Financial Analysis of The Coca-Cola Company Chua Yee Ken Department of Business, Trine University MGT 473: Capsim Business Simulation Professor Randi Barr September 2, 2023 The marshmallow challenge is a team-building and problem-solving activity that main objective is to build the tallest structure using only spaghettis, tape, string and a marshmallow which has to be placed on top of the structure. It only has 15 to 20 minutes to build the structure. Behind the challenge is also a learning experience. It taught people how to work as a team, think creatively and experiment the process during the challenge. In the Tedtalk event where Mr Wujec presented a data where the results are surprising. It reveals that kindergarten kids and CEOs with executive admins have a more success rate than the others. In contrast, business school students have hard time to build the marshmallow towers. This led to an issue that business students are used to competing with each other and always wanting to find the right plan to execute it. They are so focused on a single plan and not having diverse skills. Kindergarten students has the surprising overall success compare to the others. Despite their young age and lack of experience, they best other teams in every aspect. Excluding the architect and engineers, they tend to outperform many other groups including MBA students. It is because that kindergarten students have a unique set of skills to the challenge that set them up for success. Firstly, kindergarten students are naïve is young which means they are more likely to be approachable while working together in a team. They tend to have a collaborative mindset in their early stage. Secondly, they have a lot of imaginative thoughts which helps them to explore various ideas and solution. Thirdly, they accept trial and error method for problem-solving. They are not discouraged by the failure instead they take feedback as an opportunity and adjust their method during the challenge. Kindergarten students as mentioned is naïve which also means they have low ego. They are more open to contribute themselves into the project without personal success. On the other hand, CEOs and executive admins also perform well in the marshmallow challenge. Behind their performance, it can be explained by several factors. CEOs often bring strong leadership skills to their team. They have clear vision and able to convey the vision effectively. Moreover, they inspire their executive admins and guide them in the correct directions. It shows that leadership is essential in guiding team towards the goal. Executive admins are also important in the team. They are trained on how to organize and coordinate. This shows that they are excel at managing resources and tasks. Therefore, in the marshmallow challenge, the teams’ efforts are well-coordinated and the tasks are executed efficiently. Each member in the CEOs and executive admins have their role assigned. They have experience to work with others and become an effective communicator and adept at adapting to challenges instantly. This required specialized skills and facilitation skills to achieve success. The synergy between leadership, resources management, role clarity, experience and adaptability are up to the mark. They show a balance of both taskwork and teamwork to achieve success in the marshmallow challenge. Business school students who have the worse outcome than other groups often find themselves at a disadvantage. There are many factors behind on why they cannot compete with other groups in the marshmallow challenge. Firstly, in a business school environment, students are always competing with each other’s. While this environment can be healthy and drive individuals to become better, it can also hinder collaboration. Therefore, in the marshmallow challenge, they have difficulties to collaborate as they have a competitive and ego mindset to a collaborative mindset. Secondly, business school education focuses more on achievements and grades. It drives students to compete more with other students to achieve more and for that reason, they lack the skill to work as a team. This focus on personal success can lead students to prioritize their own ideas and contributions over the group’s overall success. Third factor is that business students lack the skill of diverse. This limits their options which leave an impact on problem-solving capabilities and creativity. Business students may learn finance-related subjects such as finance, marketing and management. They may not cover other skill sets that the marshmallow challenge needed. It requires the skill of design creativity and problem-solving skills. This leads the business students struggle to come up with innovative solutions. They may also stick to a singular plan and forced to stuck onto that one plan. Success in the marshmallow challenge depends on the combination of two important factors which are taskwork and teamwork. These two elements work together and can bring a positive influence to the overall performance of a team. Taskwork is refer to the specific technical skills, knowledge and expertise that are directly related to the task. In the context of the marshmallow challenge, it included engineering knowledge, creative problem-solving and technical competence. Engineering knowledge helps in designing a structure that can support the marshmallow’s weight using geometry pattern and understanding the principle of structural stability. Next, being creative at problem solving helps the team to devise unique and innovative ideas to build the tallest possible structure. Technical competence is one of the important skills sets which help the team to execute the plan effectively such as cutting and taping. Teamwork on the other hand, apply to how the team synchronizes their cooperation, communicate and coordinate their effort well. In a team, leadership, communication coordination and adaptability are the four elements crucial in a team. Leadership is important for guiding the team and ensuring they steer in the right direction. Leader also can assign the correct roles and track progression. Next, having a clear and open communication prevents misunderstandings and confusion within the team. This will also boost morale in a team without conflict arise. Then, coordinating tasks and responsibilities among the team ensures that work is distributed fair and efficiently. It also helps minimize redundancy and maximizes productivity. Lastly, being able to adapt to unpredictable events is essential. If a team can adjust their plan when things are not approach correctly, they are more likely to succeed in the future. Taskwork and teamwork is a symbiotic relationship where each component is vital to the team’s overall success. Team member with specialized skills lay the foundation for teamwork. They understand the capabilities of the group and enhance the team ‘ability to collaborate smoothly. Conversely, teamwork serves as the glue that binds the taskwork together. It helps individuals with each unique skills can work seamlessly towards a common goal while maximize their utilization of their skills. In the marshmallow challenge, it shows that by aligning taskwork and teamwork, a team can achieve much more success than those who do not utilize both taskwork and teamwork efficiency. Based on the results, I would suggest teams to consider several adjustments when starting an exercise like the marshmallow challenge. First and foremost is to embrace a collaborative mindset. Having a collaborative mindset within a team is important is the challenge requires teamwork. It is important to focus more on group’s achievement rather than individual’s achievement. Secondly, create a team with diverse skill sets and background is also relevant. Diversity can create more creative and a broader range of perspectives to problem-solving and innovation. Thirdly, is effective leadership. A leader is important in a team to guide them in the correct direction. A leader with a vision can set a goal for team members to contribute their values and maintain their focus on the common goal. Fourth is open communication. An open communication team provide feedback to enhance problem-solving by sharing ideas, listen to others’ opinions. Fifth is learn from failure. There is no shortcut to success. Which means viewing failure and setbacks as a chance for learning and improvement. Analyse mistakes and use these insights to improve the strategy. Sixth is clear goal. A clear goals help focus and help teams to stay on the right track towards the shared goals. Lastly is practice teamwork. By providing opportunities for team members to practice teamwork in various context such as group assignments and team-building activities can help individuals develop teamwork skills. All in all, the marshmallow challenge provides valuable insights into teamwork and collaboration. It highlights the importance of it which brings several benefits such as teamwork skills and goal orientation. These valuable lessons prepare individuals for success by equipping them with these skills which make them valuable assets for the future. References: Furr, N. (2011, August 9). Why kindergartners make better entrepreneurs than mbas: And how to fix it. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanfurr/2011/04/27/whykindergartners-make-better-entrepreneurs-than-mbas-and-how-to-fix-it Whybrow, L. (2023, April 28). The marshmallow challenge: What we can learn from kindergarten students about team collaboration. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/marshmallow-challenge-can-learn-kindergarten-studentsteam-collaboration Tanveer Naseer. (2023, April 14). What the Marshmallow Challenge can teach us about fostering team success. https://tanveernaseer.com/5-lessons-on-fostering-team-success/ Risae. (2022, September 15). What we learned from the marshmallow challenge. ECHOtape. https://echotape.com/company/what-we-learned-marshmallow-challenge/
