Blog Feed – Nicolas Allen Hernandez – Academic Communication

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Teamwork problems in the working environment

Introduction

This was one of the reports I had submitted and it was one of the very first report formats writings I have ever done!

Problem/Scenario
Teamwork makes the dream work.

Vigor recently achieved competitively high sales through combined individual efforts. However, by the end of their 4-year run, Peter had noticed that his division was falling apart as members such as Sandy and Josh conveyed signs of decrease in commitment and therefore failure as a team. It is believed that Peters division should be saved because they have massive potential to achieve greater heights for Vigor. However, there were many evident and underlying issues that were present during their run which caused Peters small organization to wither. In further depth, it will be explored how Peters division worked more as a group rather than a team and lacked goal alignment and commitment. Despite the evident issues that will be outlined, it was caused by underlying factors such as the lack of certain characteristics such as cohesiveness to which led to their downfall. The following report will discuss the issues that are present in depth and provide solutions that can convert his group into a team and prevent further failure.

Team on the outside, but group on the inside (Analysis)

The first issue discovered was that Peter’s division operated more as a group rather than a team. Teams and groups are two similar definitions, however there is a distinctive difference and whilst both definitions have a common characteristic being people working together towards a common goal. Respectively, the distinction originates from whether individuals collaborate and mutually work and plan together to accomplish team goals and outcomes, or work amongst themselves independently towards a common goal (Armstead et al. 2016; Fisher et al. 1997; Johnson 2003; Surbhi 2015). In the case of Vigor, Peter envisioned a team, but in reality, they were just a formal group working independently towards a common goal and coming up with ideas individually to achieve it. For example, Sandy had utilized her specific skill set and “handed Peter a large file containing the marketing campaigns and strategic recommendations” (Heimbouch 2018, p. 2) and Josh utilizing his entrepreneurial skill to distinctively create the name of the product himself. In comparison to a ‘team’, Josh would have collaborated with both Peter and Sandy about the name of the product. According to the findings of Meirink et al. 2010, teams that only trade ideas find it difficult to have goal alignment which is crucial to the team’s collaboration and success. Peter’s division, to a certain extent had goal alignment such as both Peter and Sandy desired to save Vigor, however, Josh on the other hand seemed to have an individual goal instead of a team outcome which was evident as he was showing interest to other divisions and had no further interest in further exceeding Vigor’s success and further showing characteristics of a group rather than a team.

Solution/Recommendations

For the team to be salvaged and ensure that team failure wouldn’t occur again, Peter is recommended to build an effective team by inheriting certain attributes. Transforming his group into an effective team can be achieved by establishing the remaining characteristics the division is lacking and upon inheriting these traits will transform Peter’s group not only into a team, but a team that maximises team performance and therefore achieve great cohesion, further minimizing chances of team failure. Two studies (Mathew et al. 2015; Gilley et al 2010) have researched several important characteristics that effective teams must have and essentially, Peter needs to implement the remaining characteristics to resolve the defined issues mentioned before. The first effective team characteristic that Peter should implement is to establish an aligning, clear and challenging objective for all team members, such as beating the sales achievement of Vigor. Secondly, Peter is advised to implement rewards and recognition to successful efforts of team members and the final trait that Peter is recommended to establish, is to have clear communication and orientation within the team, which can only be achieved by the aspect that Peters team lacked the most being collaboration. Peter is advised to encourage members such as Sandy and Josh to not only collaborate with him about their efforts and plans, but also with each other and for example, utilizing Josh’s entrepreneurial skill to provide feedback and opinion on Sandy’s work and not just Peters. It is recommended that Peter implement the actions mention because the 3 characteristics outlined will result in increased individual satisfaction, motivation, and growth which will in turn increase cohesion within the group and thus preventing the underlying issues uncovered in Peter’s case.

Problems of these extracts:

Ever since I submitted this report, I realised many mistakes that I wish I could have fixed.

I realised that my citations were wrong and now I wish to fix it.
- The format did require HARVARD style, but tiny things such as the commas between the names and the year caused many problems.
- Back then I never really knew the importance of such as detail, but ever since I have gone through ACBE100, I now see its importance in my writing
Complex language
- I realise now that my language lacked complexity and one thing I hope to improve in my writing in the future is the use of more sophisticated language.

Positives:

However, on the other hand, I must say that this was one of the best responses I have ever written in terms of an assignment. I was so engaged with the assignments case study that I wanted to keep writing more about the ideas that sprung inside my mind, however I was nearly over the word limit!

But regardless, I felt proud of what I have written here in comparison to the extract I have written!

Website

Blog 2

My Responses

SWOT Analysis

PESTEL Analysis

After conducting a situational analysis, businesses will have to prioritise and handle certain external and/or internal factors to enter or sustain competitive advantage and contest in the market. SWOT analysis, is an analytical process that identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to which is then used to determine actions in the marketing mix (Colgate, n.d)
. Mc Donald’s is a highly established global fast-food company that owns about 34,108 independent franchises and restaurants in 120 countries (Mc Donalds Corporations, 2017)
. McDonalds has utilized SWOT analysis to assist the businesses marketing mix as it faces challenges throughout the year. According to Roberta Greenspan, 2018 Mc Donald’s strengths includes a robust and trustful global brand image, allowing Mc Donald’s to easily introduce new products which reduces risks of product failures and promotional advertisement. Early 2018, Mc Donald’s had easily released a Hazelnut-filled pie in Japan and used social media to promote the new product (Figure 2 Appendix) and instantly, the new product became very popular in Japan (Barr, 2018)
. One major threat outlined by Bhasin’s, 2018 SWOT analysis is the rise of health-conscious consumers which further implicated into a weakness as Mc Donald’s brand and products doesn’t embody the image of healthy consumption. After uncovering this threat and weakness, Mc Donald’s made alterations to their marketing mix such as the adjustment to their happy meals further illustrating how companies use SWOT analysis to guide decisions in the marketing mix. In further depth, Mc Donald’s U.S division removed cheeseburgers from happy meals and removed sugar components of drinks they provide so that calories attained will be reduced for the sake of consumer health attitudes (Barr, 2018)
. As a suggestion to Mc Donald’s, the company should indulge in healthier opportunities such as investing in more children parks campaigns to encourage children to be more active and counter the shifts in consumer attitudes.

PESTEL is a theoretical framework that outlines the possible external factors new businesses and/or products are subjected to in pursuit of satisfying the market. PESTEL consists of 6 factors which respectively are political, economic, sociocultural, technological, environmental, and legislative and each factor can either assist, diminish, or have no effect on new products. In February 2018, DJI had developed and released a new product known as the Mavic Air Drone. The Mavic drone is a light foldable drone for explorers, creators, and even commercial users that contains the latest drone technology in the world such as hand gesture controls and auto piloting with sensors (Calore, 2018)
. PESTEL factors were in effect where some factors hindered, and some assisted the new products entry into the market. For example, the drone has been implemented with the latest technological developments in the context of drones such as the quality and functionality of its camera, size and the auto driving with sensors (DJI, 2018)
. With its features being current, it gives more value and luxury to buyers and thus assisting its entry into the market. Economically, businesses such as farms have been utilising drones to gain competitive advantage, increasing the demand for drones and helping the Mavic Air drone enter the market (Divya, 2017)
. On the other hand, environmental factors have had no effect on the drone as natural disasters have not occurred during its release. However, there are factors that have a negative effect in the drone’s entry to the market. Sociocultural factors such as individual’s attitudes towards commercial drones have now shifted due to privacy/spying concerns (Channel 9, n.d)
and further implicated to governments to create new legislations and laws such as restrictions of fly zones (Australian Government, 2018)
and further hindering the drone to enter the market. It is recommended DJI require a license to operate their drones to prevent misuse of their products.

Appendix references:

Figure 2
Mc Donald’s, Chocolate and Hazelnut-Filled Pie advertisement, Source: (Barr, 2018)

Reflection:

In comparison to the first blog, this submission and/or communication portfolio was more, in terms of writing and communication, disappointing. But it was my first ever attempt to do Harvard referencing and ACBE100 has refined and helped me properly find effective resources and how to properly do in-text citations.

Thinking back and looking at the response now, I realise that my sources and my citing was very wrong. For example in some of the in-text citations such as (Channel 9, n.d). If I had done ACBE100 first instead of this subject, I would’ve definitely had known to find more reliable sources with actual dates. Additionally, back when I was writing this extract, I thought you could only have one source at the end of the sentence, let alone, I didn’t know how to put more than one in-text citations until ACBE100!

But overall, I have learnt my lessons and hope to improve on my writing in the future!

Extract of my skills in communication in a business environment!