Improving Learning Team A’s Performance U Know MGT/521 June 20, 2009 Idont Knowho Abstract According to University of Phoenix’s Learning Team Toolkit (2004), “Effective collaboration is one of the University’s fundamental learning goals. Learning to work effectively in teams, both as a team member and leader, is a critical organizational competency that University of Phoenix works to develop across the curriculum in all academic programs” (University of Phoenix, p. 1).
Students must master the ability functioning as a team using all available strategies making their goal a reality. A strategy teams must consider when developing their team charter is understanding and working with each team member’s personality type, trust in others, and listening skills. Teams can elevate potential future conflict by considering team member characteristics ensuring teamwork toward completion of the team goal becomes a reality. Improving Learning Team A’s Performance Using Our Team Charter “As organizations become increasingly flattened (Dess et al. 995; Zenger and Hesterly 1997), increasingly reliant on a synthesis of complex information (Wageman 1995), and increasingly staffed by teams with varying demographic and psychographic profiles (Katzenbach and Smith 1993; Milliken and Martins 1996; Simons, Pelled, and Smith 1999), fidelity of understanding and comprehension are likely to be the exception rather than the norm. Leaders at all organizational levels must therefore create and enact strategies to ensure that meanings are shared, comprehension is validated, and teamwork becomes a reality rather than a hollow cliche (Senge 1990; Smith et al. 994). Without shared meaning, quality processes and outcomes may be unrealized goals. Team charters hold the potential to enact functional and business-level strategies, thus turning goals into realities” (Norton & Sussman, p. 8). One strategy a team can use ensuring the team goal becomes a reality is understanding and considering each team member’s personality type, trust in others, and listening skills during the development of the team charter. This paper will show how after careful consideration of team member differences Learning Team A will use the team charter to improve the team’s performance. So what is this first and most important step for creating effective teams? It’s called “Chartering. ” Chartering is the process by which the team is formed, its mission or task described, its resources allocated, its goals set, its membership committed, and its plans made” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004, p. 410). A major part of the development of the team charter includes examining each team member’s Jungian 16-Type Personality results. Team members took an assessment providing personal insight into their skills, abilities, and interest.
The assessment uses a series of personal questions placing people into one of 16 personality types. The personality classification can assist people understanding their strengths and weaknesses. Teams understanding each member’s strengths and weaknesses can use everyone’s strengths to the advantage of the team and at the same time compensate for areas of weakness. Teams willing to invest the time taking advantage of this strategy increase their chances of making their goals a reality.
Teams can potentially avoid future conflicts because they already understand what other member’s strengths and weaknesses are and can find solutions not placing a member in a conflicting situation. Learning Team A paid attention to the analysis and interpretation of each member’s Jungian 16-Type Personality results. Interesting, Learning Team A member’s scores on the How I Trust Others and How Good Are My Listening Skills assessments were very close. These skills may have drawn the team together forming the Learning Team A.
Each member possesses high faith in people allowing team members to provide support and encouragement to each other. The Learning Team A places high faith in the team’s ability and will to make their goal a reality of completing all assignments two to three days prior to the due date allowing time in the event of emergencies and editing of the assignment. Each member enjoys working on teams and will do everything in his or her power and ability ensuring the team’s goals fruition into reality.
Each team member’s score on the How Good Are My Listening Skills assessment reflects each team member is an average listener. The fact of all team members being average listeners is an asset for the team because team members are all striving to be active listeners improving member’s listening skills. Our listening skills will be useful when the team is brainstorming for fresh ideas and providing constructive and encouraging criticism assisting members improve in weak areas making the team stronger. Remarkably, Learning Team A member’s Jungian 16-Type Personality scores were similar.
Learning Team A members have very much in common providing a foundation for an excellent team with the ability and will working together eliminating any barriers keeping the team from making goals a reality. The team’s similarities are the strengths coupled with each member’s will power ensuring the team will be very successful. Iwhanna’s Jungian 16-Type Personality score is ISFP. According to her personality score, Iwanna is artistic, warm, sensitive, and unassuming. Iuseto’s Jungian 16-Type Personality score is ENFP.
Iuseto agrees with the score result, as she is creative and people-oriented. Icouldof is reserve, creative, and highly idealistic with a Jungian 16-Type Personality score of INFP. Idida’s Jungian 16-Type Personality score is ISTJ reflecting organize, compulsive, private, trustworthy, and practical traits. According to the Learning Team Toolkit (2004), “The truth is that when teams fail, the fault often rests with a flawed process for getting them started. We might argue that it is “management’s” fault because “they” haven’t designed an effective process.
But, don’t we, as team members, also share responsibility for making our teams successful? By learning the process ourselves, we can go a long way toward building effective teams” (Team Leaders and Charters, para. 2). An effective process requires teams have a leader. As an indication of Iwanna’s personality traits, Learning Team A’s leader and conflict manager ensures the team remains together easily working through any potential conflicts and on track exceeding team goals. Iuseto’s contribution to the team is the team’s researcher and final editor of all the team’s written work.
Iuseto’s creativity and prior writing experience ensures the team produces the highest caliber of quality possible on all the written assignments. Icouldof will contribute highly creative ideas during team brainstorming sessions allowing the team to produce original and high quality projects ensuring Learning Team A receives the highest available points on all team projects. Idida with all will contribute his research, PowerPoint, and public speaking skills, which are his strengths, to the team ensuring papers and presentations are of the highest caliber of work.
Learning Team A will be very successful completing all assignments ensuring the quality of all work is consistently of the highest caliber before due dates because every team member is actively involved and owns an even share of the team process. Nancy Wilkinson and John Moran (1998) pointed out, “One key point to note is that the charter does not tell the team how to solve the problem or what a solution should look like. The charter sets the process in motion, establishes key milestones and desired outcomes, but does not suggest a solution path.
The team must use the tools available to them to figure out how to solve the problem they have been commissioned to study. The charter starts the team in the right direction” (p. 355). Every Learning Team A member understands and supports the team charter process and accepts the responsibility of using the process established by the charter making well-informed decisions and staying focused and committed for fruition of the team goals into reality.
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