PRESSURE TO BE A TEAM PLAYER “O.K., I admit it. I’m not a team player. I work be

Question

PRESSURE TO BE A TEAM PLAYER

“O.K., I admit it. I’m not a team player. I work best when I work alone and am left alone,” says Zachery Sanders.

Zach’s employer, an office furniture manufacturer, recently reorganized around teams. All production in the company’s Michigan factory is now done in teams. And Zach’s design department has been broken up into three design teams.

“I’ve worked here for 4 years. I’m very good at what I do. And my performance reviews confirm that. I’ve scored 96 percent or higher on my evaluations every year I’ve been here. But now everything is changing. I’m expected to be part of our modular-office design team. My evaluations and pay raises are going to depend on how well the team does. And, get this, 50 percent of my evaluation will be on how well I facilitate the performance of the team. I’m really frustrated and demoralized. They hired me for my design skills. They knew I wasn’t a social type. Now they’re forcing me to be a team player. This doesn’t play to my strengths at all.”

Discussion Questions:

1. Is it unethical for Zach’s employer to force him to be a team player?

2. Discuss the difference between individual and collective creativity (Recommend reading: How Pixar fosters collective creativity by Ed Catmull )

3. Discuss (a) an advantage and(b) a common pitfall associated with working as a group instead of individually.

4. If you were Zach, how would you respond?

Explanation / Answer

1) It is not unethical for Zach's employer to force him to be a team player because some tasks require working in groups and interaction with other team members.

2) Collective creativity is a process in which individual perceptions shape collective behaviour, and collective behaviours shape individual perceptions, where meaning is created by interactions with others and with the environment, and creativity emerges from the meaning making process .

Individual creativity is the complex product of a person's behaviour in a given situation .

3) Working in the groups can be advantageous and disadvantageous . The advantages of working in groups are :

The disadvantages of working in groups are : -

4) If I were Zach, I would agree to work in the group . Even though it may be very challenging as Zach had worked as an individual all the time, this opportunity will provide Zach a learning experience .

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