Question

?1.Explain what is meant by collectivist and individualist cultures or groups. Which one do you favor the ?most? How is this manifested? Develop a bumper sticker slogan for each type of culture. How would ?your leadership be different if you were leading a primary individualist group?

2. ?Give examples of the three different goal orientations. Indicate what your role as a leader would be in each of these situations.

3.?How does team building fit with group development? Explain. How are teams and groups different?How does a leader help a group become a team? How often do you practice good team membership? As a leader, how can you facilitate this?

Answer 1

1. Different cultures embody specific values, or thoughts or ideas that they view as important. Values play a central role in determining if a culture is individualistic or collectivistic. In the business world, it is important to understand how values have a direct influence in the communication process. In this lesson, you will learn the difference between individualistic and collectivistic societies and how they impact communication messages.

An individualistic society depends upon the values of freedom and independence, while a collectivistic society depends on group harmony and consensus. The values in each society play an intricate role in developing communication styles for a business message targeted at each specific audience.

Being from a collectivist culture , i would prefer collective approach as it helps me to belive that i can rely on others.

Traits of collectivism:

• Each person is encouraged to be an active player in society, to do what is best for society as a whole rather than themselves.
• The rights of families, communities, and the collective supersede those of the individual.
• Rules promote unity, brotherhood, and selflessness.
• Working with others and cooperating is the norm; everyone supports each other.
• as a community, family or nation more than as an individual
• strong cohesive group

Traits of individualism:

• "I" identity.
• Promotes individual goals, initiative and achievement.
• Individual rights are seen as being the most important. Rules attempt to ensure self-importance and individualism.
• Independence is valued; there is much less of a drive to help other citizens or communities than in collectivism.
• Relying or being dependent on others is frequently seen as shameful.
• People are encouraged to do things on their own; to rely on themselves
• people strive for their own successes

Effective leaders recognize that choosing the right leadership style for the current situation tends to improve the likelihood of success. Typically though, most leaders use a primary style in their management approach. Cultural traditions and values play a role in a leader's style. According to the "International Journal of Cross Cultural Management," leadership traits result partly from cultural norms and partly from the needs of the leadership job. Cultures differ regarding the use of power. People who act to maximize their personal gain behave as individualists. Collectivists, on the other hand, are expected to act to help the community. By acknowledging these differences, leaders improve their ability to function while conducting global business.

2.

ask orientated goals

The primary motivation for action in pursuing the task oriented goal is to achieve mastery over the task through the application of relevant skills. By gaining mastery over a given task, the individual experiences self improvement which is also a motivational component for action.

Success in meeting the task oriented goal is measured by:

1. How well the individual mastered the task,
2. How much self improvement the individual experienced and
3. How proficient the skills and abilities were of the individual

Task orientation is portrayed as an intrinsically motivated state that leads to persistence when failing, perseverance when faced with difficulties and a fulfilling sense of achievement if the task was mastered, improvement was experienced and ability was successfully expressed. Task oriented goals can be achieved regardless of whether or not the person has come first place or last place in a race, or won or lost a game (Elliot, 2005).

It is a goal orientation that focuses on mastering the task at hand and doing the best that can be done with the ability one under the circumstances faced. In its purest form, it is not a goal orientation that focuses on winning places and/or points.

Ego oriented goals

The primary motivation for action in perusing ego oriented goals is to be better than others. In other words, the motivation to pursue and realize the ego oriented goal is fuelled by competition.

Success is measured in terms of performance exceeding that of others even if this can be achieved when putting in less effort or executing less skill than others. Motivation is aimed at being the best rather than doing one’s best. The driving force is to demonstrate a superior and higher ability compared to others rather than demonstrating one’s ability irrespective of how it compares to others (Roberts, Treasure & Conroy, 2007; Steinberg, Grieve, & Glass, 2001). The ego oriented goal functions as an extrinsic motivational force to achieve desired outcomes.

A task oriented athlete can find a deep level of satisfaction in performing to the best of their ability regardless of whether or not they have achieved a place or won the game. An ego oriented athlete will tend to lose motivation if they perceive they will not be able to win, thus the ego focused athlete will often pull back and give up on such occasions.

Task oriented athletes are more likely to maintain a high level of motivation to continue performing optimally irrespective of whether they think they will win or lose and therefore are more likely to persevere with their best effort irrespective of the ‘score board’ because that is the primary motivation for them.

Mastery v/s performance goal

The most basic type of goal is known as a performance goal. These are goals that are directly correlated to an outcome. You want to get an "A" on that spanish test, or hit your sales quota.

These goals can be great in the short term, but they also have some downsides. Performance goals by their nature are rather shallow. If you had to cheat, at least you still hit your goal. If you made a mistake in the sales process, well at least you still hit your quota.

Performance goals also tend to undermine long-term performance. If you hit your initial goal, you become less motivated to continue towards excellence (after all you hit your goal). And if you don't hit your initial goal, you become discouraged and de-motivated because your self-worth is based on external inputs.

On the other side of the goal-setting coin are what's know as mastery goals. A mastery goal is when you set out to become the best you can be at a single task. Instead of trying to get an "A" in spanish, you try to become fluent in spanish.

Behavioral Researchers have found that mastery goals are more effective because your satisfaction isn't related to external indicators. Therefore you're less apt to give up in difficult circumstances, and you persevere through setbacks.

Mastery goals are always just beyond reach. This makes motivation over the long term easier to maintain. They're like a line that's asymptote. The curve of the line gets closer to the goal, but you never quite reach it. There is always something to strive for.

People that reach the pinnacle of their skills rarely set performance goals. They're more interested in competing with themselves, than gaining external feedback and validation. This orientation allows them to compete at a higher level over a longer period of time.

With Mastery goals there's always something to strive for. Even if it's as simple as being better at something tomorrow, than you were today.

3.

Bruce Tuckman deemed the four main stages of team development in order as Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. Later, as self-managed teams became common in business, he added a fifth stage of Adjourning/Transforming. Thomas Quick called the five stages for teams: Searching, Defining, Identifying, Processing, and Assimilating/Reforming. Whatever term is used for the stages, teams will go through all five during their developmental and working processes.

Stage 1

The first stage is when the team is formed and members meet. They learn what the team opportunities and challenge will be. Individual members may be confused about their role or not understand the need for the team. Members will agree on goals and assign actions for work, often working independently. Ground rules or team guidelines are established. At the start, the team leader may be a member of the group, a supervisor, a manager, or a consultant who will facilitate the team-building process. Leadership will help the team to define their processes. At this stage, the leader needs to be directive and understand the requirements for team training to move through each stage.

Stage 2

During the second stage, individual expression of ideas occurs and there is open conflict between members. Members tend to focus on details rather than the issues and compete for influence. Low trust among team members is an evident indicator of this stage. The team needs to select their desired leadership style and decision methodology. The team leader can help by stressing tolerance and patience between members. The leader should guide the team process towards clear goals, defined roles, acceptable team behavior, and a mutual feedback process for team communication.

Stage 3

In the third stage, the team develops work habits that support group rules and values. They use established tools and methods; exhibit good behaviors; mutual trust, motivation, and open communication increase; positive teamwork and group focus are apparent. The team relationships grow and individual characteristics are understood and appropriately utilized. The team leader continues to encourage participation and professionalism among the team members.

Stage 4

The fourth stage shows high levels of loyalty, participation, motivation, and group decision-making. Knowledge sharing, cross-training, and interdependence increases. Team is self-directing in development of plans and strategy to meet their goals and carry out work. Personal growth and sharing is encouraged throughout membership. The leader becomes a facilitator aiding the team in communication processes and helping if they revert to a prior stage.

Stage 5

For project teams, temporary committees, or task forces coming to an end, there will be a finalising stage as they celebrate and recognize group achievement. Then some mourning over the dissolving of the team relationship and begin planning for the change in individual work requirements. During this stage, leadership needs to emphasize organization gratitude and both team and individual recognition. For continuous work teams, there may be a higher performance level as they develop and transform as individuals and reform into revised teams. It is important to note that continuous work teams may revert to prior stages when new people are added to the team.

Time and effort are required to move through the various team development stages. Every team will go through all the stages. However the timeline of each stage may be different for each team depending on the individual members and their skill levels, the work the team is expected to accomplish, and team leadership during each stage.

A group is a collection of individuals who coordinate their individual efforts. On the other hand, at team is a group of people who share a common team purpose and a number of challenging goals. Members of the team are mutually committed to the goals and to each other. This mutual commitment also creates joint accountability which creates a strong bond and a strong motivation to perform.

Without purpose and goals you cannot build a team. The purpose must be worthwhile and create a sense of doing something important together. The goals must be challenging and specific so that each member can understand how they contribute to the success of the team.

All teams must have performance goals, working approach and mutual accountabillity or they are just groups.

A Performance Goal is one that the team can measure itself. It is a team goal, not individual. A working approach is the approach that works for the team, it may not work well with individual members but they must submit to the team. For example, a working approach for a team is to have weekly regular meeting at 9 am. This may not work well for some members as they find this too early, but they must not use as a excuse to be late.

Mutual accountabililty is where the Team Leader is accountable or answerable to the team and the team is answerable to the Team Leader. Transparency and Reporting are necessary for mutual accountability to work.

There are 5 steps to convert a Working Group into a Team:

Step 1: Recruit the Right People into Your Team. The right people are people with complimentary skills and experience (hard skills) and inter-personal and communication skills to work well in a team (soft skills).

Step 2: Enroll People into the Team's Goals. The team's goals may be set by the leader or through a consensus process that everyone or most of the team members agree to

Step 2: Get Buy-in to Who-Does-What-and-By-When, i.e. individual duties, roles and responsibilities. Also assign people that can help out

Step 4: Mutual Accountability, Mutual Support and Mutual Encouragement

Step 5: Report Results ,Celebrate Wins and Learn from Mistakes. By now team will get stronger here.