CSET PROJECT

GROUP 6

ADITYA PRATAP SINGH MBA/08/129

AVISHEK GHOSH MBA/08/139
G BHANUSEKHAR REDDY MBA/08/149
KANIKA TYAGI MBA/08/159
SAMERTH MALHOTRA MBA/08/169
TANISHKA AGRAWAL MBA/08/179

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 SUMMARY
Daniel Ocean (George Clooney), a convicted burglar/thief, gets freed from jail. He visits a casino to see an old
acquaintance, Frank Cotton, a blackjack dealer who works in the casino. He then travels to Hollywood to visit
partner-in-crime chief, Rusty Ryan. Danny discloses that he has a plan to target casino mogul Terry Benedict
in Las Vegas. Danny wants to rob the vault shared by three of his Las Vegas casino hotels, which he owns.
Including himself and rusty, he will assemble a squad of eleven for this endeavour.endeavor. For the robbery,
they required financial assistance, which was given by Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), an old friend and
opponent of Benedict. 8 criminal8 criminals and colleague professionals who were formerly associated with
them are recruited by Danny and Rusty. team members conducted surveillance in the casino.team members
conducted surveillance in the casino to gather as much information as possible on the routines, and
behaviors of the workers, security, and the structure itself. Other members make an exact copy of the vault
so that they may practisepractice navigating its powerful security measures. in preparation, the team
members learn that his (Danny) ex-wife, Tess, is in relation with the target of the heist Mr Benedict. Danny
refuses to abandon the idea, despite Rusty's insistence that he is incapable of exercising solid judgement so
long as Tess is involved. The plan is implemented on the night of the battle. Danny visits the Bellagio on
purpose to see Benedict, who, as anticipated, locks him in a storage room with the bouncer Bruiser.
However, Bruiser is in Danny's payroll and grants him access to the ventilation system so he may assist his
crew in capturing the vault. Rusty dials Benedict's mobile phone number. Danny slipped a note inside Tess's
coat earlier and informed her that if she doesdid not give them half of the money in the bank vault, they
would blow it up. Benedict agrees and instructs his men to transport the duffel bags to a vehicle controlled
remotely by a device far away. Benedict has his men follow the vehicle with cash which he sends, also
sending in a SWAT police squad to attempt to protect the vault. The SWAT team's arrival results in a gunfight
that detonates the explosives and consumes the remaining cash. After confirming that the casino area is safe,
the SWAT squad takes with them their belongings and exits the crime scene. As Benedict comes to personally
inspect the wrecked vault, his men halt the van and discover that the bags contain just brochures for
prostitutes. Benedict examines the camera footage and realises that the flooring in the vault on the video
lacks the Bellagio emblem, which had been placed to the vault flooring just recently. It is shown that Danny's
crew utilised their practise vault to generate phoney film to dupe Benedict. They were the SWAT squad and
utilised their gear bags to steal all of the money from the vault right in front of Benedict's eyes. Benedict
investigates the fact that Danny was apparently incarcerated in the storeroom during the robbery and is thus
innocent of any participation. Danny's parole has been violated by his presence in Las Vegas, which is
escorted from the premises by Danny's men and reported to the police. When Danny is freed from serving
time for his parole agreement violation, he is received by right-hand man Rusty and his ex-wife Tess and then
drive off to a new beginning.

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Contents
Summary......................................................................................................................................2
Team formation...........................................................................................................................4
Team Roles...................................................................................................................................4
Diversity & Goals amongst team members.................................................................................6
Leading Teams and Team Leaders...............................................................................................7
Conflict and Resolutions..............................................................................................................8
Power dynamics.........................................................................................................................10

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TEAM FORMATION
Each team member was hand-picked by the two leaders (Danny and Rusty)
based on their specialized skills.

Ocean's Eleven was constructed with a certain order of importance in mind. The cultivation of
an environment of power and control may give rise to feelings of dread and anger. Danny could
have handled this situation quite differently if he had chosen to. Danny was the de facto leader
of the robbery and was the one who gave Rusty the authority to help him. Because of his drive
for dominance, the atmosphere on the team was one that was not psychologically safe, and this
placed the members of the team in danger. In general, the members of the team who were
lower on the totem pole had lower levels of psychological safety and were less inclined to check
in with others. There were instances when members of the team functioned out of dread. Linus
was likely the member of the group who had the greatest anxiety. This was made abundantly
clear to him when Danny instructed him to remain seated in the vehicle as the others entered
the structure. Linus was irritated by the fact that he had to remain in the vehicle. Because he
lacked self-assurance and was afraid, he undermined Danny's authority and fled the vehicle to
locate the other members of his squad. While the rest of the crew was heading out the door, he
was entering the building. This made the whole endeavor far more difficult and placed
everyone in danger. Linus did not get from Danny the message of self-empowerment that was
intended for him. Instead, Danny was rude to him and instructed him to remain in the vehicle
without providing any justification for his decision.

The team assembled by Danny in the film is an example of a cross functional team. These types
of teams are more productive as they do not depend on the efforts and contribution of other
team members. They tend to handle and resolve adversities on their own. In each scene at
most three to four characters are seen in one location. The fact that they have a common
objective and are fully committed to carrying it out is the primary element that distinguishes
them from just being a collection of individuals working together. Each team member chosen
has unique talents and abilities; consequently, they will only be able to attain the common
objective by working together. The two leaders are there to guide, explain the strategy, and
monitor the steps, but the team members are trusted to autonomously carry out their
responsibilities. In contrast to past heist films, this leader's hands-off style allowed the crew to
reach a point where there was no big discord or pointing of fingers. This crew worked
cohesively through every stage and obstacle to pull off their con.

TEAM ROLES
Mr. Daniel Ocean acts as a Shaper and implementer for the group. He planned on taking over
three casinos simultaneously, the Bellagio, Mirage, and MGM Grand. The casinos belonged to
Terry Benedict, who had a repo of destroying anyone against him. The heist was very risky. As

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he had been in prison for four years, he took Rusty’s help in creating a team of specialists to
implement the plan. Each team member had a different role. He introduced the idea to the
members and explained the details of the plan and the way it was to be executed.

Member Name Role/Responsibility

Danny Ocean The Leader/Shaper/Implementer
Rusty Ryan The Coordinator/Team Worker
Reuben Tishkoff The Monitor-Evaluator
Basher Tarr The Machine Man
Livingston Dell The Technician/Hacker
Saul Bloom The Scammer
Yen The Grease man
Linus Caldwell The Pick-pocket
Virgil and Turk Malloy The Drivers
Frank Catton The Resource Investigator

Rusty, along with Ocean, took on the leadership. They allocated the roles, responsibilities, and
duties within the group. Mr. Reuben plays the part of the Monitor-Evaluator. He critically
evaluates and analyses the proposal. He states the weaknesses of the idea and weighs the
advantages and disadvantages before coming to the decision. Basher is a team worker and
skilled in electronics. He possesses the skill of problem-solving. Linus is a specialist in picking up
or stealing things smoothly. Yen is a specialist in gymnastics. He was perfect for the hide-out to
reach the inner vault.

All the group members were carefully selected per the job requirements. The combined efforts
of all participants toward a common goal led to the successful completion of the task.
Communication and coordination among the members were also noteworthy. Had the
communication not been clear, the team would have failed. All team members had relevant
information, and clear and correct messages were conveyed at the time. Mutual trust and
respect, as other factors, contributed to the success of the heist.

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DIVERSITY & GOALS
AMONGST TEAM
MEMBERS
On the one hand, because of the presence of different opinions and alternative solutions,
diversity within a group does not contribute to productive communication and goal
achievement. Ocean's team, on the other hand, achieves success through a variety of decisions.
In this regard, Ocean can be considered a seasoned and shrewd leader, since he is able to listen
to each member's perspective and select the one that best fits the specified goals. At the same
time, Linus Caldwell can't meet the plan's requirements because he has too much confidence
and wants to be a leader. Denny tests Linus's commitment to the group's goal because of his
own goals. Here, the diversity notion fails to boost team performance productivity. To figure
out how diversity helps people make better decisions, it's important to have more information.

The group's leader, Denny Oceans, gets his friends together to help him carry out his plan. First,
he meets Rusty Ryan, who becomes his best friend and right-hand man and is also thought to
be a future co-leader of a team. Linus Coldwell, who is good at picking pockets, also helps
Denny rob a casino. He thinks about nothing else but how to gain the trust and respect of the
group leaders. Other members are less representative of the group, but they do things like
gather information and ask for opinions. Because everyone on the team has different skills and
experience in different areas, the team leader has access to a wider range of options and
solutions that can be evaluated and analyzed critically. Because of this, each member of the
team can have a different idea about how each step of reaching the goal can be done.

All parts of the plan were based on complete teamwork and getting the job done. But the team
didn't reach all of its goals in the easiest way because everyone was too involved in the plan
and too focused on their own needs. Especially, the fact that an emotional factor was involved
hurt the team's performance a lot. So, Rusty Ryan should have thought about this before
agreeing to the plan to rob. Second, Linus couldn't meet everyone's expectations because he
wanted Denny and Rusty to respect him.

The success of the operation carried out by Ocean's group can be attributed to their devotion.
Thus, the so-called "groupness" reveals a circumstance in which all group members collaborate
to achieve a common goal. Even though the group is working toward the same goal, the task-
centered approach keeps the leader from thinking about the individual goals of his team. So,
it's hard to know how some of the members will act because their personal goals are at odds
with the overall goals of the operation. What is more crucial is that each participant's goals
align with those of the group, which leads to increased productivity and, as a result, improved

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job satisfaction among group members. Cohesive groups are significantly more successful than
non-cohesive organizations with more polite and formal group principles.

When Basher Tarr, an expert on explosives, finds the problem with the power supply system,
which can't be fixed, it shows how well the group works together. But because he is so
committed to the group's goal, he is able to offer an alternative solution that is immediately
accepted by the group leaders. In order to keep the whole plan from falling apart, the group
decides to steal the oscillator. In the movie, the heroes use functional roles to get all of their
goals done as quickly as possible. Task completion is therefore most important when task roles
are introduced and everyone in the group works together to finish all the tasks. So, their goal is
to coordinate and lead group efforts to figure out what the problems are and how to solve
them. For example, Denny Ocean is an initiator-contributor, Rusty is both an initiator-
contributor and a coordinator, Linus is an opinion seeker and an orienteer, and Virgil and Turk
Malloys are procedural technicians. Some of the members, like Bacher and Livingston Dell,
often shared their thoughts. The team project was almost doomed to fail because of his own
goals. Linus could have helped the group do better if he hadn't been so interested in the
project.

Ocean's Eleven is the best example of how communication and cooperation in a group can help
people reach goals they all want to reach. In this way, the people in Ocean's group show that
they can think in line with the group's goals and work on their own to make the activities they
were doing successful.

LEADING TEAMS AND

TEAM LEADERS
Leadership
One of the most critical aspects of team design is that of leadership. Teams usually work with
various types of leadership arrangements, which vary in terms of formality. A team led by a
manager, usually functions under the manager’s guidance throughout the duration of the
team’s activities, unlike self-managing teams where a leader usually initiates the process and
highlights the team’s goals and then let the team function in autonomy.
From the context of the movie, it operates on the latter arrangement. The team leader is the
one who briefs the team about the goals and tasks up their hand and then lets the team
operate in autonomy. The fact that even though Danny Ocean was the mastermind and
probably was the leader of the team, when the time came and the leader was caught up in a
Catch 22 situation, there was a teammate ready to take up the role of leading the team during

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the crisis. This also shows how effectively some teams operate despite sudden changes in
leadership and adapt accordingly.
Team Leader and Leadership Qualities
A team leader is the person whose objective is to lead the team by providing motivation,
guidance, and instruction.
The team leader has a lot of tasks and responsibilities, and hence the team’s effectiveness
depends upon how effectively the leader can tackle those tasks and responsibilities up his
sleeve.
 The leader is responsible to develop a plan to accomplish the set of predetermined
tasks and to ensure the strategy is executed effectively. Danny is the mastermind behind
the planning of the predetermined tasks needed to execute the heist and it is this
strategic planning that ensures, the team is prepared for any challenges they might
encounter during the execution.
 The leader is also responsible to set goals. The goal set by the leader in this case was to
rob the vault of the casino, which was quite a challenging one but had the right set of
skilled people to execute their part of the heist.
 The leader is also responsible to ensure there is proper communication within the
group. Danny involves the entire team for the discussion while planning the heist and
ensures there is clear communication between the team.
 Another responsibility of the leader is to ensure that no team member is left out. While
stealing the explosives from the factory, Linus out of curiosity decides to disobey the
order given by the leader and ventures into the factory without the consent of Danny.
He eventually loses track of the team while the rest of the team leaves the factory. But
Danny notices Linus’s absence and decides to prioritize on saving Linus’s ignoring the
fact that the entire team’s safety would be jeopardized.
 A leader also needs to have control over his emotions and shouldn’t be hot headed.
Danny sets a perfect example of how a successful leader can control his emotions. Even
though his ex-wife was around him while he was executing the heist, he never lost
control over his emotions and kept his cool throughout.

CONFLICT AND
RESOLUTIONS
Like there are no shortages of definitions for the word conflict, there are many examples of
conflicts in team in the movie. Conflict is defined as a process that begins when one party
perceives that another party has affected them negatively. When one party’s actions are
regarded as hindering or interfering with the aims, needs or actions of another group, conflict
arises. Incompatible aims, disagreements in the interpretations of facts, bad feelings,

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disparities in belief or philosophies, or a fight over shared resources are all examples of
conflicts.

One of the first example of intragroup conflict occurs in the forming stage. It occurs when
Danny and Rusty bring all the members to Rueben’s home and bring them all inside. Danny
Ocean explains what the team must do to get in the vault and minor conflict arises when
members like Yen and Saul start to ask questions about the job and question the possibility of
them being able to do it.

One of the major conflicts portrayed in the movie is with Danny Ocean and his team. Danny had
a personal difficulty “unrelated” to the robbery. He did not inform the team that his ex-wife,
Tess, was dating Terry Benedict, the person the team was going to rob. This was an individual
conflict, and it created an interpersonal conflict between Danny and Rusty for a while.

The third example is also during the forming stage when Danny and Rust approach Reuben to
join their team. Reuben is sceptic at first because he is certain the vault which the team plans to
rob is unbreakable. Rueben asks Danny and Rusty to leave and plan some other heists. On their
way out both tell Rueben that the vault belongs to Terry Benedict who is a competitor of
Rueben in casino business in Las Vegas. This information changes Rueben’s perspective and he
agrees to join the team and take revenge on Terry because Terry had recently bought one of
Rueben’s casinos and planned to demolish and construct a new property in its place.

An artificial conflict was created between the team and Danny when he said to be under extra
surveillance and could not be part of the plan. This was mostly directed towards Linus to test
whether he can be responsible or not. It turned out to be to functional conflict with positive
outcome because when Linus and Danny eventually meet again in the elevator shaft Danny
explains how proud he is that Linus has taken up responsibility and is performing efficiently.
This statement was made in departure to the previous act of Linus where he disobeyed a direct
order from Danny when they were stealing the pulse generator from the university, and it led
to an injury in Yen’s hand.

Even the most effective teams have conflict, and the presence of conflict has no consequences
on whether the team will be successful or not. The most significant aspect in team performance
is how team handles conflict when it occurs, and effective conflict management has obvious
and consistent patterns. These patterns revolve on a crucial trade-off that teams face when
selecting how to deal with conflict, whether implicitly or explicitly: the balance between getting
work done and making individual members happy. The trade-offs around performance and
satisfaction are summarized below:

High/Improving Performance Low/Declining Performance

High/Improving Satisfaction Quadrant 1: The ideal Team Quadrant 2: Feeling Good,

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 Doing Bad

Low/Declining Satisfaction Quadrant 3: Recovering via Quadrant 4: Minimise Misery

Structure

As expected, Danny and his team went through different quadrants throughout the story. They
were first positioned in quadrant 4 because they had no process to actively look for conflicts
and their performance was based on trial and error of tasks. They then moved to quadrant 3
because there were concerns, including a lack of trust among specific team members, that were
discovered, and as a result a certain decision was made in terms of team structure to improve
transparency. By the end of the movie, they were in quadrant 1 when all members were
working on tasks based on their skill and Danny had forecasted all the problems and he even
compromised on his share of the loot just to get back at Tess. The team was able to learn from
their mistakes and successfully completed their heist.

POWER DYNAMICS
Denny Oceans, the group's leader, is seen gathering a group of people for his robbery plan in
the movie Ocean’s Eleven. He has the power of knowledge and the ability to set norms and
values for the team because he is the mastermind behind the plan. First, he meets Rusty Ryan,
his best friend and right hand, granting him direct power and privilege. The two travels to Las
Vegas to pitch the plan to wealthy friend and former casino owner Reuben Tishkoff, who
possesses both wealth and privilege through connections.

Eight former co-workers and criminal specialists are enlisted by Danny and Rusty: the Linus
Caldwell conman, Frank Catton, and Saul Bloom; the auto specialists Virgil and Turk Malloy; the
explosives expert Basher Tarr; the electronic surveillance technician Livingston Dell; and the
acrobat, Yen. They all share the power of interdependence because if one person fails, the
entire team will be disrupted and fall.

Saul further demonstrates his authority by telling Rusty, "You'll not wake up the next morning if
you say another word," demonstrating the power of his position and experience.
In the film, Danny's ex-wife, Tess, is Terry Benedict's girlfriend, and he owns all three casinos
the group was planning to rob. This robbery was more than just about money for Danny; this
relationship gives Tess the power of connection, allowing her to influence Danny and Terry
Benedict's actions.

Terry Benedict, the owner of all three casinos, possessed the power of Knowledge, Status,
Wealth, Privilege, and the ability to establish norms in his casinos. Even his money was kept
secure in the vault security, and these orders were given top priority in the casino.
With all these power dynamics in the team, the team's functioning was greatly impacted.
Whereas Danny's personal motivation was to exact revenge on Terry Benedict, he was still

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included in the plan as he was the mastermind behind the plan, and the group listened to him
due to his position and power. Rusty's power gave him the authority to issue commands to
anyone.

Finally, the robbery was successful due to teamwork, and everyone risked their lives equally for
the robbery, but the dynamism of power can be seen throughout the film.
Organisational Applications:
Power dynamics abound in organisations as well, and they significantly influence management.
All interpersonal and professional relationships are governed by power. There are frequently
obvious power dynamics at work. With the organization's hierarchical structure and authority
distribution.

It is obvious that the top management has the authority to establish the standards and
principles that guide how the company operates. They use their status-related power to
influence events in their favour. Whereas understanding when a person with more knowledge
is given a senior position in the team and a person with significant wealth is also given
privileges the others are deprived of, power and wealth can also be seen in an organisation.
We cannot ignore the personal and organisational power of connections. Though there are
certain norms that govern the organisation, certain biases arise as a result of human
involvement. For example, hiring an employee because of his relationship with internal staff or
someone from higher management. Or the retention of an employee as a result of his or her
relationship with the manager.

All of these biases exist in organisations, and no matter how hard we try to minimise them, they
are present in some form or another. The key here is to accept the structure, understand the
consequences and act diplomatically.

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