I feel compelled to use this semester to be critically honest with my classroom observations or interpretations and although they may appear exactingly harsh or severe I apologize now for anything from this point forward but it is only representative of my most passionate feelings, and history will reveal that I will firmly provide support for each and every one of my opinions from this day forward.
With that being said our most recent activity revealed what I have always believed about human nature. Society requests and expects that managers explain and be held accountable to the others that they are supposedly assisting??? This is most likely an expectation because managers are often in high status positions which often accompanies a higher than national average salary. With professional power comes a pocketbook of responsibility and accountability. Yet what this activity revealed was a hint of pure self-interested maintenance of power and jurisdiction control. The control thermostat originated from a place that says: “I am going to be the only fat chief in this joint who knows anything and if those folks don’t come talk to this chief then they can fry in living hell!” I guess I am pulling on the chain of ethical responsibility, and as a manager in training have we lost the connection with fiduciary responsibility.
I guess I might argue that students pour into MBA programs, in droves I might add, with the attention of blinding focusing on getting ahead at the expense of others but most definitely at the expense of ethical responsibility. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked to hear a fellow student state that he
Is here to get ahead and get more money. I would guess the activity was a test of team membership and how leadership emerges from teams. In this case the team membership relied and depended on position and not contribution. Research has recognized that leadership positions that rely on position typically fail because leadership teams feel obligated to focus on the organizational chart of the firm and fixate on the inflexible position of structure. From this geminates a destructive and maladaptive vile strategy of entitlement where people sit and wait until things fall apart so that they can feel comfortable in stating: “but nobody asked for my help.” If you are a manager nobody should ask you for help because you are too busy rolling up your sleeves getting waist deep and doing your job! One of the mistakes team leaders make is failing to make it clear that team members have the responsibility and are expected to add value and contribute to all outcomes otherwise stay in bed for the day, it’s safer for us all. It should be downright immoral to allow a team mate to struggle.
What could have been done?
What I would have done differently is to articulate what I believed were barriers that were holding the team back from monumental success. I will articulate expectations and hold individual team members accountable for contributing directly to the outcomes that the team is responsible for.
What I learned and what will I apply
I have learned from this simple task that even the very best of teams should be made clear on expectation of what they are supposed to do for and with the team, I also will clarify the values, norms and guiding principles by which the behavior is set to represent. Not a problem if we are all open and clear that we are here to make our pockets fat at the expense of others but let’s be clear about it so that we are all on the same page.
Asher: I do agree with your assessment that
ReplyDelete"people sit and wait until things fall apart so that they can feel comfortable in stating: “but nobody asked for my help.”"
Having been one of the people that had done this before, I knew that this was going to be a mess. The professor was correct when she stated that once she instructed the people who had done this before not to speak, some of us completely checked out. I know I did. When she allowed us to speak again, the shouting and one-upping with louder voices had already been established, so I failed to offer any insight that I might have had and just waited for the whole thing to fall apart. I should have tried to tell the group that the strategy of shouting over one another never works, and we need to somehow nominate a leader, put our egos aside, and just work with that person as a team instead of all trying to lead the exercise.
One critical thing that I believe led to the chaos and no true leader emerging (until Jacqueline) was the lack of EYE CONTACT. Closing our eyes, we did not see the social cues of those people who had checked out, had a good idea, or were trying to listen but did not know how to follow the many directions that were being shouted around.
Of course, if we could make eye contact with each other, it would have been a completely different game. However I believe that this game re enforced my personal belief that eye contact and recognizing social cues is so critical when dealing with people in group situations.
I learned that sometimes the best way to lead is by example. However, leading by example in this task (the example being not shouting over my classmates and trying to work together) would have gone un-noticed since everyone's eyes were closed. It would be pessimistic to say that this task was designed to confuse and fail, but I do somewhat believe that it was.
Once we had all shouted ourselves silly, and Jacqueline humbly asked if she could "make a suggestion", then did we all get on the same team and work towards a common goal. Maybe we just had to be heard and feel like we contributed before we gave in and followed someone else to success.
Honesty is what this course calls for, so bring on the questions and the (constructively) critical eye!
ReplyDeleteIn regards to MBAs and motivation, research has shown that getting an MBA leads people to be more calculating in their behaviors - people are more likely to take into account what personal benefits might accrue when deciding what action to take.