Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior
Project “Blow Up”
1: What happened to the A-Team?
The A-Team was forced to disband because from the very first tasking, there was conflict between the group members. The group never actually came together to complete their first tasking of defining roles. The arguments between the group members got so bad that one of their team members walked out for the group and threatened to quit the program. Why did the group process break down?
The group process broke down because there was never a group. This group began with a group of five individuals who had strong opinionated views as of the relevancy of their professions and experience. Instead of getting together as a group and mutually deciding how the tasking’s should be assigned to the group members. Instead of finding ways to relate their experience to a tasking that would promote group success, each member found ways to put down or argue the experience of the other members. There was poor structural integration, differences in social identity, and stereotyping. What dimensions of diversity were responsible for the conflict?
The dimensions of diversity that were responsible for the conflict included gender, ethnicity, experience, and age.
2: Describe which barriers to effectively managing diversity were present in this situation?
Discrimination: Rebecca seems to feel that the “girls” are being treated unfairly by Aran because they are women. They feel that Aran didn’t give them a “real” job.
Stereotyping: The women feel that Aran is extremely sexist because he didn’t give them “real” jobs. While not specifically mentioned they might assume he is sexist as well due to his Arab descent.
Social Identity: Being of Arab descent in a group of predominately American Aran felt that his social identity put him at a disadvantage. This probably forced Aran to find a way to put him in a position of power over the others in an attempt to avoid being the outcast.
Project “Blow Up”
1: What happened to the A-Team?
The A-Team was forced to disband because from the very first tasking, there was conflict between the group members. The group never actually came together to complete their first tasking of defining roles. The arguments between the group members got so bad that one of their team members walked out for the group and threatened to quit the program. Why did the group process break down?
The group process broke down because there was never a group. This group began with a group of five individuals who had strong opinionated views as of the relevancy of their professions and experience. Instead of getting together as a group and mutually deciding how the tasking’s should be assigned to the group members. Instead of finding ways to relate their experience to a tasking that would promote group success, each member found ways to put down or argue the experience of the other members. There was poor structural integration, differences in social identity, and stereotyping. What dimensions of diversity were responsible for the conflict?
The dimensions of diversity that were responsible for the conflict included gender, ethnicity, experience, and age.
2: Describe which barriers to effectively managing diversity were present in this situation?
Discrimination: Rebecca seems to feel that the “girls” are being treated unfairly by Aran because they are women. They feel that Aran didn’t give them a “real” job.
Stereotyping: The women feel that Aran is extremely sexist because he didn’t give them “real” jobs. While not specifically mentioned they might assume he is sexist as well due to his Arab descent.
Social Identity: Being of Arab descent in a group of predominately American Aran felt that his social identity put him at a disadvantage. This probably forced Aran to find a way to put him in a position of power over the others in an attempt to avoid being the outcast.