MSLD 635 Module 7-INSEAD Reflection

Most of today’s businesses have become complex to the point that the traditional “one leads all” method is often times the least-effective way of running an entire organization (Obolensky, 2014). Since there’s too much responsibility and information for a single leader to handle, we rely on a team of people who practice self-management. As Paul Tesluk explained in this week’s video, a self-managing team has formal responsibilities and authorities to make their own decisions on how they organize and plan to get their work done (INSEAD, 2008).

My current workplace heavily relies on self-managing teams and they have both their benefits and drawbacks. Aside from splitting the workload, one important aspect my organization obtain from self-managing teams is that each team have and obtain unique information per-campus. As an online university, my organization consist of over 100 campuses around the world to provide advisement to current and prospective students. Due to demographic, environmental, and other differences, some methods the university encourages us to practice may not work for all campuses. For instance, my campus mainly consist of Boeing employees. As many of them work at the typical 8-hour day and travel constantly, we worry that telephone calls about non-urgent information (such as on-campus offerings) would be a distraction to their work. Since many of them prefer emails to begin with, we therefore send emails that provide the information the campus wants us to distribute.

            While each self-managing team split the company’s workload and usually increase efficiency (due to unique set of information), there are also some negative aspects to consider. Due to a number of people working together, there is a higher risk of conflict. Conflicts in the organization can occur either within or with other teams: as someone or a group have a completely different view or idea of something (Kokemuller, n.d.). Having strong support of one’s own ideas and operations can also increase the risk of a group going off-track. This can create an assortment of problems that could eventually hurt the entire organization. To minimize these drawbacks, it is important for organizations to periodically check-in with teams to ensure that they’re doing their jobs correctly and efficiently. Coaching, training, and interviews are some examples that will help employees on track (Brown, 2011). For my case, the university offers mandatory as well as optional online conferences in addition to an annual summit meeting that provide reviews and brand new information. In some cases, these meeting allow us to provide and share feedbacks with one another: which can help us learn and enhance our everyday campus operations.


References:

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

INSEAD. (2008). Self-managing teams: debunking the leadership paradox [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=69&v=GBnR00qgGgM

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty (2nd ed.). UK: Gower Publishing.

Kokemuller, N. (n.d.). The advantages & disadvantages of teams in the workplace. Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-teams-workplace-21669.html

MSLD 635 Module 6- EcoSeagate

Prior to establishing EcoSeagate, the employees of Seagate Technology: a computer hard drive manufacturer experienced some problems within the company. Due to constant firing and other issues, employee reputation was poor: often times renaming the company “Slavegate”. CEO Bill Watkins was very well aware of the situation and established EcoSeagate immediately after becoming president in 2000. Watkins’ goal was to transfer the values and experiences of teamwork from the multi-day lab back to their work (Brown, 2011).

EcoSeagate is a five-day, experience where Seagate employees from around the world travels to New Zealand to participate in various outdoor activities including kayaking and racing. After watching the videos for this week’s module, I recall a similar experience I had and can relate some of the values obtainable from EcoSeagate. In 2004, I participated the annual Yoron Island Adventure School. The camp is an International Youth Association of Japan program in which fifth graders build relationships with others from different countries (Fisher, 2009). When I participated, the camp mostly consisted of DODDS and Japanese students.

Just like EcoSeagate, the Yoron Island camp lasted a couple days and we participated in various activities including holding dragon boat races, as well as building bamboo rafts. Since every activity involved teamwork, it was crucial for our team to communicate with one another. As I communicated with my team members, I was able to make new friends. This made me feel more comfortable and open: which made communication and trust stronger and easier. Since the program consisted a mix of kids from different schools and countries, we were also able to learn various things from one another. Similar things can be seen in the EcoSeagate video: where employees from various departments, locations, and cultures come together. Just as I did in my camp, employees can meet new people in addition to teaching one another. An example from the video included an individual replacing a bike tire for another team member. While it’s uncertain, we can see how the individual changing the tire likely had previous experience and knowledge than the one needing help (Chao, 2008). With new information, ones can not only obtained new information, but they can use that information to enhance their work.

After watching the EcoSeagate video and relating to my own experiences, I believe that my organization can gain some benefits for hosting a similar event. In my organization, there are over 100 different campuses scattered around the world. Each campus is unique and consist of different operations and student demographics. By occasionally bringing everyone together, we can enhance relationships and learn from one another. Recently, my university had a mandatory month-long training program where every campus and their employees reviewed and learned an array of campus standards, operations, and procedures. Throughout the training, we were encouraged to communicate with one another. Often times, we were able to obtain new information and ideas and used them at our own campus to improve everyday operations.

References:

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Chao, M. (2008). Eco Seagate 2008 [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCOfOFMiLtE

Fisher, C. (2009). DODDS students relish Japanese adventure. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved from https://www.stripes.com/news/dodds-students-relish-japanese-adventure-1.89834

MSLD 635 Module 5- Video Debrief of Team MA

            Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple is often seen as one of the most iconic leaders of the century, as well as a pioneer who revolutionized the usage of personal computers. Like all leaders, they all start someplace small. For this week’s module, we watched a short documentary on Job’s earlier days when he founded NeXT Incorporated. The documentary mainly focused on the first couple days when the company was founded.

            One of the most noticeable thing throughout the documentary was that Steve Jobs had a clear vision on where he’d like NeXt to be rather than focusing too much on the details on how to get there. Placing myself in the scenario, I personally find Job’s ideas to be interesting, and I believe the key here is motivation. As a former business student, we’ve mainly been taught to find the single right plan to achieve our goals. To do this, we “branch out” and focus on the small details of the organization which includes anywhere from marketing to budgeting ideas. From an honest standpoint, these details are often times pretty boring and can sometimes lead to confusion, as well as people to go off track.

On the contrary, Steve Jobs focused on the possibilities for his company. For this case, Jobs brought awareness to employees that college and higher education students are starting to rely on computers for learning opportunities. To explain, Jobs talked about simulated learning environments: where it allows something that’s intangible (such as a linear accelerator for physics students) to be tangible, as well as providing a more cost-efficient option for both students and faculty (as an example, he mentioned a five-million-dollar DNA Laboratory). To motivate his employees even more, Jobs acknowledged his employees’ skills and passion on technology. He states a couple times throughout the documentary that he wants people to put their “hearts” to their products (Nathan, 1986).

Perhaps the most capturing moment of the documentary was when Jobs talked about putting some “heart” into their work. While I currently work at a non-profit organization, I can refer and related to Job’s approaches with NeXT Inc. Prior to working at my current position, I was a student from the same university that I currently work for. While my advisors provided me some assistance throughout my degree, they were almost always rushing: causing me to feel lost and hesitant to ask for further assistance. Now an advisor, I knew that I had the ability to make things happen. Since day one of my job, my goal was to ensure that students do not have the same experiences as I did a few years ago. To do this, I try to not only provide the resources to students, but I try to know each and every one of them. Despite my experiences with my past advisors, I overall (and still do!) had an amazing experience with the university. To enrich my advisement, I often times share experiences and tips. A few months into my job, I started to notice a difference at the campus. More people were contacting me for assistance, and some of us have established a closer relationship: where we engage in small side conversations.

References:

Nathan, J. (1986). Entrepreneur [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=255&v=loQhufxiorM 

MSLD 635 Module 4- Build a Tower, Build a Team

Tom Wujec’s Build a Tower, Build a Team was an interesting TED talk that mainly focused on the results of the “marshmallow problem” from various group members. The goal of the team-building exercise was to build the tallest, freestanding tower that consist of 20 sticks of dry spaghetti, a yard of tape and strings, and topping the tower with a single large marshmallow. During the talk, Wujec mainly focused on the results of two groups: the MBA students and kindergartners. The results were interesting: where kindergartners yield taller towers than MBA students (Wujec, 2010).

Personally, the results were not really surprising: as I personally experienced similar results to the MBA students in a past group activity. Back when I was studying business, my class was divided into two groups to silently build a bridge that can hold and support the weight of a thick textbook. We only had 30 minutes to build the bridge and had a very limited supply of cardboard, tapes, glue, and other craft items. Since we were not allowed to talk, our group communicated using body language and mostly by drawing. Just as Wujec stated, business students are trained to find the single right plan (Wujec, 2010). While part of it was likely because of the silent rule, we spent more than half of the time planning rather than building, ran out of time, and failed to make an effective bridge (it’s funny since both groups failed!).

After watching Wujec’s talk, I agreed with his analysis of the experiment. Unlike the MBA students, Wujec found that Kindergartners performed better because of their ability to continuously make prototypes, and build on to successful ones. In addition, they did not bother to “jockey for power”: saving them time to establish the prototypes (Wujec, 2010). Personally, I believe that the children performed better than MBA students because of the variety of kids that were in the group. This was seen when Wujec compared the results of architects and engineers, CEOs, and CEOs working with an executive admin (Wujec, 2010). His results reminded me of how the Google Company promotes innovation within their company. To do so, the company established the Google Café: where employees from various departments were encouraged to communicate with one another. This not only help establish stronger company relationships, but it was also used as a learning opportunity to employees (He, 2013).

In my organization, we follow some similar strategies Wujec shared in his talk. At my level, I can only cover very general advisement to prospective and current students. When I come across any unusual or complex situation, I rely on the help of my coworkers: who have the knowledge and skills they specialize in from their department. As we collaborate, we sometimes come across flaws and other information. From this point, employees can then focus on them and can either add on or enhance our current campus operations.

References:

He, L. (2013). Google’s Secrets Of Innovation: Empowering Its Employees. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurahe/2013/03/29/googles-secrets-of-innovation-empowering-its-employees/#7913604657e7

Wujec, T. (2010). Tom Wujec: Build a tower, build a team [Video File]. TED. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower/transcript

MSLD 635 Module 3- 50 Reasons Not to Change/The Tribes We Lead

Adapting to changes is critical to our everyday lives. Whether the change revolves around climate to a new government policy, we must adapt to change in order for us to “survive”. From the business standpoint, adapting to change often times brings positive benefits: leading to resolutions or improvements in the workplace (Brown, 2011). Despite its benefits however, every change comes with a set of obstacles.

Adapting to change can sometimes be a time consuming and difficult process. While there are many reasons to why people resist to change, most of them do so because of the loss of control, amount of uncertainty, and lack of confidence in adapting to change (Kanter, 2012). To avoid going through stress, people therefore often make excuses. After reviewing Daryl Watkins’ 50 Reasons Not to Change I was able to find a few that I’ve used before. An example of change I recall with my workplace was when they set new instructions and other standards on student degree mapping (course recommendations). Just a few weeks before the announcement, I established my own degree map template. The template took several days to make and included special computer coding that sped up the process in making the maps. The moment I heard the announcement, I felt very frustrated due to the amount of time and effort placed in making my own template. In addition, the university set new timelines on when maps must be completed.

Just as Seth Godin mentioned in his talk The Tribes We Lead, I was able to adapt these changes with the help of “tribes”. In summary, Godin believes that tribes, or small groups with shared ideas and values is what drives people to lead and make changes (Godin, 2009). In this case, my tribe consisted of my fellow co-workers. As everyone was adapting to the new policies, each of us started to see the benefits about the new policies. What really drove me into accepting the change however were the ideas and shortcuts we came across when making the degree maps. For instance, an advisor from my neighboring campus established and distributed an electronic spreadsheet that automatically wrote the full course title with just the course number. This saved us a lot of time: where before we had to type everything manually. In addition, I wouldn’t have been able to use this file with my previous template, as the file is not compatible with my template. Since saving time was convenient, this idea motivated me to stick with the new template my university required us to use.

Seth Godin’s video was very informative and reminded me of some tips to consider when advising students. While it’s a small fraction of students, a challenge I constantly face is to have students accept and take online classes. Like most universities, my school is becoming more specialized in online courses. In addition to most students ranging ages 40 and older, they are often times used to traditional on-campus courses. Overwhelmed in adapting to the online style of learning, I try to overcome this by listing the benefits of taking online courses. The key to overcome resistance to change is through motivation (Brown, 2011). Just as Godin mentioned, I often times like to share personal experiences as a student to inform students (Godin, 2009). To boost their confidence, I also provide walkthrough sessions in-person and by email for all students. By the end of the session, students are not only informed, but they often times feel more confident and are aware that they have advisors that could help them throughout their degree program.

References:

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Godin, S. (2009). Seth Godin: The tribes we lead [Video File]. TED. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead

Kanter, R. (2012). Ten Reasons People Resist Change. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/09/ten-reasons-people-resist-chang

MSLD 635 Module 2- How Companies Can Make Better Decisions

For this week’s module, Harvard Business Review’s How Companies Can Make Better Decisions, Faster reminded me how there’s more than just management that yields effective organizational decision-making. As a former business student, I was constantly reminded how strong management skills yields positive outcomes for organizations. While my previous program mentioned little of the social aspects (such as rewards systems and communication), it wasn’t until I started the leadership program where I realized that employee relationship and engagement can be just as important.

When Marcia Blenko of the Bain & Company's Global Organization Practice argued that decision effectiveness correlates positively with organizational performance and employee engagement, I believe that she was referring to strong management skills and relationships with employees. Organizations are like any complex machinery. Each part has their own specific function, and when a single department falls out of place, the whole organization will eventually be affected. To ensure that decisions are effective and include the four main elements: quality, speed, yield and effort, Blenko suggests leaders to stay proactive and follow five steps in making effective decisions.

Blenko’s first step is to have organizations check to see if their overall organization is doing well. In addition to identifying any possible challenges, this helps the organization pinpoint any areas that needs to be fixed. Once the research has been done, organizations then identify the critical decisions. The key here is to identify which decisions matters most and which ones will yield the most positive results. Once the decisions have been identified, the next step Blenko suggest is to take the critical decisions and use the tools available to set those decisions. In addition, it is also important to ensure that the decisions support and are embedded within the organization (Blenko, 2010).

While informing employees about the change is important, motivating them to accept the decision can be just as important. According to Parkash Singh, behavior is what people actually do. In other words, what’s going on inside one’s head affects how people act and perform (Singh, 2014). Since behaviors are often influenced by the way another person acts, it is important for leaders to approach employees in the way you want them to make them feel. If decisions will cause stress in the work environment for example, the best way to announce the change is to approach in a caring manner. By being honest and bringing positive messages to the workplace, they will likely understand the reason for the changes and understand your care. The key here is to make employees feel that they are part of the organization: making them feel empowered and more motivated to accept the change (Somogyi, Buchko, & Buchko, 2013).

References:

Blenko, M. (2010). How Companies Can Make Better Decisions, Faster [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=pbxpg6D4Hk8

Singh, P. (2014). Employees' use of empathy to improve their job behavior. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1525361493/abstract/2F2815C3B74C411EPQ/1?accountid=27203

Somogyi, R., Buchko, A., & Buchko, K. (2013). Managing with empathy: Can you feel what I feel? Journal of Organizational Psychology. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1470425153/fulltextPDF/CE275E3C16174E05PQ/1?accountid=27203

MSLD 635 Module 1- 21st Century Enlightenment

History is one of many topics I’ve always been fascinated about, and watching Matthew Taylor’s 21st Century Enlightenment video was indeed a pleasurable one. In this video, Taylor discussed how today’s world is not the same as it was in the 18th century. When thinking about this, it’s truly amazing to see the endless amounts of changes that has occurred within the last few centuries.
The video brings up the importance and the need for ones to adapt and think proactively. This idea immediately reminded me of Daryl Conner’s metaphor on “the burning platform”. In the summer of 1988, an oil rig exploded off the coast of Scotland, which tragically killed over 160 workers. Andy Mochan, a survivor from the accident chose to jump fifteen stories into water to avoid the blaze, quoting “it was either jump of fry” (Conner, 2012). The key here is that if he stayed on the burning platform, he could have died. By accepting a change or a current event (for this case, a fire), ones can “pay less” damage and possibly experience different outcomes (Galoppin, 2011). As leaders, it is important to keep in mind that change is constant. To ensure quality outcomes in our decision-making, it is important to understand and adapt to what’s happening around us: otherwise we’ll fall behind and face a domino-effect of problems.

Understanding what’s happening around us not only includes events, but it also includes the views of other people (Obolensky, 2014). When Taylor argued that individuals needed “to resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange", he simply meant that there are no right or wrongs: as each and every one of us have different thoughts and opinions (RSA, 2010). Information from others can be just as important as our own. In some instances, this can be used as a learning opportunity: allowing ones to extend and enhance their own decision-making. Considering information from others plays a crucial role as an academic advisor. While I may have the information and recommendations for my students, I am helping them with their plan: meaning that I must make decisions revolving around them. To do this, I must listen and gather as much information from them as possible. When doing so, I sometimes pick up new information that I never knew or even thought of. This not only informed me, but it will also help me with future advisement.

While it is encouraged for leaders to consider others’ point-of-views, it is always important to take time and look through them before relying on them. Taylor later argued in his video that leaders should avoid elements of pop culture. While a friend recommends you getting an iPhone for example, he might have recommended them because many people have them. Accepting this information without any research can be very risky: as there may be a lack of though put into making that decision.

References:

Conner, D. (2012). The Real Story of the Burning Platform. Retrieved from http://www.connerpartners.com/frameworks-and-processes/the-real-story-of-the-burning-platform

Galoppin, L. (2011). The Giant Misunderstanding on Burning Platforms. Retrieved from http://www.reply-mc.com/2011/01/17/the-giant-misunderstanding-on-burning-platforms/

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty (2nd ed.). UK: Gower Publishing.

RSA. (2010). RSA ANIMATE: 21st Century Enlightenment [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo