Team Structure


    I don't have much successful or impressive experience in group projects, except one for group of 2, but it is more like working with my friend than working in a team. I really want to talk about my favorite sports team, 2014' San Antonio Spurs, but It seems too complicated to analyze for a team like this. Therefore, I pick 2018-2019 team Astralis from CS:GO as my example for high-performing team.

    CS:GO is a first person shooting game came out in 2014. It is a direct sequal of Counter Strike which was populared since 2000. Every year, there are lots of CSGO events and many exciting tournaments to watch. Among those events and matches, CSGO majors and Intel grand slam events are the most important for a team's success. CSGO majors are similar to world cup for soccer and playoff for an NBA season. Top teams gather together and fight for $1,000,000 prize. The rule of Intel grand slam is that if a team wins 4 Masters level CSGO tournaments inside a span of ten consecutive events, the team will win $1,000,000 prize. Team Astralis won 3 consecutive majors from summer 2018 to summer 2019 and Intel grand slam. They create a new era of Counter Strike and rule the professional CS scene for a whole year and still rolling right now. 

    A typical CSGO team is mainly composed of 6 people. 5 players and 1 coach. Each player has its own specific role but the most important one is the IGL, aka the In Game Leader. In game leader is the one who make decisions and call for strategies during the game. Coach is not allowed to tell players what to do during the game, but coach is responsible for making strats, training, and putting the team together. Related to fundamental team configurations from chapter 5, I think the structure of team Astralis is similar to One-boss arrangement. During the game, the in game leader gather information and make decision, all players follow the call from in game leader. Off the game, all players follow the coach's lead, learn new strats and practice together to get better. This structure is very effective for Astralis because they get a big brain in game leader and a master of strats coach. 

    Related to the characteristics of high-quality teams, I think Astralis shares several qualities with Katzenbach and Smith’s research. Astralis has clear, measurable goals, which are winning majors and Intel Grand Slam. Astralis also develops the right mix of expertise. It has specific role for every player and each player is good at doing his job. The opposite example is team FaZe Clan. The team just buy the famous and expensive stars hoping that they will have chemistry and dominate the game. However, that is not how CSGO works, 5 stars no support will not work. Someone in the team has to sacrifice his performance to play support role for the team. In the professional CSGO scene, in game leader is often the one to be blamed for the loss. In game leaders can't fully focus on playing the game because he has to make the call and tell other teamates what to do, which will make them perform worse than their teamates. However in team Astralis, they trust each other. Even when the in game leader performs really bad, they still follow his lead and listen to his strats. 

    




Comments

  1. Professor ArvanSeptember 29, 2019 at 9:11 AM

    Before commenting on the content of your post, let me make a remark about its appearance. The font changed several times within the post. It began as black, then switched to gray. Then it got smaller and switched to a sans serif font. I'm guessing this wasn't for effect. I wonder if you know why it happened.

    I didn't follow all of this as I have no prior background with gaming at this level, but I would encourage you to address the following. Does the structure itself make the team work as a cohesive unit, or are there some other ingredients necessary as well? And regarding the talent level of the Astralis team, you made it seem like they had some superstars at the top. Given that, what should the other players on the team be doing to make the team work effectively?

    Here is the other question you might work through. You said that FaZe Clan didn't have the right structure or teamwork. But it seems that other teams that might imitate Astralis haven't emerged yet. What makes that hard to replicate? Is is the talent or something else?

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    Replies
    1. Joseph Schumpeter Econ 490 fall 2019September 30, 2019 at 2:14 PM

      I think the font change is caused by I copy pasting the rules from Intel Grand Slam website.

      In my opinion, the structure is the basics of the CSGO team working as a cohesive unit. But as a sucessful team, players have to develop trust between each other. You should believe that your teamates will protect your back when you are holding an angle. And players should execute the strats made by the in game leader. Execution is an important thing in professional CS.

      Astralis does have great players, but those players are not known for personal skills before they join Astralis. They become great after join Astralis. I think if one have to name a superstar in team Astralis, it will be the in game leader "gla1ve". Other players can just follow his call and execute the plan.

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