Notes

Exam Two: Short Essay Answers
Refer to page 204 in your text. Read the Ethical Challenge exercise about “The Unproductive Teammate.” Respond to the questions in the final paragraph. Be specific. Use information from chapter 7.
Ethical questions have been the hardest thing to respond to or answer in my opinion. While one might think one way is right it could be the complete opposite and one could end up offending someone, in the workplace, people try not to do exactly that. Offending someone could up as having to take a course or even worse a termination of employment. To answer the question the member of the team first took time off to care for their loved one and child who is completely reasonable, and they took the time off it was not given to them. The problem starts to begin when the team member starts missing more work after the understood “time frame,” meaning everybody knew the team member would be gone for a certain amount of time. The way I think about it is working is a privilege, If you cannot keep up with the needs of the company then you should not be working with that company/group. A way to deal with this would be for the group to be upfront and tell the member that is missing work that he needs to contribute more, maybe by using Skype to join meetings, emailing work to other members. If he can't show up this day in age he can still be productive to the team. In other words, the member missing works still need to contribute somehow or someway, unless the reason is something severe or else the reaction will be termination.

Read the information in the textbook on Effective Meetings. Specifically look at the stages in Group Problem Solving. Reflect on how your group/team performed during this group project/presentation in SPCH 1321. (It is OK to use other students’ names and write in the first person.)
Reflecting on the group presentation that we only just did recently I think our team communicated effectively, while we did not follow the book exactly we were still able to have effective group meetings and this ended up leading to a great presentation. We did not have any opposing viewpoints, arguments, power struggle. Summarized we had nothing difficult to deal with. Our group leader was Deheaven but everybody participated, almost like there was no leader, she just kept the meetings in order and made sure we did not stray too far from the purpose of the meeting. Everybody came to the meetings prepared or seemed like they were prepared. Our meetings were only held when needed, there was enough time to complete our task before it was needed for the group, we needed a basic agenda, we opened the meetings with questions that needed to be answered and everybody participated in the meetings. I think overall our group was fantastic after reading the Effective Meetings part of the book, and group problem solving was rarely needed. The presentation was not as good as I thought it would be and I think I was the only one fully prepared for the presentation, I took the role of someone trying to sell something like what you would see on an infomercial. The seller always has an upbeat attitude and uses his name as a selling point which I tried to incorporate in my part of the presentation. Overall our group communicated well and it leads to a good presentation, our only downside was the presentation itself meaning the talking and trying to sell a product.

On page 199 in your text, refer to Table 7-2 on Functional Roles of Team Members. Which of these roles do you generally fill in groups? Do you fill the same role in most groups at most times or do you switch roles as circumstances require? Do you tend to fill task roles or relational roles?
This is a great question, In a group, I generally listen to the conversations think about them and respond to information that could improve or relate to the conversion in a beneficial way. After looking at the table I think I would be an opinion-giver, reality-tester, and a tension-reliever. Some downsides I am very bad at being an empathic listener, I always want to evaluate the conversion and come up with ideas and depending on the group I can be a withdrawer sometimes. To answer one of the questions, I have my to-go roles which are listed above but depending on the situation I can fill any role needed, for example in the group project I was an opinion-giver but I also had to be gatekeeper which was new to me and I also had to be a diagnoser by keeping the group on the task and focused on the goal, while also bringing information to the table in an effective manner. One of my downsides would be a withdrawer like I said it depends on the group. If I feel uncomfortable or feel like my information would not help I will withdraw. I also tend to cover up my feelings unless I feel great about something. Overall I tend to fill task roles, such as the opinion-giver, summarizer, diagnoser, gatekeeper, and the reality-tester. Summarized I am a hardworking group member that brings relevant information the table, keeps group members on the task and makes sure ideas can actually work and are possible.

Think of a leader you know personally. It could be a boss or former coach or someone else in your life. What leadership skills do they possess that you admire? Please be specific. How can you adopt or adapt the leadership style to your own behaviour as a leader? Be specific. Use information from Chapter 7.
The leader in my life that I look up to is my father. He has filled leadership positions for over 30 years at KONE, a global elevator and escalator industry. He has filled roles such as global project manager and regional project manager. David (my father) has obtained many skills whiles working as a project manager. I admire all of the skills David has, some of these are; communication, risk management, and critical thinking I believe these are some of David's greatest strengths that I admire. Communication is one of my weakest strengths which is why I admire David’s ability to use communication through his life. Critical Thinking is one of my strongest skills and I think this is because David has taught me how to be a critical thinker throughout my life and how to use it correctly and efficiently. I have not yet used risk management on a bigger scale then “If I eat this doughnut will I become diabetic” of course that's a joke but risk management is very serious and one of the most important skills besides communication in a professional business, in some cases that could mean life or death. For me to adopt and adapt to these leadership skills/style I need to spend more time in a leadership role and to be able to use these skills. Practice makes perfect and without practice or being able to use certain skills you never get to get better at them or even learn them.