- Learn how individuals contribute to teamwork
- Experience some of the features of group work and
teamwork
- Understand what managers and organizational developers
do to transform
- groups into teams
- Articulate the tangible benefits (both quantitative and
qualitative) of
- high-performing teams
- Finish with an interest in learning more about these
concepts and
- techniques to apply what you learn
Background: For this assignment, you will plan and play a game with
your family or friends, or at work based on the idea of the classic prisoner’s
dilemma. If you have had a class on game theory, you will be well aware of this
concept. It forms the basis of many TV game shows. The prisoner’s dilemma was
illustrated in Truman Capote’s book, “In Cold Blood” concerning the 1959
robbery of a Kansas farmhouse by Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, who murdered
their victims in order to eliminate the witnesses. After the men were captured,
the police interrogated them separately. To get a confession, the police
offered the men a reduced sentence for cooperating. Failure to cooperate would
result in a death penalty charge for both.
In the prisoner’s dilemma, if both
parties cooperate they are mildly punished; if one betrays another, one is
severely punished while the other goes free; and if both betray one-another,
both are moderately punished. Can you think of settings where you work in which
the organizational structure has created a prisoner’s dilemma? Competition can
(but does not necessarily) bring out conflict.
In game theory, there are
non-cooperative and cooperative games. A non-cooperative zero-sum game has a
definite winner and loser. For one to win, one must lose. We often think of
politicking as an element of that. A cooperative game is where everyone who
plays is better off for having played than not having played the game. That is
not to say that everyone is equally well off, but simply better off than they
were before playing. Hence, even in a cooperative game, some people will likely
benefit more than others.
Instructions
- Review in your textbook, the Big Five personality
dimensions, pp. 82–84, and then consider the 3.1 Personality Insights
inventory, pp. 89–91
- Select four or five friends, coworkers, or family
members and have them take the personality inventory
- Plan and play a game with the participants
- Write a 5-10 page paper that addresses the assignment
questions below
As you plan and play your game, you
will negotiate the type of game you want to play and your role in it. Strive to
determine some personal characteristics of the game participants a head of
time, or by observing them. Consider how the personal characteristics of the
individuals in the game manifest themselves in the informal roles they assume
during the planning and execution of the game.
For the purpose of this assignment,
you will want both a cooperative and a competitive element. To do that, you can
form several groups to compete and cooperate with each other, or you can have
individuals in one group compete and cooperate. You can use rewards and/or
punishments to create the competitive/cooperative motivations.
Evaluation: When groups are formed, we want to consider how
organizational structures, processes, and situations impact on group
motivation, politics, and goals achievement. Alignment of all of these
structural, personal, and interpersonal components will help to ensure that the
group will meld into a team. A defining feature of teamwork (versus group work)
is cooperation!
One of the factors that affect
cooperation is conflict. Conflict is defined as when someone perceives that
his/her interests are opposed or negatively impacted by another. Conflict can
at times produce positive results depending on the basis for the conflict and
how the conflict is handled (functional conflict). The worst kind of
dysfunctional conflict produces betrayal.
Note that team performance can be
observed in how well the team coordinates their interdependencies, works
efficiently, communicates, and accomplishes their mission. Consequently, as you
implement your game, assess your players based on these factors and the
informal roles they play.
After you have played the game,
reflect on the personality assessments your participants took, and then consider
how they planned and played the game.
Write a (5- 10) page analysis to
address the following questions:
- How well did the personality assessments reflect in the
behaviors participants displayed during the game?
- What do these assessments tell us about how we perceive
ourselves versus how others perceive us?
- What informal roles did participants assume during the
game, and were they different from the planning portion from the playing
portion of the exercise?
- What did I learn about myself? For example, did the
exercise show that you have characteristic ways of relating to others that
are distinctive, or similar, to those the others? Did the exercise show
that in a particular type of situation you acted in a particular way, or
that when others acted in a particular way, you felt happy or anxious or
angry, etc.?
- What did I learn about someone else in the exercise?
Did you see something new about them, such as “they seemed more capable
than I imagined,” or “inattentive when things were stressful?”
- In playing your game, what could you have done to
increase cooperative behaviors?
- Based on your game experience, what are some of the key
factors involved in gaining cooperation from people in a business setting?
- How would you go about getting cooperation from a
“difficult” co-worker? Give an example or scenario.
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