12/11/23, 8:18 PM Case – MGT302 Organizational Behavior and Teamwork (2023NOV06FT-2)

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Module 3 – Case

GROUPS AND TEAMS AT WORK

Assignment Overview

Signature Assignment: Written Communication, Introduced
level

In this assignment, your written communication skills will be
assessed. The written communication rubric will be useful for this
purpose. In the course, MGT302, written communication skills will
be assessed at the “introduced” level. In MGT407, they will be
assessed at the “reinforced” level. Finally, in MGT491, your written
communication skills will be assessed at the “emphasized” level.
The grading rubric for written communication at the undergraduate
level has been developed to measure student success in meeting
the MGT302 Case 3 expectations. Rubrics for the other two
courses are included in their respective assignments.

This Module 3 Case Assignment has two functions. First, it helps
you develop and demonstrate your understanding of the topics in
Module 3. Second, it will help to assess the development of your
written communications skills. This Case will be graded using a
special Written Communications Rubric, which you should review
before you begin writing the assignment. (Students can find the
rubric to an assignment from the course homepage under Module
Activities, then clicking on the Dropbox link, then looking in lower
right-hand corner for the rubric.)

Case Assignment

Listen

12/11/23, 8:18 PM Case – MGT302 Organizational Behavior and Teamwork (2023NOV06FT-2)

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For this assignment, your deliverable is a 4- to 5-page essay, not
counting the cover or reference pages, of an analysis of the use of
teams in the following case study scenario. You will draw on the
background material and your analysis of the scenario presented
below to help you address the questions at the end of this case
study.

In this second Case Assignment, the assignment is going to test
your understanding of how successful teams operate efficiently
through teamwork. Teamwork relies upon individuals to work
together to achieve common team goals through sharing
knowledge and skills. Successful teamwork relies upon synergism
existing between all team members and the creation of an
environment where they are all willing to contribute and participate
to promote and nurture a positive, effective team environment.
Team members must be flexible enough to adapt to a cooperative
work environment where goals are achieved through collaboration
and social interdependence rather than placement of their focus on
individualized, competitive goals.

Please see Table 1 on pages 642 and 643 in Tarricone and Luca
(2002). It provides a summary of literature on the successful
attributes needed for effective teamwork as follows:

1. Commitment to team success and shared goals – team members
are committed to the success of the team and their shared goals
for the project. Successful teams are motivated, engaged, and
aim to achieve at the highest level;

2. Interdependence – team members need to create an environment
where together they can contribute far more than as individuals. A
positive interdependent team environment brings out the best in
each person, enabling the team to achieve their goals at a far
superior level (Johnson & Johnson, 1995, 1999). Individuals
promote and encourage their fellow team members to achieve,
contribute, and learn;

3. Interpersonal Skills includes the ability to discuss issues openly
with team members; be honest, trustworthy, and supportive; and

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show respect and commitment to the team and to its individuals.
Fostering a caring work environment is important, including the
ability to work effectively with other team members;

4. Open Communication and positive feedback – actively listening to
the concerns and needs of team members, valuing their
contribution, and expressing this helps to create an effective work
environment. Team members should be willing to give and
receive constructive criticism and provide authentic feedback;

5. Appropriate team composition is essential in the creation of a
successful team. Team members need to be fully aware of their
specific team role and understand what is expected of them in
terms of their contribution to the team and the project; and

6. Commitment to team processes, leadership & accountability –
team members need to be accountable for their contribution to
the team and the project. They need to be aware of team
processes, best practice, and new ideas. Effective leadership is
essential for team success, including shared decision-making
and problem solving.

There are two teams of students working on projects. In the end,
one team was successful in completing their project on time while
the other was not.

Successful Team

This team of students was highly successful in developing a quality
project, as well as being highly collaborative. Their journal entries
continually reflected positive comments about other team members,
and at no stage during the semester was there a request or
requirement to transfer marks from one team member to another.
Team meetings were always friendly, and at no stage were team
issues discussed as being problematic. The team always focused
on the project and how the process of development could be
improved by exploring expectations of the tutor, client, and end
users. An analysis of the data collected from this team indicated
that they showed the attributes needed for successful teamwork. In

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almost all of their responses in interviews, focus group meetings,
and questionnaires, it was evident that this team was committed to:

Commitment to team success and shared goals – the team was
highly focused on delivering a quality product, and not pre-occupied
by personal issues that might have interrupted this objective. They
facilitated and nurtured positive, cooperative-working relationships
based upon the focus of developing a quality final product that
would impress their client tutor, peers, and end users. The whole
team was strongly motivated to outperform other teams and shared
a strong common goal of wanting to develop a product that would
support their chances of gaining employment at the end of the
course. This was evident in almost all of their responses.

Interdependence – the team members felt that they had a
responsibility towards the other members of the team and that the
success of the project was based upon each team member’s
contribution. Team members were always happy to help peers
when they were experiencing difficulties. The team would
proactively brainstorm problems individual team members were
having and offer assistance if needed.

Interpersonal skills – the team recognized that team members
had different personalities and experienced problems at different
stages. They showed consideration for each other, and respected
and supported others in difficult times.

Open communication and positive feedback – the team
recognised that it was a “healthy thing” to discuss problems or
difficult issues and try to offer constructive help/criticism in trying to
resolve these. They strongly valued open dialogue that enabled
team members to express their concerns in a non-defensive
manner. They were open and truthful about all aspects of the
project.

Appropriate team composition – this team was proactive in
selecting their team members well in advance for this unit. They
had carefully considered the skills needed for each team member,

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and also the type of personality for each team member. These were
carefully discussed and considered by two team members four
months before the unit commenced.

Commitment to team processes, leadership & accountability –
team members were all aware of the importance of everyone’s role
within the team and the process used by the team to plan and track
the timing and quality of required tasks. The project manager was
well respected by the team, and always consulted the team before
making any major decisions. Also, the team had a number of quality
assurance procedures which helped monitor activities as well as
individual team members’ accountabilities.

Unsuccessful Team

Another team of students experienced severe team problems,
which caused it to become dysfunctional; it had to be split. At the
first peer assessment session, marks were transferred between
team members, as it was perceived that some team members were
not contributing. Even though agreement was made at this meeting
that marks should be transferred, and suggestions were made
about how to improve the situation, resentment amongst team
members escalated. This was clearly evident from the comments
being made through the confidential on-line journal entries each
week. The tutor had several meetings with the project manager and
individuals to help try to resolve issues, but to no avail.

At one of the team meetings, a serious disagreement occurred in
which one of the team members verbally berated another, from
which point there was no reconciliation. After this altercation, team
members felt they could no longer work together, so even though
they would experience a heavier workload, they unanimously
agreed to split and form two separate teams. An analysis of the
responses given by the successful team indicated that this team
had a strong awareness of the attributes needed for successful
teamwork. Comparing responses from this team against the key
attributes needed for successful teams shown in Table 1, it was
evident that this team was not congruent with these criteria.

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Review the descriptors in Table 1 on pages 642 and 643 in
Tarricone and Luca (2002) that describe the successful team, then
review the commentary about the unsuccessful team and create
your own Table in which you change the descriptors to ones
applicable to the unsuccessful team. Then, include paragraph
descriptions of the six attributes as was done for the successful
team above.

Last, address these final questions about the unsuccessful team:

1. How would you recommend the unsuccessful team resolve its
conflicts?

2. What steps could you take to improve the team’s performance?

The essay assignment calls for a paper that is 4-5 pages. This
means your submission will not be less than 4 full pages, not
counting the cover and reference page.

Upload your assignment to the Case 3 Dropbox. Be sure to
review your Turnitin Originality report. If the score is over 15%, you
may not be writing in your own words and you will need to contact
your professor and arrange to revise and resubmit your
assignment. Changes cannot be made to the submission, however,
if it has already been graded by your professor. Always check your
originality score after submitting your papers. If your score is above
15%, take a look at the originality report to see where you forgot to
cite your sources. Always use quotation marks to indicate that
material has been copied directly from the source. Also, the citation
for all quotes must include the page number where you found the
quote. These are two areas where most students get dinged on
their score.

While it is not mandatory, you are encouraged to submit all your
assignments into the practice dropbox. If you do this, you can make
any needed changes prior to submitting the assignments for
grading.

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Citation and reference style instructions are available at
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/ and Trident
University’s Introduction to APA Style, 7th edition .

You will find the following useful as you critique sources:

Herring, J. E. (2011). Chapter 3: Evaluating websites, Figure 3.1, p.
38. In Improving students’ web use and information literacy: a guide
for teachers and teacher librarians. Facet Publishing. Available in
the Trident Online Library, EBSCO eBook Collection.

Lack, C. W., & Rousseau, J. (2016). Chapter 4: What is critical
thinking? In Critical thinking, science, and pseudoscience: Why we
can’t trust our brains. Springer Publishing Company. Available in
the Trident Online Library, EBSCO eBook Collection.

Assignment Expectations

1. Include a cover page and References page in your essay of 4-5
pages, not including the cover and reference pages.

2. Study the Written Communications Rubric. Review it before,
during, and after preparing your presentation.

3. Demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the materials
cited on the Background page. Supplement these with at least
two relevant high-quality peer-reviewed sources that you locate in
the Trident Online Library. When you find an article in the Library,
you can click the quote (”), select the APA format from the drop-
down list, and copy/paste the reference onto your reference list.
You may have to clean it up because they are not always input
into the database correctly.

Your submission will be assessed on the criteria found in the written
communications grading rubric for this assignment:

Context and purpose for writing

Content

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Adherence to conventions in specific disciplines

Sources of evidence

Syntax control

Timeliness