Discussions:
Specific Instructions:
Post your discussion consisting of at least 300 words. See class posting/discussion requirements.
Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week's Learning Resources and any additional sources. At least 3 sources (Text books or Scholarly Articles only). For few Discussion the number of references are mentioned against the questions.
Read a selection of your colleagues' postings.
Respond to at least 3 your colleagues' postings in one or more of the following ways:
• Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence or research.
• Share an insight from having read your colleagues' postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
• Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Campbellsville University Library
• Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
• Make suggestions based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
• Expand on your colleagues' postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence
Discussion 1:
Team Performance, Productivity and Rewording Teamwork
Module 2 focuses on performance, productivity, and rewarding teamwork. Based on your understanding, discuss the following.
Discuss how to access team productivity:
What conditions need to be in place for teams to excel and why?
Suggestion ways to design teamwork so that threats to performance is minimized
As a manager, how would you reward teamwork?
Discussion 2:
Designing Team and Team Identity
Part 1: Think about how to build teams in terms of designing the task, selecting the people, and then, managing their relationships. How would compose a team for completing a course/work project in terms of the three dimensions listed above. How would you incorporate diversity in designing a team?
Part 2: Discuss team identity. Why do you feel attached to certain groups and teams but not to others?
Discussion 3:
Communication and Team Decision Making
Part 1: Sharpening the Team Mind: Communication and Collective Intelligence
A. What are some of the possible biases and points of error that may arise in team communication systems? In addition to those cited in the opening of Chapter 6, what are some other examples of how team communication problems can lead to disaster?
B. Revisit communication failure examples in Exhibit 6-1. Identify the possible causes of communication or decision-making failure in each example, and, drawing on the information presented in the chapter, discuss measures that might have prevented problems from arising within each team's communication system.
Part 2: Team Decision-Making: Pitfalls and Solutions
A. What are the key symptoms of groupthink? What problems and shortcomings can arise in the decision-making process as a result of groupthink?
B. Do you think that individuals or groups are better decision-makers? Justify your choice. In what situations would individuals be more effective decision-makers than groups, and in what situations would groups be better than individuals?
Discussion 4: Conflict with Teams
Part 1: Conflict within Teams
Think of a conflict that occurred in a team you were a part of and analyze it. What were the main sources of the conflict? What interventions can be used to improve the quality of conflict a team?
Part 2: Creativity in Teams
Evaluate yourself using the three indices of creativity. What strategies can you use to enhance your creativity?
Discussion 5: NETWORKING: A KEY TO SUCCESSFUL TEAMWORK
A. Consider the different teams presented in your reading assignment. How do the teams manage their team boundaries? What are the trade-offs between internal cohesion and external ties within each type of team? Support your discussion with at least two (2) external sources.
B. Consider the list of common roles for team members which of these roles do you think you play in your own team or group? Why?
Discussion 6:Leadership Paradox and Inter-team Relations
A. What is the leadership paradox? Give some reasons why a leader can encounter difficulty in newly formed teams or groups using a participative management system. Support your discussion with at least two (2) external sources.
B. Present a discussion of the strategies for encouraging participative management in the workforce, and how to implement each of these strategies. Support your discussion with at least two (2) external sources.
C. What serious biases or misassumptions do groups that are involved in inter-team conflict sometimes experience? How do these biases and prejudices affect the ability of teams to accomplish their goals? Support your discussion with at least two (2) external sources.
Discussion 7:Reflection/Critical Evaluation of Your Learning Outcomes
Write a critical evaluation of your learning outcomes. In your response, consider:
1. The content of this class as they relate to Team Management and managerial decision making.
2. Base on the course content, discuss new skills you acquired from this class? How relevant are the new skills to your current and/or future profession?
3. How would you apply your new knowledge?