1. Given what you have learned about team effectiveness and also about demographic and cultural diversity in the workplaceplease reflect on the specific actions that you personally can take to improve the performance of the work teams in which you participate. The following questions will help you to formulate and organize your reflections.
Think about a team you belonged to and enjoyed. This could be a student or work team. Now answer the following questions.
1. What was the reason you enjoyed the team?
2.What made the members click?
3.What were the norms in the team?
4.How did you decide who would do what?
5.What made you work hard for the team?
Now answer the following questions for a team you belonged to but did not enjoy.
1. What was the reason you did not enjoy the team?
2. What made the members distant from each other?
3. What were the norms in the team? Were the norms effective?
4. How did you decide who would do what?
5. Did you work hard for the team? Why or why not?
Comparing your experiences, please specifically name the things that you can do to proactively manage (and/or positively contribute to) the teams in which you participate? How can you change your own perceptions and behaviors to ensure that the team ends up being successful?
2. Week 2: A wide range of individual factors make you unique as an individual. Describe some of those individual factors that define who you are as a person and who you are as an employee in your organization. Explain how those factors influence the way you think, feel, and behave at work. Do any of these factors contribute to the quality of your work performance in a positive or negative way? Explain how and why. Remember to integrate relevant course concepts and provide specific examples and details to illustrate and support your responses.
3: Describe/analyze/evaluate your own performance effectiveness in your organization. What are your performance strengths and your performance limitations and why? What can you do to reinforce those strengths and improve in those areas of weakness? What role do motivation, feedback, and rewards play? Explain by integrating relevant course concepts and providing specific examples and details to illustrate and support your responses. Finally, develop at least one SMART goal that is relevant to your job role and that will support you in capitalizing on a performance strength or in addressing an area for development.
4: Decision making is a key managerial skill. Please reflect upon and evaluate your current skill (and preferences) as a decision maker.
Do you prefer to make decisions as an individual or in a group? What is the reason for your preference? [Hint: Here it is important to talk about decision making outcomes!]
Please describe your experience using one of the decision making tools described in this weeks reading. How effective was the tool?
Please describe one or more times when you fell into a decision making trap. How did you ultimately realize that you made a poor decision? Please be specific!
Have you seen an example of an ethical or unethical decision being made? Describe what you observed.
Taking into account both your experiences and our class learning materials, what are the key lessons you have learned about decision making? How can you avoid decision traps? How can you use decision making tools to your advantage? How can you assess the quality of your decisions on a going forward basis?
5: Describe the quality of your relationship with your manager. What are the leadership traits or behaviors that she or he exhibits? In what ways does your organization/manager enhance your performance? In what ways does your organization/manager hinder your performance? What steps can you take to cope more effectively with these organizational/managerial factors? Be specific and apply relevant course concepts when answering the questions.
If you are a manager or leader (or if you aspire to be one), describe your leadership approach (or the leadership approach that you believe you would most likely demonstrate). What are the strengths and limitations of your preferred approach? What leadership skills would you like to further develop, and how will you go about doing so?
Remember to discuss relevant course concepts and provide specific examples and details to illustrate and support your responses.
