Digby's Downfall: Team Misalignment

Misalignment is an organizational problem that causes less than ideal performance and results. As I have pondered on misalignments that I have experienced in groups or organizations, one example that is on the forefront of my mind is my CapSim group. Looking in retrospect, I feel like as each round has gone by, my CapSim team has become more and more misaligned. This misalignment is causing us some serious troubles in CapSim, including a steadily decreasing profit margin, an ever-increasing negative cumulative profit, and a consistent, rock-bottom stock price.

At the beginning of our time as a group, I felt like my team's alignment was adequate. However, looking back on our early establishment, I realize that we hadn't yet defined a comprehensive alignment. The first task we did as a team was establish a strategy - to be a competitive team by being a low-cost leader. While we had a strong, ambitious strategy, the other components of our team were aligned differently, especially as we continued to go through each round.

• To be a competitive team, the structure would have been aligned through having a team leader as well as a leader for each decision department. Contrarily, our team did not establish a team leader. We were each given primary functions to make decisions for each department, although those roles became very flexible.
• While we had an ambitious strategy to be a low-cost leader, none of my team members possessed the skills, knowledge, and expertise to successful carry out this strategy. Similarly, none of my team members took the time to develop these skills completely by reading the CapSim material.
  
• Although my team's strategy was rigid and determined, our style consisted of a laid-back attitude. Overall, our team meetings were stress free and relaxed.
  
• Many of team's shared values differed among group members. Some team members valued hard work and promptness, while these attributes were not a priority for others. This created misalignment within our team members.

This misalignment between strategy, structure, skills, and shared values have all led us to the dramatic downfall that our team has experienced in CapSim. If I were to go back and attempt to realign this team, I would try to establish the more of these attributes at the creation of the team. Although you can't necessary establish strategy, structure, style, or shared values by discussing it with a team, you can set priorities and expectations that will influence these 7S's to achieve better alignment.