Archive for year: 2014

Based on the scores you received on the Organizational Climate Questionnaire on page 190 of the text, what are your strengths and weaknesses regarding establishing a constructive climate for a group or organization?

I was pleased with my results from the questionnaire. I received a 54 which resides in the high range meaning that I try to create a constructive climate. I get all people involved and listen to everybody’s opinions. It also means I value opposing points of view as well as the opinions that are in line with the majority. I take great pride in this assessment knowing that I value all members of a group equally. By doing this, one of my strengths is creating a sense of unity and community amongst a group. One of my weaknesses that I discovered from the questionnaire is that I can become frustrated when some group members act stubborn with the majority of the group. There probably is an underlining reason why these group members act this way and it would be beneficial to talk with them privately to get a better understanding of how they feel. I could benefit more from communicating more effectively and forming relationships with group members.

What strategies for establishing a constructive climate for a group or organization discussed in the text could you employ to improve your skills?

Like I previously mentioned, forming special relationships with others is an area I can improve on which would build better communication, trust, and understanding with group members. This would also create a more productive and unified environment. Another area I could improve on is empowering others to act. Usually whenever I am leading, sometimes I tend to take control instead of sharing control which can destroy a group’s energy. Getting others involved is something that I need to improve at.

An important aspect of establishing a constructive climate is giving recognition to others. Is rewarding or praising others something that comes easily for you as a leader? Discuss.

Yes, I believe that this is one of my strengths. I love to see others succeed and to grow. I often praise others to encourage them and raise their morale. This will only motivate them to keep getting better. I try to do whatever I can to create a constructive environment.

This episode begins with the twist that occurred in Coyopa’s elimination of John Rucker, who had been blindsided by the rest of his tribe. Although most of them were glad to be rid of him and his aggressive nature, Dale feels secluded as he thinks that he is to be the next target.

After John from Hunahpu earns his tribe another win, he is forced to send his girlfriend to Exile Island. Along with her, he decides to let Drew accompany her. In doing this, the pair work together and Drew quickly confesses on his idea to throw the next challenge in order to make his tribe vote someone out. He firmly believes that he is the leader of the group and is the one who has been ensuring their survival. His actions prior, however, contradicts what he says. For example, in the last episode, he is seen sleeping rather than helping the group repair their shelter. He is also noted for being cocky and simply showing off his strength to the group, rather than actually working with everyone else.

According to the Big Five Personality Traits, we can associate carelessness and disagreeableness to Drew. The tribe knows that he does not pull his own weight around, but Drew is under the impression that he does. This makes him very disagreeable to work with as his group members do not think he is a great team player. When he purposefully throws off the second challenge, he attempts to convince everyone to vote Kelley off. No one agrees with his idea as Kelley is actually a positive player for the group. Drew, however, continues to push his want of eliminating her.

Drew intentionally threw off a challenge to make his tribe eliminate one of their members. Although he believed he would be able to eliminate someone he saw as a threat, the episode ended in Drew, himself, being voted off.

In this episode of Survivor, we focus on the conflict within the tribes and between the tribes.

The Hunahpu tribe faces an internal group conflict with one of their members, Drew. When they all decide to work together to fix and repair their shelter, Drew decides to take a nap instead. His excuse is that he simply cannot complete the task and resides to sleep in the middle of the group’s work area. By deciding to brush off the group’s task, Drew focused on his own needs and wants rather than the groups’. This could be looked at as an affective conflict, as Drew shows the group how lazy he could be compared to how the rest of the group is hardworking.

In another example of conflict, there arose a problem between the groups. Jeremy from Hunahpu and John Rucker from Coyopa had created an alliance to protect each other’s significant other. John, however, backs out of this agreement and allows his group to vote Val, Jeremy’s wife, out. Jeremy explains that he feels betrayed by John’s actions and therefore, there is a procedural conflict. When John decided to break his alliance with Jeremy and allow Val to be eliminated, he also put his girlfriend, Julie, from Hunahpu in a bad spot. Julie, now at risk of elimination, also feels betrayed.

The tension between the two tribes arise when during one of the games, Coyopa decides to play dirty and aggressively push and shove the members of Hunahpu. There is also some group hate against John Rocker when the Hunahpu tribe finally learns about John’s bad reputation and bigotry. When he is called out, John simply responds in a way proves his aggressive nature. Here, there is affective conflict due to their conflicting beliefs and moral values.

In the third episode of Survivor conflict between members began to arise, specifically within the Coyopa tribe. After the Hunahpuh tribe won the second challenge, Natalie began to make remarks at the Coyopa tribe, suggesting they “switch up” their game plan and vote John out of their tribe at tribal council. She then revealed in front of everyone that both teams were aware of the racist and homophobic comments he had made in the past. In response to this, John became defensive and dealt with the problem by exhibiting a competitive conflict style. He was aggressive and hostile with his reaction, and began to ridicule Natalie by making statements such as, “if you were a man, I would knock your teeth out.” Although John was defending himself against the statements that Natalie had initially brought up, it was unnecessary to personally attack her and make violent comments towards her. Through exhibiting such harsh and unrestrained behavior, John was unknowingly pitting more people on the Hunahpuh tribe against him, and not to mention, members within his own tribe.

In addition, a mixture of both substantive as well as affective conflict was emerging among the Coyopa tribe. As they were once again forced to make a decision at tribal council, the group members congregated with one another several times in order to come to a unanimous decision. John met with the girls initially in order to share his plan of voting Dale off the team, however he does this with the intention only to blindside Baylor from his true motives, which are to vote her off at tribal council. He then went to the males within the group and revealed his actual plan to vote for Baylor. Although it appeared that at first the men were in agreement with his idea, most of them in actuality, were in accordance with what Josh had planned – to vote off John. This conflict within the group appeared to be substantive in that the members were unable to reach a collective decision or goal when meeting with one another. As different ideas were being tossed amongst tribe members, it became unclear what the group’s main decision was to be, and therefore certain group members such as Dale, voted in a different manner than others.

However, the root of the conflict itself appeared to be mainly affective. In an individual interview, both Baylor and Josh revealed their concerns about John’s personality and trustworthiness within the group. Josh revealed that John’s deceitfulness at the previous tribal council influenced him to believe that he had ulterior motives. He also explained that he did not want to continue to be in an alliance with someone who did not share the same values and beliefs for the team as he did. This interpersonal disagreement between John and his fellow tribe members caused the entire team to clash with him and ultimately led to him being sent home when they all decided to oppose him.