P&G serves 4.2 billion consumers located in more than 180 countries, and their l
ID: 447982 • Letter: P
Question
P&G serves 4.2 billion consumers located in more than 180 countries, and their long-term goal is to sell products to the remaining 2.3 billion who inhabit the earth. To do so, and to remain ahead of global competitors such as Unilever (United Kingdom), LOreal(France), Kimberly-Clark(United States), and Henkel(Germany), P&G depends on innovations that result in a constant stream of new and improved products. In fact, a cornerstone of the companys business strategy is to integrate innovation into everything it does. Of course, the relevant question here is , what does P&G do to ensure that a sufficient number of important innovations occur? Generally speaking, P&G do to ensure that a sufficient number of important innovations occur? Generally speaking, P&G uses teams composed of diverse individuals that combine and integrate their knowledge and ideas in ways that result in novel and useful solutions that no single individual working independently could achieve. In short, innovations at P&G come from teams engaged in creative behavior.
To inspire the boldest innovations necessary to help the company deal with issues that are vitally important to its growth and success, P&G takes extraordinary steps to develop highly creative teams. Specifically, executives form small teams of eight to twelve members form a variety of disciplines and demographic backgrounds. Members of these highly diverse cross-functional teams are released from their normal jobs for several weeks so they can work exclusively with their new team at Clay street, a converted brewery located away from their offices. The idea is that true breakthroughs are more likely to occur if highly diverse individuals totally immerse themselves in the same problem and are constantly available to each other for collaboration. During the first two weeks together at Clay Street, teams do not directly engage in task work. Rather, facilitators lead the teams through activities that develop mental models regarding the parameters of their assigned tasks and reinforce the importance of cohesion and effective interpersonal teamwork processes. After the second week, the team begin to focus on their assigned task, but this doesnt mean a lot of clear progress is made. Team engage aspect of their assignment. At about six-week point, the lack of progress and loose ends start to frustrate team members and conflict ensues. At some point in the midst of this chaos, a eureka moment typically occurs where all the little bits and pieces of informational and ideas are processed synergistically to provide the innovative solution.
The Clay Street experience has helped many P&G teams produce highly successful innovation. As one example, a team was assembled and sent to Clay Street to save Herbal emerged with a plan to completely reinvent the shampoo from its formulation to packaging. The plan was implemented successfully, and eventually Herbal Essences became another one of P&Gs billion-dollar brands. Despite its successes, there are issues with Clay Street that limit its applicability. Most obviously perhaps, a smaller company may not be able to afford to send off a dozen of its best people for three months to work on a problem. Additionally, because Clay Street discourages communications with teammates back in the main office, members may feel anxious about being out of loop in their professional and social networks.
QUESTION:
Which specific types of team processes and team states are most relevant to the teams that work at Clay Street? How does the relevance of the various team processes and team states depend on how long the teams have been at Clay Street?
Explanation / Answer
Team States refer to the specific types of feelings and thougths that arise in the minds of the tem members when they work together. For the teams that work at CLay Streat the team states that are most relevant are Cohesion, Potency, Mental models, and Transactive memory.
Cohesion is achieved when the members of the team develop strong emotional bonds with other team members and to the team itself. During the first two weeks, the facilitators at Clay Street, try to develop the cohesion in the team. these two weeks are needed for developing the cohesion, because to form an emotional bond with the team and its members, indivisuals need time, and during this time together at Clay Street, teams do not directly engage in task work. Rather, facilitators lead the teams through activities that develop mental models regarding the parameters of their assigned tasks and reinforce the importance of cohesion and effective interpersonal teamwork processes
Potency is the degree to which the team members believe that their team can be effective around various situations and tasks. With high potency, the members are confident their team can perform well, and hence they put all their enrgy in achieving the team's goals. The case states: The idea is that true breakthroughs are more likely to occur if highly diverse individuals totally immerse themselves in the same problem and are constantly available to each other for collaboration. i.e. the team members in Clay street, focus all their energy into the team task, that is innovation, as they belive in the potency of their team. For establishing potency, the team needs to spend some time together, to build confidence in each other capabilities, and collectively team's capabilities in comepleting their task successfully.
Mental Models refers to the common understanding in the team regarding the important aspects of the team and its tasks. The team has shared metal models with respect to the capabilities the members bring to the team, which helps them to know, to whom to refer to for what kind of help or process. Also, this helps them to anticipate which of the other team members might need their help, and how can they help the other team members. Forming these mental models is also done in the first two weeks time, by the facilitators at Clay Street, as the team members need to understand other's capabilities and needs before they start to work on the actual task of innovation.
Finally, Transactive memory state comes into play when the team members realize and accept the fact that not all team embers posses the same level of knowledge. Transactive memory refers to how specialized knowledge is distributed amongst the team members, in a manner that leads to an effective system of memory for the team. That is the members understand how their specialized knowledge is effective for the team, and how the knowledge of others should be combined to achieve the team's goals. THe transactive memory state comes when the team emmbers actually start working on the assigned task, after the second week. BEcause to getto this state, the team emebrs need to understand the knowledge and skill requirements for the task at hand, which they start after the second week.
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