SECTION A: ESSAY TYPE QUESTIONS [100 MARKS]

Answer ALL questions

Question 1 [25 marks]

Final year students enrolled in the Interactive Multimedia course at Edith Cowan University are required to develop skills and expertise in managing the design and development of client web sites. The unit IMM 3228/4228 - "Project Management Methodologies", uses teams of four or five students to utilise their specialist skills to meet a "real need" for an industry client. Team roles include programmers, graphic designers and project managers. There were 82 students (20 teams) completing this unit. The aim was to have students experience project management issues that occur when dealing with "real" clients in "real" projects and was heavily focused on teamwork and problem solving. The environment was based on the learning principles of authenticity, self-regulation and reflection (Luca & Oliver, 2001). Features included student contracts, journals (for self/peer assessment & reflection), "Conference Centre" for problem solving, bulletin boards, time management tools, syllabus and assessment materials, lecture notes, legal/QA templates, relevant URL's, web sites and assignments developed by previous students and a student details database. Within this setting, two teams were selected for investigation. One team was highly successful in developing a quality product, and collaborated in a highly successful manner. Another team, experienced severe team problems, which caused it to become dysfunctional and had to be split.

Case questions

i. After reading the above case study identify and explain three (3) ways to consider in building strong and effective teams to sustain the market competition. (15 Marks)

ii. Discuss any five (5) points that could have led to the other team failing and remedies. (10 marks)

Question 2 [25 marks]

Suppose two regional sales reps share responsibility for sending weekly updates to their manager. Brad always submits them on time, but Frank often turns them in late. Saying, "Frank, you've turned in the sales reports late again" would only put Frank on the defensive. Instead, Brad opens the conversation this way: "Frank, you and I place a different value on deadlines. I want to explain why meeting them is important to me, and then I'd like to hear your take on them."

Brad learns that Frank, when faced with the choice of possibly making a sale or compiling the report, thinks he should focus on the sale. With this insight, Brad proposes another way to share responsibilities: Brad will complete the report when it's Frank's turn to do so, as long as Frank gives Brad two hours' notice and a share in any commission Frank earns as a result of being able to continue pursuing a lead.

From the case study discuss any five (5) possible causes of conflict teams. (25 marks)

Question 3 [25 marks]

i. Discuss role of a manager in a team cycle (15 marks)

ii. Use the Aldair's model of teamwork in your organisation and evaluate how it is used (10 marks)

Question 4 [25 marks]

The client's challenge "First of all we have the challenge of managing a virtual team. Our reality is that for many of our people managers, a large part of their team is geographically somewhere else. We have found that the regular toolbox that you develop as a manager needs to be adapted to this situation. Some of our managers have successfully done this by their own devices, but we wanted to speed up that learning curve - this is where training is essential and appreciated. Our second goal is to provide training and support to any team member working in a virtual team. It's logical that the same kind of principles apply to both team members and team leaders, but still we felt that it shouldn't be just a one-size-fits-all training that we offer to everybody - there are differences too. And last but not least - we need a practical and financially viable solution for training everybody in our organization - no matter where they are based!"

Case question:

Discuss the challenges and advantages of working virtually (25 Marks)