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T.A Stearns was a national fax accounting firm whose main business was its
popular tax preparation service for individuals. The work as carried out in a virtual
environment by four programmers in the greater Boston area. Tom Andrews is a tax
lawyer, a graduate of the University of Maine and a former hockey player there.
At 35, Tom has worked on the programs for six years and is the longest-standing
member of the team. Along with his design responsibilities, Tom is the primary
liaison with Stearns. He is also responsible for training new team members. Cy
Crane, a tax accountant and computer science graduate of the University of
Massachusetts, is 32 years old, married, with two children ages four and six.
Marge Dector, a tax lawyer, graduated from Penn State University, is 38 years
old, married, with two children ages eight and ten. Megan Harris, tax accountant
and graduate of Indiana University, is 26 years old and single. When Cy developed
a program using his superior programming skills to reduce his man- hours and increase
productivity, he told about it only to his colleagues so that they benefit from it and
enjoy some leisure time. He didn’t tell about it to Dave because he feared that since his
program helps in doing the work of four people by only three people, one of them might
lose their job because of him. Another reason contributing to his secrecy was that their
team would get only 5% of the profit generated by the aid of their innovation only for
three months which was very less in comparison to the leisure time they had. The group
even increased the quality of their work so as to not arouse any suspicion. But Cy made
the terrible mistake of telling about his program to a member from another group which
aroused Dave’s suspicions. Dave was wondering for a few weeks after the
implementation of the program as to why the production time had decreased and the
quality of work had shot up. He got his first inkling form an e-mail he intercepted from
Marge to Cy thanking him for his brilliant thinking. Dave tried to confront Tom trying
not to create an embarrassing situation but got no further leads. He did not even tell his
boss about his suspicions since quality and productivity were up. But one day Dave
learned that Cy had boasted about his trick program to a person from another team in
the company. Dave decided that the matter had gone out of hands and pulled the reins
by inviting Cy to lunch and asking him to explain what was happening. This method was
wise and effective as it gave a sense of security to the offender who pleaded guilty
immediately but insisted that the reasons were justified so as to protect himself. This
manner of interrogation and his good use of intellect to cover an embarrassing situation
shows that he is an effective team leader. Also he respects the sentiments and feelings
of others which makes him a considerate man leading to his effective team leadership.
Case 1 (Answers)