Business

Executive MBA – Reading Material

Assignments – Semester – I

Principles and Practices of Management

1. How will you influence people to strive willingly for group objectives in your organization (target based industry)? Apply your interpersonal influence through communication process towards attaining your specialized goals?

Several organizational factors must be in place in order for a team to succeed:

* Common and consistent goals that are accepted by all team members. Organizational commitment to the team concept, including support from top management.

* Clear roles and well-defined responsibilities for members and leaders.

* Both real and perceived power delegated to the teams.

* Mutual accountability for team performance.

* Recognition and reward systems that support team performance.

Teams sometimes fail because they don't adequately define leadership roles and task clarity. These may be clarified by using a shared leadership model. For example, team

members may agree to take leadership responsibility for specific aspects of the team's mission. In some cases, leadership may shift to different team members on a

rotating basis.

The following elements are necessary when building a cross-functional team:

* It must contain the right members.

* The team must have a clear direction.

* Members must have access to the "movers and shakers" of the organization.

* Members must agree on the standards by which they will gauge success or failure.

* Everyone must agree on the ground rules from the start.

* Members must have the proper training in teamwork.

Teams are not always the best way to structure work. Managers should ask themselves if requiring employees to make decisions as a group enhances or impairs work efficiency.

Good employee communication is essential to good teamwork, but studies indicate that some team members suffer from "communication anxiety." To address the problem,

Whirlpool Corp. Tested employees for such...