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Essay about Teamwork Goes to the Movies

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The movie that was selected to illustrate a high performance team in action was Armageddon which is directed by Michael Bay and stars Bruce Willis. Much of the material that we have studied illustrate that teams out perform individuals within an organization. This is most evident when performance requires multiple skills, judgments, and experiences (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993). In analyzing and comparing the characters and events in the movie, Armageddon, one sees many of the elements of a high performance team such as problem solving, goal setting, conflict resolution, and team dynamics. The traits of a leader were also visible through Bruce Willis’s character Harry Stamper. Hackman (2002) states that a leader must possess two critical …show more content…

Hackman (2002) states that teams are likely to get into trouble if members are not experts in the technical aspects of their work. Harry and his team knew how to drill the hole, but they knew nothing about flying a space shuttle and conversely the astronauts knew how to fly the space shuttle and detonate the bomb, but knew nothing about drilling a hole to 800 feet.
Once the issue of who was going to make the trip was settled the team was divided into two groups and the goals of the mission were presented. The goal was to drill to 800 feet and detonate the nuclear bomb. According to Wheelan (2010) groups containing three to six members are significantly more productive than larger groups. By dividing the team into two groups increased the likelihood for success because only one group needed to reach the goal of 800 feet and detonate the bomb for the world to be saved.
The main group dynamic that was evident in this team was that once a clear objective was set everyone collaborated and worked earnestly for a solution. Once a solution was developed they all worked toward making it a reality. “The most important characteristic of a high-performance team is that its members are clear about the team’s goals” (Wheelan, 2010, p.41). Members also have to agree with the team’s goals which mean they have to believe they are important, reasonable, and attainable. Even though

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