A New Team Face

Abstract

A marketing team, asked to compile a marketing deck in response to an urgent request by the head of a business, has completed the task. Still, the team leader is concerned about the dynamics he observed during the meeting of his marketing group team. He has noticed that a recent recruit to the team, an African American, is being ignored when he contributes to the discussion, although his ideas are solid ones. The leader is left with some nagging questions: What happened to this recruit in the meeting? Why wasn't he more integrated into the team? How was he feeling about the meeting? And most important, was there any way to make the collaborative process more effective the next time around?

Excerpt

UVA-OB-0920

Rev. May 17, 2019

A New Team Face

Barry Giles had thought quite a bit about the dynamics he observed within his highly regarded marketing group team during a recent meeting. He was feeling quite satisfied with his team's performance under pressure as they banded together to compile the marketing deck in response to his business head's urgent request. There had been a lot of energy and commitment among team members, and the work got done quickly. Still, Giles was concerned about Derrek Fryar, a recent recruit to the team. Fryar had worked hard to contribute his thoughts to the discussion, but his ideas didn't seem to have much traction with the group. The ideas were solid enough—in fact, the group eventually had warmed up to several of them. But it seemed as if Fryar marched uphill in quicksand as he worked to be heard. After the meeting, Giles was left with some nagging questions: What happened to Fryar in the meeting? Why wasn't he more integrated into the team? How was he feeling about the meeting? Was there any way to make the collaborative process more effective the next time around?

The A Team

Barry Giles had taken leadership of his team only eight months earlier. He had joined the firm six years ago as a newly minted MBA from Columbia and was in the midst of a very promising career. His new assignment was evidence that he was moving forward in the firm. The members of his team—nicknamed the A team—had been working together for a few months before Giles took over. The team was comprised of Giles, Michael Krebs, Phillip Best, Carl McQueen, and Martha Staves. This group had really become very efficient and effective in completing its assignments—Giles felt fortunate to have this group under his command.

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Keywords: team dynamics, diversity, integration