Week 8 Observation Journal

BA352

Yu Sun

Week 7 Observation Journal

Week 7 Observation Journal

The study was conducted in an organization that deals with computer maintenance and

software development. The organization is located in the United States. The main focus of the

study was to observe cultural taxonomies, individual’s abilities as well as the personal abilities of

these teams on organization performance. The method that was used in gathering the information

was direct observation and recording of the data. The paper will discuss in details the type of

teams that are present in the organization, their level of interdependence, how their characteristics

influence the organization performance, taskwork and teamwork in the organization, factors

influencing communication processes in the team as well as a recommendation on how to

improve team processes in the organization.

In these teams there is embeddedness, independence, hierarchy, social equality and

mastery. The embeddedness in culture utilizes the existing policies and independence among

employees is given little consideration as they report directly to their CEO. Team harmony was

also observed among the teams. The organization has a clear hierarchical system where all team

activities are outlined hence there is very little utilization of interdependence among the teams

since all the activities are dictated from above downwards although there is a degree of

innovation among the team members (Hanel, Maio and Soares). The team has a collectivist

culture with a power distant approach in which the teams accept the direction with very little

uncertainty avoidance.

The level of organization performance and commitment is directly influenced by the way

the teams carry out their given tasks. The teams carry out their tasks while utilizing the group

dynamics and hierarchical principles, which dictates that they perform their assigned duties for

the well-being of their team leader and the organization in general. The CEO is the motivating

factor for the teams. The individuals in the groups are diligent and are in agreement with all the

policies that are set out by the CEO. There is very little consideration of openness to experience

as all their duties are dictated from above. The teams are also very extrovert as tasks are carried

out through teamwork hence improving the overall organizational performance (Ownsworth and

Dwan). The organization carries out regular measures on the teams’ abilities as a performance

appraisal and this has an effect of motivating the teams to get better and even work with

motivation for the betterment of the organization.

The organization utilizes both taskwork and teamwork processes among its members. In

taskwork, individuals are given tasks or activities which they are supposed to work independently

are deliver the required results to their team. In the organization example of taskwork that are

given to the employees include innovative activities which involve coming up with ideas for

developing computer software, as well as decisions making by the team leaders on what should

the teams practice. On the other hand, teamwork processes are activities that are carried out by

the teams or groups together. For example, in our organization, the teams carry out most of the

organization activities as a team (Hugo, Matthias and Andrea). These activities include repair and

maintenance of computer hardware, installation of software to computers, among other activities.

The organization has a clear communication process which highly influences team

performance. Among the factors that influence communication in the organization include clearly

defined roles and activities of each of the teams, effective conflict resolution mechanisms,

effective decision making from the CEO and the team leaders, members ability to give, receive

and even elicit feedback where necessary. The organization should consider more freedom to the

teams for them to be more creative in the way they carry out duties rather than following a given

set of duties and procedures (Hugo, Matthias and Andrea). Another recommendation would be to

ensure that there is effective innovation among the teams, the organization should encourage

interdependence among the teams.

Work Cited

Hanel, P, et al. "Cross-Cultural Differences and Similarities in Human Value Instantiation." Front.

Psychol (2018): 78-94.

Hugo, M, S Matthias and P Andrea. Motivation and Volition in the Workplace. New York City:

Springer, 2018.

Ownsworth, T and Dwan. T. "The Big Five personality factors and psychological well-being

following stroke: a systematic review." Disability and Rehabilitation (2017): 1119-1130.