There are two discussion questions. Please answer both on separate documents. I have attached the questions on a word document as well as the group article. At least 300 words for each Question 1 and 2.
Question 1
Yes, another exercise in Human Relations, the manager with a disgruntled employee. We see disgruntled employees in the military, civil service and the business world. You cannot escape them, but this class may help you think about ways to deal with them. The reading assignment is good, and often your peer replies will be very interesting. Enjoy!You have just been hired by Yummy Juicy, a national corporation that sells organic juices at most major retail stores. You have been hired as the West Coast Distribution Manager. After about five weeks on the job, you get the following email:
Sir/Ma’am,
You are hurting this company. You have continued to try to force all of us to change our ways and follow procedures that are no good. I am not sure why you got the job. You trained us on the new procedures, which wasted hours of our time. Don’t bother to reply to this email, I know nothing will change.
R/
Bob (disgruntled employee)
Complete the following: a. Develop an email response. Use the three-step process for being assertive. Bob is one of your first-line supervisors and has been with the company for 20 years. Mary, another supervisor tells you that Bob is just trying to bully you and that most other supervisors love the new processes. (I realize many of you would call Bob into your office, but for this assignment, you must generate the email).
b. Do you find it difficult to be assertive in your own life (personal and professional)? Why or why not?
c. What are the risks of being assertive with Bob? Make sure you utilize common course terminology when explaining the risks.
Mary comes to you later in the day and says, “Boss, Bob is trying to negotiate with you, he has a target in mind, and is not flexible, so his limit is not much different than his target.” Explain what Mary is talking about (explain, in your OWN words, the concepts of targets and limits during negotiations).
First Peer Reply: What specifically won’t work in your peer’s email to Bob? Make a recommendation on how to reword (or use another approach).
Question 2
Class, road trips, space exploration, and teams, what could go wrong? Another forum to explore some concepts, please make sure to complete both parts.
Part 1:
Have you ever gone along with a bad decision and tried to figure out later why you did? Well, don’t be so hard on yourself, it is a phenomenon called Group Think or the Abilene Paradox. Our text covers it well but attached to this forum you will find two great links that discuss each. Please read them in preparation for this forum.
After reading viewing the links answer the following questions.
Group Think Article
Abilene Paradox Avoiding Groupthink – Avoiding Fatal Flaws in Group Decision Making (mindtools.com)
1. What is the difference (in your words) between groupthink and the Abilene Paradox?
2. Which do you think it is easier to fall into and why?
3. If you were leading a group and saw signs of Groupthink how would you handle it?
4. Are there any personal examples of any of these (Groupthink, Abilene Paradox, etc) decision blunders that you have been a part of and realize now?
Part 2:
A large portion of our working lives is spent working in Teams. How we communicate with our team members is crucial to the success (or failure) of the team. In this week’s lesson, we looked at the Ego states (parent, adult, and child). We all know that effective teams operate in the Adult-Adult realm of conversation and feedback, however, sometimes a rift can occur and cause us to operate from a higher or lower level with each other. Then there are other ways to look at team dynamics.
In the video below Charles Duhigg discusses how Google builds the most effective teams.
How Google Builds the Perfect Team How Google builds the perfect team – YouTube
Think back to some teams that you have been on that were especially dysfunctional or effective. Did they follow the team dynamics favored by Google or were they more directive in nature? What made them work (or not work)?
