The American Red Cross has a system of structuring, staffing, and leading teams to review their local branches. Mirroring the professional services firms that use teams to service clients, the system provides detailed recommendations on the effectiveness of individual team members and thoroughness. The main character in the headquarters of the Red Cross, who have developed a system, however, is concerned that the structure, it provided a distraction from the teams overall creativity and integration. The main trade-offs of providing too little command structure (for example, the inefficiency, the variable quality of the product team) against too much structure (for example, team members have few opportunities to use their knowledge and creativity). "Hide
by Jeffrey T. Polzer, Anita Williams Woolley Source: Harvard Business School 15 pages. Publication Date: January 10, 2002. Prod. #: 402042-PDF-ENG
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