Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Read the case study and then respond to these questions. In your analysis of the case please use provide possible solutions to the problems. Use specific data from the case to support your analysis of the problems along with your recommended potential solutions. You may wish to provide some of your analysis visually through charts or tables.

Answer these questions:

As your overall guide to answering these questions use what you have learned and are learning from the course material and textbook on leading high-performance projects and teams. Consider the “new paradigm” presented in the course/text and how those concepts relate to the issues presented in the case. As you answer each question please clearly identify which question you are responding to.

1. Who is responsible for the HS Holdings crisis?
2. What are the mistakes James made in terms of team building, given the geographical differences, time zone differences, cultural differences?
3. How did the geographic distances and cultural differences of the teams bring on conflict?
4. What should James do to use the benefits of geographic and cultural diversity that was represented in his team?
5. What characteristics of the US subteam make it unique? How did this contribute to issues among the other subteams?
6. What were some of the obvious and no so obvious issues between the different countries and how could James worked to eliminate the issues?
7. Communications was lacking. What could James do to improve communications among the teams/locations? Also consider how technology helped or hindered communications.
8. What strategies could James have used to maximize the value that the diversity of his team represented?
9. What are your recommendations for what James could have done to build a shared team identity?