conflict. Chapter 10 (which is assigned reading for Week #9) contains a section describing five general strategies for managing interpersonal conflict (see Figure 10.1; page 361). First, briefly describe each of the five strategies. Next, select the strategy that you think will be most effective in managing interpersonal conflict that is likely to be experienced by the team. Please justify by explaining "why" you think this strategy will be the most effective approach for managing interpersonal conflict in the team.
3. Specifically describe your plan for motivating team members to be a cohesive and effective team. In your response, identify a minimum of two motivation strategies you plan to utilize. You must link each strategy to a core motivation theory (e.g., equity theory; see Ch. 5 for more theories) and justify "why" you think each of your strategies will be effective.