MediSys Corp.

: The IntensCare Product Development Team Case Analysis

Mari Zaridze

School of Economics, Business and Administration of the University of Georgia

Instructor: Shalva Dundua

Tbilisi

2011
 MediSys Corp. 2

Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Company Background and Product Development Procedures .............................................................. 4

Problem Description............................................................................................................................. 10

Alternative Solutions and Recommendations ...................................................................................... 16

Conclusion............................................................................................................................................ 27

References ............................................................................................................................................ 28
 MediSys Corp. 3

Introduction

MediSys is a U.S.-based medical device manufacturer. It has been developing IntensCare

project, a new medical system for monitoring patients in intensive care units. This project

represents the most ambitious move in the companys 10-year history. The company had

invested large finances in this project and the market eagerly awaits its launch. The product

development team consisting of people from several functional areas of the company, has been

working on the product for six months but is now facing significant problems with the product

design, clinical testing, meeting the production deadlines, and their own group dynamics. The

pressure had also increased because of competitors also planning to launch similar products

within the year. Several team members are concerned about meeting the team's goals. The

relationship between team members is quite tense and it doesnt promise much progress.

This analysis will focus on team management and its dynamics, analyze the situation and

diagnose problems in IntensCare product development team. The analysis will provide viable

solutions and recommendations to the problem and offer various techniques and activities from

different disciplines that can help MediSys Corp. launch its product successfully.
 MediSys Corp. 4

Company Background and Product Development Procedures

MediSys Corp is a privately held medical device manufacturer, founded in 2002 and

based in USA. The company has 1750 employees. MediSys develops, manufactures and sells

medical monitoring systems for hospitals. Its first two products, pulmonary and renal monitoring

systems, had high success in the hospital segment. Despite the fact that the company is relatively

small, its quite profitable with revenues reported to be $400 million in 2008.

MediSys established an entrepreneurial culture fostering innovative thinking among the

employees. As a result, the company had numerous promising initiatives at various stages of

development from redesign to development of new systems. IntensCare is one of such new

systems.

MediSys had two major competitors, with considerable resources and strong image in the

industry, who were also planning to move into the companys key markets with products

designed to compete with IntensCare. To counteract these threats, new president, Art Beaumont,

was hired in January, 2008. Beaumont introduced several changes in the companys organization

structure:

Beaumont created an Executive Committee consisting of 5 Vice Presidents from

different functional areas, particularly: sales and marketing, research &

development, design and engineering, production, and administration.

Beaumonts intention was to create an executive team that would formulate and

implement an effective business strategy.

He also created a cross-functional team, including people from all critical

functions. This, as he believed, would speed the product development.

The chart below shows MediSyss organization structure:

 MediSys Corp. 5

Exhibit 1: MediSys Organization Chart, 2009

Art Beaumont
President

Len Broman Arnie Frederick

Martha Hill Peter Fisher Zoe Thompson
VP VP
VP VP VP
Design & Research &
Production Sales & Marketing Administration
Engineering Development

Jack Fogel Valerie Merz

Dipesh Mukerjee Senior Production Marketing Karen Baio
Manager, Aaron Gerson
Software Design Managrer & Regulatory
IntensCare Scientist
Manager IntensCare Project Business Affairs
Leader Leader

Bret OBrien
Senior
Engineering
Manager
Source: (Donnellon, Margoli, 2009, p. 8)
Note: Blue shading indicates Management committee members; Green shading indicates IntensCare core team members.
 MediSys Corp. 6

Product development procedures in MediSys followed several sequential steps:

1. First, R&D staff proposed new technologies or new systems that could yield new

business opportunities.

2. Second, the new idea was offered to senior leaders. Once they agreed on it, the

project was passed to Sales & Marketing to develop product descriptions according to

customers needs, which were forwarded to Product Engineering and Software

Design departments.

3. Engineering and Software Design developed them into product specifications, and

passed those on to the Regulatory group which conducted research and clinical trials,

if necessary, to test system prototypes.

4. Once the trial and testing were finalized, the project was passed on to the production

group, responsible for assembly and fabrication of the product.

IntensCare project was pioneered in much the same way as other MediSys's products by Aaron

Gerson from the R&D group in 2006. Gerson initiated the idea for a patient monitoring system

that would collect data on patients in intensive care units and post it to an electronic database.

This database could provide an integrated profile of an individual patients health. (Donnellon

& Margolis, 2009, p. 3) He offered this idea to Peter Fisher (now VP of Sales & Marketing), a

friend in Sales, who surveyed the clients and found great interest. Gerson and Fisher, then,

contacted the Software Design department and soon they developed an informal group. After

market research and product design, the group took the project to senior leadership to acquire

funding. In July 2007, the group was given $500,000 as a starting capital. There wasnt much

progress in development and plus Fisher has been promoted to vice president position.
 MediSys Corp. 7

This is why Beaumont introduced a parallel system for product development the cross-

functional teams. As you can see from Exhibit 1, the core team includes people from various

functional areas of the organization, from R&D to Regulatory Affairs department. This team

works together to move the product from conceptual to final production stages. The team also

has a project leader, who coordinates the work among team members, overlooks the whole

project, allocates resources and serves as a liaison between the members and a senior

management. The essence of these teams is highly beneficial: "Parallel development doesn't

allow people to single- mindedly defend the position of their functional area," one employee

noted, "or what's easiest or best or cheapest for their own functional area. It forces people to look

at the bigger picture." (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p. 3)

To gain more understanding of the team and the characteristics of its members, a short

description of each member is provided below:

Jack Fogel, Senior Production Manager. Led the renal monitoring system launch. Is

responsible for the final assembly of the IntensCare system. He characterizes himself as

the one who should overlook every activity in the team, have a holistic view on the

project and make sure that communication flows freely within the team. But according to

other team members, Fogel doesnt really succeed in performing his role as a leader. For

example, Valerie Merz often questions his involvement in the modular design issue.

Dipesh Mukerjee, Software Design. Initiator of outsourcing software design and

development functions to a firm in India. He seems quite confident in this approach, but

other team members are a lot more skeptical whether this offshoring effort will be a

success. Indeed, there are some delays with the software design, which, as Merz noted

can be a potential roadblock for the success of the product.

 MediSys Corp. 8

Karen Baio, Regulatory Affairs. She is seen as the one who deliberately delays and

prevents progress in the development of the product. She does not get on well with

Mukerjee and Merz and thinks that both care more about meeting deadlines than testing

the software thoroughly.

Sometimes their childishness really bugs me, she reported. They act like this
whole effort is some kind of game we are trying to win, instead of an important
healthcare initiative that will save many lives and therefore must function
perfectly and operate within the law. (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p. 6)

Aaron Gerson, R&D. Lead scientist on both monitoring products. Has four patents.

Created the IntensCare product concept and was the leader of the group that did early

development of the project. Gerson is quite confident in IntensCare success and doesnt

worry much about aggressive deadlines or competitor products, as other do. However, he

sees Mukerjees offshore development initiative quite concerning and questions whether

this approach can be both successful and cost-effective.

Valerie Merz, Marketing Manager. She is truly devoted to the project, but doesnt have

much confidence that the team members have competence to deliver the product that

Beaumont and the market are expecting. Most of the team members avoid her and have

negative feelings about her. Valerie characterizes herself this way:

I feel my position is mini- general manager. I have ultimate responsibility for

profit and loss on IntensCare. The engineers and production staff don't report to
me, but Im responsible for refining the product road-map. If I dont keep on
them, theyll stray to other projects. I provide the technical support to customers:
the training, the hotline, the technical support for field reps. Im in charge of
pricing, advertising, and sales promotion activities. I have all the responsibility
but no authority to get others to live up to their commitments. I have no idea what
Jack is doing, but it looks like he is just another good guy who doesnt want to
ruffle any feathers. Bret and Aaron always seem to have each others back. And
who knows what Dipesh is doing; I worry that this offshore development is going
way off track and no one even knows. (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p. 5)
 MediSys Corp. 9

Valerie seems like to have taken too much responsibility on herself, and acts like a

second project leader, but without any authority, either formal or informal.

Bret OBrien, Product Engineering. Part of ad hoc team for early development of

IntensCare. He and his engineering team are split between multiple projects, which

makes the quick development of IntensCare hard. From the beginning, OBrien

considered that tight deadline would be a real challenge for his staff and thinks that the

completion of the product almost mission impossible. (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p.

5) Now his solitary focus is on designing a high-quality product as quickly as he can. He

doesnt have good relationship with Merz, and constantly avoids meeting her. Bret

described his role within the team as follows:

We all have very different drivers, which really complicate our ability to make
good decisions together . . . I operate pretty much on my own. My objectives in
engineering are to deliver at cost, on time, and with specified features. Dates are
my driver and quality too. (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p. 5)

After assembling a core team, Beaumont committed an additional $20 million to the

rapid development of IntensCare and communicated the new IntensCare goal: Launch an

innovative, world-class MediSys product by August 2009. (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p. 4)
 MediSys Corp. 10

Problem Description

MediSys has several problems to deal with concerning IntensCare product development

team. And these problems have to be addressed shortly, due to the tight deadline given by

Beaumont.

First of all, Art Beaumont wanted to develop an executive team that would jointly create

and implement a strategy for growing the business swiftly. Beaumont, by himself acknowledges

the fact that management style of all the MediSys executives would also have to change in a

parallel development environment:

I know I am asking these folks to give up control, which will be hard for them in the
context of this major investment. But as the company has grown, a management style has
evolved here that doesnt reflect the entrepreneurial spirit that everyone loves to brag
about. It has become much more of a command-and-control culture with an emphasis on
technical excellence. Not that we dont need that, but the competition has become intense
and our reputation is on the line, so we need all the brain power and discretionary effort
we can get. I think that cross-functional teams are the only way to get that. But it will be
challenging for my direct reports and me to change our styles to be more patient, open,
and trusting, and not to intervene. (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p. 4)

Secondly, forming the core team created a narrower span of control within the

company. By establishing an executive committee to report directly to the president, and in

addition, a core team with a project leader for reporting purposes, the president of the company

made it even more difficult for communication to flow freely within the organization. In other

words, innovations brought by Beaumont created more layers between upper management and

the employees, which dont compliment the already established entrepreneurial culture within

MediSys. (Span of Control, Wikipedia, 2011)

This narrow span of control was intended to speed up decision-making within the

company; however, it encouraged overly tight supervision and discouraged employee autonomy.

Within such a tall organizational structure, which has many layers of management between
 MediSys Corp. 11

the lowest and highest positions, organization can suffer communication breakdowns and

delays as messages are passed up and down through multiple layers (Bove & Thill, 2008, p. 9).

Thirdly, parallel development did not change the reporting and evaluating procedures. All

employees in the team continued to report to their managers who supervised and evaluated them.

Thus employee evaluations are based on their performance in their functional areas and without

taking account their performance in the product development team. Consequently, they have no

motivation to do work outside of their functional area and contribute as much as they can to the

IntensCare project. This is the issue, Valerie Merz is concerned about: instead of doing the right

thing for the company and working towards single goal, it seemed that the group members were

concentrating on their own departments and roles.

Another issue is the tight deadline August, 2009 given by Beaumont for the launch of

IntensCare, which team considered to be very aggressive in terms of the difficulties they were

facing. These difficulties included the modular design, delays in hardware engineering and

delays in software development. These difficulties are also sources of conflict between the team

members.

The Modular Design. This was one of the most fiercely debated topics among the

IntensCare team members. By creating a modular design within the system, the customer would

be able to modify it and adjust it to various situations (e.g. neonatal intensive care), and thus

have greater flexibility.

The hospital equipment distributors we have interviewed are insistent that a modular

design will allow them to sell our system into a much wider set of segments from hospitals to

military organizations to a variety of clinical arrangements. says Merz Furthermore, the two
 MediSys Corp. 12

competitors who have announced their plans to enter the field have described what is essentially

a modular design. (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p. 6)

Despite this urgent necessity, Merz believed that modularity could be introduced in the

second version of the product. But she had not expressed this opinion to other members of the

team because she feared that such a suggestion would be used by engineering as an excuse to

continue ignoring the demand for modularizing anything.

On the other hand, Bret OBrien knew that the Design & Engineering department had no

intention of redesigning for modules at least for the first version of IntensCare. The department

had more serious problems concerning the internal space, which was essential to meeting the

deadline. Besides, noted OBrien, modules were addressed only in the most general terms in

the original 2007 IntensCare business plan, so we never designed for them, nor did we specify

such requirements for the software people. (Donnellon & Margolis, 2009, p. 7)

Delays in hardware engineering. Delays in engineering were most probably the results of

companywide cutbacks that also affected the Engineering department. OBrien, who represented

the engineering function in the product development team, had two other engineers reporting to

him who worked full time on the IntensCare. However, due to the layoffs, these engineers had to

work on other projects too.

Delays in software development. These problems occurred due to new outsourcing

approach introduced by Dipesh Mukerjee. Outsourcing can be a huge advantage in terms of

costs, but it can also drive the quality, and thus profitability down. It doesnt seem like Mukerjee

is worried about disadvantages of outsourcing and is sure that this approach will be successful.

He also dismissed Baios concerns about the time required for adequate testing of externally
 MediSys Corp. 13

produced software before integration into the IntensCare system. Despite his confidence, other

team members seem to withhold judgments that the offshore development would go off track.

Another problem is that Mukerjee seems to be working on his own, not communicating

important information to other members of the team. In fact, almost all of them say that no one

knows what is going in India. What is more important, software and hardware engineering had to

be coordinated to integrate the first with the latter, but according to OBrien with Mukerjee

spending so much time in India with software contractor, the integration issue hasnt been

discussed yet. This brings us to overall communication problems within the team.

Communication problem is one of the most important problems in IntensCare product

development team. For example, Merzs avoidance to bring the modular design issue into

discussion or Mukerjee working on his own. As effective communication is essential to every

aspect of team performance, this issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible. (Bove &

Thill, 2008, p. 36)

Also, as it was mentioned before, there is no clear team leader for the project itself. Jack

Fogel, the authorized leader of the team, is far too focused on the details of the product side and

far too little concerned about the business issues and the approaching launch. On the other hand,

Valerie Merz is acting as a team leader and had taken responsibility for most of the functions

concerning the launch of IntensCare, but she doesnt have any formal or informal authority to

lead the team. MediSys has to address this problem shortly, as clear leadership is what almost

every team needs to be effective.

And last but not the least, there is atmosphere of mutual distrust within the team. Team

members have negative feelings about each other; have no confidence in each others ability and

competency to work. As Patrick Lencioni notes in his article Conquer Team Dysfunctions
 MediSys Corp. 14

(2007) trust is the foundation of every effective team. In fact, the number one dysfunction of the

team appears to be The Absence of Trust. According to Lencioni, this occurs when team

members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another and are unwilling to admit their

mistakes, weaknesses or needs for help. Other team dysfunction: Fear of Conflict, Lack of

Commitment, Avoidance of Accountability, Inattention to Results. All of these build up on the

first dysfunction and thus we get a pyramid-like model, which can be represented as follows:

Exhibit 2: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Inattention to
Results

Avoidance of
Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict

The Absence of Trust

Source: (De Meuse, 2009, p. 11)

According to the summary of Lencionis book found on Executive Agenda web-site

(http://www.executiveagenda.com), on the trust dimension members of a dysfunctional team:

Conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from one another

 MediSys Corp. 15

Hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback

Hesitate to offer help outside their own areas of responsibility

Jump to conclusions about the intentions and aptitudes of others without attempting to

clarify them.

Fail to recognize and tap into one anothers skills and experiences.

Waste time and energy managing their behaviors for effect

Hold grudges

Dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time together

IntensCare team is clearly suffering from the lack of trust, as almost each member can

qualify for the above mentioned behaviors. A mere example of this is that almost all team

members view Karen Baio as an obstructionist, deliberately slowing down the progress. Another

example can be Baios resentment towards Valerie Merz. As long as there is no substitute for

trust, IntensCare team members needs to open themselves up to one another and develop an

environment of mutual trust and commitment.

 MediSys Corp. 16

Alternative Solutions and Recommendations

To address the problems identified in the previous section MediSys can use some of the

tools, techniques, methods and concepts from various fields. This section will provide alternative

solutions and recommendations for MediSys.

First of all, MediSys executives should give up control and respect the entrepreneurial

spirit within the company. Senior leadership needs to get involved in the product development

and express their ideas without imposing them on the team members. MediSys could set up a

web interface where employees could mention important information about themselves, such as

cultural values, management expectations and what motivates them. This would allow the senior

leadership to get to know their employees and get a better idea of team dynamics. MediSys could

use a wiki system, such as a blog on WordPress to facilitate communication between upper

management and lower- and mid-level employees. A wiki is a website that allows anyone with

access to add or edit material. One of key benefits of wiki is simple operation meaning that

writers dont need to know any of the techniques normally required to create web content.

Another advantage is the freedom to post new material or edit existing one without prior

approval and tight control. (Bove & Thill, 2008, p. 39)

To overcome problems with tall organization structure, MediSys can consider adopting a

flatter approach. Flat structures reduce the number of layers between upper-level and lower-level

management. (Bove & Thill, 2008, p. 9) Despite the fact that tall organization structure has its

benefits including close supervision of employees, clear and distinct layers with obvious lines of

responsibility and control and a clear promotion structure, it does slow down communication. On

the other hand flat organizations offer more opportunities for employees to excel while

promoting the larger business vision. With fewer layers, communication generally flows faster
 MediSys Corp. 17

and with fewer disruptions and distortions. Flatter structures are flexible and better able to adapt

to changes. For flat structures to work, leaders must share research and information instead of

holding on it as well as being open and tolerant. (Griffin, 2011)

Flat structures also have its disadvantages. One of these is the role ambiguity the

uncertainty that occurs when employees are not sure what is expected of them and how they

should perform their jobs. (Griffin, 2011) Another thing is that individual employees are

expected to assume more responsibility for communication. (Bove & Thill, 2008, p. 9) For

supervisors, too many people reporting to them may create information overload and make it

more difficult for them to perform their roles effectively. Despite these, MediSys should adopt

flatter organization structure, which will provide free flow of communication and thus speed up

decision-making and progress in product development.

As for the evaluating procedures, employees are currently evaluated based on

performance in their functional areas. There is little motivation for them to go outside their

functional areas. To counteract this, MediSys can align individual performance with

organizational objectives to improve business results. When workforce performance is aligned

with corporate objectives individuals in an organization develop a stake in that organization's

performance. Employees understand how their roles contribute to achieving the overall goals of

the business and as a result organizational objectives are met. In addition, MediSys could define

performance metrics for individuals and teams. (Holman, 2011)

Both of these can be accomplished through a Balanced Scorecard, a strategy tool

proposed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton. Balanced Scorecard uses financial measures to

tell the results of past actions and it complements them with operational measures on customer

satisfaction, internal processes, and the organizations innovation and improvement activities.
 MediSys Corp. 18

These operational measures are the drivers of future financial performance. Balanced scorecards

allow managers to view performance in several areas simultaneously. (Kaplan & Norton, 1992,

p. 71-72)

One of the five principles of the strategy-focused organization, as described by Kaplan

and Norton, is make strategy everyones everyday job. This means that employees must be

aligned to the strategy in order to create value. Strategy-focused organizations use the balanced

scorecard in three distinct processes to align their employees to the strategy: creating strategic

awareness, defining personal and team objectives, and linking incentives and compensation to

the balanced scorecard. (Kaplan & Norton, 2001a, p 5-6)

To create awareness of the strategy, senior executives at MediSys must communicate

their strategy to the lower-level employees, so that they understand it before getting involved

into the implementation process. (Kaplan & Norton, 2001a, p 5)

The most important part for MediSys is to define personal and team objectives, which

can be accomplished using personal balanced scorecards developed at the individual level. As

balanced scorecards group goals, objectives, and metrics into the areas of financial, customer,

internal business process, and learning and growth at the organization level, person scorecards do

the same but at the individual level. Employees at MediSys should develop their own vision and

mission and then link them to their personal goals and objectives in an organizational context.

Goals and objectives are specified with respect to the areas of financial, others, individual

strengths, and learning and growth. Financial captures employees needs about money, as well

as the financial obligations. Others reflect goals that employees have in relation to other

individuals or society at large. Individual strengths represent the internal perspective, reflecting

goals related to employees well-being. Finally, learning and growth refer to employees skills,
 MediSys Corp. 19

abilities, and aims with regard to personal and professional learning and growth. In this way,

senior executives will gain a clear understanding of how to motivate their employees, improve

their performance outside their functional areas and how to help them achieve their objectives

while at the same time fulfilling organizational needs. (Carpenter, Bauer, Erdogan, 2010, p. 157-

158)

And, finally to further extrinsically motivate employees, MediSys should link incentives

and compensation to the balanced scorecard. This linkage plays two important roles: It focuses

employees attention on the measures that are most critical for the strategy. Second, it provides

extrinsic motivation by rewarding employees when they and the organization succeed in

reaching their targets. But details of linking incentive pay to compensation differ for each

company, and thus MediSys has to develop a sufficient approach to how to accommodate this

process. For example, for financial metrics MediSys could use such measures as net income,

operating margin, and revenues. For the customer measures, such measures as customer

satisfaction, customer retention, and new customers can be employed. Internal business process

metrics can be safety, efficiency and new product development. And as for learning and growth

metrics, MediSys could base its pay on employee satisfaction, individual development and

diversity. Another issue is that the company has to assign weights to each metric. For example, it

could emphasize financial performance, by assigning 40% rate to it, and dividing the rest 60%

between customer, internal and learning and growth measures. (Kaplan & Norton, 2001b, p 253-

255)

Personal scorecards and balanced paychecks can be used for individual employees, as

well as teams. Thus the same process can be applied to IntensCare product development team as

a whole to emphasize the team performance.

 MediSys Corp. 20

An example of balanced scorecard is shown in Exhibit 3. Note that this is just an example

to illustrate how balanced scorecard is organized and designed.

Exhibit 3: Mobil NAM&Rs Balanced Scorecard

Strategic Themes Strategic Objectives Strategic Measures

Financial Financial Growth Return on Capital Employed
Existing Asset Utilization
Profitability
Industry Cost Leader
Profitable Growth
- ROCE
- Cash Flow
- Net Margin Rank (vs. Competition)
- Full Cost per Gallon Delivered (vs.
Competition)
- Volume Growth Rate
- Premium Ratio
- Nongasoline Revenue and Margin

Customer Delight the Consumer Continually Delight the
Targeted Customer
Win-Win Dealer Build Win-Win Relations
Relations with Dealer
Internal Build the Franchise Innovative Products and
Services
Best-in-Class Franchise
Teams
Safe and Reliable Refinery Performance
Competitive Supplier Inventory Management
Industry Cost Leader
- Share of segment in selected key
markets
- Mystery shopper rating
- Dealer Gross Profit Growth
- Dealer Survey
- New Product ROI
- New Product Acceptance Rate
- Dealer Quality Score
- Yield Gap
- Unplanned Downtime
- Inventory Levels
- Run-out Rate
- Activity Cost vs. Competition

Quality On Spec, on Time - Perfect Orders

Good Neighbor Improve EHS - Number of Environmental

Incidents
- Days Away from Work Rate
Learning & Motivated and Prepared Climate for Action Employee Survey
Growth Workforce Personal Balanced Scorecard (%)
Core Competences and Strategic Competency Availability
Skills
Access to Strategic Strategic Information Availability
information
Source: (Kaplan, Norton, 2001b, p. 41)
 MediSys Corp. 21

Another issue MediSys needs to address shortly is the difficulties they face in terms of

tight deadline. Firstly, as due to the aggressive deadline, it would be almost impossible to launch

the modularity option with the first version of IntensCare, MediSys should definitely include it in

the second version of the product as Merz intended. In this way, the company will increase

customer interest, have more time to create a better designed, innovative product and conduct

thorough testing and analysis of modular system. But Merz needs to bring up this issue to her

colleagues as soon as possible. The fact that two competitors are introducing the same product

with modularity is, of course, a disadvantage to IntensCare team, but what they need now is to

focus on the product itself and to produce a truly competitive, world-class system.

Secondly, to overcome problems with delays in hardware engineering caused by not

enough workforce devoted to the project, MediSys should prioritize which projects are of the

most importance to the company redesigning other products or devoting more time and effort

to the IntensCare. It should come as no surprise that IntensCare project is the first priority for

MediSys, given the tight deadline and competitive environment. Thus, what the engineering

team needs, is to devote more time and effort to IntensCare. OBrien should express his concerns

to Fogel and request more employees to work full time on the project.

Thirdly, Dipesh Mukerjee needs to reassure his team members about the success of

outsourcing software development to India by bringing up strong arguments for this approach.

As other team members express, Mukerjee relied solely on this outsourcing from the beginning

of the project without considering other options of developing the software internally or

contracting a supplier in the home country. Of course, these other options will drive costs up, but

it will also make it easy for Regulatory Affairs to test the product thoroughly and also make the
 MediSys Corp. 22

communication between the team and Mukerjee easier. Thus, MediSys can consider moving

from offshoring to internal development as a viable option.

One of the team-building activities MediSys can use to aid in problem solving is the

activity called Seven Hands, described by Brian Cole Miller in his book Quick Team-

Building Activities for Busy Managers (2004, pp. 118-120). This activity, as others proposed in

the book, runs maximum fifteen minutes and is easy to conduct. The purpose of the activity is

that participants learn how to work together toward a solution. It can be applied when:

The group has difficulty dealing with conflict over processes or methods.

Individuals are impatient with delays that keep them from moving forward quickly.

Individuals need help seeing patterns emerge in problems.

All of these problems can be applied to the IntensCare product development team.

A short description is provided below:

Seven Hands is the activity in which participants solve an ancient stacking puzzle.

Materials needed are: Washable ink marker or pens; and three sheets of paper for each team.

Here are the steps:

1. Divide the group into teams of four to seven. As there are only six members in the core

team, there can be only one team.

2. Next, all participants mark the backs of their hands with a number from 1 to 7 (in this

particular case, one of the team members has to mark both hands).

3. Lay three pieces of paper in front of the team.

4. Participants stack their hands on one paper in order from 7 to 1 on the top. This is the

start position.
 MediSys Corp. 23

5. The team is to restack their hands in the exact same order with 7 on the bottom

using only these moves:

Move only one hand at a time.

Move a hand onto another hand (or stack of hands) or onto an empty paper.

Move only the top hand on a stack.

Never move a hand on top of a lower numbered hand. (e.g. 3 can never be

placed on top of 1 and 2).

After the team has solved the puzzle team leader asks the following questions:

What strategy did you use to be successful?

How were differences of opinion about how to move handled in the team?

Did you have a leader? How whas he or she selected?

When someone on your team thought he or she knew the solution or at least the

next move, how did he or she behave? How did you respond to that?

Did you ever feel like you were backtracking? How did that make you feel? (e.g.

frustrated, wasting time etc.)

When do we backtrack to move forward in our organization?

What implications does this have for us back on the job?

By conducting this activity, the team can relax for a while, forget about tense relationship

between each other, and try to work together and collaborate to find a solution.

To overcome communication and coordination problems, MediSys can also use wiki to

facilitate communication between team members. Blogs, such as WordPress, Tumblr and others

provide users with effective tools of written communication. On WordPress, for example, users
 MediSys Corp. 24

can create various categories of posts, such as IntensCare team values or News about

software development in India in case of MediSys. (http://wordpress.com/)

In addition, IntensCare team can organize videoconferencing with Mukerjee who spends

a lot of time in India. The team can make use of such a simple tool as Skype calls, which are

free, provide the option of multiple people participating in the conversation, easy to use and have

a live video support. (www.skype.com).Via videoconferencing, Mukerjee can even participate in

team meetings, held every Friday, in case he is in India. Such communication tool will also aid

the engineering team in USA to coordinate its actions with software development and

successfully integrate hardware with software.

Leadership issues have also to be addressed as soon as possible. Instead of only one team

leader Jack Fogel responsible for coordinating and supervising all activities in the team,

IntesCare team can have two leaders, the second one being Valerie Merz. The fact is that Fogel

is too focused on the details of product side. On the other hand, Merz is highly qualified to

supervise the activities concerned with business issues of the project. Merz and Fogel could act

together as two authorized leaders of the IntensCare team, complementing and coordinating each

others actions. In this way, MediSys would have someone who knows the team members well in

the face of Jack Fogel (he has been with MediSys for long time) and a newcomer, Valerie Merz,

who has a fresh eye on members performance, is a real go-getter according to Beaumont and

can be a real driver of teams performance in terms of business side of the project.

But before even starting to implement this multiple leadership approach, IntensCare team

members needs to develop mutual trust between each other. As it was noted before, Patrick

Lencioni proposed that number one dysfunction of team is the absence of trust, among other five

dysfunctions. In his article Executive Excellence - Choose Teamwork (2005), Lencioni also
 MediSys Corp. 25

proposed ways to overcome this dysfunction: First of all the leader has to model vulnerable

behavior. If a leader is uncomfortable being honest about his or her issues, there is little chance

that team members will do so. And secondly, the leader needs to use simple but effective

exercises to help team members get comfortable being vulnerable. The article also provides two

exercises, which IntensCare team can successfully employ:

Personal history exercise. This exercise involves having team members reveal

something about their past: where they grew up, how many siblings they have, a difficult

challenge of their childhood. Executives come out of this 15-minute exercise amazed at what

they didn't know about the people they work with. They suddenly feel more comfortable talking

about who they are.

Behavioral profiling. Profiling tools provide team members with an objective, reliable

means for understanding and describing one another. MediSys could use Myers-Briggs Type

Indicator (MBTI), which is the most widely used instrument for understanding normal

personality differences. One of the providers of MBTI testing is KnowYourType.

(http://www.knowyourtype.com). Because it explains basic patterns in human functioning, the

MBTI is used for a wide variety of purposes including team building, management and

leadership training, problem solving, relationship counseling etc.

If IntensCare product development team members can build trust, they will have all the

opportunities to work effectively with each other and share each others values. As the summary

of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team on Executive Agenda (http://www.executiveagenda.com)

notes, members of trusting teams:

Admit weaknesses and mistakes

Ask for help

 MediSys Corp. 26

Accept questions and input about their areas of responsibility

Give one another the benefit of the doubt before arriving at a negative conclusion.

Take risks in offering feedback and assistance

Appreciate and tap into one anothers skills and experiences

Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics

Offer and accept apologies without hesitation

Look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a group

In addition, MediSys can also look for help from professional team consulting services, such

as The Table Group. The company provides fast-paced, practical and compelling consulting

sessions to leaders and teams. Additional information is available at The Table Group web-site

(http://www.tablegroup.com/).
 MediSys Corp. 27

Conclusion

In conclusion, by following the solutions and recommendations provided above, MediSys

Corp. can effectively manage its IntensCare product development team. MediSys can motivate

the team members to achieve organizational objectives and at the same time strive to meet their

own goals. In this way, the organization as a whole and all the functions and employees within it

will be in a win-win position. MediSys Corp. will be able to develop an innovative, a state-of-art

product and gain competitive advantage over others in the industry.

 MediSys Corp. 28

References

Bove, C. L. & Thill, J.V. (2008). Business communication today (9th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice

Hall.

Carpenter, M., Bauer T., & Erdogan B. (2010). Principles of management. New York: Flat

World Knowledge, Inc.

De Meuse, K. (2009). Driving team effectiveness. Retrieved December 15, 2011, from

http://www.lominger.com/pdf/teamswhitepaper080409.pdf

Donnellon, A., & Margolis, J. D. (2009). MediSys Corp.: The IntensCare product development

team. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing.

Griffin, D. Tall vs. flat organizational structure. Retrieved December 15, 2011, from

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/tall-vs-flat-organizational-structure-283.html

Holman V. How to align performance to organizational goals and objectives. Retrieved

December 16, 2011, from http://www.squidoo.com/performance_alignment

Kaplan, R.S. & Norton, D.P. (1992). The balanced scorecard Measures that drive performance.

Harvard Business Review, 70-79.

Kaplan, R.S. & Norton, D.P. (2001a). The strategy-focused organization. Soundview Executive

Book Summaries

Kaplan, R.S. & Norton, D.P. (2001b). The strategy-focused organization. Boston: Harvard

Business School Press.

 MediSys Corp. 29

Lencioni P. (2005). Executive excellence - Choose teamwork. Retrieved December 16, 2011,

from http://www.tablegroup.com/pat/articles/article/?id=3

Lencioni, P. (2007). Conquer Team Dysfunctions. Retrieved December 15, 2011, from

http://www.tablegroup.com/books/dysfunctions/Conquer%20Team%20Dysfunction.pdf

Lencioni, P. The five dysfunctions of a team. Retrieved December 16, 2011, from

http://www.executiveagenda.com/resources/fivedysfunctions.pdf

Miller, B.C. (2004). Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers. Ney York: America

Management Association,

Span of control. (2011, November 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved

December 16, 2011,

fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Span_of_control&oldid=459668949