Through
this course and the collaboration between the evening group and us, I am very appreciated
that I really learned a lot and think a lot.
As
a team, it has specific objectives or recognizable goal to be attained; the
coordination among the members of the team is required for the attainment of
the goal or objective. Teams can improve retention and moral, diminish threat
due to skills shortage or concentration through cross-learning as well as
improve the productivity and creativity. Usually, a high performing team should
identify clear direction, purpose and goals at first. Then making effective and
efficient operating procedures cannot be ignored. In addition, clear roles and
responsibilities for each individual can make everything go smoothly. Moreover,
constructive interpersonal relationships and external relationships might be an
essential factor for a high performance team. When you have a harmonious
relationship with your teammates, it will be easier to communicate and get
along with each other. Though you have worked in a team, it does not mean that you
do not come into contact with other people. Without any doubt, working as a
team is more effective and productive than individuals. So you should also
build good relationships with others outside your own team. In this way, you
could get more help and gain greater success. Last but not least, recognition
and trust among team members are very important. For instance, when your group
thinks out innovative ideas, clapping for yourself and giving positive
admission at this moment can really enhance the team moral. When you meet some
barriers, encouragement between each other becomes more important, and it can give
power to the team to overcome difficulties.
When
individuals with different values, beliefs or attitudes work closely with one
another, it is inevitable that conflict will rear its ugly head. It cannot be avoided
that conflicts will appear when people work together. Seemingly, we have a
common traditional view that conflict is bad and we do not want it happen. There
are kinds of conflicts: Task Conflict—conflicts over content and goals of the
work; Process Conflict—conflict over how work gets done; Relationship Conflict—conflict
based on interpersonal relationships. Everything has two sides, and conflicts
among collaborations are no exception. On one hand, when several parties
collaborate to resolve a conflict, they openly express their concerns and work
to find a mutually beneficial solution. Collaboration leads to creative
problem-solving and respect amongst co-workers in an organization. This style
finds the root of a problem, such as personal conflicts, and attends to the
situation in the least confrontational manner of any conflict-management style.
On the other hand, collaborative efforts tend to take the most time compared to
other conflict resolution styles. Thus, a team leader or manager cannot use
collaboration on trivial disputes or he could quickly overload himself with
conflicts. In addition, members can take advantage of the mediator if they know
they can always receive concessions by voicing a complaint. When facing
conflicts, you should have a healthy response to it. Stay calm, respectful and identify
the root cause of conflict. Communicate with each other and find ways to solve
the problems. Do not forget apologize, if someone is wrong. Most important, do
not let the unmeant conflicts influence the relationship among your team
members.
During
the collaboration with the evening group, we build a virtual community together
including world peace organization and religious organization. I know nothing
about the virtual organization until I started to do the final project. The
term virtual organization is used to describe a network of independent firms
that join together, often temporarily, to produce a service or product. Virtual
organization is often associated with such terms as virtual office, virtual
teams, and virtual leadership. The ultimate goal of the virtual organization is
to provide innovative, high-quality products or services instantaneously in
response to customer demands. The term virtual in this sense has its roots in
the computer industry. When a computer appears to have more storage capacity
than it really possesses it is referred to as virtual memory. Likewise, when an
organization assembles resources from a variety of firms, a virtual
organization seems to have more capabilities than it actually possesses. The advantages
of virtual organization are cost-saving, leverage global talent, increased
productivity as well as newer opportunities and so on. The challenges are that
mutual trust, understanding and web technical things should be considered
carefully. During the virtual collaboration experience, I get that virtual
organizations need to communicate extensively through email, Internet chat and
telephone. But to manage a virtual group effectively, you need to have rules
for communication. Emailing everyone in the entire organization each time you
need to send a message can cause a clutter of emails that will take too much
time to go through. Use a company Internet message board to post messages back
and forth. People can view the board on their own time and it does not take up
space in the email inbox. Email and Internet chat does not allow for the
emotion, facial expressions and body language that help to get meaning across
in a meeting. Set up a video teleconference system for meetings or, at the
least, use telephone conferencing to avoid misinterpretation of information.
Conclusions
What
is high-performance? It is consistent exceptional performance that exceeds
expectations, and continual improvement. After learning this course, I have
grasped many theories and learning methods that I never studied before. During the
collaboration with my teammates and the evening team “Alive”, I benefit a lot,
although we also encounter some conflicts among the whole process. I think that
what I have learned in class would be used in my future workplace, and I also
believe that it can benefit and help me more than I thought now. At last, I want
to thank for my instructor—Frank, my teammates—Chancy and Xiaoxiao, and the
evening team partners, who really help me a lot during the whole process.
Theory without
practice is sterile.
Practice without
theory is blind.
