Monthly Archives: April 2018

In order for a meal to taste good, each individual ingredient needs to taste good on its own as well as compliment the flavours of the other ingredients when combined. For example, a pizza is composed of several different ingredients that individually taste good, yet when baked together, creates a delectable dish. However, too much of one ingredient, such as onions can overpower the other flavours, thus ruining the appetizing taste of pizza.

Applying this analogy to the business world, having a shared mindset and mutual understanding amongst individuals in the workplace is an essential element for establishing a healthy organizational culture. This will mitigate the potential for problematic situations of occuring within the organization such as abuse ofpower. According to the Pearson Seventh Canadian Edition textbook Organizational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies, Applications, “A strong organizational culture can guide individual decisions and help everyone work together towards the same goals”, however this is not always an easy task to accomplish as seen in the video below:

Evidently, there is an unethical organizational culture fostering from Chef Ramsey who inflicts two types of bases of power on his employees: coercive power and expert power. He uses coercive power by instilling fear in his employees in attempt to get them to complete the tasks. In addition, he exerts expert power by arrogantly shouting out commands at his employees, as he is well-aware that he is more skilled and knowledgeable in the cooking realm than the other chefs in the kitchen.

Due to Chef Ramsay’s abuse of authority, he creates a high-stress and negative atmosphere which stimulates unethical workplace behaviour such as swearing. This harassment like atmosphere within the workplace hinders productivity as the employees feel devalued and unmotivated. Management Guru, Peter Drucker corroborates this statement as he claims that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”Links to an external site.. Regardless of the fact that the chefs are talented and well-versed in skills, they have difficulty executing the tasks up to a high standard because of the tensions linked to unethical organizational culture surrounding them.

As we discussed in our Comm 292 class, organizational culture is one of the most sustainable criteria that sets a company apart from one another. With a well-established, welcoming organizational culture, a sense of ‘warmth’ and ‘home’ is felt within the workplace. This tends to promote productivity and synergyamongst employees.

As a Swim Instructor and Lifeguard for the City of Delta, I fully support this ideology as I have witnessed how influential a rich organizational culture can impact motivation and productivity amongst employees. For example, myself and many of my coworkers consider our workplace to be like a second home. As a result, our jobs do not feel like an obligation but rather a fun activity that we all willingly want to do. This makes for an enjoyable, yet productive time.

Therefore, a well established organizational culture is a valuable ingredient that differentiates a bad workplace from a michelin star worthy workplace. Ultimately, organizational culture holds the power to dictate the extent of productivityachieved from employees.

Sources:

Taylor, A. (2017, June 10). Strategic planning facilitator Vancouver | Strategic plan consulting | SME Strategy. Strategic Planning and Management Insights. Retrieved March 14, 2018, from http://www.smestrategy.net/blog/what-does-culture-eats-strategy-mean-for-you-and-your-organization

Sismithin. (2009, November 26). Angry Rage Attack – Gordon Ramsay. Retrieved March 15, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjE-cBDFphQ&feature=youtu.be.

Happy Workplace [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://cvpco.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/happy-workplace1.jpg.

Culture Strategy [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gomindshift.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pacman_image.jpg.

Often times, people use the word ‘group’ and ‘team’ interchangeably. However there is a fine, yet important line that differentiates the two. According to the Pearson Seventh Canadian Edition textbook Organizational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies, Applications, a group is defined as “Two or more people with a common relationships”. On the other hand, a team is defined as “A small number of people who work closely towards a common objective and are accountable to one another”. Therefore the necessity of a common objective, seen in teams facilitates an environment for “Dreamwork” to be fostered.

As seen in this clip from The Big Bang Theory, many organizational behaviour components of teamwork are addressed. This scene exemplifies the complexity of communication, conflict and negotiation within a team. Their common objective is to plan a night out accordingly to ensure that they 1. Find an adequate restaurant to eat at 2. Arrive on time to watch a movie at the theaters and 3. Ensure that they have the snacks such as “icies” to enjoy the movie. However, many obstacles, such as time management are encountered throughout their collaboration process . Overall, it is evident that the benefits of teamwork are resource pooling as each team member has different insights and skill sets to offer. For example, in this scene, Raj is the imaginative team member who offers alternative ideas, whereas Sheldon is a realist who questions each decision or idea that is presented. Thus, the cost of teamwork and collaboration is the overwhelm of opinions which can lead to unproductive or time consuming meetings.

Looking closely at Sheldon’s contribution to the team, he listens to each members input, yet is quick to reply with a remark that shuts their ideas down. This situation was similar to an activity that was assessed in our Comm 290 class called “Yes, but…”. The objective of this activity was to create a plan that our OB group would partake in. Once a general idea for the plan had been established, each member could add details to this plan, by saying “Yes, but…”. This activity mimics the negative approach Sheldon took in collaborating with his friends. As experienced in this OB class activity and as seen in this clip, the “but” in collaborative work dampens progress. Although the “yes” at the start of the sentence is ensuring, the “but” cancels the tentative idea or plan that was initially created.

An alternative approach that was assessed in our OB class was by having each  member respond with “Yes, and…”. The addition of the “and” eliminated possible borders for our plan and allowed for our group to collectively come closer to a common goal. Therefore, if Sheldon utilized the “Yes, and..” approach, he would have been on the same page as Leonard, Raj and Howard in planning their night and would not have been left behind at the end of the  scene.

Ultimately, conflict is inevitable in teamwork, however to ensure that a positive outcome is achieved, negotiation through communication must be implemented.These fundamental tools are not only used in teamwork scenarios seen on T.V or in class but are also present in the business world. Due to the fact that a business is essentially a team working towards a common goal, the same obstacles that may present in teamwork in class are also present in the workplace. This statement is corroborated in a Harvard Business Review about (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. “The Secrets of Great Teamwork” which states that having a shared mindset among team members is essential for collaboration and negotiation.

Thus, to address the title of this discussion: No, Group Work Does Not Make The Dreamworks due to the inexistence of a of a shared mindset and common objective that are only seen within teams.

Therefore it is “Teamwork (that) Makes The Dreamwork”*.

*quote by John C. Maxwell.

Sources:

Mortensen, M. H. (2016, May 16). The Secrets of Great Teamwork. Retrieved February 23, 2018, from https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-secrets-of-great-teamwork

Hooton, M. (2015, June 10). Effective Collaboration – Big Bang Theory. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMT1ut8xgY

Teamwork [Letters and Hands]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://vorkspace.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/iStock_000026543869Small_banner.jpg.

Collaboration [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.questteam.com/classroom/images/gear_team_420.png

Whether we admit it or not, people do judge a book by its cover. This was proven during the second week of Comm 292 classes where we had to make assumptions about our team members before actually getting to know them. Ultimately, this activity was a test of perception: Process by which individuals organize and interpret their impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Therefore, due to the fact that we had no previous about our team members, we made perceptual guesses to add meaning to the foreign environment that we were put into. Unfortunately, there are many factors that distort perception. According to Dr. Amir Abou Elgna, Vice Dean of College of Business Administration, perceptual errors are often seen on the basis of limited information. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. In short, my team members and I placed each other in ‘categories’ due to the limited information that we knew about one another. For example, we assumed that the team member with glasses was an avid gamer and was interested in technology. Whereas, they assumed that my interests were in fashionand beauty based on the way that I dressed and presented myself that day. Both these assumptions were incorrect. Thus, a single characteristic led us to make a general impression of that individual (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., which is also known as the Halo effect.

Therefore, you should not judge a book by its cover, right?

In my opinion, I believe that one should not judge someone based on purely looks, however being conscientious about how others act and present themselves can be a useful indicator of their personality. For example, despite having others categorize me as “girly” based on the way I presented myself, another team member associated the way I present myself with the notes I was taking and gathered that I was very organized and meticulous , which was an accurate claim. Therefore, judging a book by its cover may not tell you its full story, however it can give indicators of what there is inside it.

Upon getting to know each member of my team, it was pretty easy reading their behaviours and figuring out what their attitudes were towards certain topics such as school or sports. However, the underlying component, values, which dictates behaviours and attitudes was not as evident to see. Precisely, values “reflect what is important to us. They are a shorthand way of describing our individual and collective motivations. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.”. This was an essential part to know about my team members as values underlie perceptions, behaviours and attitudes. Despite behaviours changing, attitudes shifting and perceptions being skewed, values remain constant. Thus knowing each individuals’ personal values allows for the group to effectively implement shared values. By doing so, core valueswithin the group will be established, thus facilitating ease for communication and collaboration for future team projects.

Overall, my biggest takeaways from the individual level of analysis of OB so far are: Assume Nothing*, but Asses Everything. Assumptions lead to falsified and narrow-minded findings. However, taking a step back and assessing the situation/person/environment as a whole will allow for a more clear and accurate conclusion of the given event.

*Expression famously used by Robert Gateman.

Sources:

Anon, (2018). [image] Available at: http://www.21stcenturylawyer.ca/userimages/Newsroom%20Images/2016/January%202016/s%20values.jpg [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].

Anon, (2018). [image] Available at: https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/topic_images/p1b95avvf11l7rjf8v6u1atfo7r5.jpg [Accessed 29 Jan. 2018].