Indian Institute of Management

Indore

A Report on Henry Tam and the MGI Team

Submitted to Professor (Dr.) Abha Chatterjee

Submitted by:
Abhyuday Das
Roll: 2014PGP012
Section D
Subject: WAC

27th February 2015

Letter of Transmittal
To
Professor Abha Chatterjee
IIM Indore
Madhya Pradesh, India
Dear Madam,

Enclosed is the report that you commissioned for on the case of Henry Tam and the MGI
Team. The main findings of this report are that only having a diverse talented team is not
sufficient for achieving success. It is necessary to have team norms and a team leader.
Finally, I would like to thank you for the opportunity this report gave me to familiarise
myself with this topic and to develop my research skills, which will be valuable for me to
write our next reports.

Regards,
Abhyuday Das

Abhyuday Das
Section D, PGP1
IIM Indore
Madhya Pradesh, Indore

Executive Summary
The report on the Henry Tam and the MGI Team analyses the possible reasons behind the
ineffective working style of the MGI team. The report analyses the root causes from the
perspective of task, people, formal and informal organisation. In this case although the team
comprises multi-background talents the work pace of the team is very slow. The submission
deadline of the Harvard Business Plan Contest was due in three weeks. The report talks about
three alternatives that Henry Tam could do in this situation. It also identifies the pros and
cons of each alternative based on four evaluation parameters. At the end the report suggests
that Henry Tam should step up and take the charge of leading the team. It also describes the
necessary steps that Henry Tam should follow to implement this plan.

Contents
Letter of Transmittal................................................................................................... 2
Executive Summary.................................................................................................... 3
1.

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

2.

Analysis................................................................................................................ 5
Task......................................................................................................................... 5
People..................................................................................................................... 5
Perspective of Formal Organisation.........................................................................5
Perspective of Informal Organisation.......................................................................5

3.

Problem Statement.............................................................................................. 6

4.

Alternative Solutions............................................................................................ 6

5.

Criteria of Evaluation............................................................................................ 6

6.

Evaluation............................................................................................................ 6

7.

Recommendation................................................................................................. 8

8.

Implementation Plan............................................................................................ 8
Convincing the team members ..........................................................................8
Setting up the norms, roles and responsibilities..................................................8
Sticking to a strict time-line.................................................................................9
Asking for views from non-participating members...............................................9

Reference................................................................................................................. 10

1. Introduction
MGI team, founded by an HBS alumnus Sasha and two professional musicians Igor and Roman
came up with a promising product: a CD-ROM music game that children enjoyed playing while
learning about music. The team asked for help from two HBS student Henry Tam and Dana
Soiman to participate in the Harvard Business Plan Contest. The contest is well known among
the investors and the winners attract a good amount of attention from the angel investors and
venture capitalists. Two students from different colleges were later added to the team to bring
diversity. Although the team was dynamic the progress of the team on the business plan was very
slow. With only three weeks away from the submission deadline Henry knew he had to find a
way to submit a promising business plan in the contest.

2. Analysis
Let us discuss the four factors to consider when setting up an effective team to identify where the
team went wrong.

Task
The task of the team was to write a business plan. But he team did not divide the work amon
the members. Also it did not break the task into multiple subtasks. Brainstorming was done
in a disorganised manner. Required outputs were not determined at the end of the discussion.

People
There was not much cohesiveness within the team. There were a main group and a subgroup.
Also two of the members did not participate much. They did not set their roles and
responsibilities. This limited them from utilising the ability of all team members properly.

Perspective of Formal Organisation

The team did not have an officially appointed leader. No one stepped up to take the
leadership role also. Therefore there was no one in the team who can define role structure,
take important decision and asses the team performance.

Perspective of Informal Organisation

The team did not set the norms. Different members were introduced at different meetings.
Hence forming stage took longer time. People did not spend time to develop a good working
culture. Also there was a tendency of blame game within the team. Ineffective
communication was one of the main reasons for the slow work pace of the MGI team.

3. Problem Statement
What should Henry Tam do now to submit a good business plan in the HBS Business Plan
Contest?

4. Alternative Solutions

Henry should recognise Sasha as the team leader

Henry should take the charge of leading the team
Henry should hire a neutral team manager from outside of the team

5. Criteria of Evaluation
The evaluation criteria for analysing the alternatives are the following

Time
Effort
Cost
Impact on the team

6. Evaluation
A. Henry should recognise Sasha as the team leader
The team clearly needed a leader. Henry could convince other team members to recognise
Sasha as the team leader. A unanimous consensus from the team to recognise Sasha as the
team leader would reduce the conflict. Sasha had an aggressive way of leading the team. In
this critical situation when the submission deadline is within three weeks his way of
leadership would help the team.
Time

Very less time will be required to implement this alternative if the majority of team members
are in favour of this. But Dana might refuse this alternative.
Effort

Being a co-founder Sasha would not find it difficult to get consensus from the other team
members to become the team leader.
Cost

Almost no cost would be incurred to implement this alternative.

Impact on the team

Although the time, effort and cost spent to implement this alternative are negligible, the team
might not achieve its desired goals. From his CV it is clear that Sasha did not have any
significant achievement. Also he had an orthodox way of thinking and unstructured way of
doing things. Also since the formation of the team he could not show remarkable
performance in guiding the team. Hence this alternative does not promise much.

B. Henry should take the charge of leading the team

The decision making process was slow or non-existent in the team. In this circumstance
Henry could appoint himself as leader with the consensus of the majority in the team.
Although the expectation of creating dramatic change overnight was absurd Henry could
define the norms of the team, roles and responsibilities of the team members and establish a
healthy working relation within the team. On behalf of the team he should set short term and
long term goals which are specific and realistic.
Time

Very less time will be required to implement this alternative if the majority of team members
are in favour of Henrys stepping up.
Effort

Significant amount of effort would be required from Henry to convince the team members
for getting their consensus.
Cost

Almost no cost would be incurred to implement this alternative.

Impact on the team

Henry is structured, amicable, soft-spoken, and hardworking and justifies his point with data.
He would get consensus for stepping up from every team member including Sasha. As he had
been associated with the team for a long time he knew the strength and weakness of each
member very well. He would be able to divide the work well and set the norms of the team.
His structured working style would help the team streamline its work process. Also, this
alternative does not demand for significant amount of money, time and effort to get
implemented.

C. Henry should hire a neutral team manager from outside of

the team
The group was dynamic but it lacked cohesiveness. They used to have only brainstorming in
the meeting. Nothing used to get executed in reality. Even after all long discussions everyone
in team held conflicting visions and opinions. If things would go this way only they had very
little chance of submitting a promising business plan in the Harvard Business Plan Contest
which had its submission deadline in less than three weeks.
Therefore they can hire a team manager from outside of the team: someone having
coordinating and conflict-solving capability. He/she was required to come up with a way to
pull the team together and to guide the team towards a single direction. He/she would be also
responsible for helping the members set their goals, roles and responsibilities. At the same
time he/she would help the team to stick to a strict timeline which is necessary to get things
done within such a short time span.

Time

Significant amount of time is required to find a suitable team manager. Time is required
him/her to integrate with the team and to know the strength and weakness of every member.
Effort

Hiring a suitable team manager will take considerable effort from the team.
Cost

Significant amount of cost would be incurred if the team-manager asks for monetary
compensation structure. Rather the team should select a team-manager who would be ready
to work for in exchange of equity shares.
Impact on the team

This alternative might add more confusion of other members for adding one more member.
Also time, effort and cost incurred are high. But on the other hand it has several merits. It can
bring friendly atmosphere to the team. It will reduce the conflicts among the members,
improve the communication among team members and streamline the work-process for
writing the business plan.

7. Recommendation
Considering all the evaluation parameters it is recommended that Henry should step up and
take the charge of leading the team.

8. Implementation Plan
Convincing the team members

Henry should first discuss the plan of stepping up with Dana. It is expected that Dana will
agree to his point as both of them have a good understanding between each other. Then he
should convince the MIT student Dav Clark and external consultant Alexander Jan Sartakov.
After that he should convince the co-founders Igor and Roman and should request them to
convince Sasha.
Setting up the norms, roles and responsibilities

The team clearly did not have any norms, roles and responsibilities. Henry should first set the
norms of the teams. Then he should help the team members set their roles and
responsibilities based on their strength and weakness.
Sticking to a strict time-line

As the submission deadline is within three weeks Henry should develop a strict timeline and
he should help the team stick to that. He should not let any important topic remain undecided
after the meeting. For an example he should ask the team to take decision on deciding a
single target market segment (education or entertainment).

Asking for views from non-participating members

Henry should ask for active participation from Dav Clark and Alexander Jan Sartakov. They
had good amount of knowledge and experience in software development and music industry
respectively. Their view and ideas will only help the business plan get better.

Reference
1. Polzer, Jeffrey T., et al. (2003). Henry Tam and the MGI Team, HBS No. 9-404-068.

Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.