http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/aug2009/ca2009087_680028.htm?chan=careers_managing+your+company+page_top+stories
This article discusses whether or not it is a wise idea to trust a CEO in the "Twitter Age" and if it affects a company negatively. Today, it seems as though nothing is a secret and everything becomes public knowledge on social media websites such as Twitter. Unfortunately, this bodes poorly for a CEO of a company. They need to watch out what they post, what they say, what their employees are posting, etc. It is discussed in this article that there are open sessions now over the internet where people can discuss their concerns or questions about anything in regards to the company. The feedback from performing these sessions was positive, but was it healthy for the company? Is there a such thing as going too far with communication within a group? I feel that this age is going to ultimately hurt companies and cause problems between employees and CEOs. There is a point where too much can become public and this is where I am afraid our society is headed and there is almost no turning back.
But, how do you feel...? As an employee, should we worry about trusting our CEO's in this age? Will they try to use this technology to their advantage or will it ultimately hurt the company when doing so in the end? Will this Twitter Age turn out Good, Bad, or Ugly?
-Trey Tennell
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
CSI Normal Activity
1. During this activity, many of the tasks discussed in the chapter came into play while trying to figure out this mystery. First, everyone played the contributor role because we all needed to work together in order to have a chance at coming anywhere near solving this. Greg specifically wrote ideas down which designated him as the contractor of the group. I felt that I fell into the completer role because I always like to take action. In this instance, I helped figure out that we all had different sheets and presented my idea of helping to take action in solving the case. The exercise was beneficial in helping us use these different roles and helping us realize how we use them.
2. It would have been very helpful to have a coordinator in this activity. If we had a coordinator we would have been able to organize our thoughts more efficiently, thus resulting in a quicker solve of the mystery. I believe if we would have had this role covered by someone the outcome of this exercise would have been different for our team.
3.I truly believe that our team is in the Performing stage of team development. We all understand each other and what each person brings to the group. Also, everyone knows what they are best at and we all collaborate well because of this. We communicate well and are efficient in the tasks we perform. Overall we are doing very well in the Performing stage of team development.
-Trey Tennell
2. It would have been very helpful to have a coordinator in this activity. If we had a coordinator we would have been able to organize our thoughts more efficiently, thus resulting in a quicker solve of the mystery. I believe if we would have had this role covered by someone the outcome of this exercise would have been different for our team.
3.I truly believe that our team is in the Performing stage of team development. We all understand each other and what each person brings to the group. Also, everyone knows what they are best at and we all collaborate well because of this. We communicate well and are efficient in the tasks we perform. Overall we are doing very well in the Performing stage of team development.
-Trey Tennell
Discover Your Leadership Blind Spots
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/sep2009/ca2009091_828190.htm
In this article, the author address that everyone has blind spots. Whether we are comparing good managers or bad ones, everyone is susceptible to blind spots and the only way to eliminate them is to be aware of them. Us as students have to become aware of them because of our lack of experience in the field. Some of the consequences of blind spot are bad decision-making, decreasing the scope of awareness, producing enemies, destroying careers, and poorly impacting business results. This article recognizes some common management blind spots so leaders can realize them and increase organizational performance. One is to share the burden. Managers tend to lean on the statement "if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself", which is okay in some situations, but bad more often than not. If people see you acting as a team of one all the time, they will get frustrated and feel devalued altering their behavior. Another one is impact awareness. When people step into management positions they don't always realize how much impact they have over people resulting in insensitivity. People judge and respond to behaviors, which means you don't want to come off as insensitive or your team will dismiss a lot of what you have to say. The last blind spot for discussion is bottling it up. In a managerial situation, there is no room for avoiding difficult conversations because believe it or not, this will only amplify the problem. If you cannot talk about a specific problem, then it will never get resolved.
-Greg Calabrese
In this article, the author address that everyone has blind spots. Whether we are comparing good managers or bad ones, everyone is susceptible to blind spots and the only way to eliminate them is to be aware of them. Us as students have to become aware of them because of our lack of experience in the field. Some of the consequences of blind spot are bad decision-making, decreasing the scope of awareness, producing enemies, destroying careers, and poorly impacting business results. This article recognizes some common management blind spots so leaders can realize them and increase organizational performance. One is to share the burden. Managers tend to lean on the statement "if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself", which is okay in some situations, but bad more often than not. If people see you acting as a team of one all the time, they will get frustrated and feel devalued altering their behavior. Another one is impact awareness. When people step into management positions they don't always realize how much impact they have over people resulting in insensitivity. People judge and respond to behaviors, which means you don't want to come off as insensitive or your team will dismiss a lot of what you have to say. The last blind spot for discussion is bottling it up. In a managerial situation, there is no room for avoiding difficult conversations because believe it or not, this will only amplify the problem. If you cannot talk about a specific problem, then it will never get resolved.
-Greg Calabrese
CSI Normal
1. During this activity, I think that we all had different task roles. Richy, Kenny, and Steven were all mainly contributors because they used the three debriefing sheets to find and share information about all of the suspects. I would say that I took the completer role because I was writing down the info that Richy, Kenny, and Steven were sharing on the warrant sheet so we could narrow down who was innocent. We were all playing the role of the critic because we were all trying to be the "devil's advocate" to make sure the right people were innocent. As far as the social and boundary spanning roles, we also played all of them because we were all communicating and working toward our team's goal.
2. I think that the most important role was the contributors and the creator. The contributors are the ones who are actually trying to depict through the debriefing sheets and the creator could change our task so more people could read through the same sheets. This would allow us to discover that the debriefing sheets had different information on them.
3. Given our current group status, I would say that our group is in the performing sage. We are definitely past the forming and storming stages because we have met plenty of times, and no one has their guard up anymore. Norming is a little different I feel. We have set ground rules or norms but they could be subject to change. With that said, since we do have norms, one could say that we are now in the performing stage.
-Greg Calabrese
2. I think that the most important role was the contributors and the creator. The contributors are the ones who are actually trying to depict through the debriefing sheets and the creator could change our task so more people could read through the same sheets. This would allow us to discover that the debriefing sheets had different information on them.
3. Given our current group status, I would say that our group is in the performing sage. We are definitely past the forming and storming stages because we have met plenty of times, and no one has their guard up anymore. Norming is a little different I feel. We have set ground rules or norms but they could be subject to change. With that said, since we do have norms, one could say that we are now in the performing stage.
-Greg Calabrese
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Three Leadership skills that count
http://www.businessweek.com/management/three-leadership-skills-that-count-10212011.html
This article focuses on the good side of management. The three leadership skills that are talked about are productive paranoia, empirical creativity, and fanatic discipline. Productive paranoia is important in that you have to be aware of things that can hurt your company and take steps to ensure safety from possible hazards. Empirical creativity is using creative measures that are based on evidence, not opinion. Fanatic discipline is being consistent in values, goals, and hard work. This article is relevant to our class because it shows good leadership traits that we can work on to make us all better leaders. We could all become more effective leaders by becoming stronger with all of these traits
-Kenny Palmer
This article focuses on the good side of management. The three leadership skills that are talked about are productive paranoia, empirical creativity, and fanatic discipline. Productive paranoia is important in that you have to be aware of things that can hurt your company and take steps to ensure safety from possible hazards. Empirical creativity is using creative measures that are based on evidence, not opinion. Fanatic discipline is being consistent in values, goals, and hard work. This article is relevant to our class because it shows good leadership traits that we can work on to make us all better leaders. We could all become more effective leaders by becoming stronger with all of these traits
-Kenny Palmer
CSI Normal
1. Our team worked together very well in solving the mystery. Most of the ten roles were in play, but the one I noticed the most was cooperator because we all took turns switching papers and looking at the different information. We were all coordinators as we told our findings to the person who designated themself as the communicator who took down all of the information. The role that i played most would be the completer because i noticed the different sheets and was able to get a few names off of our list fairly quickly. It was a fun exercise where we all worked together.
2. All of the roles were helpful in solving the mystery, but the most helpful would have had to been communicator because it helped us to all share our findings with one another.
3. I feel that we are in the Performing stage because we all understand who is good at what and are all doing our own part to accomplish tasks. We all work together well now and tasks are becoming easier to complete as a team.
-Kenny Palmer
Monday, October 24, 2011
Management Improving Behavior
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/aug2009/ca20090828_011424.htm?chan=careers_managing+your+team+page_top+stories
In past blogs we have talked about the bad and ugly things that go on in business involving Organizational Behavior. Today I am going to talk a little bit about the good side of that same topic. Creative Management Practices for Making Work Work, is an article written by Ellen Galinsky, Tyler Wigton, and Lois Backon about different ideas companies are coming up with in order to keep workers engaged and why they are coming up with these new ideas now. The article talks about the fact that companies are finding it especially important now to help inform there workers about dealing with different situations because of how poor the economy is right now. Companies are informing workers of ways to deal with managing work and home life, welcoming a new baby, as well as dealing with a spouses job loss. With this new information being put out there many people are finding it easier to cope with different challenges and therefore employees are working better and working happier. What are some different ways that you might suggest a manager go about informing employees of challenges they may have? Read the article and write about what may help others through their struggles. Are some struggles inevitable or is there always a way to cope with a situation to reduce stress?
Ricky Hearden
In past blogs we have talked about the bad and ugly things that go on in business involving Organizational Behavior. Today I am going to talk a little bit about the good side of that same topic. Creative Management Practices for Making Work Work, is an article written by Ellen Galinsky, Tyler Wigton, and Lois Backon about different ideas companies are coming up with in order to keep workers engaged and why they are coming up with these new ideas now. The article talks about the fact that companies are finding it especially important now to help inform there workers about dealing with different situations because of how poor the economy is right now. Companies are informing workers of ways to deal with managing work and home life, welcoming a new baby, as well as dealing with a spouses job loss. With this new information being put out there many people are finding it easier to cope with different challenges and therefore employees are working better and working happier. What are some different ways that you might suggest a manager go about informing employees of challenges they may have? Read the article and write about what may help others through their struggles. Are some struggles inevitable or is there always a way to cope with a situation to reduce stress?
Ricky Hearden
Crime Solving
On Thursday in Organizational Behavior class the different team were asked to solve a murder crime using clues in a story that we were given. There are many different roles that different people need to take amongst the teams in order to complete certain tasks. During this exercise I really felt like Kenny was the communicator which is a social team role. He was the first to begin communicating the differences in clues and information on each persons sheet. I felt like Greg did a great job in a contractor role as he was the one writing down all the information in order for us to sort out which persons were innocent. And Steve was a major contributor finding many different clues that led to us solving the murder. I would say that I played the role of completer simply because I found the final clue and then brought the paper up to the professor. All of these roles were important and none more important than another.
I think one role that we did not seem to have in the group was a coordinator. I believe if we had a coordinator that we would have finished the mystery first rather than third. It would have allowed us to ask the questions that we needed to as well as share information amongst the group in a more efficient manner. We discovered that the sheets were different pretty quickly, but if we would have had someone to coordinate between the sheets we would have discovered all of the specific differences much faster.
Lastly, I really feel after the past few team exercises that we have done that our team has really gone into the Performing stage of team development. Each person really knows their individual place on the team and we have set norms or standards for what our team expects to get done on certain occasions. We communicate very effectively and have gotten past any forming issues that we may have had.
Ricky Hearden
I think one role that we did not seem to have in the group was a coordinator. I believe if we had a coordinator that we would have finished the mystery first rather than third. It would have allowed us to ask the questions that we needed to as well as share information amongst the group in a more efficient manner. We discovered that the sheets were different pretty quickly, but if we would have had someone to coordinate between the sheets we would have discovered all of the specific differences much faster.
Lastly, I really feel after the past few team exercises that we have done that our team has really gone into the Performing stage of team development. Each person really knows their individual place on the team and we have set norms or standards for what our team expects to get done on certain occasions. We communicate very effectively and have gotten past any forming issues that we may have had.
Ricky Hearden
Thursday, October 20, 2011
CSI: Normal In Class Excercise
During class, we were assigned an activity that deals with working in groups and teams, and using analytic thinking in order to solve the problem. While doing the exercise, I noticed there were multiple different types of roles each person assumed to get the job done the right way. Some of the roles are, but not limited to; coordinator, contributor, completer, cooperator, and communicator. One person may have held more than one specific role type, but we all collaborated these types to do the task effectively and efficiently. On a personal level, I feel like I mostly fell under the contributor role. While some of my teammates coordinated the different notes we had, and others filled out the arrest warrant sheet to complete the task, I contributed here and there with little facts of information regarding the type of person it could have been.
A role that was very helpful in the assessment was coordinator, because the coordinator was the one who figured out some of the sheets were different, therefore allowing us to exponentially use more information to solve the case. Also, the communicator role was very crucial in determining the sheets were different, as well as helping narrowing down the suspect list in the end.
The stage of development our group is in currently can change depending on the context. For this specific in class exercise, I would say we are in the performing stage. This is because we had to figure out and solve a problem. However, overall we are in the norming stage of the development cycle. Being halfway through the semester, we now are settling in to clear roles and responsibilities. Additionally, instead of arguing over specific ideas, we now are able to come to agreements easier, and find consensus within our team.
Posted by Steven Krygowski
A role that was very helpful in the assessment was coordinator, because the coordinator was the one who figured out some of the sheets were different, therefore allowing us to exponentially use more information to solve the case. Also, the communicator role was very crucial in determining the sheets were different, as well as helping narrowing down the suspect list in the end.
The stage of development our group is in currently can change depending on the context. For this specific in class exercise, I would say we are in the performing stage. This is because we had to figure out and solve a problem. However, overall we are in the norming stage of the development cycle. Being halfway through the semester, we now are settling in to clear roles and responsibilities. Additionally, instead of arguing over specific ideas, we now are able to come to agreements easier, and find consensus within our team.
Posted by Steven Krygowski
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Team Exercise 2
I am a firm believer that CCS is important to team/organizational effectiveness. Behind CCS is an even greater use, which involves getting a group of co-workers to bond in a cohesive group that is efficient and effective. It means to collaborate the efforts of colleagues, coordinate their efforts, and use all of the synergy created to come up with better ideas. However, I do not feel the CCS structure is not always necessary. This is because there will be times where one person may have the ability to master a specific subject pertaining to the task, and therefore be able to conduct it by their self.
There are so many options for both individual and team competencies that are necessary for successful CCS. Some of these include, but are not limited to: relationship management, role awareness, importance of knowledge, and time management. To improve, one can attempt to grow their friendship stronger with fellow employees, strive to have a better understanding of their role in the tasks, read more into their role and the overall objectives, and focus squarely and getting the items completed in a timely fashion. In our team exercise, we could have used our time more wisely, because there were times where we did not just focus on the exercise itself. Also, if we understood our strengths and weaknesses better, we could have possibly made better decisions based on what we do better within the group.
http://www.findacriminaldefenseattorney.com/Profiles/Knowles-Law-Firm-Phoenix/Articles/Collaborative-Efforts-by-Police-Bust-Shoplifting.aspx
In this Article, multiple police municipalities in Arizona used the CCS model and made a major shoplifting bust that has been occurring for several years. With the communication efforts between the cities, they were able to locate and arrest these criminals, halting an end to the shoplifting ring. Without CCS, this could possibly have not led to the same result, and these criminals may still be committing crimes.
Steven Krygowski
There are so many options for both individual and team competencies that are necessary for successful CCS. Some of these include, but are not limited to: relationship management, role awareness, importance of knowledge, and time management. To improve, one can attempt to grow their friendship stronger with fellow employees, strive to have a better understanding of their role in the tasks, read more into their role and the overall objectives, and focus squarely and getting the items completed in a timely fashion. In our team exercise, we could have used our time more wisely, because there were times where we did not just focus on the exercise itself. Also, if we understood our strengths and weaknesses better, we could have possibly made better decisions based on what we do better within the group.
http://www.findacriminaldefenseattorney.com/Profiles/Knowles-Law-Firm-Phoenix/Articles/Collaborative-Efforts-by-Police-Bust-Shoplifting.aspx
In this Article, multiple police municipalities in Arizona used the CCS model and made a major shoplifting bust that has been occurring for several years. With the communication efforts between the cities, they were able to locate and arrest these criminals, halting an end to the shoplifting ring. Without CCS, this could possibly have not led to the same result, and these criminals may still be committing crimes.
Steven Krygowski
CCS Blog Post
1. CCS stands for collaboration, coordination, and synergy. Collaboration is to work with someone in order to produce something. This is important because if you don't collaborate in your group nothing will get done, which is not effective. Coordination is to organize the different parts of a job or plan so that the people involved work together effectively. This is important to team/organizational effectiveness just by definition. Synergy is the extra energy or effectiveness that people or businesses create when they combine their efforts. This is important because it establishes how the group will perform. If there is low or no synergy, teams won't collaborate or coordinate as a unit. It really depends on the task but I would say that these are always necessary for groups that want to have effective outcomes. Collaboration and coordination deal with communicating, and if there is no communication, then there will be no positive product. And synergy is what brings everything together in the sense that people create it when combining everything.
2. I feel like you can’t really put a finger on competencies that are necessary for successful CCS until you’ve been on a team that has failed a task. Since our team did fail the water balloon test, looking back, we could have done some things differently. Some of the competencies that we lacked were time-management, plan organization, and enthusiasm. When we first received our supplies, we knew that we had 5 minutes to plan and 7 minutes to build. Not once did anyone look at the clock and tell everyone how much time was left, which is bad time-management. Second, our pan was not too organized at all. We just kind of took turns saying what we thought were good ideas. What we could have done is write down what we thought were good plans, then collaborated them, and finally coordinate what was supposed to go where. This way plans could have been fused to make the most appropriate one. Last, we lacked enthusiasm, which has to deal with synergy. Before we even started building, everyone, including myself, was saying our balloon was going to get smashed. When you’re not excited and enthusiastic about the task at hand, then you can’t expect a positive outcome when combining efforts. As for myself, I could have updated the group on time, suggested making our own plans and then combining them, or been more enthusiastic towards a successful outcome.
3. In this article 7 people were saved when their boat capsized and sank off the Florida Keys. A person found 3 of the people drifting and called the coast guard, informing them that there were still 4 people drifting at sea. About a hour later, coast guard found them in choppy seas about 4 miles away from where the boat that sank. With any rescue it is critical for effective CCS because they are dealing with terms of life or death. Coast guard had to collaborate and coordinate with each other to have a successful search, and also have synergy so they could find the remaining people.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/09/7-treading-water-for-20-hours-rescued-off-florida-keys/?intcmp=trending
-Greg Calabrese
2. I feel like you can’t really put a finger on competencies that are necessary for successful CCS until you’ve been on a team that has failed a task. Since our team did fail the water balloon test, looking back, we could have done some things differently. Some of the competencies that we lacked were time-management, plan organization, and enthusiasm. When we first received our supplies, we knew that we had 5 minutes to plan and 7 minutes to build. Not once did anyone look at the clock and tell everyone how much time was left, which is bad time-management. Second, our pan was not too organized at all. We just kind of took turns saying what we thought were good ideas. What we could have done is write down what we thought were good plans, then collaborated them, and finally coordinate what was supposed to go where. This way plans could have been fused to make the most appropriate one. Last, we lacked enthusiasm, which has to deal with synergy. Before we even started building, everyone, including myself, was saying our balloon was going to get smashed. When you’re not excited and enthusiastic about the task at hand, then you can’t expect a positive outcome when combining efforts. As for myself, I could have updated the group on time, suggested making our own plans and then combining them, or been more enthusiastic towards a successful outcome.
3. In this article 7 people were saved when their boat capsized and sank off the Florida Keys. A person found 3 of the people drifting and called the coast guard, informing them that there were still 4 people drifting at sea. About a hour later, coast guard found them in choppy seas about 4 miles away from where the boat that sank. With any rescue it is critical for effective CCS because they are dealing with terms of life or death. Coast guard had to collaborate and coordinate with each other to have a successful search, and also have synergy so they could find the remaining people.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/09/7-treading-water-for-20-hours-rescued-off-florida-keys/?intcmp=trending
-Greg Calabrese
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Team Exercise Day 2
1) CCS is important to team/organizational effectiveness because it is what makes people work as a unit. It gives a group the ability to work with together, organize a plan, and find the extra energy to combine their talents. It is not always necessary in my opinion because if someone in the group specializes in an area they may take the majority of the workload. With that being said, most aspects are used of CCS, but occasionally it may not need to be.
2) Some individual and team competencies needed for successful CCS are collaboration, coordination, and synergy. I believe these other competencies fall under those categories as well: leadership, organizational skills, time management, cooperation, and hard-work. A person can become better at collaboration by listening to others. Group members who are organized and map out ideas will be better at coordination. Also, a group member needs to get excited about the task to have successful synergy. In our group exercise, we could have listened to each other more, organized the plan to build a barrier for the "egg" better, and we could have been more excited about the task at hand in order to be more successful.
3) http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_10_02_slnmlb_phimlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=stl
In the article above, it is discussed how the St. Louis Cardinals used CCS to comeback and win Game 2 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cardinals went down early in the game when the Phillies stormed out to a 4-0 lead. The Cardinals had to use synergy to combine all their efforts into making a comeback because of this early deficit. Then, early in the game, the bullpen had to come in so Manager Tony LaRussa needed to use coordination with his coaching staff to decided what pitcher to use when. Then, the rest of the game was the use of collaboration, from batters to pitchers everyone contributed to a team win. The Cardinals came back to win an astounding 5-4 victory because of the use of CCS.
--Trey Tennell
2) Some individual and team competencies needed for successful CCS are collaboration, coordination, and synergy. I believe these other competencies fall under those categories as well: leadership, organizational skills, time management, cooperation, and hard-work. A person can become better at collaboration by listening to others. Group members who are organized and map out ideas will be better at coordination. Also, a group member needs to get excited about the task to have successful synergy. In our group exercise, we could have listened to each other more, organized the plan to build a barrier for the "egg" better, and we could have been more excited about the task at hand in order to be more successful.
3) http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_10_02_slnmlb_phimlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=stl
In the article above, it is discussed how the St. Louis Cardinals used CCS to comeback and win Game 2 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cardinals went down early in the game when the Phillies stormed out to a 4-0 lead. The Cardinals had to use synergy to combine all their efforts into making a comeback because of this early deficit. Then, early in the game, the bullpen had to come in so Manager Tony LaRussa needed to use coordination with his coaching staff to decided what pitcher to use when. Then, the rest of the game was the use of collaboration, from batters to pitchers everyone contributed to a team win. The Cardinals came back to win an astounding 5-4 victory because of the use of CCS.
--Trey Tennell
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