Unit 6 Discussion

Topic: Work Groups and Teams

Often people confuse work groups and work teams. You will discuss the differences to form a better understanding of these terms.

· What is the difference between a work group and a work team?

· If you know nothing else about it, how would you tell if selected employees working together are a work group or work team?

· Provide a simple example of each from your own experience.

Discussion Overview

There are many different types of communication used in any organization. Additionally, barriers to communication can contribute to stress on the job. Being able to understand these types of communication and the potential barriers to understanding each other can help you to better handle these issues in any organization.

Topic 1: Communication in the Workplace

· Using the communication process from your reading and learning activity, explain the communication process steps you would use to find out about a product and purchase it in person from a brick-and-mortar store.

Topic 2: Stress Management on the Job

Certain levels of stress can have a negative effect on job performance. Learning about how to better handle stress can be useful for your current and/or future jobs and in life in general.

· With regard to positive leadership, describe how leaders can use trust and mentoring to alleviate stress on the job for their employees.

Select a leader or person you admire and find out how they handle stress in their position.

· Share what you find out about how they handle stress. Why would this be important in their job as leader? Explain.

· Do you also use this method or strategy? If so, explain. If not, provide an alternative set of strategies.

Journal 7

You will post a minimum of 250 words in the textbox for this journal assignment in response to the bulleted items below. The journal is a private communication that is shared only with your instructor for grading purposes.

Leadership Style

Understanding your leadership style can assist you in becoming a better leader. In this assignment you will:

Describe a leadership position you have assumed, either among your friends or family, at work, or in a civic/volunteer organization. It can be a temporary role you assumed, even as simple as deciding among your friends which movie to see on Saturday. If you assumed a leadership role guiding or directing the decision-making, you were a leader.

· Describe a leadership position you held in the past.

· Explain the leadership style you used.

· Explain how this style helped or hindered the success or decision-making of the group or team and why.

After checking your spelling and grammar, post your minimum 250-word response in the Unit 7 Journal textbox on the Assignment tab. Be sure to use 12-point Times New Roman font.

Topic: Conflict and Negotiation on the Job

Scenario (fictional): The SMQ company president has received various reports from some directors and other managers and employees that a department manager's leadership style is a transactional one and just is not motivating employees to perform at their best. Using the reading on , the negotiation steps in the reading area, and the conflict resolution reading, negotiate with the department manager to change to a better leadership style.

Instructions:

· Your first post will be as the president, and your second post will be as the manager.

· As the president (first post), make sure to suggest an alternate leadership style.

Discussion Overview

As technology and the global environment have changed, so too have company structures to better organize and capture markets and customers. Review the learning activity concerning organizational structure and then address discussion topic 1 below.

Topic: Organization Structure

· Do some research on the Internet and explain what a flat organization structure refers to. Then provide an example and explain why it is considered flat.

· Which type of organization will be around in the long term, in your opinion? Which organization type (based on structural attributes) would you want to work for?

Topic 2: Cultural Dimensions

As a precursor to the assignment you will submit in Unit 10, you will address cultural dimensions as seen in your learning activity and the reading on pages 163–165 from Chapter 5 (Hofstede's framework and the GLOBE framework). Review these and do some research on the Internet. Then address topic 2:

· For a fictitious company that has manufacturing facilities in the United States and one other country of your choice (for instance, Brazil, South Africa, or India), select two of the five value dimensions from Hofstede's framework (from pages 163–165 in Chapter 5), and compare/contrast these dimensions with how the United States facility would be run versus the one you have selected, based on these work-related values.

Journal 9

You will post a minimum of 250 words in the textbox for this journal assignment in response to the bulleted items below. The journal is a private communication that is shared only with your instructor for grading purposes.

Consulting Firm’s Lost Paradise:

You read about and practiced with various concepts regarding organizational structure and culture, which affect employee behavior and success. Read the scenario carefully and provide your response to the checklist items regarding the organizational structure and culture in the fictional organization provided below.

Scenario (fictional):

An industry consulting firm has the following structure and culture:All the employees at this consulting firm work full-time. All the full-time consultants report to various industry directors, depending on the industry contract. The company employees work mostly from home, with directors or consultants renting temporary office space with or without videoconferencing when needed for either client meetings or vendor meetings. The company is very successful and has an expanding client base. There are very few rules or expectations at the company, as the CEO also believes in keeping processes very simple.

The previous president retired about 6 months ago, and the CEO, together with a human resources firm, hired a new president. The new company president they hired is extremely smart and expects everyone at the company to display an expert demeanor as well.

About 2 months ago, the company’s employees (i.e., consultants) started receiving emails from the new president putting pressure on all of them to produce results in less time but pressuring them to charge the clients higher fees without making any more money for themselves. In addition, the new president now wants the staff to come into the temporary office three times a week for meetings. Three months ago, the new president hired 30 new full-time consultants that seem more like salespersons than consultants to existing employees. A few of the long-time consultants have been emailing the CEO about these changes and suggesting they may go elsewhere. In the meantime, the finance director has detected several anomalies in the contract terms and financial results from some of the new consultants and one or two of the existing consultants.

Checklist:

· Describe the organizational structure at this consulting firm and how it affects employee behavior:

· Name the type of structure in the organization.

· Provide a definition of the type of structure in the organization.

· Explain how the structure affects employee behavior.

· Describe how the changes to the organization’s culture might affect employee behavior.

· Provide a recommendation for any adjustments you think need to be made at this organization based on the readings and explain why.

Post your minimum 250-word response in the textbox located on the Assignment tab. Be sure to use 12-point Times New Roman font.

Discussion Overview

Ethics prescribes expected behavioral norms for employees, and often the vendors and suppliers. The company's ethics are often communicated in the form of a code of conduct that is usually available on the organization's website. You will do some reading and research to see how ethics impacts motivation and an organization's culture.

Topic: Ethics

Access the article on ethics by Bart, C. (2011) in the reading area. Based on the recommendations by Bart in the article:

· How has your current or previous organization complied with Bart's recommendations? If the company was not or is not complying, explain how they have addressed ethics. What do they need to do to better comply with Bart's suggestions?

· Do some research on the Internet regarding benefit corporations. Discuss whether you would be more or less inclined to work for such an entity and explain your response.

· Do some research on the Internet on various company cultures and address the following:

· What kind of company culture do you prefer and why?