MGT 101

Introduction to Management
Caryl Andrea A. Tinae Group No. 2
Groups and Teams October 30, 2015

Thought Provoking Questions

Part 1. The concept I find the most interesting in this chapter is conflict management
because as groups perform the tasks assigned to them, it is inevitable that conflicts
may arise in the process. There are different views regarding conflict. The first one is
the traditional view which argues that any conflict must be avoided. Secondly, there
is the human relations view which argues that not all conflicts result to negative
outcome, but may also have a positive impact on a group’s performance, some are
even necessary as stated by the third view which is the interactionist view. As
conflicts occur, such as in our own reporting teams, management becomes all the
more relevant.

Part 2. A virtual team is a team that uses technology to link members who could not meet
physically due to geographical barriers to achieve a common goal. I learned from
Turel and Zhang (2010) about virtual teams as technology-mediated teams that
comprise individuals who rely on technology because they are not co-located, but
they interdependently work on tasks and share its outcomes. Virtual teams have a
short life-span and are given autonomy on how the tasks are to be accomplished.
This encourages organizations to acquire potential benefits and mitigation of losses
associated with teams with hierarchy.

REFERENCE:

Turel, O., & Zhang, Y. (2010). Does Virtual Team Composition Matter? Trait and Problem-
Solving Configuration Effects on Team Performance. Behaviour & Information Technology,
29(4), 363-375. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
sid=e4485e39-fdbe-457f-9754-614cbcf8d2e0%40sessionmgr4001&vid=12&hid=4209
Q3. According to Bittner and Leimeister (2014), shared understanding is the ability of
multiple agents to coordinate and support the realization of common goals because they
have mutual knowledge and beliefs. However, not all members of groups and teams share a
mutual understanding all the time. Some may have differences or conflict between each
other. Suppose in your own work team in Management 101 you have members who never
get along with each other, are causing disruptions in your work, rarely attend meetings, and
do not produce quality output, how would you address this problem using your knowledge on
conflict management? Having a background on Human Resource Management as well,
would you immediately fire them from the group? If yes, why? If not, what would you about
the delinquent members?

REFERENCE:

Bittner, E. C., & Leimeister, J. M. (2014). Creating Shared Understanding in Heterogeneous

Work Groups: Why It Matters and How to Achieve It. Journal Of Management
Information Systems, 31(1), 111-144. doi:10.2753/MIS0742-1222310106