Assignment

1. Think of a team of which you are now or were in the past a member. It may be a work team, an athletic or recreational team, a social team, or a school project team. It may be one in which you had a good team experience and you produced favorable results, or it may be one in which you had a bad experience or which failed. Consider the Authority Matrix (Figure 2-1 on page 52 of your Hackman book) and determine the level of self-management of your team. Explain how you made that determination. Analyze your team and determine, using Hackman's criteria, whether or not your team was a real team. Fully describe your team attributes and explain your evaluation of your team as a real team or as something less than a real team. If your team was not a real team, try to identify what your leader might have done differently to make it a real team. If it was a real team, identify what your leader did well to make it a real team. Your initial posting, and all postings in this course, should be written in formal English and using proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and word choice. Your answer should be at least 300 words.

2. In your learning materials for this week, you will read (and listen) to the kinds of problems that can result when a team or group begins to operate so harmoniously that the individuals either fail or refuse to consider evidence that is contrary to the assumptions of the group as a whole. Other problems may result from teams that are too large or that include members who are incapable of working productively in a team environment. Additional problems may result from a team that fails to maintain an outward focus -- fails to scan the external environment for evidence that change is happening or is needed.

For this answer, please find an article or report that illustrates a team that functioned poorly or failed due to one or more of these structural concerns. Summarize the nature of the team, a description of the structural problem, and the result that ensued. Post a link to the resource you found, if possible. You may use an experience personal to you if you believe that it fits this assignment and that you can provide an objective analysis of the circumstances. Your answer should be at least 300 words.

3. After listening to the NUMMI podcast assigned in your learning materials, choose one aspect of the NUMMI joint venture that illustrates a successful implementation of one of Hackman's elements of a supportive context. Choose another aspect that illustrates a failure to implement an element of supportive context. Fully describe your choices. Your answer should be at least 300 words.