Managing Groups and Teams
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To have a team, you must have a clear and elevating goal that supersedes all individual goals. Usually, this goal does not change or get adjusted; instead, it guides all aspects of the team's performance. This does not mean there is no place for groups within a company; many groups exist to serve other needs within the organization. You might, for example, have a committee for enhancing diversity, or a group of executives that are searching for a new CEO. In both of these examples, there is a goal (to increase diversity or find a CEO), but the way this goal is attained can change throughout the process. Perhaps your group decided halfway through the process to only consider internal hires for a promotion instead of conducting an external search.
Exercises
Ethical Dilemma
Imagine
you work at an ad agency and your team is charged with coming up with
the name for BeautyBees's latest perfume. You have been with the company
for 6 months. The branding team has been brainstorming for the last 2
hours, filling up pages and pages of the flipchart with innovative,
imaginative names. Feeling daunted by how loudly, quickly, and
assertively branding team members are shouting out suggestions, you
decide to sit this one out, even though you have some ideas. You are
uncomfortable shouting over everyone else and you reason that the group
would discount your input anyway. Plus, everyone else is generating so
many good names that the group is bound to succeed regardless of your
input.
What Do You Think?
- Is your lack of participation ethical? Why or why not?
- What are the implications of speaking up or not speaking up?
- Would you change your answer if you'd been with the company for 10 years instead of 6 months?