Group 3: Life History Report

OGL 343 Spring 2022 Session A

Arizona State University
Amanda Hall, Caroline Tade, Samantha Luckett, Taylor Dieckman

Team Charter

Purpose
This team has been formed to complete multiple group assignments within OGL 343. Our
objectives is to learn from the knowledge and discussions provide in the course, master the
objectives of the course, and apply them in the group projects.

Goals
- Complete Group Projects 1,2,3 with a grade of 90% or higher, and 3 or higher group
satisfaction.
- Deliver quality products on time.
- Provide members the ability to challenge themselves in a virtual team setting.
- Develop communication skills that will allow team members to be successful for
future projects.
- Work together efficiently as a team and maintain a healthy work environment.
- Learn and develop as individuals and as a part of a team.

Member Roles and Responsibilities

Team Member Roles/Responsibilities

Amanda Lentz Task Organization/ Team Lead

Caroline Tade Product Submission

Samantha Luckett Editor

Taylor Dieckman Task Execution

Ground Rules
- Communicate. This is a Virtual project team, likelihood of information not being
passed or having uninformed members is high. Communicate often and early,
information does not get better with time.
- Participate. Every member will be assigned roles and responsibilities. It is every
member’s responsibility to participate in the project and to have input into
discussions. If someone feels a member is not participating talk to them one-on-one
offline. If the behavior continues, bring it up to the group or professor.
- Respect. We all have unique experiences and backgrounds that shape our values,
beliefs, and perceptions. Respect one another regardless of if it conflicts with your
viewpoint. Conflict is not bad for teams; it allows for learning opportunities and
understanding the other side.
- Check the platforms daily. This will contribute to all members being informed of the
team’s progress and task.
- Teamwork makes the dream work. We are all online college students, the
assumption is that we all work, have families, or have other obligations than just
college. Events happen in our personal life that you may not have control of,
communicate it, and ask for help. As team members be willing to help out regardless
of the task.

Potential Barriers and Coping Strategies

Barriers Strategies
Communication Utilize canvas and email as a means of
communication to ensure all members are
informed of the current working
environment
Time All members are from different time zones.
Scheduling meets in advance and
identifying PT,ET, and CT.
Task Organization Utilize ClickUp to monitor Product
progress and task assignment.
 Introducing the Subject

From a young age Taylor cherished teamwork and hard work. During his childhood,
his family moved frequently to different cities in Texas. The feeling of consistency &
belonging was a challenge. He valued the time he spent visiting his grandparents on their
farm and attributed their relationship with his respect for hard work.
Taylor joined sports teams like basketball and baseball which instilled a culture of
teamwork and leadership. As a young adult Taylor enlisted in the military, the ethics of
teamwork, trust, and respect attained throughout his childhood were vital to the roles he
acquired during basic training. He feels that these core values perpetuate his career and
success in completing missions, tasks, and objectives.
The training acquired during the military’s basic training has been reinforced
throughout Taylor’s time of service. Today he is in a leadership position both professionally
and personally as a father to young children. Taylor admits that his leadership styles
professionally and personally are very different. And says he tries to take the good and leave
the bad when he enters his home environment.
Taylor shared many different facets of his life that allowed us to explore his
childhood, past, current career, educational goals, beliefs and personality, as well as
mentorship, teamwork, and leadership. He offered insightful detail regarding the military
and his. With his candor he earned our trust, and "Trustworthiness is the most important
attribute for all interdependent relationships" (Thompson, 2016, pg. 96)
Group 3: Life History Report Page 4 of 12

Sports & The Military

Taylor reflected on his experiences with his youth sport teams. As a boy he was
involved in golf, football, basketball, and baseball. These team experiences introduced
Taylor to formulating team values as well as the importance of working together to
accomplish goals. During Taylor’s experience with the military, the methods of completing
tasks and objectives were also centered around teamwork. The military instilled this culture
through differing objectives with repetitive tasks formulated to rely on others experience
and expertise. The foundational needs for team cooperation and success within the military
and youth sports teams are team cohesion, agreement of set norms, and team structure.
Cohesion and trust within a team allows the team to build positive relationships,
accomplish more tasks collectively, and build an identity of themselves within the group.
According to Thompson, “Members of cohesive teams are more likely to participate in team
activities, stay on the team, convince others to join, and resist attempts to disrupt the team”
(Thompson, 2016, pg. 94). The more successful a team’s cohesion, the more likely the
team’s ability to become resilient through challenge or hardship.
Taylor’s professional team is currently experiencing a test to their group cohesion.
Prior to a new member joining, the team worked together to solve problems and help each
other complete tasks. The new addition is disrupting the working environment and
contradicts the norms initially established by the team. “Norms are the shared expectations
that guide behaviors in groups… This makes it easier for people to respond appropriately
under new or stressful conditions and helps ensure that everyone is working toward the
same goal” (Thompson, 2016, pg. 46). Creating an agreed upon set of norms within a team
allows for trust to build between members and increase opportunities for developing a team
culture and team effectiveness. With the additional member, the culture and norms of the
team are being challenged, particularly in handling opposing views within situations. This
additional stress has bonded the previous team more closely together, like how a losing
sports team may create a stronger bond to accomplish their goals of winning the next match
or game.

Team structure is the reference to how groups processes are communicated by

leaders within the organization. The more closely the communication is followed by team

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members relates to “high team structure” (Thompson, 2016, pg. 45). Team Structure within
youth sports teams and military teams differ in team autonomy as it is set by the leader.
However, a basic principle remains, structure is necessary across all teams. In sports teams,
teams are consistently highly structured, the coaches structure the players positioning,
roles, routines, and assign tasks specific to each role.
Taylor explained within the military there is a variety of high and low team structure.
The variety relies heavily on the type of leadership, experience within the team, and the
project goals. With the most recent military assignment there was high team structure with
assigned specified roles. In relation to organizations, the highly structured teams see lower
turnover rates in comparison to lower structured teams, within the military and team sports
today, this type of team is necessary to promote cohesion.

Trust & Respect

While in the military, Taylor lead a team on deployment. He moved into a leadership
role after gaining enough time and experience to help him succeed. Taylor mentions that he
has learned a great deal from his mentors in the military—Richards and Tray Goodwin. By
watching these individuals, Taylor learned how to handle different situations; he learned the
importance of taking care of team members, supporting those below him, and empowering
others. Through support, empowerment, and the ability to handle situations, Taylor can
establish trust and respect not only in the military but in his current role today. Our text
explains that trust is the willingness of a person to rely on another person while respect is
the level of esteem a person has for another, and both are highly important when leading
and working in teams (Thompson, 2016, pg. 96-97). Taylor explains that being in the
military, you had to trust and respect one another because your lives depended on one
another, whether in boot camp or on deployment; trust and respect were essential to get
through each day.
During the interview, Taylor also touched on how leadership in the military has
helped him in his current role today. Throughout his time in the military, Taylor learned the
importance of establishing trust and respect with his teammates and those he leads. To
establish trust in his current role, Taylor discussed that he does this by getting to know
those he works with by taking them out for coffee or dinner. He also displayed what he feels
to be his top leadership traits—Honest, communicative, and calm. The traits taught Taylor

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how to build trust and helped Taylor gain respect from others. Both faith and respect are
essential to team success and team performance. Teams high in both trust and respect are
desirable as team members begin with the belief that their fellow teammates have
something valuable to add to the team. When respect is high, and trust is low, team
members are less likely to speak up or expose vulnerabilities for fear of exploitation.
Increased trust and low respect are manageable but can be ineffective in coming together
because team members do not see the value of coming together (Thompson, 2016, pg. 97).
Taylor continued to touch on some of his experiences within the military and the
importance of group cohesion within teams. Specifically, he shared about a training exercise
where his young team had to sleep in tents and hike for many consecutive days. He said that
while this experience was miserable, it was also key in building cohesion.
The text says, “group cohesiveness refers to emotional attraction among group
members, and the ties that bind that group together” (Thompson, 2016, p.94). In Taylor’s
narrative he reflected on the team sleeping in a very small poorly made tent while they were
all freezing cold. One of the men bumped the tent and caused water to leak on everyone. He
recalled the team “roasting” or teasing the team member for this mistake at the time,
however as he told the story he smiled and laughed. Then he shared, that as the unit moved
forward in work it became a fond memory and a running joke to lighten the mood in times
of tension and stress. The experience was a part of what bonded the team together.

Group Think & The Military

A curiosity among the interviewers was how group think plays a role in the military.
While Taylor highlighted the diversity of his team members, he feels that experience is
overvalued in the military, this overvaluation contributes to the challenge of group think.
Specifically, if a high-ranking officer says something it must be right, or if a long-term
service man decides, then it must be the best decision. I would guess that this is due to the
“precipitous conditions; rigidity, conformity, protecting political status, and large team size”
(Thompson, 2016, p.175).
Taylor shared that his team attempts to overcome group think with a variety of
strategies, like when they improvised a solution to a long-term gap they had found in an
operation. He shared that he has found success with deconstructing group think by

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encouraging open discussions amongst his diverse team. According to Thompson,

structured discussions increase problem solving (Thompson, 2016, p.178).
Taylor also discussed the overarching military culture and environment as well as the
subcultures he has experienced and currently exists within. The military is constructed of
individuals from various parts of the United States, other countries, people with different
backgrounds, and people with different experiences. Having a diverse organization has
many benefits in a team environment, specifically when planning for missions or developing
training. With a diverse organization, team members have different perspectives and unique
experiences that differ from one another. However, with these benefits come challenges in
relationships. Taylor’s current team environment is constructed of his peers. While the team
may have a designated leader everyone has an equal voice and opinion when planning
missions or developing training. Every member has experiences that contribute to their own
perspective but also experiences that contribute to their leadership and personal traits,
which at times has created relationship conflict within Taylor’s teams.

Relationship Conflicts

Thompson describes Relationship conflict as a conflict “rooted in anger, personal

friction, personality clashes, ego, and tension” (Thompson, 2016, pg. 199). This type of
conflict is apparent in the team that Taylor was describing. The team that Taylor describes is
very diverse in terms of background and experiences; within the team is a member that has
conflicting views, leadership traits, and perspective on approaches to work. The member
when giving lead on a task becomes very authoritarian like and attempts to micromanages
his peers. Taylor describes members as self-efficient and trustworthy due to their seniority
and work ethic. As personality traits clash with other members, it creates conflict within the
team, Taylor and other members of the team resist being micromanaged or directed by the
designated member. Relationship conflict tends to be depleting, exhausting, and avoided by
members of a team (Thompson, 2016, pg. 199). Taylor describes that by avoiding conflict is
where the root of the problem began.
Relationship conflicts are often avoided due to the conflict coming from abusive
supervisors or people of power. The relationship conflict in this situation was due to the
personality traits mentioned above but also from integrating a new member into a team.
The personality trait of the member disrupted the mental model of the team and created

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subgroups within the team. Taylor describes this individual as toxic and contribute to
creating a toxic environment for the team.
Taylor’s reflection on this experience provided lessons learned and how to approach
a situation like this. Taylor states that bad information or conflict does not get better with
time and leaving it unaddressed can make matters worse. Relationship conflict can occur
naturally or due to an event in team environments when constructed with members that
have different backgrounds and experiences. Taylor and his peer’s strategy of rationalizing
the conflict in this situation was not effective, conflict may require different approaches as
attacking, avoiding, or engaging in the conflict to ensure the cohesion is not disrupted
(Thompson, 2016, pg.213).

Group Socialization

Taylor explained aspects of group socialization within the military. Group

socialization is the process of how people enter, shape behaviors of themselves and existing
team members, then eventually leave teams (Thompson, 2016, pg. 102). Team socialization
affects both individuals entering teams and existing team members. Individuals entering
teams are affected when learning and adapting to existing norms and cultures of the team.
Existing team members are affected when adaptation is necessary to empower and
accommodate new members. Phases of group socialization are evaluation, commitment,
and role transition (Thompson, 2016, pg. 102).
The evaluation stage consists of teams and individual evaluations of each other
(Thompson, 2016, pg. 103). Teams evaluate individual’s abilities to conform to the team’s
goals and individuals evaluate teams to understand their role within the team. In
comparison to the military, evaluation can be seen during recruitment and initial gatherings
of teams or added members to existing teams. This evaluation determines the ‘buy-in’ from
individuals among the team that could affect commitment.
Commitment is explained as a person’s “enduring adherence” to the team’s
adherence to its members (Thompson, 2016, pg. 103). As explained, the more candidates
there are for a position the lower the commitment is for a specific candidate among the
selection group or committee. This can be seen in hiring teams when there are multiple
highly qualified candidates. In opposition, the fewer candidate choices the higher a chance
of commitment is formed. Commitment to a candidate or potential team member has effects

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on both parties, commitment is formed through candidates through the choosing or hiring
process based on experience. In the military, commitment can be seen or learned through
the basic training process.
Role transition is the process of individuals adapting through team membership and
gaining full member status to be evaluated positively by the existing team (Thompson, 2016,
pg. 103). Role transition can be achieved through individual’s observations, learning, and
creating relationship with existing team members. The learning creates a bond of trust and
potential positive experience to gain the team’s commitment and share necessary
information and knowledge necessary to perform the individual’s jobs. Role transition can
be seen in any organization when a new member is added, all information cannot be trained
such as culture and norms. Role transition assists with teaching new members their roles in
the teams, unspoken norms within the team, and increases group cohesion with the new
member.

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References
Thompson, Leigh L. (2016). Making the team : a guide for managers. Upper Saddle River,
NJ :Pearson Prentice Hall

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Meeting Notes

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Team Debrief
Group 3 Team Performance
Preparation Research, reading and 4
assignment completion
Attendance On time and stayed for 4
duration
Participation Contributed best academic 3
ability
Interpersonal Relations Positive & 4
productive
Between the Meeting 3
Communications Initiated and
responded correctly
Effective Use of Technology Used 3
multiple forms of technology for virtual
meetings and communication
Overall Performance Score 21

Throughout this assignment our team learned the importance of clear and frequent
communication. We identified roles and responsibilities early in our introduction process
and developed a clear plan for task accomplishment. The team has learned to adapt to the
virtual environment as we are all from different parts of the country living in different time
zones. Additionally, we all have different backgrounds and experiences, and are coming
together for the first time. To support our objectives and communications we used a
platform called click up which enabled us to chunk assignment responsibilities and
communicate project progress. “Members needs a clear sense of where they are going and
how they will get there.” (Thompson, 2016 p. 127) Overall, our team was highly effective in
completing the assignment and respectful of one another. In this environment our team
focused more on the tasks (Thompson, 2016 p.310) In the future we will try providing a
document that breaks down the tasks of the assignment, who is assigned to what, and when
it is due. We utilized the Click Up app, which is excellent, but having a visual printed or
saved on our desktop may be additional support, for other task management styles.

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