Decision Making!!

During the class decision making exercise, I used the "Accommodation" strategy. I didn't want to fight for my idea if the rest of my group had a different opinion on direction. Moreover, I wanted everybody in my group participate in the activity. I thought the best way to make people participate is by listening to their ideas and incorporating them into the solution so that the group's work is no just one team member's work. I wanted everyone to feel like they contributed to the group's answer.

In hindsight, I think using "collaborating" would probably get a more desirable result. If group members approached the task by collaborating, the will have the chance to explain why they think their ideas works over others. While they are explaining, others can add their opinion and the result is that one might find out that someone else's idea is better than theirs or that a combination of two ideas make an even better idea. With all member's brainstorming together, the ultimate result must be better!

I have to admit that I handle confict differently when I am at work. At work I more often use a "compete to win" strategy which does not always end up with the best result. I want my co-workers to understand why my idea or opinion makes sense and is valuable. I feel I need to fully explain my idea until they understand my point of view first. If they understand and choose to go another direction then I don't mind letting it go. Also, When I have a different opinion with someone else, I always try to understand where they are coming from and mention that I understand what they are saying. Before I debate against someone's idea, I always try to highlight the good points of their idea so that I don't make anyone upset. Once I do that, I feel it is easier to try and make my point about why I think a different direction makes more sense.

Egg protector!

Our team went through step 1 (define our goals and objectives), 2 (determine our resources), 4 (make a tactical plan) and 5 (Implement the plan and evaluate results). We knew exactly what our goal was, which is to not break the egg, so our whole plan started from there. We determined our resources (straws and tapes) before we even began planning by checking how strong the straws were, how long the tape was, and how we could use each to cushion the egg’s fall. Using this information we put a plan in place and divided the tasks of who was going to do what parts since we knew we had limited time. I knew dividing up the tasks would be a helpful way to get everyone involved.

We definitely bypassed step 3 (develop several alternative strategies) which was a mistake because we didn’t end up having enough ideas. We ended up having only 2 ideas that ended up being similar enough that we just ended up combined them into one final plan.

While our plan didn’t end up keeping the egg from breaking, I am ultimately satisfied with the group effort and team work. Dividing work during the planning time really helped us succeed in putting our plan in place. While the plan wasn’t successful in the end, I was happy with our execution of it.

Management challenges...

One management challenge that I have now is with the working relationship between one of my co-workers. I have been told many times that at any job there will always be at least one person who will be difficult to work with. I know that if I can’t overcome challenges like this, how will I learn to survive at other jobs where I will probably meet the same kind of person again? In this situation, I have a co-worker who is only nice to me in front of other co-workers. When no one is around, she ignores me and just tries to find something I do that she can criticize. When she finds something, no matter how small, she always to make me feel like I do not know what I am doing. But I do know what I am doing because I have done this job for a number of years in Korea. We may have different approaches to the same problem, but that doesn’t mean her way is right and my way is wrong right? I know this will be a hard challenge to overcome, but I also know it is a fairly common workplace challenge and that learning to manage my co-workers will be important in having a successful career.