Organizational Culture

One of the things most important to the performance of a team is the culture of the organization which surrounds it. Some organizations have cultures that are more fit for teamwork, while others may have varying subcultures that are more supportive of teamwork than those of others.

The culture of an organization determines what is and is not acceptable while there. This becomes important when considering how the organization should best accomplish a task at hand and whether or not a team is the answer to this problem. Perhaps teamwork in an organization is less hands on and should be considered from the perspective of the various departments in it. Honesty is important for the ideal performance of a team, let alone an organization. The FullTilt blog addressees this issue and the importance of honesty in the organization. It focuses on helping to develop the presence of honesty and the value which it brings to both the team and the organization.

When it comes to the application of this concept, it may be a bit more abstract, however the Team Leadership class as a whole can be viewed as our organization, and each team a part of it. In this scenario, the Team Leadership class does an outstanding job of creating a culture for team success. However, this makes perfect sense as that is one of the purposes of the course. If the course is our organization, then a possibility of improving this could be seen from this article that focuses on learning in organizations. When looking at methods to improve the course framework, the Deutero-Learning method seems like a hybrid method best suited to help us learn. It involves awareness and commitment to determining the things which best enable learning as well as those things which might hinder it. This method is an active method which requires constantly being aware and searching out for those things that harm the environment of learning. The article then goes on to mention the importance of independent as well as interdependent work, both components that are present in this course. It focuses on how both of these are necessary in combination with a learning environment for success.

To further the impact of the importance that has been touched upon here, this article examines the importance of organizational culture, teams, and a global mindset. Globalization is increasingly happening, so this article is important for the future careers of many students. When corporations act globally, their mindset must different than one that focuses solely on one country and its values. This has an immediate impact on the ability of a corporation and its leaders to function in more than one specific locale. It starts by talking about management, then relates this to the leadership which is necessary to accomplish this as well as all of the various other goals. Ultimately, the ability to be a leader and the environment for it are two of the most important things in a successful venture.

The Assertive Style of Leadership

The power style is the way through which people communicate and act towards their team or utilize any authority which they have or feel they have. If someone chooses to use the incorrect style in the wrong moment it could hinder group performance, and this is why most people choose the assertive style. It contains a balance and allows for good communication.

In every interaction throughout the lifespan of a team, the people involved have a decision to be made about how the choose to act and involve others. In that moment they are deciding how to use their power for what will hopefully be most beneficial to the team. If people beat around the bush and get to their point in this manner, it will be inefficient and increase the chances of a misunderstanding occurring. It takes into affect the feelings of everyone and just addresses the problem immediately at hand.  To build upon this, the article states that assertive communication is respectful to both yourself and others, and reduces the amount of conflict possible. It is also the most honest and open means of communication available.

With the knowledge in hand that assertive communication is one of the best methods to talk within a team or leadership position, we should make sure it is present in our team as quickly as possible. The skill of becoming assertive in a team may sound like a hard goal to accomplish as it is a soft skill and less easily gauged. However, the article on collaboration shares a good example of how this could be done with some examples at the end. Some of the advice it offers sounds like things that have been readily heard before: be respectful, state your mind, and encouraging the use of voices in a reasonable tone. These may sound empty and repetitive, but it relates this further to the importance of communication and these concepts with a real life example of a hospital worker and a part of their day there. This just helps to further reinforce the importance of learning this concept as it will relate to our future careers. To further establish the importance of assertive communication, I will once more look at it in a workplace environment. In this article, a workplace was examined and it found the percentages of conversation to be approximately equally split between passive and assertive communication. The research also found that men in the workplace as well as older people are more tolerable of aggressive communication. They developed that part of this stems from society and the importance of job security/experience at work. Ultimately, communication is one of the most important soft skills for a job, which is why our team should strive for them to present now and in the future.

The Importance of A Positive Mood for Teamwork

The seventh skill of an ESI team mentioned in the The Emotionally Intelligent Team is a positive mood. It further breaks down a positive mood as being derived from optimism and happiness. The book also recognizes seven components for a team: can-do attitude, hopefulness, curiosity, long-term view, attitude of abundance, playfulness, and zest.

The book covers a large amount of material on the subject so it may be hard to apply it, however, one of the recurring themes was one of having fun and enjoying the task at hand. This is something which has been prevalent throughout the semester as we covered the importance of social and task oriented behaviors, and their varying percentages throughout the process. One of the biggest benefits of a team with a positive mood that was mentioned is the increase in productivity and a better way to face challenges. While our teams have no defined leader, the mood of each team member is important and can further increase the team’s performance. As the article mentions, this mood will increase productivity, commitment, and potency.

When it comes to actually applying this to our team, that is when things get more difficult. When it comes to encouraging and cultivating a positive environment it is one of the more challenging parts since it is not necessarily as measurable as other components. By no means does that mean that our team should fail to implement it, just that it may be a more challenging part of emotional intelligence to grow in. A great article I found on this is from the Leadership Freak blog. This blog focuses on optimism and some steps that you can take towards it. Four steps that it has towards this are: believe, anticipate obstacles, take actions, and see the good. If our group believes in what we are doing, then we will be more motivated and positive even through the challenging times, as well as knowing that these more difficult times will occur. One of the best actions we have is to simply tackle the problem head on after some planning, then to reflect and see if everything we are doing is working. To help build off of this is another article from the Leadership Freak blog on team positivity. A major point of this article is all of the singular things which are often picked out by groups to pick out and worry about, but can ultimately just be considered one thing thinking. Instead, the author encourages teams to obsess over multiple things, the negative and the positive that is. Ultimately, the point is that the big picture should be focused on more than the small picture. This ties in incredibly well with all of the information that has been covered on team mood, focusing on the positive and optimism as opposed to obsessing on a small thing.

Social Loafing: A Team’s Downfall

This set of readings talked about a number of necessities for teams, like: communication, cooperation, and the team building process. In these chapters there is a lot of talk about conflicts that may arise from an overabundance of one element or the lack of another. Small things like this may seem frivolous, but they are something which teams must be on the lookout for. A perfect example of this would be social loafing.

Social loafing occurs in group work when someone puts forth less effort than they would from working alone. It would be very easy to say “Oh, that won’t happen to my group,” and firmly be in disbelief but it is an incredibly common as a report found that it occurred in 77.4% of public university groups. This data was gathered from courses that were all online, which could have been a confounding variable, yet it points out just how prevalent it can be. It is for this reason that our team needs to be on top of the issue to prevent its occurrence.

One way in which we can avoid social loafing is through the motivation and rewards which we institute for our team. A thing which our team should avoid is communal rewards, as nobl says, some teams were actually demotivated when rewards were presented to the whole team as it allowed for some people to get away with bare minimum work. Later on, it mentions the importance of placing goals which everyone will have to work towards for the team’s benefit. I fell that group collaboration is something which must start from the beginning and has already in our work together. Given the nature of this project as a whole, I feel that collaborative effort is one of our best strengths and means to do well. As the learners way article mentions, a collaborative team takes effort and is not just a natural occurrence. This article also mentions the importance of individual motivation for group success. It is for all of these reasons that our team needs to cultivate a collaborative effort in hopes of success. There are a number of ways to do this, such as dividing portions of assignments and holding each other accountable for this. Another way is just through the encouragement and daily accountability which we have in class meetings. Through a concentrated effort our team can avoid social loafing and be more productive.

A Foundation for Success

The reading selection included for Unit 1 focuses heavily on the purposes and conceptions behind teams. One of the components of this which I found the most helpful was the Appendix. The Appendix functions as an amalgam of information about the functions and performances of teams, including: evaluations, strategies, and plans to enhance the team experience.

It makes a large amount of sense for this to be the first selection of readings we cover, as it really provides a basis for the course and informs the class on teams. This information will surely prove to serve as a foundation for the rest of the semester. I feel that the information about teams’ and students’ opinions on them will prove advantageous, and allow for us to have a better awareness of where our teammates may be coming from when we disagree. The TILT blog features a number of pieces of advice for student teams and how to function as a team. A number of these are similar to concepts mentioned in our literature and could easily be incorporated into our teams. One of the more useful components of this is the section on skills for managing conflicts in teams. An example of this is using past teams as an example or by giving the whole room an example of a problem and having them solve it.

Given the information which we have covered and now processed, we can begin to look forward in the course. One of the largest components of our grade is the semester long project. After covering all of this information on how to work well in teams, our team should be able to coalesce and overcome any differences which we have.  Another TILT blog talks about the successful usage of teams in projects. This article talks about a number of ways to engage in team work as we prepare for our project. An interesting article I found on the Leadership Freak Blog contains sets of questions and pieces of advice that seems similar to those in the appendix.  One thing which it adds that the Appendix was lacking is a set of rules of engagement for teams. These rules of engagement include adjectives like respect and honor, but also other things teams might encounter like milestones.  As a whole, these pieces of team advice will be helpful in encouraging our teamwork and also keeping us on our toes by avoiding the negative signs mentioned. Since we have laid the foundation for our academic success in this class, it is time for us to begin to lay the foundation for our team success. If our team adheres to the lessons that this first selection has taught us, I have no worries about our ability to work together.