The purpose of this memo is to provide an overview of the strengths and challenges that were encountered in the Mt. Everest simulation particularly as it relates to leadership and team based challenges that arose during the decision-making process. In addition, this memo also includes recommendations to effectively address interorganizational and interpersonal relationships.
CHALLENGES:
The primary challenge that the team faced relates to the interpersonal dynamics between the various group members. Appendix A represents the spiral of unmanaged conflict, which was what we experienced. Each member had different objectives, which led to behaviors of self-interest and poor decision-making. For instance, the photographer had the mindset of staying an extra day at Camp 1 and Camp 2, which led him to hold information from other members. Conversely, the leader was focused on having all members reach the summit. As a result, there was no collaboration between members.
Moreover, there was some level of groupthink in the process due to time constraints and pressures from other team members. The team failed to critically evaluate the options that were presented to them. For instance, when the leader voiced her concerns about information sharing, she was pressured to make a decision that was against her objectives. Thus, this issue led to dysfunctional decision-making.
Further, there was no active listening between the team members and the communication lines were broken particularly with the leader’s decision to choose a course action based on groupthink. Additionally, the Environmentalist health concerns were not properly addressed when she asked for help, leading to counterproductive results.
STRENGTHS:
The team’s strengths grew in the later stages of the simulation when we realized that each team member held unique pieces of information that were essential to our success. It was at that moment that we developed a collaborative framework and built the trust to create enhanced performance and understanding. Albeit, late in the simulation it was the point at which the team conceptualized a centralized process, clear communication and proper sharing and utilization of information. This led us to improve our decision-making and complete the simulation with an overall 72% success rate.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
The following proposals represent ideas on how to effectively manage conflicts (in this case task-based conflicts) within networks and collaborate effectively to provide more efficient solutions.
The first recommendation is to establish an open and transparent platform at the very beginning to ensure that all team members are fully engaged. This will help as the basis to the “Trust Building Loop” and allow team members to set the expectations about the collaboration efforts that everyone will be undertaking as part of the simulation. It was very clear in our group that there was no sense of trust and that everyone was looking after himself or herself. Perhaps the leader can set the tone, as well as, the goals and objectives of to where they would like the simulation to go. By establishing a clear vision, the team will be able to aim for a more realistic and achievable results. (Relationship Matter)
The second recommendation would be to have a leader with strong leadership skills that knows how to strategize and bring the team in a more collaborative mindset. I think having the ability to assess the roles in the simulation and decide whether we need a new leader or not would be an important aspect. For instance in our case, the leader did not have the strengths to push back when she was pressured to make a decision on the spot; rather the group selected a course of action that was most likely opposite to the leader’s preference. As with many networks, sometimes it is difficult to evaluate what’s the best fit for an individual until they are actually performing the tasks. As such, allowing for more flexibility in the roles could lead to enhanced performance. (Bold Leadership)
Lastly, I believe that improving communication and the employment of active listening amongst team members would help avoid the problem of groupthink. It is vital that members communicate clearly what their objectives are and ensure that there is efficacy in information sharing. As evidenced in our group, once we determined that each member had unique pieces of information, it made the discussion much more fluid in terms of communicating and strategizing a game plan. This idea also reinforces trust within the group. (Coordination)
Overall, managing conflict within a network is not an easy task; it is important however to ensure that there is a continual balancing act since collaboration cannot be forced on. The keys to ensure proper network management are collaboration, relationship management and bold leadership. With these attributes, a team will likely succeed.
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