...Week 4 Learning Team Reflection Discuss the Week Four objectives. Your discussion should include the topics you feel comfortable with, any topics you struggled with, and how the weekly topics relate to application in your field. Write a 350- to 700-word summary of the team’s discussion. 4.1 Analyze the influence of company structure on behavior. We have now found out from Robbins and Judge (2011) that company structures determine the manner in which job jobs are officially split up, arranged, and managed and that administrators must discuss about 6 essential factors while developing the structure of the company they work with. These 6 factors are: work expertise, series of command, departmentalization, and centralization, duration of control, formalization, and decentralization. Additionally, we understand that there are 3 common company designs, for example: the easy structure, the bureaucracy, and the matrix structure. I found out that there are companies where folks are happier and more effective once the jobs are standardized and when the ambiguity is decreased. There are other companies in which following official methods and plans result in a higher satisfaction on behalf of the worker. It means that company structures impact employees’ actions. According to Robbins and Judge (2011), facts and research show that work expertise results in higher worker efficiency; the disadvantage is that it leads to decreased job pleasure. Various...
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...Introduction: Individual Reflection on Team Experience Today in many industries and organizations group/team work is a tool for effective achievement of organizational goals. Understanding the way groups develop and how they impact organizational success is important to the effective use of groups in organizations. One of the most common models to describe how groups develop was described by Tuckman. Tuckman studied group development as it was seen in group therapy. This was then extrapolated to involve the development of all groups and teams that exist in areas such as those seen in organizations. In 1966, Tucker proposed that group development progressed through four identifiable stages which were named forming, storming, norming and performing. The Tuckman model for the stages of group development is one of the most cited models in the business world. Over the years there were other studies that also agreed that groups go through stages and they had identified that there appeared to be an “ending” stage as well. In 1977 Tuckman with Jensen reviewed who the stages of group development had evolved over the years since his first proposal of the stages of group development and in response to other studies they added a final stage of group development which the called adjourning (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977). The adjourning stage will not be reviewed in this paper since there was no real adjourning stage with this group. Another model for group development is the punctuated equilibrium...
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...alternate course of action. Ways to combat this are controlling the size of the group, tasking the group leader with gaining input from all group members, and to focus on the risk of any decisions presented to the group. Having a diverse group can both hamper and strengthen a group’s effectiveness. Groups composed off different cultures will initially have a more difficult time working together but over time the diversity can help the group be more open minded and creative. To ensure that a team is successful it must have adequate resources, strong leadership and structure, a climate of trust, and an excellent performance evaluation and reward system. Team composition is extremely important. The individual abilities of each team member must complement each other in order to achieve maximum team effectiveness. Team members’ personalities are equally as important. The dimensions identified in the Big Five personality test are relevant to team success. When allocating roles in a team, team members...
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...Team Reflection MKT/421 October 23, 2013 Team Reflection Team A discussed the objective of analyze the impact of the product life cycle on marketing for week three’s team reflection assignment. The members of team A understand the product life cycle stages and how it influences marketing; we are comfortable with the topic and related objectives. There were no identified areas of concerns to the material. The four stages of the product cycle are market introduction; this is when sales are low as a new idea is introduced to the market. During this stage customers are not familiar with the product. Promoting the product is very important during this stage. Market growth is the second phase; during this stage profits go up and down. Customers are familiar with the product, but competitors are starting to enter the market. Market maturity is the third phase; sales start to level off, but competition is getting stronger. Companies start to spend more money on marketing causing profits to decline and competitor start to cut their prices to get additional business. The last phase is the sales decline stage; during this stage, newer and more efficient products replace old products. Team A discussed the Apple products as examples of the product life cycle. In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, and it seems Apple keeps introducing a new iPhone annually. Apple continues to challenge its creative team to think of new features for a new product that will replace the old one...
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...Week Three Team Reflection HRM 531 Week Three Team Reflection Employee benefits and compensation are essential to a successful business. A company’s ability to thrive is often due in large part to the workers it employs. Because of this, it is important that the compensation and benefits the employer offers to the employees are competitive and comprehensive. Week three objectives include explaining how to create these benefit packages, determining the appropriate components of the employee compensation and benefits, and using organizational and market data to conduct human capital management functions. The learning team will explain the topics of struggle for the team, the topics of comfort for the team, and explain how these objectives relate to his or her area of work. Topics of Struggle One common area of challenge for members of the team during week three involves the objective relating to human capital management functions and how to use organizational and market research. Several team members indicate that this topic, which includes the two main fields of human capital management, is more difficult to comprehend. However, the team recognizes decisions on composing a benefits and salary package involves the two fields. The determination of benefits and compensation weigh heavy on this function and making sure that an organization is competitive within the market industry that they are in. If the company is using internal or organizational data, the company...
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...Production and Cost Analysis Rasheeda Arthur, Sarah Fischer, Tera Ginnaty, Mike May, Shannon McMillan, Tiffany Sawyer, Tiffany Weiland ECO/365 Version 4 September 16, 2013 John Ilokwu Production and Cost Analysis Colander (2010) explains analyzing production and cost, and provides insight into how the abilities of market economies effect the organization of a society. In week two, Team C learned evaluating production and cost within a firm is a complex study involving several key focus points. The team learned it is essential to understand the relationship between inputs and the law of diminishing marginal productivity. Another key point discussed in week two focused on the relationship between production and productivity inside a firm. It is also significant to note the price of inputs has a large effect on the supply curve. In addition, it is important to recognize marginal revenue and costs directly tie to output volumes. Through research, teammates determined each focus point provides insight into a firm’s operations as it relates to production and cost (Colander, 2010). The Law of Diminishing Marginal Productivity The law of diminishing marginal productivity recognizes a company cannot change inputs at the same time or to change the quantity of inputs. Rather, changing the level of one or more inputs while leaving the others static is a more realistic process of adjusting productivity. However, recognizing this process...
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...The choice between settlement and litigation is a very important one. The decision to accept or reject a settlement offer should be made with legal advice. Legal counsel would have to determine the victim’s expectations of each process and give advice on the reality of what can be expected. Counsel would use their legal expertise to determine the strength of the victim’s case. Sometimes a victim may want to proceed to litigation in the belief that there is a strong case, not realizing that there may be limitations on the evidence that can be presented in court and that what is legally right may not always appear to be fair. Advantages and disadvantages such as the length and cost of each process, and the option to appeal in litigation are areas that legal counsel would explain. Counsel would research precedents set by prior, similar cases and thus determine a fair value of compensation that could be expected. This compensation value can then be compared to that being offered in settlement. The details of the settlement offer itself would have to be analysed and counsel’s legal expertise would help the victim to understand the legal terms which the offer may contain. Also the legal implications of the settlement, such as the acceptance of responsibility and any limitations on disclosure must be clearly understood by the victim. Knowledge and understanding of the laws and how they pertain to the case is another important benefit of legal counsel. Cheeseman, H. (2010). Business...
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...Discuss with your Learning Team the following questions as related to the Week One objectives: What are the benefits to commerce of having shareholders—and other entities that shield their members—protected from personal liability? The main benefit to commerce to having shareholders is forcing top executives and other members of management to be accountable for their actions. When the shareholders have a vested interest in the company operations a duty exist on both sides to insure the company is performing well not only economically but also socially. A corporation exists to shield shareholders from the personal liability for the actions of a corporation. An example would be the shareholders of BP. Despite the fact there were billions of dollars in damages related to the Gulf oil spill of 2010, the shareholders were not held personally responsible for the damages although the BP Corporation was, both socially and economically. Shareholders decide to invest in a company which they feel will turn a profit for their portfolio or they decide to invest in a company that will serve the community, promote job growth, or be a responsible steward for their investment. A benefit is created commercially for not only the shareholder but the industry the corporation participates in by creating competition and other economic benefits. Would commerce be better served if personal liability would attach to those individuals for the misdeeds of their entity? Why...
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...activity. True “seeing” allows managers to break out of their traditional habits, look at the world through different eyes, to question old ways of finding solutions. To “see” is to find new ways to look at, think about, understand, and portray the world you see through your research lens. Legendary photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson coined the phrase, “the decisive moment,” meaning the moment when the subject and its significance come together for a split second. His talented, practiced eye recognized those fleeting moments. In our book, we also help you see the decisive moment through a trained capacity to plan, acquire, analyze, and disseminate insights that you mobilize to improve performance in your organizations. In week one our team discussed what makes a good research. According to the text, good research produces trustworthy data that are a result of calculated practices; wherefore these results are reliable for accurate assessments (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). The textbook speaks of several defining characteristics that are the makeup of a good research. There is a list of nine: (1) the purpose is clearly defined, (2) The research process is detailed, (3) Research design thoroughly planned, (4) high ethical standards applied, (5) limitations frankly revealed, (6) adequate...
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...Learning Team Reflection: Week 2 March 4, 2015 Jean Goodman Learning Team Reflection: Week 2 Arthur Anderson was a leading accounting firm in 2002 and the organization was destroyed that same year A number of mistakes were made by Arthur Andersen leading to the failure of the organization; these were portrayed in the case, “A Sad Tale: The Demise of Arthur Anderson”. Arthur Anderson became commonly known for the motto “Think Straight and Talk Straight” (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012). This motto served as an ethical guideline for the organization. Mistakes Made within the Organization Arthur Andersen quickly fell victim to accounting scandals within the accounting practice. The first mistake made within the organization was due to financial conflicts between the auditing department and the consulting department. Some of the consulting clients were also auditing clients and when the consulting departments profits exceeded the auditing departments profits, this created a conflict of interest. Maintaining the separation between these departments and the funds would have alleviated this issue. Another mistake made by the organization was the unethical act of forcing auditors to sell consulting contracts to their clients. This led to the largest mistake of reporting false information; the SEC charged Arthur Andersen with obstruction of justice, as the organization was found guilty of falsifying documents relating to Enron’s financial records. Actions to Prevent...
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...Week 4 Team D Reflection Christopher Gonzalez, Jennifer Mai, Leonel Perez QNT 351 March 7, 2014 Mr. Victor Ornelas Week 4 Team D Reflection In week four, Team D read about the steps in testing a research hypothesis, comparing the means of two or more groups, and calculating the correlation between two variables. The following paper will go in to more depth on what was discussed and what we learned as a team as well as individuals. The team also was able to go over the Mystat lab that we were assigned in the individual assignment. In step one a team would state a null hypothesis as well as an alternate hypothesis. The null hypothesis is used only for testing. We either reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis. The alternate hypothesis is accepted if sample data provide enough evidence that the null hypothesis is false. No matter what the problem looks like the null hypothesis will always contain the equal sign. This is true because since the null hypothesis is being tested there is a need for a specific value to be seen in the calculations. When comparing the means of two or more groups the team must state the null hypothesis. Random samples of each population must be chosen to show the formula in a working status. To get a more accurate sample a higher number of the populations should be used. An independent sample T-test is used to compare the means of two or more groups. Pooled variance can be used if the variances of the two populations being tested...
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...Teams Reflection Paper SOC/101 1/08/2010 Dr. Millie Teams Reflection Paper Our ability to be successful in work place or school depends on how well we communicate with others. Without communication there would be no team because they would not be working together. Team dynamics is the force that pulls and motivates a team to perform and respond in a definite way. One of the most important elements in team dynamics is communication. People with the best human relations skills are placed in human resources and the ones with the best advertisers work in merchandising. In this way weaknesses can be reduced while they concentrate on their areas of strength. According to Engleberg and Wynn (2010), group will never function if members focus entirely on their personal interest rather than on the group’s common goal. . Once the group’s purpose has been clarified and group members are selected, it remains for the group leader to prepare a team chart. The chart presents how the group is going to work together, each person’s responsibility, solving problem within the team, brainstorming ideas, and making sure that everyone in the team understands his/her part as a team member. A cooperative attitude allows people to work together to arrive at solutions that provides both tangible and intangible benefits to the company. I had both a negative and positive experience with group teams. Each experience gave me the opportunity to learn and grow stronger. While participating in...
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...Learning Team Reflection Alfred Clark, Jeremy Freeman, and Jonathan G. Hartsgrove Law/531 December 11, 2011 Kevin Spiering Learning Team Reflection In today’s society, we use laws and regulations to protect the rights of the people. As stated on the NOLO law website, “in a serious dispute with someone, you may consider filing a lawsuit to get it resolved. But that's a big step, and before you take it you'll need to know whether your case is worth suing over, how and where you would file the paperwork and what is involved in pursuing a case (2011)”. It is during this time of agitation that the benefits provided by counsel could help a victim to decide whether to take a settlement offer or purse litigation. Settlement Offers are usually settled prior to court in a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution. This is due to the fact that “the use of the court system to resolve business and other disputes can take years and cost thousands, or even millions, of dollars in legal fees and expenses (Cheeseman, 2010. pp.43)”. A lawyer can help to determine if an offer of settlement is fair by comparing it to other similar cases and help the client to decide if litigation would result in a larger settlement based on the legal issues of the case. Several studies have looked at the effect of lawyers on the ADR process. The studies have found that the lawyer does affect the outcome, but to varying degrees. According to Sternlight (2010. pp.391), the studies have generally suggested...
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...Learning Team Reflection -Week 4 Our learning group has been overall successful in conducting productive meetings and completing tasks in a timely manner and at the desired quality level. However, there are aspects that can be improved in order to make meetings run more smoothly. The success can be attributed to several factors. One of the most important factors leading to successful meetings is setting clear goals and an agenda before the actual meeting. Being that all group members have demanding jobs and families to attend to, we have been able to avoid wasting time meeting for things that can be done via email or over the group discussion forum. Instead, we have identified the tasks that require of all the team members’ presence and set up face-to-face meetings to discuss only those things. Moreover, the group has created an atmosphere of trust in which all members feel comfortable expressing their ideas freely. Group discussion, active listening and constructive criticism are encouraged. Finally, we have been able to compromise and make group decisions that leave everyone satisfied. The learning group could improve success in conducting meetings and performing group tasks/projects by focusing on staying on topic. Instead of socializing during the meeting, team members could be rewarded with socialization time once the team goals have been met. At the same time, team members could contribute to time management by adequately preparing and gathering all...
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...Learning Team Reflection for Week Two Learning Team A Kimberly Johnson, Vanessa Fleming, and Trina Bradley RES/351 October 12, 2012 Dr. Jan Bella Learning Team Reflection for Week Two After reading chapter one Research in Business, Learning team A learned that it is important to define business research. In this chapter we also learned the difference between decision support systems and business intelligence system. This chapter explained that Business Research is a systematic inquiry that provides the process of planning. After reading chapter two Ethics in Business Research, Learning Team A learned the issues that are in research ethics. This chapter also explained that the purpose of ethics research is to reassure the safety to those involved in the research process. This chapter explained that Ethic Research requires personal integrity and the need to have middle ground. After reading chapter four The Research Process, we learned the steps in this process. We also learned that research is a centered dilemma and decision. Once we found a topic we would like to write about we would start to find information on the topic and record this information on paper. Another factor that was learned in chapter four was how budgeting and value assessments influence our process for research design and proposing research. After reading chapter three Thinking Like a Researcher, we learned that the first step is finding out what you want to learn...
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