Kory GillOrganizational Comm.

10/16/13Dennis Sutton

The Five Dysfunctions of a team (Reaction Paper)

This book confirms that a company can make a turn for the worst if the upper

management doesn’t communicate well with each other. Decision Tech had the most

experienced and expensive executive team and a good business plan, but Decision Tech was

behind two of their competitors. This is because the executive team didn’t work as a team. This

tells me the most important thing for a company is to have the higher ups work as a team. If

people is not working as a team, the company will have a hard time trying to survive. To take

this even further, I researched why Goldman Sachs is highly successful. The biggest thing that

jumped out is Goldman Sachs doesn’t tear their team down but other people teams from other

competitors. This goes to say great companies knows team work is a must and group

communication skills is one of the common requirement to get hired at most companies.

I like the fact that the chairman at Decision Tech hired Kathryn. The reasons are: first of

all, nobody at the company approved of Kathryn (at first). This is good because the team of

executives was dysfunctional and if the chairman would have promoted somebody from the team

as CEO, the company probably would have went out of business. Also, Kathryn proved later that

she was the right pick as CEO. Lastly, Kathryn is a women. This is important because it gives

some women hope that women being equal to men is possible.

The most interesting thing I found in this book is Kathryn didn’t consider herself part of

the team until later on in the book. This is interesting because Kathryn felt that she could tell

them what to do but yet she didn’t feel that she was a part of the team. This to me is an important

insight to what Kathryn was feeling. It’s almost symbolic from what was happening because

when the group acted more like individuals Kathryn didn’t feel like she was part of the team.

However, when the team started to act as a team Kathryn started to feel like she was a part the

team.

This book was like watching a movie to me. I felt like I was the CEO of the company and

my stomach felt like it dropped to the floor when JR and Mikey quit. When Kathryn made Mikey

quit, a displeasing taste came into my mouth. This was because I know that Mikey was one of

the more talented people on the team. However, Kathryn made the right decision. Looking at it

from a CEO point of view, Mikey had to go because it would have dragged the whole team

down. This is why Kathryn experience was so critical and the story she told about when she

promoted a good worker that everybody couldn’t stand. As CEO, she had to get rid of Mikey to

get the team to function right.

I like that Kathryn had some trouble with the team. This is because if Kathryn didn’t have

any trouble communicating with the team than it would of made the story unbelievable. Nobody

that has done great things in their careers, done them without any conflicts. That’s why conflict

was needed in this book. Also, people can relate to things better if it is similar to what there

company has gone through.

I found it somewhat amusing that Green Banana was looking to buy Decision Tech. The

main reason I found it funny is because not too long ago Decision Tech was looking to buy

Green Banana. This goes to show how things can quickly change in business. This dilemma

reminded me of Apple and Microsoft. When Apple was not doing well, Microsoft had a chance

to buyout Apple but decided not to and as a result of that Apple controls a big portion of the

technology world now.

I liked the fact that the company improved the revenues for the year. This is a reflection

of how well the team work together and how important it is to have upper management get

along. Also, this proves how well Kathryn has lead the group. I liked the fact that the company

was tied for number one. This shows that the culture can change in even the most difficult

groups. The executive group reminded me of the Detroit Lions. This is because while the Lions

are struggling to change, you can tell that change is happening in Detroit based on how many

games they are winning. This is similar to the group of executives.