Team Dynamics Overview
Roles and Titles
In the case study, one of the key aspects to note is that Medical Informatics has been working closely with the aim being towards creating a new product that would advance its position, which is the clinical data warehouse software package. The main factors that would determine the success of this product are the time taken to market the new product and the quality outcomes. The scope of the project seeks to provide valid information on the how the software package seeks to handle wellness vendor data in an effective manner. A team of at least 10 people has been put in place to handle all dynamics but falls short of outlining how the health provider would be able to achieve the necessary goal for the project. Some of the key persons in the project include John Current, who is the Project Manager, Sue Barret, who is the Sponsor, Roy Kirk (Project Team Member), and Kevin Smith (Project Team Member).
Reporting Structure
Banker, Hu, Pavlou, & Luftman (2011) define the reporting structure as a chain of communication occurring within an organization or a team with the aim being towards aiding in effectiveness in performance for the entire team. In the case of Medical Informatics, the main aspect to consider is that the reporting structure created within the health organization reflects on a process of reporting to the Project Manager, John Current. The project manager is seen as the main person with the capability of making decisions that reflect on the organization considering that he is able to evaluate the overall possibilities of making changes to the project to make sure that it meets its expected outcomes.
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Team History
The team associated with Medical Informatics is considered as being good and effective in its objectives and expectations considering that it has worked together for similar projects in the past. Consequently, this means that the plan for this project would be determined by information from prior projects. In the event that a project team has handled previous projects together, the likelihood of success increases significantly, as it becomes much easier for the team to use the same dynamics from prior projects to build on overall success (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003).
Current Team Stage
While considering the five-stage team development model, it can be noted that the Medical Informatics team can be considered as being within the storming stage. One of the main markers of the storming stage in teams is the constant occurrence of internal conflicts, which pose a major challenge for team performance (Lester, Parnell, & Carraher, 2003). In this case, the team has worked together for previous projects; thus, meaning that it is way past the forming stage and has been able to move towards the idea of having to work together.
Cause of Conflict
The conflict may arise due to a wide array of factors including the possibility that the project manager, John Current, lacks leadership, communication lapses, and lack of the expected amount of resources. Each of these factors is likely to create an avenue through which conflicts occur within the team setting, which would have serious implications on the expected outcomes for the team.
Skill team is missing
The most basic skill that the team is missing is communication. Lack of proper communication creates a significant challenge in trying to build overall connection between the persons in the team. On the other hand, the team also lack skills associated with the use of MS visual studio developer while considering that the current developers are only skilled in use of Java and has only used MS studio for a period of two weeks.
Conflict Resolution Leadership
Leadership Style
Leadership is seen as one of the key aspects of consideration towards determining the overall dynamics of a team, as a leader is able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses associated with each of the team members to capitalize on the same (Anderson & Sun, 2017). The idea of having to use an effective approach through which to build on the leadership style that the project manager would use remains as a valid outcome. That means that John Current would need to evaluate the different leadership styles to determine which of these styles provides him with a closer connection to the team members.
Appropriate skills for each role
For the project manager to determine the appropriate skills for each role in the team, it would be important to come up with an approach through which to allocate varied tasks to the team members. The project manager will be expected to evaluate each of the team members to determine their abilities to deliver based on their set out expectations. The team members will be expected to improve on some of the key skills that include communication and leadership as part of the soft skills. Regarding the hard skills, specifically focusing on the lack of experience in using MS Studio, the team would be expected to find an appropriate individual with the required experience in using this software. The estimated outcome is that this would help improve on the possibilities of success for the entire team.
Conflict Resolution Strategy
In the case of the Medical Informatics team, a collaborative/problem solving strategy would be considered as being most appropriate in ensuring that the team is able to build on the overall capacities to deliver on positive results. The use of this strategy would mean that each of the team members would be given an opportunity of having to provide his or her opinion on some of the key approaches that the health facility seeks to undertake. Additionally, this strategy would also help towards create a collective approach through which to ensure that the team members are able to reach an amicable solution in the event of a disagreement.
Motivation and Confidence
Recommended Strategy
The recommended strategy for the Medical Informatics team would revolve around promoting communication as one of the key aspects that defines overall abilities for the team to meet some of its set out goals and objectives. The project manager would need to set out a rather effective reporting structure in which individual team members do not necessarily report to him as part of the project. Instead, this would mean that reporting would be viewed as a collective effort from all the parties involved as part of the project. The parties would be expected to focus on providing information that they considered as being important in their bid towards ensuring that the project achieves overall success outcomes. The adoption of this strategy would mean that the team would be in an effective position through which to advance the team spirit while ensuring that the team builds on its front for trust and support.
References
Anderson, M. H., & Sun, P. Y. (2017). Reviewing leadership styles: Overlaps and the need for a new ‘full ‐ range’ theory. International Journal of Management Reviews , 19 (1), 76-96.
Banker, R. D., Hu, N., Pavlou, P. A., & Luftman, J. (2011). CIO reporting structure, strategic positioning, and firm performance. MIS quarterly , 487-504.
De Dreu, C. K., & Weingart, L. R. (2003). Task versus relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction: a meta-analysis. Journal of applied Psychology , 88 (4), 741.
Lester, D. L., Parnell, J. A., & Carraher, S. (2003). Organizational life cycle: A five-stage empirical scale. The international journal of organizational analysis , 11 (4), 339-354.
