GMGT 5173 Organisation Behaviour – Team Dynamics and Leadership Analysis

Question 1 and Question 2 are based from the case study below. Answer ALL questions.

Team Dynamics in DNV Maritime and NovaWave Tech

DNV Maritime, a global company specializing in risk management and maritime software, launched an internal innovation initiative to foster creativity and agility. Employees were encouraged to form internal start-ups, consisting of small, cross-functional teams tasked with developing new digital solutions within the larger corporate framework. Each team was composed of individuals from different departments, including engineering, design, marketing, and operations. Although these teams were given some autonomy, they still had to comply with corporate policies, reporting lines, and budget controls. To support these innovation teams, DNV introduced a “guild” system—a community of practice where employees from various internal start-ups could share knowledge, seek advice, and discuss challenges.

In the beginning, the internal start-ups functioned more like groups rather than teams. Members worked independently on their areas of expertise, and coordination was limited. However, as the guild system encouraged collaboration and shared learning, the teams began to establish stronger relationships and mutual trust. Gradually, they developed clearer communication patterns, defined roles, and a sense of shared purpose. The guilds also played a vital role in conflict resolution, providing a neutral space for discussion and promoting a culture of openness and continuous learning. Over time, these internal start-ups became cohesive teams with strong interdependence and accountability. Although tensions occasionally arose between the need for flexibility and the corporation’s bureaucratic controls, the teams learned to balance creativity with compliance, evolving into high-performing units capable of delivering innovative solutions.

NovaWave Tech, a small fintech start-up founded by six recent graduates, exhibited a very different pattern of team dynamics. From the very beginning, every member wore multiple hats and contributed to various aspects of the business i.e; product development, marketing, customer service, and finance. There were no formal hierarchies or rigid roles. Decisionmaking was quick and often based on group consensus. The close proximity of team members and constant communication fostered strong emotional bonds and trust. Conflicts, when they occurred, were addressed directly and resolved through open discussion. The team thrived on shared energy and commitment, learning by doing and adjusting rapidly to customer feedback. As NovaWave grew, it began facing new challenges in defining roles and maintaining its informal culture. The founding team realized that structure and process would eventually be necessary to sustain collaboration and performance as they expanded. Some members began to experience role ambiguity, as overlapping responsibilities led to confusion about authority, decision-making, and accountability. The founders also noticed emerging tensions between the original members and new hires, as differing expectations and working styles created minor conflicts.

Question 1

Both DNV and NovaWave faced challenges in coordination and communication. Analyze how the presence or absence of formal structure affected their team effectiveness. Support your discussion with relevant theory or literature.

Question 2

Based on the case study, compare which environment more effectively fostered innovation and psychological safety. Provide justification for your evaluation.

Answer ALL question.

Question 1

“Leaders today must deal with increasing organizational politics while ensuring employees maintain a work–life balance. Traditional leadership styles and management tools are often insufficient in addressing these dual challenges.”

Describe the key challenges that leaders face in managing workplace politics and maintaining work–life balance.

Propose TWO (2) innovative tools or strategies and explain how each functions within leadership practice. These tools may be digital, structural, or behavioural in nature.

Support your discussion with relevant facts and statistics from credible literature.

Finally, discuss the expected benefits and potential limitations of each proposed tool.

Experts Answer on Above Questions on Organisation Behaviour

Effect of formal structure on the effectiveness

DNV Maritime

In respect to DNV Maritime, it operated on a formal organisational structure whereby the team members were required to follow the reporting lines, corporate policies and budget controls. This particular approach has positive as well as negative impact, as it ensures clear accountability and decision making authority, better allocation of resources, lower overall chances of duplication of work, and better project monitoring. However, on the negative side, the bureaucratic processes directly impact the innovation ideas within the organisation, as it slows down the process, reduces flexibility which in turn affects the generation of new ideas. As per the Tuckman’s team development model, DNV has followed the guild system while moving from forming stage to performing stage, and it ultimately helps in enhancing collaboration and trust.

NovaWave Tech

Analysis of NovaWave indicates that it operated with a highly informal structure which benefited it in taking decisions at a faster rate, allows for greater flexibility and ability to respond to customer feedback, and also positively supported interpersonal relationships. On the negative side, it results in ambiguity with respect to the roles of individuals as soon as the company performs expensively, and there is confusion with respect to authority and accountability. According to role theory, the absence of clear responsibility will result in a decline in the team effectiveness and contribute towards uncertainty in the decision making process.

Environment that fosters innovation and psychological safety

With respect to innovation, the environment at NovaWave Tech supported innovative ideas because there is no such requirement for bureaucratic approval processes, and the decision making process was very fast. The continuous customer feedback along with greater collaboration between employees from multiple functions allows for the creation of innovative ideas. From the point of view of psychological safety, DNV Maritime is more effective because the guild system provides a neutral platform for discussion, and the existence of formal conflict resolution allows employees to better interact with each other and get support in solving problems.

Key leadership challenges

In managing workplace politics, the leaders have to face changes in the form of extreme level of competition for resources, and the existence of informal power networks influences decisions. In case of work life balance, leaders face challenges from employee burnout, increased level of work responsibilities because of hybrid working arrangement, and also the challenges in balancing work and personal life. The impact of stress and burnout is lower overall productivity level, higher absenteeism rate and increased turnover within employees

Two Innovative Tools

The two innovative tools are a flexible hybrid work system whereby employees are given the opportunity to select a mechanism which involves office and remote working days, and the main emphasis of managers is on getting positive outcomes from employees rather than their physical attendance. It helps in improving work life balance, reduces commuting stress, and ensures employee retention, but it poses challenges in the form of communication barriers, reduce face to face collaboration, and higher possibility of the feeling of isolation.

The second innovative tool is digital employee feedback platforms such as Microsoft Viva, Officevibe etc. In this feedback platform, the employees remain anonymous and provide feedback in relation to the issues in the workplace including leadership and workload pressures faced by them. The benefit is that it helps in identifying politics in the workplace, contributes towards better transparency and employee engagement. However it requires commitment from management to respond immediately to the feedback, and there is a possibility of loss of trust within employees if the issues are reported but no actions are taken.

Want Detailed Answers with References?

An analysis above indicates team dynamics, innovation, psychological safety, workplace politics and leadership strategies at DNV and NovaWave case studies. If you need assistance with similar kinds of case studies requiring workplace analysis, select the best assignment helper in Malaysia to assist you in completing your assignment with perfection.