Mgi Team Project: Summary the Central Problem

MGI Team Project: Summary

The central problem of the company Music Games International (MGI) is essentially one of conflicted leadership. The leadership hierarchy has no organization and is intensely factionalized. While one of the initial co-founders of the project named Igor sees the Harvard Business School students Henry Tam and Dana as integral in helping shape the vision and strategy of MGI, his co-founder Sasha is quite hostile to their input. Bringing in other outsiders, including a music industry consultant named Alex and a technical consultant named Dave has created an even more balkanized atmosphere.

Recommendations made to prevent or address this problem

Every organization must have a common goal and an agreed-upon structure of leadership. Even in a democratically-run organization, there is basic agreement amongst the members that a participatory model is preferred. However, in this particular case, a straightforward democracy would not be an advisable way of running the company, given the hostility that currently exists between the members. Various leadership structures are available, including having a permanent leader; a rotating leadership, and combining the models by having regular managing partners with rotating leaders. It is also possible to use a facilitator or coordinator in addition to a leader to deal with conflicts.

Within this group, given the tensions that exist, it is unlikely that there would be an agreed-upon leader that all would obey without some intervention. The option of having rotating leaders is also unlikely to generate the cohesiveness that is required to enable the organization to move forward. The best option is having a coordinator deal with the conflicts. The coordinator must listen to all of the various perspectives of the team members and help them arrive at a mutually agreed-upon and advantageous conclusion. Having a coordinator seems essential, given the breakdown of communication that has occurred on this team.

A brief rationale for the selected recommendations

Ultimately, all of the involved parties have a common interest in the success of the organization. The main problems are rooted in miscommunication, mistrust, and personality conflicts. The coordinator could help all team members remember their common goals and values and create a collective vision and mission.