General Overivew of Team Activities
Team Activities Learning Outcomes:
- DEVELOP A MACRO PERSPECTIVE AND THEORETICAL PREFERENCE TO ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESSES
- Apply theoretical constructs to an organizational phenomena
- Position yourself as a researcher and practitioner in analyzing organizational processes
- Analyze communicative behaviors in an organizational setting
- Provide recommendations to transform organizational processes substantiated by research
- Develop skills and abilities needed to function as a member of a successful virtual team
- Support the role of technology in communication processes within organizations
1.) Your team assignments are posted on D2L under GROUPS. You will find a discussion area, drop
box area, and locker as tools your team can use to complete your team projects.
2.) Your team is composed of 5-6 other individuals.
3.) Your team needs to complete a Group Charter. See calendar for due date.
4.) Your team needs to choose two (2) team activities to complete from the array of team activities.
See calendar for due dates.
5.) Instructions for the Group Charter, Team Activities, and Assessment of Team Activities can be
found on D2L under the Team Activities module under CONTENT.
The purpose of team activities is to give you an opportunity for experiential learning. The activities that
you are required to complete are done in a team. Working in a team is a substantial part of
organizational life. Therefore, you will be learning how to develop an effective team and be a
contributing member of a team; both are very important in organizational life. Being a part of a team
provides you with a network of peers, or online learning community, which can assist you not only in the
completion of these projects, but throughout the course. Beyond your learning to develop a successful
virtual team, your team is responsible for completing several learning activities that are designed to
provide you with opportunities to apply theoretical constructs about which you read, take on the role of
researcher or consultant, analyze actual communication behavior in real-life organizations, analyze
organizations, and provide recommendations based on your research and information gathered.
You must be willing to work as a team in completing the team activities for this course.
There are 2 teams worth 50 points each for a total of 100 points (20% of overall grade). A portion of
your grade for teams may be impacted by your team members’ assessment of your performance on team
projects. All team members receive the same grade for each project outcome. Team due dates are on
the course schedule. Team details are posted on D2L.
There were 3 options offered to students in their projects that utilized Second Life as communication medium and as a phenomenonhat they explored.
OPTION 1: Second Life Implementation Plan: Planning for Change
Your project team has been hired by a company (of your choosing) to ensure a successful implementation of virtual worlds into their organization. The problem is that the company does not quite know what organizational needs could best be met by implementing virtual worlds. Also, they do not know how to successful implement the technology. They are putting a million dollars into the project and are looking to your project team to identify the organization need(s) that can be met by virtual worlds and to develop a successful implementation plan, not only a "big picture" plan, but also specific communication strategies and messages leaders of the company can implement. You will be presenting this plan to the Board of Directors of your company in Second Life.
Below are details of the project:
1. Identify the media characteristics of Second Life. Use Media Richness Theory and/or additional research to support your claims.
2. Choose a company that you would recommend implement Second Life into their organizational communication practice (e.g., Harley). You might want to choose a company for which you would like to gain employment upon graduation.
3. Identify an organizational need that could be met by implementing Second Life. Provide support for your claim from company literature or other resources (Business Journal, Journal Sentinel, etc.).
4. Develop a plan for change using Connor and Lake's Model of Planned Organizational Change (p. 182) and Covin and Kilmann's Typical Problems in Change. Make sure to highlight what the main concerns and challenges for the company will be when implementing virtual worlds, such as Second Life, into their organization. What will change? How could it change? What challenges could the company experience? How will they manage those challenges?
5. Develop a communication plan for helping facilitate a successful change. In the text, Clampitt, et al., give five managerial strategies for communicating about change (spray and pray, tell and sell, underscore and explore, identify and reply, and withhold and uphold). Explain which of these strategies your team will recommend that would be most effective and provide specific examples that leaders could use.
Assignment Requirements:
1. Follow the Getting Started guidelines
a. Each person should create an avatar, download the software, enter Second Life, and teleport to UWMs sim, etc...as outline in the Getting Started document.
b. Each group should create a blog (one per group) at blogger.com.
i. For example: http://wwwolivesthesecondlife.blogspot.com.
ii. E-mail to me your blogspot and post it in your discussion forum.
c. A picture of each person's avatar (or your team's group picture) should posted on the blog and the other corresponding information from the Getting Started orientation activity, scavenger hunt.
i. Feel free to post additional screen shots, if necessary.
ii. Click Function, Print Screen (upper right) and then paste your screen shot into Paint or another image program to create images.
2. Orient yourselves to Second Life. Visit other places in Second Life and familiarize yourself with the navigation (arrow keys), flying, finding places, teleporting, etc.
3. Research in Second Life and in the literature on how companies are using Second Life.
4. At least one member should post weekly project team progress updates to your blog on Mondays starting November 24th (and continue posting Dec 1st, Dec 8th) for (3) three total.
a. You can post updates or new information on your blog as much as you all want, but at a minimum, a weekly post should have a summary of your progress, even if minimal.
5. Meet as a group in Second Life at least once a week. Post your group chat logs to your blog.
a. You can save chat logs by changing your Second Life preferences. Click on Edit: Preferences: Communication in Second Life. Then, check the box under logging options that states "Save a log of IM on my computer"
6. Complete the assignment as outlined.
7. Determine a time and day when your project team will present their plan to the Board in Second Life. Remember, you will be hypothetically trying to convince this Board of Directors that you are the right project team for the job.
a. Not all members have to present, but all members should be present. A
b. Present should plan to use voice tools in Second Life.
c. You can use Doodle to compare each team member's schedule. Presentations must be no later than December 21st. http://www.doodle.com/main.html
d. Submit your first and second options to the instructor for approval as soon as it can be determined.
GRADING:
1.) Did each member complete the orientation activity? 10 points
a. Was a blog created? Was the name posted to the discussion forum and e-mailed to the instructor?
b. Was each team member's avatar name and picture posted on the blog? If not, did they describe their challenge in doing so?
2.) Did your team post at least 4 weekly progress updates to their blog? 10 points
a. Did your team meet in Second Life weekly?
b. Did your posts include your chat logs?
3.) Did your team address the 5 items outlined in the assignment? 25 points
a. Was the final product posted to the blog by the deadline, December 21st?
b. Did you include at least 5 outside references including academic sources?
c. Was your writing formal, academic, and followed APA guidelines?
d. See RUBRIC
4.) Did your team present the plan in Second Life in a persuasive manner? 5 points
OPTION 2: Decision Making in a Virtual World
A company has approached your project team to put together a proposal for them regarding using Second Life for management decision making activities.
Smith Corporation of America, based in New York, NY, is a U.S. subsidiary of Smith Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. Smith is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its motion picture, television, computer entertainment, music and online businesses make Smith one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Smith's principal U.S. businesses include Smith Electronics Inc., Smith Pictures Entertainment Inc., Smith Computer Entertainment America Inc., and Smith Music Entertainment, one of the largest recorded music companies in the world. Smith recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $88.7 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, and it employs 180,500 people worldwide. Smith's consolidated sales in the U.S. for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 were $29 billion.
Their company is a global company with offices in Tokyo, New York, Bangladesh, Amsterdam, and Nuevo Vallarta. Being that the company is a global company, they have to resort to using various communication technologies in order to make decisions. They have had some failures in their decision making using other communication technologies, such as telephone conference, NetMeeting, and instant messenger. For example, the arguments have gotten very heated and their have been some personal attacks. The management team in the different locations have never met face-to-face, so they are not familiar with each other beyond their previous mediated decision-making meetings. They are thinking that virtual worlds might be the tool for them because it is 3D, so people can feel more like they are in an actual conference with each other. They are putting a million dollars into the project and are looking to your project team to create a proposal for them clarifying why virtual worlds would be an effective tool for decision making for their global management team.
You will be presenting this plan to the Board of Directors of the company in Second Life.
Below are details of the project:
1. Identify the media characteristics of Second Life in 1 page. Use Media Richness Theory and/or additional research to support your claims.
2. Develop 2+ pages discussing the importance of decision making in online environments (via computer-mediated communication). Also, include a discussion of the characteristics of *effective* computer-mediated decision making. Make sure to bring in pertinent research on decision making (see Kiesler, Poole, Hirokawa, DeSanctis, etc.).
3. Using the decision-making models in chapter 8 and your research from step 2 as a foundation, create a new model of decision making that takes into account effective online decision making, a channel of computer mediated communication, and virtual worlds. Include an image of your model and a brief discussion (1 page).
4.) Using the new decision-making model your team created, identify the impact the new virtual worlds decision making model will have on individual tasks, organizational forces, strategic direction and the organizations' culturefrom Connor and Lake's Model of Planned Organizational Change (p. 182).
5.) Using Covin and Kilmann's Typical Problems in Change (p.183), identify any possible problems that may arise due to the implementation of this new model. What will change? How could it change? What challenges could the company experience? How will they manage those challenges? Could it fail and why?
Assignment Requirements:
1. Follow the Getting Started guidelines
a. Each person should create an avatar, download the software, enter Second Life, and teleport to UWMs sim, etc...as outline in the Getting Started document.
b. Each group should create a blog (one per group) at blogger.com.
i. For example: http://wwwolivesthesecondlife.blogspot.com.
ii. E-mail to me your blogspot and post it in your discussion forum.
c. A picture of each person's avatar (or your team's group picture) should posted on the blog and the other corresponding information from the Getting Started orientation activity, scavenger hunt.
i. Feel free to post additional screen shots, if necessary.
ii. Click Function, Print Screen (upper right) and then paste your screen shot into Paint or another image program to create images.
2. Orient yourselves to Second Life. Visit other places in Second Life and familiarize yourself with the navigation (arrow keys), flying, finding places, teleporting, etc.
3. Research in Second Life and in the literature on how companies are using Second Life.
4. At least one member should post weekly project team progress updates to your blog on Mondays starting November 24th (and continue posting Dec 1st, Dec 8th) for (3) three total.
a. You can post updates or new information on your blog as much as you all want, but at a minimum, a weekly post should have a summary of your progress, even if minimal.
5. Meet as a group in Second Life at least once a week. Post your group chat logs to your blog.
a. You can save chat logs by changing your Second Life preferences. Click on Edit: Preferences: Communication in Second Life. Then, check the box under logging options that states "Save a log of IM on my computer"
6. Complete the assignment as outlined.
7. Determine a time and day when your project team will present their plan to the Board in Second Life. Remember, you will be hypothetically trying to convince this Board of Directors that you are the right project team for the job.
a. Not all members have to present, but all members should be present. A
b. Present should plan to use voice tools in Second Life.
c. You can use Doodle to compare each team member's schedule. Presentations must be no later than December 21st. http://www.doodle.com/main.html
d. Submit your first and second options to the instructor for approval as soon as it can be determined.
GRADING:
1.) Did each member complete the orientation activity? 10 points
a. Was a blog created? Was the name posted to the discussion forum and e-mailed to the instructor?
b. Was each team member's avatar name and picture posted on the blog? If not, did they describe their challenge in doing so?
2.) Did your team post at least 3 weekly progress updates to their blog? 10 points
a. Did your team meet in Second Life weekly?
b. Did your posts include your chat logs?
3.) Did your team address the 5 items outlined in the assignment? 25 points
a. Was the final product posted to the blog by the deadline, December 21st?
b. Did you include at least 5 outside references including academic sources?
c. Was your writing formal, academic, and followed APA guidelines?
d. See RUBRIC
4.) Did your team present the plan in Second Life in a persuasive manner? 5 points
OPTION 3: Assimilation to a Second Life
They are putting a million dollars into EVALUATE the effectiveness of the project and are looking to your project team to create a proposal for them clarifying how virtual worlds, Second Life, are helping them meet the assimilation needs of their employees.
You will be presenting this plan to the Board of Directors of the company in Second Life.
Below are details of the project:
1. Identify the media characteristics of Second Life in 1 page. Use Media Richness Theory and/or additional research to support your claims.
2. Develop 1 page discussing the socialization literature and why it is important to organizations (see Meyers, Tracy, etc.).
3. Develop 2+ pages discussing the impact of Second Life on the phases of socialization (see chapter 7) of a potenial Manpower employee.
4. Describe in detail Manpower's use of Second Life's interviewing (informal and formal, if available) to be a recruiting and screening tool, info-gathering tool, and a socialization tool.
5. Using Covin and Kilmann's Typical Problems in Change (p.183), describe problems that have arisen due to the move to use Second Life as a socialization tool and the evidence that the problems exists (dialog with reps, dialog with others in SL, newspaper articles, etc.).
Assignment Requirements:
1. Follow the Getting Started guidelines
a. Each person should create an avatar, download the software, enter Second Life, and teleport to UWMs sim, etc...as outline in the Getting Started document.
b. Each group should create a blog (one per group) at blogger.com.
i. For example: http://wwwolivesthesecondlife.blogspot.com.
ii. E-mail to me your blogspot and post it in your discussion forum.
c. A picture of each person's avatar (or your team's group picture) should posted on the blog and the other corresponding information from the Getting Started orientation activity, scavenger hunt.
i. Feel free to post additional screen shots, if necessary.
ii. Click Function, Print Screen (upper right) and then paste your screen shot into Paint or another image program to create images.
2. Orient yourselves to Second Life. Visit other places in Second Life and familiarize yourself with the navigation (arrow keys), flying, finding places, teleporting, etc.
3. Research in Second Life and in the literature on how companies are using Second Life.
4. At least one member should post weekly project team progress updates to your blog on Mondays starting November 24th (and continue posting Dec 1st, Dec 8th) for (3) three total.
a. You can post updates or new information on your blog as much as you all want, but at a minimum, a weekly post should have a summary of your progress, even if minimal.
5. Meet as a group in Second Life at least once a week. Post your group chat logs to your blog.
a. You can save chat logs by changing your Second Life preferences. Click on Edit: Preferences: Communication in Second Life. Then, check the box under logging options that states "Save a log of IM on my computer"
6. Complete the assignment as outlined.
7. Determine a time and day when your project team will present their plan to the Board in Second Life. Remember, you will be hypothetically trying to convince this Board of Directors that you are the right project team for the job.
a. Not all members have to present, but all members should be present. A
b. Present should plan to use voice tools in Second Life.
c. You can use Doodle to compare each team member's schedule. Presentations must be no later than December 21st. http://www.doodle.com/main.html
d. Submit your first and second options to the instructor for approval as soon as it can be determined.
GRADING:
1.) Did each member complete the orientation activity? 10 points
a. Was a blog created? Was the name posted to the discussion forum and e-mailed to the instructor?
b. Was each team member's avatar name and picture posted on the blog? If not, did they describe their challenge in doing so?
2.) Did your team post at least 3 weekly progress updates to their blog? 10 points
a. Did your team meet in Second Life weekly?
b. Did your posts include your chat logs?
3.) Did your team address the 5 items outlined in the assignment? 25 points
a. Was the final product posted to the blog by the deadline, December 21st?
b. Did you include at least 5 outside references including academic sources?
c. Was your writing formal, academic, and followed APA guidelines?
d. See RUBRIC
4.) Did your team present the plan in Second Life in a persuasive manner? 5 points
No comments:
Post a Comment