INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT INDORE

Written Analysis and Communication

Case Analysis

Henry Tam and the MGI team

By: NIKHIL BHAGAT | 2014PGP228

Section C

To,

Abha chatterjee Professor Business Communication IIM Indore

Subject: Submission of assignment report on “Henry Tam and The MGI Team”

Dear Madam,This report is being submitted by Nikhil Bhagat, section C, on “Henry Tam

and The MGI Team” as part of the individual submission under the course “Written Analysis and Communication”.

I have followed the format explained by you. I have analysed all the case facts, identified the appropriate problem statement and evaluated the various alternatives to arrive at the final recommendation. Action plan has been formulated for the recommendation.

Sincerely, Nikhil Bhagat (2014PGP228) Section C

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary.................................................................................................................4

Introduction..............................................................................................................................5

Problem Statement...................................................................................................................7

Analysis.....................................................................................................................................7

criteria for evaluation..............................................................................................................8

Possible alternative solutions..................................................................................................8

Proposed Alternative................................................................................................................9

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION..................................................................................9

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report was commissioned to examine the current issue facing HBS students and MGI Co-Founders in the group they have formed to write a business plan for the company. The primary purpose is to evaluate the lack of collaboration between them and generating a feasible solution for building a consensus between them so that they can write their business plan in a given time.

The report suggests various alternatives that could be considered to tackle the situation like removing Sasha from the group, choosing a leader within the goup or hiring a team manager from outside. These alternatives were then reviewed as per the evaluation criteria parameters like building cohesiveness in the group and defining roles and responsibilities clearly.

After reviewing all the alternatives on the above parameters, the report recommends that an external manager should be hired for building the cohesiveness in the team and defining roles and responsibilities clearly.

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•MBA from HBS in 1987•Got extensive marketing, sales management

and buisness development experience

Sasha (co founder)

•Music composer and pianist•winner of the Best Music Award and the

audience choice award at 3rd FIFI in France

Igor Tkachenko (co founder)

•Internationally acclaimed music composer•Holds a doctor of Musical Arts in

Composition degree from Boston University

Roman Yakub (co - founder)

INTRODUCTION

MGI (Music Games International) is a small start – up company which was founded by Alexander (Sasha) Gimpleson, Igor Tkachenko, and Roman Yakub in 2000. The company was formed with an idea to produce original music and sound effects for Websites. The details of co- founders are as follows:

In fall 2001, MGI released its first commercial product, ‘Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker’. The firstedition of the Nutcracker game was a critical success but a commercial failure. MGI’s product received high marks for quality and originality, but the company lacked the experience and resources needed to effectively market and distribute the product. The company needed a business strategy to make their product a commercial success. So, they decided to participate in HBS business plan contest. Sasha sent an e-mail to the HBS studentswho will like to join the company and help the company in writing the business plan.

The HBS business plan contest was started in 1996 as a vehicle to educate and prepare students for future entrepreneurship opportunities. The official requirement for the teams was to include at least one second year HBS MBA student. So, MGI took Henry and Dana as a participants from HBS to join the group.

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•Concentrated person•Calm and soft spoken person•Creative and analytical person•Acts as a leader•Motivatied and hard working personality

Henry (HBS student)

•Focussed person•Goal oriented person•Persistent•Acts as a leader•Motivated and Hard working personality

Dana (HBS Student)

1st Meeting•Unclear roles and

responsibilty•Different attitudes

towards the students•Conflicts between Sasha

and Dana

2nd Meeting•Alex Sartakov (Berklee

college of Music) joined the group

•unclear direction of the comapny

•conflicts between sasha and Dana

•Dana and Henry's cooperation

3rd Meeting•Dav Clark ( MIT, IT

Graduate ) joined the group with MIT's buisness plan contest

•tensions in the group increased

•More debates and less work

Sasha saw Henry and Dana as Interns while they saw themselves as leaders and facilitators inshaping the vision of the company. Sasha and Dana had negative chemistry and they did not work very well together. Dana was business focussed and tries to approach the issues throughfinancial perspectives, while Sasha was more driven by creativity. That’s why the conflicts came into picture between them. Sasha and Dana wants to place the product in education sector while co-founders wants it to be placed in entertainment sector.

Three meetings held so far:

The deadline for the business contest is approaching and no significant progress has been made. If the company continue to operate as it had so far. It had a little chance of putting together a coherent business plan.

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PROBLEM STATEMENT

“ How can MGI co- founders and HBS students resolve their issues and work together effectively as a team to write the business plan in given time?”

ANALYSIS

1. The case clearly indicates that that Sasha and Dana has negative chemistry. They didn’t work very well together. There was a lot of friction between them. Dana lookedat things like a finance specialist- a wide lens, very broad view. Sasha, in her eyes, was just a salesperson- not a visionary, even though Sasha had her same degree.

2. The greatest differences within the team as rooted in national or ethnic origins, sometimes attributing behaviours among the MGI founders to cultural stereotypes. The greatest divide in the team came from the contrast between the creative impulses of the Musicians and the more pragmatic approach of the HBS students.

3. The team also lacked human resource management. There was a lack of structure and clarity in defining roles and responsibility.

4. MGI co- founders were driven by a creative idea and enthusiasm but the lacked structure and a clear vision to make their idea happening. They failed to successfully organize their tasks, divide work efficiently, delegate responsibilities and form a good team to lead company to success. When new members joined the group, tasks and roles were not defined clearly and incoherent structure continued to drive the activities the MGI group.

5. There was also a lack of effective communication between the group members. Sasha’s motivations were not clear to Henry and Dana when he recruited MIT student into the group.

6. After observing the three meetings, it becomes clear that there was no formal clear leader in all the meetings. The individuals acted on self-imposed demands rather than on the demands of the company. Igor and Roman cared only about their creative ideasand brainstorming sessions, Sasha thought that he can lead the company himself, the HBS students wanted to gain experience, Alex was a silent observer while Dav wanted to prepare the business plan for the MIT business plan contest.

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CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

The criteria for evaluation will be based on the following points

1. The evaluated solution should develop cohesiveness between the group so that they can work together effectively for the benefit of the company

2. The members should converge their individual objectives into one common goal3. The solution should be such that that the tasks and responsibilities of each member in

the group should be clearly defined.

POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS

1. Remove Alexander (Sasha) Gimpleson from the group

This alternative would probably will solve the basic problems of communication and workingin team resulting from Sasha’s poor communication skills, conflict handling and his leader attitude without taking in consideration the other group member’s. But it could also have serious consequences as Sasha is one of the core members and it is not easy to restrict him outside the Group.

Pros ConsHealthy communication in the team Removing of core memberConflicts will be less Losing out experienced member in buisnessLess brainstorming and more work False signal to other co -foundersProper team culture

2. Appoint someone as a leader within the group

This alternative of choosing a member within the group as team leader can improve collaboration between the team members and solve conficts. But it will not be possible to attain consensus in such a short time to find the group leader between themselves.

Pros ConsConflicts will be resolved Unable to achieve consensus in such a groupImproved communication among the team Might evoke hatred from other members

towards the leaderProgress in the business plan writing Chances group will respond more negativelyClear roles and responsibilities.

3. Recruit a Team manager from outside having an industry expertise

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This alternative will provide an external person with proper industry expertise capable of solving the conflicts between the members and lead them towards the common goal. In this he will acts as a neutral leader and thus less conflicts within the group. But there is less amount of time available to hire a team manager

Pros ConsImproved communication among team Less time available for recruitingNeutral leader, so no biasing More complex group with addition of new

memberLess conflicts will be thereProgress in the business plan writing

PROPOSED ALTERNATIVE

Recruit a Team Manager from outside

The outside manager can resolve the issues of the group more easily by acting as a neutral leader. He can convert the team into unified team. He will be like an observer who will defineclear task and responsibilities and direct all the members to work for one common goal. So, there will be no biasing towards any particular group member

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATIONFollowing Steps should be followed while recruiting a team manager from outside

1. The team manager must have an industry expertise2. After joining the group, he should look into the situation and problems prevailing in

the group3. Then , he should define roles and responsibilities of each group member4. He should reduce conflicts and try to channelize the skill level of each individual into

common goal.

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