MGT321 Saudi Lead in Toys and Drinking Water Case Study Questions Writing Assignment Help

Virtual Team Successes and Stresses

A Case Study

8/8/2016

As widespread as diverse and dispersed teaming is these days, leading a virtual team can be a challenge. This case study offers ideas on making the best of diverse and dispersed team structures.

Virtual teaming, that is, working on teams whose members are not present in the same location, is a fact of our modern, globalized business world. Virtual (or diverse and dispersed) teams are prevalent not only in multinational companies with offices in different countries, but also in academic and non-governmental institutions with bases across the world. In such team structures, members often have to communicate and collaborate with others who could be thousands of miles and many time zones apart.

As widespread as diverse and dispersed teaming is these days, leading a virtual team can be a challenge. Team leaders need to not only account for practical matters such as scheduling across time zones, but also technical issues such as varying rates of connectivity and access to communication platforms. However, one of the biggest factors in creating successful collaboration among diverse and dispersed teams is culture – specifically, tailoring the team’s mission, plans and procedures to the preferences of the different cultures represented on the team.

The following is a case study provided by a Cultural Navigator subject matter expert in diverse and dispersed teaming:

“A virtual team leader named Rebecca, originally from the United States, recently led a virtual project team with members from Japan, Mexico, Germany, Korea and the US. Rebecca was focused on setting the team up for success, and although she deliberately used strategies and tools made available by her company, she learned some valuable lessons along the way.

“Before initiating the project with a kick-off meeting, Rebecca made sure that everyone filled out their Cultural Orientations Indicator (COI) assessment to get to know their own work-style preferences. She then invited all members into a team message board on the Cultural Navigator, and encouraged them to share their profiles to better understand each other’s work-style preferences.

“The team was not able to have a face-to-face kick-off meeting, so during their first virtual meeting, every team member took time to introduce him or herself. The members talked about the different preferences in their team using the non-judgmental vocabulary of the Cultural Orientations Approach. At the end of the call, the team agreed on some ground rules for their upcoming teleconference and then closed the call.

“As the project continued, the team leader noticed that key team members were regularly not sharing their sales pipelines during their calls as agreed upon. Rebecca used humor during their sessions to lighten the mood, thinking some of the team members were nervous. However, she noticed the same people began to skip the calls, and were reluctant to speak when they were in attendance.”

In the above case study, the team leader Rebecca had done her due diligence in preparing the team to accommodate different cultural preferences among its members. But then she hit a snag. What had she done wrong?

The subject matter expert offered this reading of the situation: “In retrospect, Rebecca realized that even though she had set ground rules, she could have had an individual talk with each member before finalizing the team structure and processes. Perhaps in those discussions she would have understood that Woo-jin, her Korean colleague, worked in a strict hierarchical office environment and had to clear most decisions with his direct supervisor before sending anything to her. Woo-jin had hoped his team leader realized he did not have this approval, however Rebecca was not aware of this.

Similarly, the Japanese team member named Kamiko was concerned about the strict data protection laws in Japan, so she did not feel comfortable sharing her sales pipeline information. Kamiko had tried to indirectly convey this limitation to Rebecca, who wasn’t able to understand this message.

As for Rebecca’s use of humor during teleconferences, she did not realize how many cultural references she was using in her jokes, which her colleagues from outside her own culture had little understanding of.”

In essence, while Rebecca began the team’s collaboration with most of the components necessary for success, throughout the project duration, she learned the hard way that cultural mishaps often stall even the best plan.

While cultural due diligence and careful preparation are necessary components of working with a virtual team, the team leader and members need to exercise cultural awareness and cultural competence all along the way.

Though there can be challenges to working in diverse and dispersed teams, they are a fact of modern work life. The good news is that, when managed well, virtual teams can be as effective and productive as their traditional equivalents.

Questions:

• What did the team leader notice during the team meeting (calls) and what did she tried to do to enhance the situation?
• What should Rebeca had to do for each virtual worker and why?
• What were the special situations with the Korean and the Japanese workers?
• What the virtual leaders and the virtual members need to exercise?
• How can the virtual teams be as effective and productive as their traditional equivalents?

Due date	Marks
End of week 7	5 marks

Useful links:

Øhttp://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studentservices/documents/planning-and-preparing-to-write-assignments.pdf

Ø APA reference system https://student.unsw.edu.au/apa

Ø About plagiarism http://wts.indiana.edu/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

• About plagiarism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

Guidelines for the project assignment:

ü This is an individual project, which is part from your course score. It requires effort and critical thinking.

üUse font Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial.

üUse 1.5 or double line spacing with left Justify all paragraphs.

üUse the footer function to insert page number.

üEnsure that you follow the APA style in your project.

• Your project report length should be between 400 to 600 words.

The nurse leader must have strong interpersonal communication skills, be able to effectively manage conflict, and be able to build and develop high functioning teams. The purpose of this paper is for you to discuss a highly effective leader in your organization following the criteria in items 1-5.

Describe the characteristics of a highly effective leader. Which of these characteristics does the leader exhibit?

1. Describe the leader’s communication skills with staff, physicians, other members of the interdisciplinary team, peers, and executives. What techniques do they use to address sensitive topics and conflict? Is it effective? Be specific.
2. Discuss the types of interpersonal power they use to accomplish work and overcome resistance to change.
3. Describe the leader’s team(s). Are they high-performing? If so, please explain why the team is high performing. If not, why does the team not perform well?
4. Discuss the leadership skills the leader uses to building and manage groups and teams.

References

Minimum of four (4) total references: two (2) references from required course materials and two (2) peer-reviewed references. All references must be no older than five years (unless making a specific point using a seminal piece of information). Peer reviewed references include references from professional data bases such as PubMed or CINHAL applicable to population and practice area, along with evidence based clinical practice guidelines. Examples of unacceptable references are Wikipedia, UpToDate, Epocrates, Medscape, WebMD, hospital organizations, insurance recommendations, & secondary clinical databases.

Style

Unless otherwise specified, all the written assignment must follow APA 6th edition formatting, citations and references

Number of Pages/Words

Unless otherwise specified all papers should have a minimum of 600 words (approximately 2.5 pages) excluding the title and reference pages.

Textbooks

Diane Huber (2018)

• Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 20

This week’s readings and lecture
offered information related to lobbyists and advocates. Is there a
difference between being a lobbyist and an advocate? Lobbyists provide
support for policy, as do advocates, so what is the difference? Most
nurses consider themselves patient advocates; however a political
advocate is somewhat different. In this discussion, differentiate
between a lobbyist and an advocate. Be sure to discuss a political
advocate rather than a bedside advocate.

Topics to include:

• Definition of a lobbyist.
• Definition of an advocate.
• Similarities and differences.
• Why are they both important?
• How does the Joint Commission lobby or advocate for health care policy?

Your post must contain minimum of
two (2) references, in addition to examples from your personal
experiences to augment the topic. The goal is to make your post
interesting and engaging so others will want to read/respond to it.
Synthesize and summarize from your resources in order to avoid the use
of direct quotes, which can often be dry and boring. No direct quotes
are allowed in the discussion board posts.

250 Word Minimum

1 of the 2 references:

Ferguson, S. (2013). The global quest for nursing excellence. JONA: The Journal Of Nursing Administration, 43(11), 555-556. doi: 10.1097/01.nna.0000434514.27739.e2

View, analyze and critique a movie. Using your ‘cultural lens’, reflect and write about the following questions after you have viewed the movie: What did you learn about the culture(s) portrayed in this film? What are their norms, values, and beliefs? How accurately do you think the directors portrayed the cultures? Why?

How could the portrayal of this culture negatively or positively affect people’s perceptions of them?Did you gain a new perspective and/or respect for this culture?Did the film reveal any hidden history about a culture that you were previously unaware of? If so, what was it? Was is positive or negative?How could this film potentially influence people’s intercultural communication with members of this culture?

Analysis must be a minimum of two pages (2), double-spaced, 12 point font.Examples (but not a complete list – consult with me if you have a different movie in mind) of movies to review are:

The 100 Foot Journey, The Flowers of War, Snow Falling on Cedars, Jungle Fever, The Butler, Boyz in the Hood, Sin Nombre, Slumdog Millionaire, City of God,12 Years a Slave, Roots, Rising Sun, Moscow on the Hudson, Dances With Wolves, Sounder, The Joy Luck Club, Thunderheart, City of Joy, The Color Purple, Mississippi Masalla, Do the Right Thing, 25th Hour, The Siege, Django Unchained, Inglorious Basterds, Far and Away, Dogma, The Last Samurai, The Last of the Mohicans, Eat,Pray, Love, Crazy Rich Asians, etc.