READ AND REPLY BY AGREEING OR DISAGREEING AND WHY?
REPLY 1
The significance of the two is that a team's quality or focus depends on the shared aims of their purpose and by what methods the individuals are related to each other and are interdependent. They have more than one individual designated or elected as the leader of the team. In contrast, a group comes from having many individuals or a consistent willingness to carry out a fixed activity yet are focused on completing individual goals, they are independent and has one person who leads the group.
https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-group-and-team.html
I would say I’m part of a Problem-Solving Teams structure. My position entails problem-solving of teams where effective resolutions are required all the time and come up with recommended solutions when the need arises. We meet twice a month to discuss and solve problems within our department. we look at ways to make procedure changes, and we ensure they are implement. Each member provides individual recommendations for procedural improvements and after enough discussions, we present our recommendations to upper management for implementation approved.
https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Str-Ti/Teams-and-Teamwork.html
When groups of individuals work together, the choices they make result from more than simply the decision-making process of the individuals. Group dynamics play an essential role in the best and creativity of their decisions. I would think that project manager comes to mind as good example. They must adapt to changing the environment and process around them will lead to the success of managing the individuals. They need to create something that everyone can follow, this is how the change happen.
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/improving-group-dynamics.htm
I like Lewin’s Change Management Model, not only is it a popular and effective of many of the models, it’s easier for me to understand what organizational and structured changes mean and gives me a guide to use it with my team. Lewin's model has been around for a long time. It's staying power in the field change management is due to its simplicity and application to life at work and outside of it.
https://www.change-management-coach.com/kurt_lewin.html
REPLY 2
This class has hit at such a great time in my career. We have experienced a major change at my job, and after 14 years my manager decided it was time for her to find a different career path, so this has helped me out a lot not with just school work, but also help at work. Taking everything in that I am learning has helped me help the other girls how to get through this major change for us as a team. You will see me use what is going on with my job for a lot of examples in our discussion boards, along with me taking in the information I am learning from class and using it in our situation at work.
- How do you perceive the similarities and differences, between a group and a team? The similarities of the two is the fact they are a group of 2 or more individuals that work independently toward goals. The differences between the two is the fact a team works to complete specific goals, and a group they work individually toward goals of the organization.(Belbin, R. M. (1993). Team roles at work)
So to me I perceive both of them like we have it broke down at my job we have 2 of us right now being stand in managers and we work on all the manager stuff such as inventory, payroll, and closing at night. As a group we all work towards daily goals, along with we each cut and style hair.
2. What different types of team structures have you been involved with or witnessed? I have been out of high school for 20 years and I have worked in a few different types of jobs the main one is I have been a hair stylist for 20 years along with working for a hospital for 10 1/2 years and I was an office manager for a landscape company for a little while. So I have witnessed a few different types of team structures. The main one in all of the jobs I have worked in and currently using right now is self directed, myself and the other girl that has been with the company are in charge of manager duties for our store. The General Manager and owner are very rarely in our store they have put myself and the other girl in charge of manager duties because we have more experience in the duties than the other girls that are just starting out.
3. /What effect will the group/team dynamics have on the organizational change and initiative? The group dynamics can have a big impact on the organizational change, for instance the girl that is helping me with the change in our company, has really let the title go to her head, and this has caused alot of problems with the other girls. The fact that she has let this go to her head like she has it makes the other girls not want to work when she is working, and customers are picking up on that behavior, and it is going to hurt our store with good customer service, along with hurt our business if we have anymore staff quit on us,because that puts us short staffed. This will cost us money along with customers. It makes it hard to grow as a group when the main team member is acting like she is, when we can not keep staff.
4. What types of change strategy would you incorporate for an organization that uses work groups? Describe how that strategy would be effected if the organization used work teams. I feel in my situation at work we would have to use the positive model for our organization. At the point we are at in our shop we need a lot of positive for our work team, this model can help both work groups and work teams positive can help out in any situation. If the team members and work group see the team leaders being positive this will help the group and team stay positive and they will want to reach all goals for the team and the group.
References: .(Belbin, R. M. (1993). Team roles at work) Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Benne, K. D., & Sheats, P. (1948). Functional roles of group members’. Journal of Social Issues , ( 4 . 41), 9.
REPLY 3
Part 1
I am as guilty as the next guy when it comes to making assumptions, both in my everyday life and in my work life. It is difficult to look at a situation and not make assumptions about how it will turn out. Recently, I made the mistake of making an assumption, at work, and I thought about the consequences. However, I did not believe that my assumption was wrong, as is the case most of the time, and my assumption did create a couple of difficult to maneuver around issues. I am responsible for ordering my required items from our vendors and I have a weekly budget to consider when ordering. I wanted a special cut of meat, it is slightly more expensive, but it is well worth the money. The assumption was that if I ordered two cases that would be more than enough meat for the meal and if I didn’t need both cases I would be able to return the unused case. If I ordered these two cases it would put me over budget by $6.00, I assumed this would have no negative effect on my budget as I was already under budget for the month. It turned out that one case was enough to serve for the meal and I attempted to return the other case, this vendor is new to our company, and they have a strict no return policy. The only way to return an item is to claim it before their delivery driver leaves your facility. So, I had to keep the case of meat and on top of that the case was priced per pound and each case varies in weight, so it put me $34.00 over budget. This was an issue because I did not have that kind of extra money in my budget for the remainder of the month. I ended up having to stay a few dollars under budget for the next three weeks, this made it difficult for me to order needed smaller items.
Part 2
Managers are required to make many difficult decisions on a daily basis, having a decision-making model in place will help the manager make the decision without bias and with a certain amount of ease. These models are great for managers to utilize because it takes them step by step through the decision-making process with little to no sidetracking. The use of these models also allows the manager to track the effectiveness of the decision-making process. These decision-making models are set up to cover any company policies, legal regulations, and any relevant data needed to come to a successful decision, (Taylor, n.d.).
On the other hand, if managers were to have no decision-making models available to them, they would have to weigh their options and diagnose the proper decision for the circumstance. The managers would have to remember company policies, legal regulations, and any relevant data needed for making the decision successfully. Without the decision-making model there is quite a bit of information left to be interpreted by the manager making the decision. This allows room for discrimination, bias, and poor judgement.
Part 3
Strategic decision making should be considered a long-term goal, it is not a decision that will affect the company in a month or two but could affect the company for many years to come. The manager(s) making these types of decisions need to be aware of current company performance and possible future company performance if the proper or improper decision is made. Some of the other factors would be things like if the data collected is pertinent to the decision being made. Also, who needs to make the decision, who all is involved with the decision. If the decision is to be made then what are the relevant factors that could impact the decision, or areas the decision could impact, (Rosenzweig, 2013).
References:
Taylor, James, (n.d.). Business Process Management Institute. The Role of Decision Modeling in Business Decision Management. Retrieved from: http://www.bpminstitute.org/resources/articles/role-decision-modeling-business-decision-management
Rosenzweig, Phil, (2013). Harvard Business Review. Decision Making. What Makes Strategic Decisions Different? Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2013/11/what-makes-strategic-decisions-different
REPLY 4
1) When making a decision it is human nature to make assumptions. Understanding the assumptions along with the consequences should those assumptions be incorrect is important. A best practice when making a decision is to make a list of any assumptions that exist. Discuss a decision you have made in the past in your professional life that was based on assumptions that proved to be incorrect. What were the consequences and how did you handle the resulting situation?
a) Competition can be fierce in the work place. My standard practice is to learn what my team does and know what can and what cannot be done – ensuring no one can pull the wool over my eyes. In a particular organization, my team was the largest and the top performers. Senior Leadership decided I needed to dedicate 150 resources to another function. They would remain reporting to me. I needed to add support for the process from beginning to end. As such, they would not be part of the other team.
b) My assumption was the other team leaders would welcome the additional support to move the process forward. My team shared the work floor with the manager of the other workgroup. We had years of personal conflict over disparate treatment of the employees in the two different work groups. For example, regardless of the number of calls on hold and shifts were ending or we were closing for the day – they just left the callers on the lines and got up and left. In my world, we did not close the lines, we required the people to remain on the lines and assist customers. The other work area was still operation on a 9-5 operating hours schedule. Our team had moved onto an overtime mandate and implemented alternate shifts all to better helped our customers. I assumed they were the ones asking for help and would really want some ideas on improving the options. When in fact, they did not want us involved and had advised their team they could not help us. My assumption was we all worked for one company and we both must move forward to solidify our company’s place in the market. Not so, her personal dislike for me impacted everything.
c) She actually mandated her team not to assist my team. We did not know the work and had to work with people at locations in different states to learn processes and begin the work. The relationship was destroyed beyond repair. It impacted her reputation and because we were in difficult time, they didn’t let her go for a couple more years, but her world and impact was very specialized and somewhat non-collaborative.
2) There are many different decision making models available such as: the rational model; the seven step model; and the Carnegie model to name a few. What are the pros and cons of managers using decision making models?
a) The rational model looks at the problem, cause and seeks a solution in a linear method. This would seem appropriate for easily identified issues and where solutions might be more easily achieved (All Minds, nd).
b) The seven step model looks at a step by step approach, identify what needs to be decided, define ones own strengths and weaknesses, gifts, values and interests – what do you bring to the table to solve the problem, what options do you have, research for causes, what options are there to solve the problem, make a choice, execute the decision (Roberts, nd).
c) The Carnegie method realizes there are limited resources and information to solve problems. There is rarely consensus, this model may require getting supporters, its more political, this may be an opportunity where multiple solutions are shared and the one with the greatest consensus is the one accepted, (Carnegie, 2009).
3) What factors should be taken into consideration when collecting data for a strategic decision? Usually, who needs to be involved, how fast does the decision need to be made, what are the impacts and who has the power to make the final decision.
Resources:
All Mind Tools. (n.d.). Rational decision making model. Retrieved December 14, 2018, from https://allmindtools.com/rational-decision-making-model/
Carnegie Decision Model. (2009, August 15). Retrieved December 14, 2018, from http://www.decide-guide.com/carnegie-decision-model/
Roberts, R. (n.d.). 7 Step Decision Making Model. Retrieved December 14, 2018, from https://www.decision-making-confidence.com/7-step-decision-making-model.html
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