Team Assignment 1
Team Assignment Travis Swift, Ashley V. Twyman, Debra Westerberg, Mindy Whiddon, and Jason Wolfe Managing Organizational Change and Conflict Dr. Roger Fuller 12/6/2008
Team Assignment 2 Introduction By Mindy Whiddon Every person has their own style of communicating, setting goals and how to combat conflict. We must adapt ourselves to the situation in order to produce a favorable outcome. We cannot sit back and expect everything to happen; we must take the initiative to create change. Personal vs. Team Goals By Travis Swift A goal is something an individual or group of individuals working together as strive to attain. Goals are often used as a way of measuring a final outcome. Goals are often called incentives by psychologists (Hersey, Blanchard, Johnson pg. 26). Individual or personal goals are something that a single person is trying to obtain. This can be for personal gain such as a monetary award or just personal satisfaction. A personal goal may be set by another person such as a boss, but are most likely set by the individual trying to achieve the goal that they have set. A personal goal should be set high enough that the individual has to stretch themselves to reach it, but low enough that it can actually be attained. The goal must be realistically set before that individual will put the correct amount of effort into it. A team goal is most often a predetermined set of goals that have been established for a team, project or organization. Team goals are something that two or more individuals strive to attain by working together. Although an individual can attain success and recognition by working on team goals, the most likely outcome is that the organization as a whole is the main beneficiary of the attainment. In summary a goal is an end result that is trying to be obtained. This may be done on and personal level or a team level. Success is measured by whether or not
Team Assignment 3 this goal has been met by the person or person’s trying to achieve it. Most personal goals are set individually while most team goals are set by others. To achieve either style of goal, it must be attainable; yet challenging enough to make a person or group apply themselves and give the effort needed. Methods of Communicating Goals By Ashley Twyman Communication is an imperative part of managing change in organizations and management on the larger scale. Managers who are deemed effective in their organizations use communication skills to manage the changes that are needed. The reason that superior communication is necessary in situations concerning change is because change causes insecurity in employees. “…, reorganizations, ‘rightsizings,’ and layoffs, common to these times, virtually ensure drops in morale and productivity. That’s because they threaten jobs, business relationships, and the employees’ sense of security.” (Jick and Peiperl, 346) In short, chosen methods of communication can make or break organizational change. Mary Young and James E. Post conducted a study to discover effective corporate communications and discovered eight factors that determine the effectiveness of employee communications within 10 different organizations. The eight factors are as follows: 1. The chief executive as communications champion. 2. The match between words and actions. 3. Commitment to two-way communication. 4. Emphasis on face-to-face communication. 5. Shared responsibility for employee communications.
Team Assignment 4 6. The bad news/good news ratio. 7. Knowing customers, clients, and audiences. 8. The employee communication strategy. Effective communication is a critical element in any organization’s inner-workings toward success. The above mentioned study emphasized some key themes. One, employee communications is a critical management process, not a set of products. Two, effective employee communications practices should be consistent under all organizational conditions. And, three, every manager is a communicator. (Jick and Peiperl, 358) Role of Power in Communication By Debra Westerberg Power is influence potential (Hersey, Blanchard, Johnson pg. 158). Each person has the ability to influence others, but their position within an organization and perceived power has a direct impact on how communication is received by others. Being a director or manager provides the position of power, but also comes with great responsibility. Those who achieve these roles can use their power to effectively communicate with all levels within the company. “Developing power and influence skills is critical for effectively implementing change in organizations." (Jeffrey Pfeffer, Ph.D.) I could be given the exact same information regarding process changes that are going to be implemented from a supervisor and peer, but will take it more seriously from the supervisor. This is because of the perceived power that the supervisor has to make this change happen, and if I do not comply the consequence could be loosing my job. The same holds true in families. One sibling can say that the other will be be in trouble if they do not complete a task and chances are
Team Assignment 5 that it will not have an impact because there is no power to back up this communication. On the other hand, if a parent communicates by giving the same statement, a child will receive it differently because the parent has a position of power. I really like the statement by Pfeffer that, "influential people are powerful because they know how to influence.” (Jeffrey Pfeffer, Ph. D.) Knowing how to communicate effectively is a powerful tool regardless of your position. Personal Styles and Tactics in Conflict By Mindy Whiddon Every person has their own unique style to combat conflict. Personal style is built over a person’s lifetime. The foundation for determing a person’s style comes from “a complicated blend of genetics, life experiences, family background, and personal philosophy” (Wilmot & Hocker, 2007, pg. 130). When each person reaches adulthood a basic understanding of what type of person and style we use when dealing with conflict. Different types of conflict require a person to adapt to the situation, even if it means stepping out of the person’s comfort zone. Styles of conflict are patterns of responses that are used in conflict (Wilmot & Hocker, 2007, pg. 130). Styles view the entire problem as a whole, not just pieces. Conflict styles are always being researched and have many classifications. They can range from a two style to a five style approach to conflict. A two style approach involves cooperation and competition. While a five style approach involves integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising, collaboration, accommodation, competition, avoidance, and compromise (Wilmot & Hocker, 2007, pg. 131).
Team Assignment 6 When Tactics are how people make specific moves in order to carry out the approach. Tactics are the specific communications between people. When it comes to tactics we think about pre-planned moves in order to overcome the conflict. When in reality these moves are usually improvised and unthought-of. When a person repetitively uses a tactic in everyday conflict it becomes that person’s style. Communication By Jason Wolfe Communication is the most important part of any idea, project, or change to be able to effectively manage this change is important for that organization to communicate. Organizations can convert employee’s concerns into support for the major changes if they effectively address employees’ fears about restructuring and reorganization. On the other hand, if communication is inadequate, employees will be more resistant to change (Jick and Peiperl, 2003). You can not over communicate, when you are trying to implement some type of change. It is imperative for the person implementing the change to communicate frequently, and must be from many channels. It is extremely important for you as the leader to ensure that all communication about the change is sent out, even if there are only small details available at the time. It will be dangerous if you were to hold all details until the end when change is being implemented. It is also important to always leave time for people that are part of the change to ask questions and make comments. This will allow them to feel apart of the overall change and give them the chance to voice their concerns about the change. In my global workforce, change is always around the corner. A recent change that was implemented on my territory along with a few others was a change to reduce fuel costs. In the
Team Assignment 7 past, trains were able to travel at speeds up to 70 mph with a max throttle of 8 on the locomotive. With congestion in the large terminals, it was decided that trains that were not high priority, could no longer go over throttle 5 when above 55 mph. This would result in a savings of 15 million dollars in the next six months after the implementation. The current change was going to involve a significant amount of communication. It would be up to the field personnel to communicate these changes to the train crews to gain their compliance and overall expectance. When the change first began, they did not believe that it would save money, and there was much rĂŠsistance
to the change. After we briefed this
information for over a month, we began to hold the train crews accountability for their actions. I feel that the communication part went well, but I am still not sure that we have convinced some that the overall cost savings are there. It is an ongoing process that we as a management team must continue and to address the individuals that are not complying. Conclusion By Mindy Whiddon Each topic has a common theme; communication. Communicating our thoughts and goals to others allows us to achieve our personal and business dreams. We have to find our self in the process to unlock what types of styles we use to overcome challenges. We may have set standards that we have created over the years, but we must be adaptable to change.
Team Assignment 8 References Blanchard, Kenneth H., Hersey, Paul, Johnson, Dewey E. (2008). Management of Organizational Behavior (9th Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Communication World, March, 1996 by Ian D. Pierce, Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_/ai_18156933 Jick, T., & Peiperl, M. (2003). Managing change (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Wilmot, William., and Hocker, Joyce L. (2007). Interpersonal Conflict (7th Edition). New York, New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.