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Levels Tought:
Elementary,Middle School,High School,College,University,PHD
| Teaching Since: | Apr 2017 |
| Last Sign in: | 327 Weeks Ago, 4 Days Ago |
| Questions Answered: | 12843 |
| Tutorials Posted: | 12834 |
MBA, Ph.D in Management
Harvard university
Feb-1997 - Aug-2003
Professor
Strayer University
Jan-2007 - Present
What was the worst experience you ever had with conflict? What was so bad about it? What are some of the things that caused the conflict? Look at another student’s post and comment on how you, as an outsider, see the causes of their conflict. What are some suggestions you would have to mitigate or resolve their situation? When someone has responded to your post, be sure to go back and comment on if you think that the suggestions would have worked to resolve the conflict. Why or why not?
References:
Communication
We begin this module by building a foundation of knowledge about interpersonal communication. After all, communication is needed for effective group activities and group work. In gaining this foundation, we will refer to Wikipedia for a “quick and dirty” overview of the topic. (Caution: Wikipedia is an unacceptable source for academic papers because it is a publicly edited site with information that can be incomplete, biased, or incorrect. However, to get a quick introduction to a topic, it can be a good place to start.)
Models of communication. (2016) Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Models_of_communication
Never discount the value of trust in strengthening communication and improving work relationships with others. One way to build trust is to maximize what we know about ourselves and wish to share with others. Conversely, we want to minimize aspects of ourselves we are not aware of but are readily apparent to others (our "blind spots"). This is accomplished through a combination of self-disclosure and feedback.
The Johari Window is an excellent model for improving communication effectiveness and therefore trust. Created in the 1950s by two guys named Joe and Harry (no kidding!), this model is still widely used in organizations to improve communication between coworkers, bosses, subordinates, and teams. Read the following:
The Johari Window: Using Self-Discovery and Communication to Build Trust, (2016). Mindtools. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/JohariWindow.htm
Communication Skills You Can't Do Without
Have you ever wondered why the Trident University teaching model has so much darn writing? Have you gotten frustrated with professors who admonish you for typos and syntax errors? Want to know why communication skills are critical to MBAs as well as other professionals? Read this article.
Poor Writing Skills Top M.B.A. Recruiter Gripes (2009) Vault.com Inc. http://www.vault.com/blog/job-search/poor-writing-skills-top-mba-recruiter-gripes
Groups and Teams
The structure of modern organizations is continually changing and work is being done in teams more than ever. But teams are more than just a collection of individuals working on a single project. Team workers need a set of skills that exceeds those of individual workers to allow them to collaborate effectively. Often, employers do not train employees in these skills so it is a rare thing when teams live up to their potential. This is particularly true of teams in the United States, where the culture highly values individual effort and accomplishment.
In this part of the module, we will increase our ability to manage teams by learning about what constitutes a team, how to handle conflict, and how to build a high-performing team. Of course, we can only scratch the surface, and if you would like to delve deeper into this topic, you would be well served to take MGT508, a course about managing teams.
To get an overview of this topic, view this PowerPoint presentation on Group Dynamics and Conflict.
The Tuckman model of group development is one of the most widely used tools to understand the dynamics of team formation and development.
The following reading offers a concise explanation of this model and as a bonus, relates group development processes to the Johari Window (above) and the Situational Leadership model to be presented in Module 3:
Chapman, A. (2016). Bruce Tuckman’s 1965 Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing team-development model. Retrieved from http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm
Most of us think about trust in teams as growing over time and with experience being with another team member. However, swift trust stems from an initial assumption of trust which is confirmed, or disconfirmed, over time. In this sense it is conditional and must be verified by the actions of team members. Read this blog about the factors that contribute to swift trust and how leaders can create it:
Swift trust—why some teams don’t storm (2011). In Management Pocketbooks. Retrieved from https://managementpocketbooks.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/swift-trustwhy-some-teams-dont-storm/
Here is an interesting example of organizational theory being used to solve practical business problems. This report is designed to help its analysts avoid group decision-making biases such as groupthink, polarization or "risky shift," overconfidence, or composition bias. The practical application of theory demonstrated in this source may be helpful to you in preparing your case.
Mottola, G. & Utkus, S. (2009). Group decision-making: Implications for investment committees. Vanguard Investment Counseling and Research. Retrieved from http://agb.org/sites/agb.org/files/u16/Vanguard%206.pdf
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