Organizational Behavior

1. Think about the teams you had for your assignments this semester. Describe your team’s approach to interpersonal processes.

1. Identify and describe the interpersonal processes each person used.
2. What interpersonal processes could have been enhanced to improve team performance? Provide an example.
3. What roles (chapter 11) did people tend to take on? Provide examples that demonstrate how these roles were utilized.
4. Connect the roles that people took on in part (c) to personality traits from the Big 5 (chapter 9). Identify the level of the personality trait (high/low) that related and explain.

For this semester I was grouped with Allison Kuhse, Monica Alvarado, Rene Silverio and Wilson Perez Jr. to complete different assignments for the course. For the majority of the group it was our first semester in the MBA Program and we didn’t know each other at all. After getting acquainted with one another we decided that it would be best that we discussed our form of communication and activities that we would have throughout the duration of the course so that we could contribute to the ultimate goal, this process is also known as team process.

One of the most important parts in team process that we went through was the interpersonal process. We had to come to an understanding of how we were going to manage our relationships within the group complete each assignment. Each team member was able to bring a different aspect of the interpersonal process the group, for instance:

• Allison and Rene were more of the motivating and confidence building type. When ever a team member felt as though they were comfortable when it came to presenting, they were always reassuring team members to remove any doubts they may have. Also, at times we strayed away from the task at hand and these two would always give subtle hints or look at us a certain way that would give us a sense of urgency to stay focused and to complete the task.
• Monica and Wilson were more of the affect management type in the group. For example, when we didn’t do to well on the first assignment these two were the first ones to round us together to calm our frustrations and not allow us to blame another person for points that we lost, but to work harder on the next assignment. Another sign of unity that was shown was when Monica would bring food to each group meeting so that we wouldn’t go hungry when we met all day on Saturdays.
• I think that I was more of the conflict management type because at times we had our differences of what should be included in our assignments that majority of the group didn’t agree with and I would be the person that managed the situation by offering a compromise.

        There really wasn’t an area in the interpersonal process that I think we could improve in, but if I had to choose it would probably be the conflict management part. I say that because sometimes we had disagreements that would linger and affect the team’s task, but also the conflict was so low that for the most part we were able to discuss the conflict and in the long run we benefited from it because the conversation brought up innovative ways to complete the tasks.

        Within our group each member had distinct member roles. Wilson was the devil’s advocate because he would always bring about new ways of completing the task and it would challenge any existing ideas. We always joked around that Rene was the slacker because was easily distracted and was late to almost every meeting, but honestly he was the energizer because when he was focused his energy was transferrable and it always motivated us strive to do better and to complete the task at hand. Allison was the encourager because she has this spirit about her that she wouldn’t have a negative thing to say about someone, so anytime someone would bring an idea to the table good or bad she would commend their contribution. Monica was the standard setter and I say that because no matter how we did on the previous assignment for the next project she would always express her expectations that would supersede the previous assignment expectations. I like to think I was the initiator-contributor because I had no idea that I was the group leader and they always looked to me to propose ideas to complete the task at hand.

If I had to connect each team members’ roles to the Big 5 it would be the following:

• Monica and Allison would both have high level of conscientiousness and low levels of extraversion. I think this because Monica is very goal-oriented, organized, and punctual, but at the same time they are both calm and somewhat quiet and shy.
• Rene and Wilson both have high level of extraversion and low levels of neuroticism. They are both talkative, passionate, and assertive, but at the same time they are not insecure or nervous.
• For me, I think I have high levels of openness and low levels of neuroticism. I tend to think I am an imaginative person and creative, but on the other hand I am not insecure nor am I jealous.

1. Think about the teams you had for your assignments this semester. Describe an example of team communication that was highly effective or ineffective. Explain in terms of communicator issues (competence and emotional intelligence), noise, and information richness.

An effective way that our team chose to communicate was the app GroupMe. This app allowed us to have conversations regarding planning meetings or discussing any concerns about assignments. Our method for effective communication referred to the Communication Process by the following.

• Communication Issues: Being that we weren’t using face to face communication methods, communication competence came in to play sometimes. Since we were having electronic based communication sometimes interpretation fell in to play because with the absence of facial expression, body language, tone, or vibe there is little guidance to discern what the communicator is trying to communicate with us, especially when it comes to emotional intelligence. Therefore, we are left to insert or own worries or assumptions. For example, a one group member could’ve had a great day and sent a message in the group and the person on the receiving could’ve had a really bad day and the message that was sent could’ve not been received because the sender is not able to sense the mood of the receiver. This leads to conflict due to misinterpretation or misunderstanding.
• Noise: There wasn’t an actual “noise” that interfered with our communication, but there was a presence that inferred with how our messages were being transmitted. For instance, one of our group members was using an Ipod as there means of communicating with us, so she didn’t always have WiFi to connect to the app. Therefore, there were times that they missed important messages or wasn’t able to respond to us in a specific time frame.
• Information richness: This refers to the amount and depth of information that gets transmitted in a message. Our usage of GroupMe had moderate levels of information richness because in the app you are limited to the amount of words you can insert in one message. Also, since this was an informal means of communication we sometimes used short hand text or didn’t punctuate appropriately which could add meaning beyond the words themselves.

Leadership – choose 2

1. Imagine a leader who is the chief (supervisor) of a division of 10 people. She spent most of her career in that branch, and is very knowledgeable of the work done by the department. Normally she uses her knowledge to help others understand the best way to get the work done and patiently takes the time to ensure they really understand and accept her methods. One of her biggest flaws is that she sometimes procrastinates on projects, and then she, with urgency, and sometimes anger, tells her staff that they better get the work done fast, or else she may withhold their bonuses. Based on this brief description, please answer the following questions:

1. What types of power does she hold? Link the types of power to the described behavior above.
2. What influence techniques does she use, and what responses does she likely get to each of the influence attempts? Explicitly connect the influence techniques to the described behaviors above, and explicitly connect the influence techniques to the responses you expect she gets.
3. What recommendations do you have for her to increase her effectiveness as a leader? Tie in the influence tactics she could use and describe what type of power they relate to.

The leader is this scenario has legitimate, coercive, and expert power. Legitimate power is a form of of organizational power based on authority or position. Expert power is form of of organizational power based on expertise or knowledge. Coercive power is a form of organization power to hand out punishment. This leader has legitimate power because she is the chief of a division and oversees 10 people. She has expert power because she has gained a wealth of knowledge by working in that particular branch and uses her knowledge to help others understand the best way to get their work done. On the other hand, she has coercive power because she operates on the principle of fear by withholding employees’ bonuses, which also indicates that she may have reward power because she has control over their bonuses.