1. Kory Gill
Organizational Comm.
10/16/13
Dennis Sutton
The Five Dysfunctions of a team (Reaction Paper)
This book confirms that a company can make a turn for the worst if the upper
management doesn’t communicate well with each other. Decision Tech had the most
experienced and expensive executive team and a good business plan, but Decision Tech was
behind two of their competitors. This is because the executive team didn’t work as a team. This
tells me the most important thing for a company is to have the higher ups work as a team. If
people is not working as a team, the company will have a hard time trying to survive. To take
this even further, I researched why Goldman Sachs is highly successful. The biggest thing that
jumped out is Goldman Sachs doesn’t tear their team down but other people teams from other
competitors. This goes to say great companies knows team work is a must and group
communication skills is one of the common requirement to get hired at most companies.
I like the fact that the chairman at Decision Tech hired Kathryn. The reasons are: first of
all, nobody at the company approved of Kathryn (at first). This is good because the team of
executives was dysfunctional and if the chairman would have promoted somebody from the team
as CEO, the company probably would have went out of business. Also, Kathryn proved later that
she was the right pick as CEO. Lastly, Kathryn is a women. This is important because it gives
some women hope that women being equal to men is possible.
The most interesting thing I found in this book is Kathryn didn’t consider herself part of
the team until later on in the book. This is interesting because Kathryn felt that she could tell
them what to do but yet she didn’t feel that she was a part of the team. This to me is an important
insight to what Kathryn was feeling. It’s almost symbolic from what was happening because

2. when the group acted more like individuals Kathryn didn’t feel like she was part of the team.
However, when the team started to act as a team Kathryn started to feel like she was a part the
team.
This book was like watching a movie to me. I felt like I was the CEO of the company and
my stomach felt like it dropped to the floor when JR and Mikey quit. When Kathryn made Mikey
quit, a displeasing taste came into my mouth. This was because I know that Mikey was one of
the more talented people on the team. However, Kathryn made the right decision. Looking at it
from a CEO point of view, Mikey had to go because it would have dragged the whole team
down. This is why Kathryn experience was so critical and the story she told about when she
promoted a good worker that everybody couldn’t stand. As CEO, she had to get rid of Mikey to
get the team to function right.
I like that Kathryn had some trouble with the team. This is because if Kathryn didn’t have
any trouble communicating with the team than it would of made the story unbelievable. Nobody
that has done great things in their careers, done them without any conflicts. That’s why conflict
was needed in this book. Also, people can relate to things better if it is similar to what there
company has gone through.
I found it somewhat amusing that Green Banana was looking to buy Decision Tech. The
main reason I found it funny is because not too long ago Decision Tech was looking to buy
Green Banana. This goes to show how things can quickly change in business. This dilemma
reminded me of Apple and Microsoft. When Apple was not doing well, Microsoft had a chance
to buyout Apple but decided not to and as a result of that Apple controls a big portion of the
technology world now.

3. I liked the fact that the company improved the revenues for the year. This is a reflection
of how well the team work together and how important it is to have upper management get
along. Also, this proves how well Kathryn has lead the group. I liked the fact that the company
was tied for number one. This shows that the culture can change in even the most difficult
groups. The executive group reminded me of the Detroit Lions. This is because while the Lions
are struggling to change, you can tell that change is happening in Detroit based on how many
games they are winning. This is similar to the group of executives.