Lesson 12 - Group Dynamics PDF

Preview

Summary

assignment...

Description

BOH4M Lesson 12 - Group Dynamics SQ6. Identify what type of team would be best suited to each of the following situations. Give reasons to support your answer. a) The autopilot for a new unmanned aircraft is not functioning properly. Engineers who worked on the autopilot get together with the engineers who designed the airport guidance systems and the sensors to try to solve the problem. A task-force team would be best because it is a team organized to deal with a specialized task until the problem is resolved. b) A city hospital needs to determine what caused a recent outbreak of bacterial infection in the hospital. Specialists from different fields are called in. I think a cross-functional team would work best because it involves people from different areas of the organization. c) A school forms a team of teachers and administrators to look into staffing needs on an ongoing basis. A committee would be best because it would be able to deal with the specialized task of staffing needs on an ongoing basis. d) A group of environmental scientists in Edmonton, Kingston, and Montreal share their data on Arctic contamination. A virtual team would be best because it would allow them to communicate without having to be in the same place.

SQ7. Identify at which stage of team development each of the following statements would likely be made. Question I think we are beginning to work out our differences and staying on track.

Stage Norming

It is time we refocused our team for the challenges Performing ahead. I just can’t stand working with that person!

Storming

We should work together again some time in the future.

Adjourning

Who put you in charge?

Storming

What task will I be given to do here?

Forming

SQ9. Explain how a respected team leader would deal with the following problems. Your answer should be at least three sentences for each of the problems listed. Give reasons to support your answers. a) Social loafing: Social loafing is when members try to avoid responsibility and are not willing to make a meaningful contribution to the team. A respected team leader could deal with social loafing by dividing up the work so that each member has their own part, instead of everyone working on everything together. By doing this, each member is forced to take responsibility for their part. b) Groupthink: Groupthink is when the tendency of the members of a group to yield to the desire for consensus or unanimity at the cost of considering alternative courses of action. Groupthink is said to be the reason why intelligent and knowledgeable people make disastrous decisions. A good way to deal with groupthink is by gathering outside opinions, encouraging debate, and by remaining an impartial leader. By doing those things, the group will consider other ideas while making decisions. c) Personality conflicts: Personality conflicts are when members among the team don’t get along due to their personalities. Some ways to help deal with personality conflicts are by reminding everyone to act professionally, accept other people’s opinions even if they don’t reflect your own, and by addressing and solving the issue if one arises. By doing these things, it allows others to try to put aside any differences while being prepared to deal with one if needed. KQ12. Scenario: Tanya Petrik, an experienced human resources manager, has just replaced one of her colleagues as chair of a six-member, cross-functional committee that is reviewing the company’s management training plan to suggest possible updates. Although Tanya is quite pleased with the progress made by the committee, she realizes that two of the representatives on the committee (accounting and sales) appear to be making all the suggestions in meetings and seem to be doing all of the work. When she approached one of the other team members, he said, “Those two are the real experts. They know what they are doing.” a) What stage of team development do you think the committee has reached? Explain, giving three reasons why you think this is so. I think the team is still in the forming stage. One reason I think they are in the forming stage is that in the forming stage, quite often the less experienced or less knowledgeable members of the team latch on to more experienced members, like sales and accounting in this scenario. Another reason is that a lot of the members are moving away from the centre of the group, as a result of them not being used to a team environment yet. The last reason why I believe they are in the forming stage is because the team is still learning about the abilities and personalities of other members, which is why they aren’t all very involved in the group yet. b) Identify three problems that may be behind the limited involvement of most of the committee members. One problem that may be behind the limited involvement of most of the committee members is that the members may have previously become comfortable working with certain types of people and, as a result, could have difficulty adjusting to new personalities and new ways of approaching and solving problems.

Another problem that could be behind the limited involvement is past relationships, good or bad, with other members. Different attitudes and impressions that the members of the team have about the company or the team’s goals and objectives can also cause an issue that can result in limited involvement from the committee members. c) Explain why the committee will likely fail to achieve its goal of properly updating the training plan if Tanya does not try to get the other committee members more involved. Generally in teams, the goal can only be achieved successfully if all members participate. This is because in a group setting, having everyone’s perspective helps to generate new ideas and think about alternative solutions. In the group, since most of the committee members aren’t very involved yet, they won’t be able to properly update their training plan. Currently in the group, the representatives from sales and accounting are doing most of the talking, but what about those representing marketing and other branches of the company? As a result of their lack of participation, the new training plan may not suit the needs of their departments very well and there won’t be any many ideas or different opinions about the ideas presented during their meetings. When group members all participate, it helps to get rid of ideas that may not work by having everyone discuss what they think. When less people participate, it is more likely for them to choose something sooner that may not be as effective as a choice they would’ve made if everyone’s thoughts were taken into account....