Response to peer post

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 The assignment is due at 12:00 PM noon on Wednesday 8/17/16 (eastern time zone). APA format. 

You are to engage (react/respond) to a minimum of at least one (1) of your peer’s Forum responses. These responses should be at least 500 words each in length and one (1) scholarly reference. Students are encouraged to review the articles, etc. used by fellow students. Where you see an opportunity to pose a challenging question, please do so! Be sure to state what you consider are the strengths and weaknesses of their argument and why this might or might not influence you to change your own answer. 

Respond in one or more of the following ways:

Ask a probing question

Share an insight from having read your fellow learners' posting

Offer and support an opinion

Expand on your fellow learners’ posting

You can respond by providing a summary and an APA reference to research in the literature

My peer's forum post is listed below: 

Give an example from your personal experience of how differences in tasks, personal background, and training lead to conflict among groups.  How might task interdependence have influenced that conflict? Explain.

  I work for one of the largest wireless carriers in the wireless industry. My responsibility entails overseeing the installation of antennas on towers, water towers, and rooftops for coverage and improvement of services. To accomplish this, we collocate on existing towers as this form of install is encouraged as it is technically, and economically feasible then new construction. In this role, I work alongside other teams such as RF engineer, Operations technicians and System Performance engineers. Each team has different responsibilities, and we all have an end of the day goal of doing what is right for the customer all the time. As an individual team, we are measured differently and to meet our department objectives, we are dependent upon each team completing their scope before we are able to complete our scope. Each of our positions requires some form of configuration that may require some “out of the box” thinking to have service activated within a given time. For example, the RF engineers will design the proposed configuration. They rarely perform due diligence to determine if their final configuration will be feasible. This initial design is given to the real estate team who submits an application to the owner of the tower. The site will also have to have an analysis performed to determine if the recommendation by the RF engineer will be approved. This process normally takes 4-6 months. While the real estate team is working their scope of work, I will be working in parallel during the last 2 months of their expected approved date, and preparing to order material, bid work out to general contractors, have PO’s submitted and work to make sure we meet all regulation requirement. Coordination and timing is very important as during this time. I have to adhere to ensuring material is not ordered too early, as we have a Just-in-Time (JIT) process. I also need to warrant that I am meeting my monthly spend obligation as well as having services activated to meet my monthly plan of record (POR). What I typically find is that because due diligence is not performed during the design phase, each team needs to re-shift priorities to ensure that we are all meeting our monthly objectives and making sure that we are performing for the customer.

            Reading this week chapter, I find that conflict is good for an organization as well as it is healthy because it contributes to diverse thinking and leads to change (Daft, 2013).  In the above example, this form of dependence is called task interdependence which refers to the dependence of one unit on another for materials, resources, or information (Daft, 2013).  Reviewing the book definition, I believe that dependence that my team shares sometimes goes past task interdependence, and falls along the line of sloppiness, and not being responsible or accountable for the work that they are to design.  I can say there is not a lot of mutual respect of any member of this team because they are viewed upon negatively. This form of conflict that exists can be avoidable as it does create a disharmony between individuals, and reduce the team cohesion, and the ability of team members being able to collectively work together.

            Task interdependence could have an influence on the conflict if the dependence didn’t seem as if it were enabling this one team. Some conflicts can create disruptions that require time, and effort to resolve which can setback the completion of tasks and even jeopardize a team's goals. While at first, one may think of all conflict between team members as detrimental, and harmful, the process of resolving conflicts can actually provide some advantages to team performance. Conflict can lead to a solution to a problem as well as conflicts can also create problems. (Murray, 2016). Being able to differentiate between the conflicts that exist in organizations is necessary for resolution to occur. Having the ability to address personal conflicts that could arise between individuals can assist, and smooth out the process between individuals by helping them to adapt their behavior to better suit the needs of others. Granted, most people find conflict uneasy while they are going through it, being able to recognize the difference can help a team progress in its development. Having different viewpoints can lead to more creative solutions or otherwise provide an outlook that potentially could influence the team to take a different approach that is more likely to lead to success.  If barriers were removed, and the conflicts were addressed as constructive criticism, there would be less assumptions, and misunderstanding about how the team should strategize to accomplish the overall goal. This would create a larger and comprehensible awareness about how team members are experiencing their work, and could lead to the positive change that would improve each of the team’s productivity. As a way to work through the conflict to help, and lead all of the teams to process improvement, I have elected to provide support to the RF team by performing some diligence of what exists on the structures, and have been supportive when questions arise. As the project continues, we must communicate as in most organizations, team based work assignments are common. 

References

Daft, R. L. (2013). Organization Theory & Design 11th Edition. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning

 

Murray, L. J. (2016, August 15). Three Types of Interdependence in an Organizational Structure. Retrieved from Small Business: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/three-types-interdependence-organizational-structure-1764.html

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