Case Study 8

Case Study: “Teams Drive the Fast Cars”

Question 1:

What types of formal and informal groups would you expect to find in a racing team? What roles could each play in helping the team toward a winning season?

Answer 1:

The formal groups would be divided into such as pit crew, management crew, drivers, etc., whereas the informal group would be a mix and match in between all above groups. The role of formal groups has to work together and work out a solution when problems appear despite which informal group they belong. On the other hand, informal group brings the crew from different formal teams and create bonds between them, that would create better work connection between different formal groups, which leads to greater chance of winning, because the better the team stick together, the greater team performance can be reached.

Question 2:

Racing teams and their leaders have to make lots of decisions- from the pressures of race day to the routines of everyday team management. When and in what situations would you see teams making decisions by authority rule, minority rule, majority rule. Consensus, or unanimity? Are all of these decision approaches acceptable at some times and situations, or are some unacceptable at any time? Defend your answer.

Answer 2:

In racing situation, all kinds of different decisions are made by different rules, for example, manager makes decisions by authority rule to call off the team practice due to safety concerns or making changes of team formations. Teams make decisions by minority rule such as letting the drivers to decide when to overtake the car in front. Majority rule comes in when the team is making schedules for season practice. Consensus decisions usually happen when authority rule decisions failed by the manager and then team was given alternative choice, then team members would be making decisions based on majority favor alternative. As for unanimity decision, it is ideal and it is the best to describe the...