Revised: 10/31/08
EMBA VIRTUAL TEAM PROJECT (PHASE 1) Please distribute this on October 31, 2008, to students around the world, along with the team member names.
The entire project (including Phase 2, which provides a more detailed description of the project) will be distributed to students worldwide on November 26, 2008.
Dear Participants in CEMBA, CHEMBA, VEMBA and WEMBA,
Working in cross-cultural, virtual teams is an exciting process. In this experience, you will have the opportunity to utilize technology to interact with colleagues from around the world. While there may be some challenges that arise from the experience, we are confident that each team will negotiate through the process successfully, having learned a great deal by the conclusion of the Virtual Team Project. Importantly, the faculty and staff from your program site will be available to help support you and your team during the project.
In this team project, you will be selecting a product or service and developing a business plan for introducing it in a new market. We are already looking forward to your final presentations in Minnesota on Friday, May 15th and Saturday, May 16th, 2009!
With best regards from the project faculty,
Prof. Michael J. Houston (Carlson School, International Programs) Associate Dean, International Programs
Prof. Svjetlana Madzar (CEMBA) Faculty Member TBD Senior Lecturer, SMO Dept, Carlson School of Mgmt Lingnan (Univ.) College, Sun Yat-sen Univ.
Prof. Bodo B. Schlegelmilch (VEMBA) Prof. Marian Geldner (WEMBA) Dean, WU-Wien Executive Academy Director, WEMBA Program
P.S.: Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have:
Virtual Team Project Management: Matthew Goode [email protected] Theresa Heath [email protected] Associate Dean Michael Houston [email protected] Ass’t Dean Anne D’Angelo King [email protected]
CEMBA: Prof. Svjetlana Madzar [email protected] Melissa Meyer [email protected] Ass’t Dean Kathryn Carlson [email protected] Jeff Bieganek [email protected] Robyn Blilie [email protected]
CHEMBA: Lydia Li [email protected] Faculty Member TBD TBD
VEMBA: Gina Eitelboes [email protected] Prof. Bodo Schlegelmilch [email protected]
WEMBA: Dorota Serafin [email protected] Prof. Marian Geldner [email protected] 1 Revised: 10/31/08
PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
This project has the following objectives:
It will provide you with the experience of working in virtual teams spanning four countries on three continents, namely, Austria, China, Poland and the U.S.
It will challenge your creativity by asking you to develop a business plan for introducing a product or service into an overseas market. The specific product or service will be chosen by the team between November 26th, 2008 and January 23rd, 2009 through a process of soliciting ideas from everyone on the team, discussing them and deciding on one project.
It will help you use what you have learned from related EMBA courses in strategy, international marketing, international management, entrepreneurship, and finance, among others, in developing your plan.
It will foster a professional (and personal) network across four countries.
PROJECT PARTICIPATION AND COURSE CREDITS:
This project will count towards credit in the four programs as follows:
CEMBA: All CEMBA students are expected to do this group project, and to be present during the final project presentations. The project grade will count towards a significant portion of the grade for the class “CEMBA 5544, International Management,” taught by Prof. Svjetlana Madzar in Spring 2009. Your teammates’ peer evaluations will also count toward your final grade for the Virtual Team Project.
CHEMBA: All CHEMBA students are expected to do this group project, and to be present in Minnesota for the final presentations during their International Residency. This project will count towards a significant portion of the grade on their required “International Residency” course. Your teammates’ peer evaluations will also count toward your final grade for the Virtual Team Project.
VEMBA: All VEMBA students are expected to do this group project, and to be present in Minnesota for the final presentations during their International Residency. This project will count towards a significant portion of the grade on their required “International Residency” course. As this project counts towards a Master’s thesis in the Austrian Educational System, VEMBA students will have to complete and turn in an additional requirement of a review of the academic literature on the subject in order to be eligible to receive Master’s thesis credits. Your teammates’ peer evaluations will also count toward your final grade for the Virtual Team Project.
WEMBA All WEMBA students are expected to do this group project, and to be present in Minnesota for the final presentations during their International Residency. This project will count towards a significant portion of the grade on their required “International Residency” course. Your teammates’ peer evaluations will also count toward your final grade for the Virtual Team Project.
2 Revised: 10/31/08
THE TEAMS:
Each team will be composed of 5-6 participants as follows: 2-3 from CEMBA 1-2 from CHEMBA 1-2 from VEMBA 1-2 from WEMBA
IMPORTANT DATES AND INFORMATION FOR THE VIRTUAL TEAM PROJECT:
Friday, October 31st: Rollout of teams, e-mails, technology
Friday, November 14th: Deadline to post your individual online profile on your virtual team’s Moodle web site (instructions in “Technology Support” section below)
October 31st-November 26th: Get to know each other & work out communication methods
Wednesday, November 26th: Online survey of "Has everyone connected?”
Detailed project descriptions e-mailed to everyone
November 26th-January 23rd: Figure out team norms, brainstorm, make first decision
Friday, January 23rd: FIRST DELIVERABLE: Two-page description of project chosen, and project selection process, due to Theresa Heath ([email protected])
January 23rd-February 11th: Assign regular roles and responsibilities, share information, begin shaping report, circulate drafts to team members
Wednesday, February 11th: Online survey and first peer-evaluation of participation
February 11th-March 20th: Finalize project report
Friday, March 20th: SECOND DELIVERABLE: Written Project Report, due to Theresa Heath ([email protected])
Online survey and second peer-evaluation of participation
March 28th-April 8th: CEMBA away on their International Residency
April 8th-May 10th: Work on presentation
Sunday, May 10th: Evening -- Opening dinner with ALL EMBA students
May 11th-14th: Finalize presentations this week
Friday, May 15th & Saturday, May 16th, approximately 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.:
FINAL DELIVERABLE: PRESENTATIONS
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TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT:
For electronic copies of important documents related to the Virtual Team Project, please click on http://www.csom.umn.edu/Page9009.aspx.
The primary technology tool for the Virtual Team Project is Moodle, an e-learning platform supported by the University of Minnesota. The University recommends using Firefox as your browser (available free from: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox) to access Moodle. In order to access your virtual team’s Moodle web site:
1. Go to the Moodle server page at http://moodle.umn.edu
2. Click on the “Login” link in the upper right corner, and enter your Internet ID and Password. For CEMBA students, your Internet ID and Password are your university ‘x500’ number and password. For CHEMBA, VEMBA, and WEMBA students, your Internet ID is your preferred e-mail address—as listed on the “Virtual Team Groups 2008-09” spreadsheet—and your password is “Emba2009.”
3. Once you log in, you will find yourself inside your virtual team’s Moodle web site.
By Friday, November 14th, you need to post your individual profile on your virtual team’s Moodle web site. This is an important part of establishing strong relationships with your teammates. To post information about yourself, click the “Turn editing on” button in the upper right corner of the home page of your team’s Moodle web site. Then click on the “Participants” link and click on your own name. Next, select the “Edit Profile” tab. Here you will be able to include a variety of information about yourself, post a message to your teammates, and even include a photograph. Make sure to click on “Update profile” at the bottom of the page in order to save the data you have shared about yourself.
For instructions on how to post your profile, and other user instructions for Moodle, click on this link: http://www.csom.umn.edu/assets/126901.pdf.
Another option is for students to download Skype (http://www.skype.com), and share their Skype names with team members. Skype is free software for voice-over Internet calls, which allows for up to 5-person free international conference calling. Please note that the Skype software is not supported by the Carlson School of Management; it is suggested that you consult a 3rd-party utility if you need assistance with this software.
Theresa Heath and Melissa Meyer will be your contacts for technology support.
GUIDELINES TO HELP YOU STRUCTURE YOUR WORK ON THIS PROJECT
1. Team Building:
Get to know each other before the team starts working on the project. You will want to exchange information about yourself, and maybe even a photograph, with your team members.
Establish team norms before you start serious work on the project. For example, how will you ensure that everyone is able to provide inputs into the project? How will you resolve differences in opinion and make decisions?
4 Revised: 10/31/08
An exercise to help you develop team norms is for everyone to exchange a list of any potential concerns they can think of, prior to starting work, and then discussing and coming up with a set of rules/norms on how you can collectively mitigate some of these concerns.
Communicate! Communicate! Communicate! Acknowledge e-mails or additions to your team’s Moodle site with at least a few words saying, “Hey, I saw that!” Let people know your travel plans, busy times, what you are up to…
2. Establish Team Objectives/Milestones: Periodically define milestones, set target dates and divide responsibilities for things to be done. Remember that it is going to be more difficult to connect and get information from teammates scattered around the world, if you procrastinate. Working with people across time zones can also be very efficient if you can coordinate the passing on of work in a 24-hour cycle.
3. Evaluate Progress on your Team: Periodically solicit information from ALL team members on how they feel the team is working and whether the project goals are being met. Doing this a couple of times is useful. At every stage, the work should reflect the participation of all programs represented.
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