Organizational Behavior

Assignment: Case Study—Managing a Global Team

The case study "Managing a Global Team" involves Sun Microsystems, a technology company acquired
by Oracle in 2010—but the challenges and opportunities raised by the case, remain relevant (and
perhaps painfully familiar!) for today. This is a group assignment.

Assume you are a team of external advisors, whom Greg James, the central character in the case, has
hired to develop a plan for getting his team back on track. With your study group, please prepare 1) a
brief but clear and actionable diagnosis/framing of the current situation and what has happened
(remember, the presentation is being given to James—and he’s familiar with the case!), and 2) a
prioritized set of recommendations for James to get his team back on track. 

Please make appropriate use of posted materials, and of course your own experiences, and make a 7-10
minute recording of your team presenting their recommendations to James, upload a link to Eduflow for
peer review.

Audience members will also be asked to submit feedback. Things to look for include:

 Has the group framed the situation in a clear, compelling and actionable way?
 Does the presentation tell a clear story, in support of the recommendations made?
 Is the group's central message/recommendation clear?  Are there a few main ideas or themes
that tie everything together, or is it simply a 'to do' list of many disparate actions? Reminder: a
simplistic long list of 'to do' items is often an indicator that insufficient time has been spent.  With
sufficient time spent by the team, a few (say, 1-3) central themes will begin to coalesce and
provide for clarity in your overall message.  If there is overall clarity and central theme(s), then
you can also include detailed info, and the audience will be able to follow.  Detailed info without
central themes or frameworks will quickly lead to 'information overload' for the audience.
 If you were Greg James, do you have confidence that these recommendation will indeed get your
team back on track?
 Are the recommendations non-obvious, and specific enough to be actionable?  In other words, if
you are Greg James, at the completion of this presentation, is it clear for you what your
immediate next steps should be? If recommendations to make investments are included, are
they costed out, with at least a summary level of the required expenditures?
 Has the group demonstrated competency in dealing respectfully and effectively with the cultures
represented?

Thank you in advance for putting together your best work.