Innovating a New Kitchenware in a Team Setting

Movie Script for Exercise A1 – Kitchenware presentation in a long legacy company

Good afternoon, CEO, Chief Operating Officer, Marketing Director, I’m Terry, the product development manager. Today I am going to present you the newly designed microwave oven. The microwave oven is designed with simple button for control, furthermore, it is designed to operate with both solar energy and electricity. Sustainable energy is a very hot topic in modern society, this microwave oven is installed with a chargeable battery and solar energy panel. During the daytime, energy is stored into the battery and the energy will be released when the oven operates.

We target to sell this microwave often in some rural areas in China, where sunshine is more readily available than in the cities. The design of simple button is for convenient control for elderly people.

We believe this simple and solar energy-operating microwave oven is very suitable to use in rural areas in China.

Movie Script for Exercise A2 – Kitchenware presentation in an innovative company

Damon: Mary, you look so tired today.

Mary: Damon, yes, I am very tired after today's hard work in office.

Damon: Then you should go home to enjoy your dinner !

Mary: What? Enjoy my dinner? I have to rush to my house and cook for it. It is definitely not enjoyable.

Damon: Oh, sorry about that.

(Damon took his mobile phone out and press some keys)

Mary: Damon, what are you doing?

Damon: I am sending signal to my microwave oven for it to prepare my dinner.

Mary: How can you do that?

Damon: This newly designed microwave often is connected to the Internet by wifi.

Mary: That's interesting, tell me more about that.

Damon: Before going to work in the morning, just put the food package inside the oven. It will work like a refrigerator until the right time. When I’m about to leave office, simply give a signal to the oven by using the MyOven application on my mobile phone. The application will then detect my location, and the food will be cooked at the right time before I arrived.

Mary: This is design is very useful for busy person like me. I don’t need to worry about my dinner anymore.

Damon: This microwave often is very suitable for people who are too busy to cook. We believe this will be popular in Hong Kong.

Evaluation

Both microwave ovens in exercise A1 and A2 are creative design. For the scripts in A1, it serves as a progress reporting to the management instead of a marketing speech, the marketability is comparatively weaker. For the scripts in A2, the presentation is interactive and is able to catch the attention of the audience, thus it is better in marketability.

Inhibitors to the Product Pitch

For exercise A1, this is a traditional centralized power company. As team members, when we get an idea, we have to double think before speaking to supervisor. Even our idea is good, he's always able to find out at least two negativeness of suggestions. It's a little disappointed us, there is no encouragement at all.

The atmosphere is too strict, no laughing allowed, no freedom. And we're afraid to communicate with each other. Each time, we have any suggestion, we need to hand up like pupils. Only getting permission from supervisor, then we have possibility to speak.

For exercise A2, all team members are equal. Everyone has the chance to raise or to voice out for our idea. At the beginning, there is no supervisor/leader in our team that nobody directs our discussion. So, it is not enough trust among us. Each of us often argues for our own opinion. Final decision cannot be easily made.

At the beginning of the discussion, the atmosphere is not constructive at all. Trust is important at the early stage. Our efficiency of work would be very low and conflict would be easily happened.
 

Facilitators to the Product Pitch

For exercise A1, due to our supervisor is reliable, credible, who have over 10 years professional working experience in the product development line, after we presented our ideas to him, he can quickly make final decision.

For exercise A2, every member can share and opine freely at every time. So many imaginative ideas were raised from different aspects at this atmosphere. After we compromised other’s opinions, the outcome is generated. Brain storming is encouraged in this situation. It is easily to generate an innovative idea.

Analysis

"Under conditions of high trust, problem solving tends to be creative and productive. Under conditions of low trust, problem solving tends to be degenerative and ineffective"(Boss,1978). 

For exercise A1, since supervisor's character is integrity, reliable and have professional capability, team members trust him. But from up to down, there's little trust, and due to lack of communication between members, there's little trust too. An integrity, reliable and capable supervisor is needed for each team, it can accelerate the decision-making, and avoid the freedom too far.
If internal discussion is encouraged in the team, it will help to increase team member trust, and enhance team productive relationship, finally facilitate product development process.

As there is no supervisor/leader in exercise A2, every member would like to raise opinion and ideas are freely expressed. We talk straightly without concerns or worries and it will increase our perceived integrity. During the process of negotiation, we increase credibility and remove doubts. Then, transparency is created among our team. We build trust through discussion and transparency speaking. Supportive and constructive ideas would be made in this kind of atmosphere. After all, we extend trust by enhancing integrity, credibility and competence. As we have high trust, we can achieve our team goals easily.


Trust=(credibility+reliablity+intimacy)/self-interest (David, Charles, Robert ,2000)

In exercise A1, because the supervisor with professional ability, and characteristics is integrity, so credibility is high; and according to past decision-making and other actions of supervisor, he is reliable in member's mind, can be dependable;  but intimacy is not enough, it's lack of appropriate internal talking, contact; self-interest also means self-orientation, if members pay individual interest higher than team goals, it will decrease team trust. Like exercise A1, team goal is much important than personal interest, it will help to increase trust.

In the early stage of exercise A2, there is no supervisor or leader to make a decision. Integrity is low; and each team members are not trust each other. Each of them just wants to express their own opinion instead of achieving team goal. Obviously, individual goal is over the team goal in this moment and hence, team trust is low. Hopefully, team trust can be built if all members open their mind, admit weakness and mistakes, ask for help, accept others’ opinions even in their areas of responsibility. Trusting team will be built. If there is an outstanding team member acting as a supervisor or facilitator who is responsible for decision making. Team efficiency would be improved sharply.

In conclusion, supervisor is needed in team work, but we need credible, reliable supervisor. Since it's team work, common goal shall be more important than self-interest. And effective and freely communication shall be encouraged to increase member's intimacy. Then the whole trust can be increased constantly, and eventually help product production development. Creativity would be encouraged by freedom to communicate with everyone in the team. 




References
Boss, W.R. (1978), “Trust and Managerial Problem Solving Revisited,” Group & Organization Management, Vol.3 No. 3, pp. 331-342

David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford, The Trusted Advisor New York: First touchstone,2000 P.69

Catmull, E. (2008, September 1). How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity. Retrieved March 3, 2015, from https://hbr.org/2008/09/how-pixar-fosters-collective-creativity

(n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2015, from http://www.firstiraq.com/sites/default/files/products/5002-1_neu.jpg
http://www.jvpservicecentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/microwave-oven-repairs-sydney-australia-service-centre.jpg
http://www.solarpanel-manufacturer.com/picture/small-solar-panels/10-watt-solar-panel.jpg
http://scottdatabases.com/images/solutions/mobile-apps-3.jpg

Spirit - Team Introduction

Hi all, we are Team 3, Spirit.

The word Spirit is inspired from the our team logo, which was taken from a Marathon. This picture shows a African runner help an disabled Chinese runner with her water bottle. Although marathon is an individual sports to achieve personal best time, it also provides a chance for all runners, with different backgrounds and abilities,  to collaborate in different aspects. Just like all of us in the group, we are all from different professional backgrounds, and are working hard for our master studies. We also effectively collaborating through the course and project to achieve the common goal.

Spirit is the principle of conscious life. Although all classmates are come from different aspects with different professions, all are we having the same goal - finish our study with good academic result. In spite of this, we are no enemies. We help each other in order to achieve win-win situation. All classmates are friends, just as contributors. They will moist our study as nutrient.  This is collaboration. High collaboration is our team. A team in high collaboration is our team, TEAM 3 - SPIRIT. 



Team Photo

Here is our team photo.  From Left to Right, Damon Li, Mary Jiang, Terry Tse

Team Members
(1) Damon LI Tsz-shing

I'm Damon, a student of Organizational Management. I am a IT project manager in a local bank, I have worked there for 10 years. My organization is somewhat a top-down structure where communication is usually from the managers to the officers. However, I believe better communication and collaboration skills would help my job in effective project management, and also increase team performance.

Here is my blog for this course. 



(2) Terry TSE Chun-pong

Hello, I’m Terry. I worked as a manager in a fish market who is doing a master programme in Organizational Management. I want to enhance management knowledge and to collaborate with my colleagues in order to achieve high performance of work. I believe this course is a best choice. Apart from this, so helpful classmates, like Damon & Mary, in our team just like nutrient that will enrich our performance of work. Thank you all very much!

Terry's Blog for the course

(3) Mary JIANG Guihong

This is Mary, right now is studying organizational management of strategy stream in CityU. Though I have worked in the international business as export and import manager over 10 years, there're still much new staff things waiting me to study hardly. It's my great honor to study high performance collaboration this semester to help my future work.

Mary's Blog for the course