A641.5.3.RB - MullBrandon

A team needs to have a dynamic that everyone understands the goals of the team. The goal of any team is to win but how to get there isn't as easy as to just say get better. A team that has a plan on how to get better with a common goal outside of their overall goal is the team that is going to win in the end.

“Desired change in groups can be intentional and will be more effective and efficient when it is conscious and intentional”(Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. 2006). There are a lot of different reasons that the mix bag of great basketball players didn't work well together. In the USA men’s basketball dream team, there was a lack of intent. One of the main reasons that the team didn’t succeed with all of their combined talent is the intentional desired change. The team was formed based on talent not the compatibility to work together.  While the team had all the talent to take home gold both years in the olympics, the team was made up of stand alone players. The players were good individually and were great when it came to making up a weakness in their original teams. However, when put together, they didn't have a desire to change. They were best by themselves and making up for the gaps in other teams.

The USA men’s basketball dream team also had a lack of leadership. Duncan and Iverson were chosen captains of the team but when it came to working together for a common goal “the two couldn't have been more different”(Maisonet,2017). Two untested leaders not working together lead to a lot of heartache in the team. With an uncommon goal and Duncan nowhere to be found, the team could not find their rhythm.The team couldn't overcome the “norming stage”(Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. 2006). “In the norming stage, resistance and conflict are overcome and together with the development of cohesiveness, new standards, norms and new roles emerge for the group member(Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. 2006)”. It was in this lack of overcoming and togetherness that the team lost what they were really supposed to be doing, acting like a team instead of a team of individuals.

A team that represented togetherness and cohesiveness is the USA women's soccer team. Not only does the team exhibit overcoming conflict with new players and injuries, they came together for a goal outside of scoring goals. The team created The SheBelieves Movement (Bowker,2019). “The movement helps to encourage young girls and women and provide them an inspiration as they chased after their goals and dreams. The movement was launched prior to the 2015 World Cup and has evolved to develop a strong bond between the national team and its fans(Bowker,2019)”. The team shows the example of a “resonant relationship” by working outside of their team and inspiring others(Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. 2006).

The “norming stage” and “resonant relationship” are just a few of the reasons that the USA men's basketball dream team didn't do as well as promised(Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. 2006). With a better team leadership that resonated, the team would have gone down in history instead of being a textbook example of lack of cohesion. If the USA men's basketball team would have had better leadership or management to pull together for a coordinated effort they would have had multiple opportunities outside of their team to pull together and improve the lives of a lot of the younger generation like the USA women's soccer team continues to do.

References

Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. (2006). The evolving group: Towards a prescriptive theory of intentional group development. Journal of Management Development, 25(7), 689-706. doi:10.1108/02621710610678490

Bowker, P. (2019, February 26). 7 Things To Know As The U.S. Women's Soccer Team Enters The SheBelieves Cup. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.teamusa.org/News/2019/February/26/7-Things-To-Know-As-The-US-Womens-Soccer-Team-Enters-The-SheBelieves-Cup

Maisonet, E. (2017, September 05). The Miseducation of the 2004 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2731575-the-miseducation-of-the-2004-us-mens-olympic-basketball-team

A641.4.3.RB - Tipping Points of Emotional Intelligence

I have recently started doing certification on aircraft engine components. Completing the documentation FAA 8130/EASA Form 1, for release of an aircraft engine components after an overhaul or repair. This was a major undertaking for me. The documentation of the repairs/work performed was not the difficult part. The tipping point was the unnecessary additional information the customer wanted on their certification documents.


The customer is always right has been the golden rule since the dawn of time. When a customers want something, even if it’s unnecessary, they want it and they are going to get it. On certifications, customers want additional information like dimensions, last engine operator, 3rd party customer information, the type of paint used, and my personal favorite which is where it’s being shipped to. All this information is required by the customer to be on the legal documentation of an 8130 because they asked for it once and now it has to be on there every time, even if the customer didn’t provide the information I am responsible for it. I have to stop and ask for it. If I misspell anything, get any additional information wrong or forget to add anything I get a corrective action report (CAR) against me. This CAR is then brought up in meetings with the top facility managers and my manager. I have to have a personal meeting to discuss what I am going to differently to correct this problem. To say this was frustrating is an understatement.


On top of all this I had 3 new people in my cell asking me questions on the induction side of the part. I was trying to get the part out the door while people were asking me how to bring parts into the door. I found the tipping point one day when I had a personal meeting with my boss. He said “if I didn't think you could handle it, I wouldn't have let you struggle through it”. I knew then what I had to do which was to buckle down with no excuses and just do it. This sound cleshay but it was the mental attitude I was in. All the negativity and additional questions were my responsibility and I could handle it when I stopped trying to make excuses.


I changed when I mentally took on my responsibilities correctly. I reviewed my cert’s when I had quiet time to myself with no additional distractions. I found what I was doing wrong and taught myself what needed to be done.

A641.3.3.RB - Emotional Intelligence: Getting Results!

“Salovey and Mayer (1989-90) originally defined emotional intelligence as the "ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and use this information to guide one's thinking and actions" (p. 189) (Carson, K. D., Carson, P. P., & Birkenmeier, B. J. 2016)” EI comes down to awareness. What emotions are being emitted from the self and from the world around us. EI does not just take into account that the other person has clenched fists and is stating that they are going to hit you. EI is the awareness that you are causing the other person distress or happiness.

Being self aware means not only do I know what makes me mad or disappointed, it's what I do with the feeling. I think that being self aware has a lot to do with the situation. If a person is trying to give sympathy by listening and not giving advice, it is better than telling that person a simple answer. I also think that even by being self aware you can't always control how you are going to feel about something.  A Forbes article said it best “you can’t control how something makes you feel. You can only control what you do”(Markey,2018). To take a controversial argument for example: how people feel about religion. When a devout religious person meets an atheist there needs to be self-awareness. For both people, the other person makes them angry but it's what you do with that anger that matters. Will that person throw a punch or start an argument? Having self-awareness means that you know you are feeling something, but not acting on that feeling.

That feeling needs to me managed. “Nothing makes you angry. You get angry. Nothing makes you hopeless. You decide to feel hopeless. You are the master of your own mind, so you should dictate how your emotions make you feel, not the other way around”(Brubaker,2017). Nothing will make you act on your feelings. Nothing is forcing me to be happy or mad. Managing my feelings is about how do I want to react to this. Some people want to see passion, distress in a leader, or to see a stalwart leader. Self-management is not the feeling or the impulse that I feel. It's the action or reaction that I should make based on the situation not my feelings.  

That reaction to the situation is based on the awareness of the social aspect of the person or people you are trying to engage, enlighten, fear, or warn ect.  A person can only act on their managed feelings to best fit the social ramifications. The desired outcome of the conversation or situation has to be aware to the leader who is trying to manage the feelings and emotions of the situation.

I think that social awareness and social skills both are misrepresented in the comparison of the good samaritan and the man in the subway by Dr. Daniel Goleman. The two situations are not comparable because the good samaritan is taken too far out of context. A college campus is not the place to make sure a man is ok when he is throwing up or making gagging sounds. In my college experience, this is a common occurrence. College adults tend to drink and have natural reactions. I think that the correct amount of self passion was illustrated by not stopping. People today are not trustworthy, this situation could have been a setup for robbery, the person could have had a spreadable disease from their blood or vomit.  The Good Samaritan Act is a perfect argument for why these are not comparable for compassion. The Good Samaritan Act has to protect doctors and nurses by law from getting sued if something goes wrong. That is self awareness and social awareness. Awareness that you could be robbed or maimed in the act of helping or that someone has probably had too much alcohol.

References

Brubaker, K. (2017, November 22). How to Develop Self-Management in The Workplace. Retrieved April 2, 2019, from https://www.bizlibrary.com/article/self-management-skills/

Carson, K. D., Carson, P. P., & Birkenmeier, B. J. (2016). Measuring emotional intelligence: Development and validation of an instrument. Journal of Behavioral and applied Management, 2(1), 810.

Markey, M. (2018, September 18). How To Increase Emotional Intelligence On Your Team. Retrieved April 2, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2018/09/18/how-to-increase-emotional-intelligence-on-your-team/#68dc8b4b1fa1