Lumen and Absorb Team Case Study At Crutchfield, there are two elite technology development teams. They are both vital to the development of products, but they are also different in their creativity and motivation. The Lumen team is very highly motivated, while the Absorb team has the lowest motivation out of all five of the groups that Burke oversees. Naturally, this was a serious concern for Burke and for others at Crutchfield. Since there has been a recent restructuring and a large round of layoffs, some of the current thinking is that the employees are not comfortable and do not feel safe in their jobs. However, all of the team members that are currently working at Crutchfield in the teams experienced the same things, so it seems odd that one team would be excelling while other teams - most notably the Absorb team - are floundering. Overall, it is this extreme difference that Burke wishes to address. With the help of an outside consultant and some work of his own, Burke has gotten closer to each team in an effort to find out where the problems lie and what can be done.

The research done by the consultant and the work that burke did on his own determined that the Lumen team was very excited about its work. It was the only team where Burke had trouble getting away once he got them talking. They were very interested in showing him what they were working on and how what they were doing could benefit the company. They were creative and motivated, and their production had gone up recently - unlike any of the other teams. In contrast...

They did not want to talk to Burke about their work, and were more interested in small talk and asking about organizational changes. This may indicate that they are still feeling unsafe after the layoffs, and the outside consultant pointed out that motivation and creativity are very strongly linked in the majority of individuals.
The electronic daily diaries provided information about the behaviors of the team leaders, the thoughts and behaviors of the team members, and the dynamics of the team overall. From those diaries, it can be seen that the Lumen team does well because of the leadership it has and because it actually works together as a team, the way it is supposed to. The team leader is interested in what the workers are doing, but he is also a very involved and focused leader. He does not give the impression that he is "above" the other who are on the team. He also keeps things moving forward and keeps the people on his team interested. Because he is engaged in the process and because he talks to the rest of his team and keeps them in the loop, he is succeeding in moving his entire team forward. That is very important, and it is reflected not only in his own diary entries but in the diary entries of the people on his team. They all seem to be on the same page, which is more than can be said for the Absorb team - where workers and the leader seem to be struggling.

The Absorb team diaries indicate a much higher level…