art 1. Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:
Discuss the effective use of teams in an organization. According to your textbook (Ch. 8; criteria of diversity, communication, assertiveness, listening, consistency, accountability, and trust) what are some criteria that organizations can apply to determine with participation in a team is likely to be effective?
Share an example from your own personal experience in which you were involved with a team. Was the team successful or unsuccessful? In hindsight, how many of the criteria were present in your team experience?
(You may read Part 2 and 3 before completing to have a clear understanding of how to do Part 1)
Part 2. Respond to the following classmate in a minimum of 100 words:
“I was on a team with my previous employer that was tasked with preparing a demonstration for inspectors in our upcoming system certification inspection. It was compromised of many people who had experience working with the system, so it was assumed the preparation would go smoothly. It did not for a few reasons. For one, our leader delegated several tasks out ineffectively by confusing experience for expertise. This caused a lot of distrust to grow between the leader and the other teams members since he was required to go back behind the team often. Another criteria that is necessary for an effective team that we did not exhibt was communication. The dates for our inspection and test runs were not set in stone due to operation commitments, translating to a lot of last minute changes that caught the team off guard and unprepared. It negatively affected our performance. Thirdly, our leader lack assertiveness. We had countless meetings where time passed and no decisions were made nor were any questions answered definitively. It was a waste of time, man hours, and led to lost credibility. And finally, the most important criteria to me is listening. When we finally went through with our trial runs, a lot of flaws were discovered in our plan of action. Yet, a lot of the same mistakes were made during the real inspection due to leadership not listening to team members actually carrying out the plan.” – Robert H.
Part 3. Respond to the following classmate in a minimum of 100 words:
“Although teams can be good to use sometimes and within some organizations, I don’t feel they are always necessary. For me, I tend to get things done quickly and efficiently and often when it comes to teams I have someone holding the team back and it can be frustrating. Often there is someone in a team who just is along for the ride as well and he/she does not contribute at all. However, i also feel that teams can be useful for collaboration and ideas. For instance, if you have a large project with a tough question or situation that cannot be solved on your own, consulting your team could be just what you need. People definitely have different skills and mindsets and even if you can’t “think outside of the box” on this one, your team can think outside of your box.
According to the textbook, encouraging participation can be done simply by nicely shutting down those who pipe up early on and talk a lot more than the others. Giving someone an opening could be just what you need to get them to speak. If you are being interrupted every time you speak, you generally just give up after a few tries. The book also states that you should not take silence as omission or agreement and this is completely true. Someone who is quiet can have the best ideas.” – Monica M.