Week 8

As part of this week’s assignment, we were asked to complete the Jung Typology Test (personality test) and an assessment to determine whether or not we were an introvert or extrovert. The results of both the test and assessment are as follows:

Jung Typology Test:

Ellen - INTJ

Kara – ISFJ

Randy - ISTJ

Simon - INTP

Self-Assessment 2.7:

Ellen – Moderate introversion

Kara – Between extroversion and introversion

Randy - Moderate introversion

Simon - Moderate introversion

A summary of our test results indicate we are all introverts, split between sensing & intuitive, majority in thinking and majority in judging. The results all seem to fit each of us.

When it comes to our team’s energizing preferences, we are all introverted - all of us obtain our energy mainly from the internal world. How we take information in is split – half of us receive directly from the external world (sensing) and half of us receive directly from the internal or imaginative world (intuition). With the exception of one person who makes decisions based on emotions (feeling), the majority of our team reaches a decision through logic (thinking). Our team organizes their lives around plans (judging) with the exception of one team member who tends to be more flexible and spontaneous (perceiving).

Our team has a tendency to take an objective approach (thinking) when reaching a decision. Having three (3) thinking & one (1) feeling will possibly lead us to make logical decisions and analyze all possible aspects when making these decisions. Having one (1) person with the feeling characteristic will give us a balance. Kara ensures that we take a subjective approach (feeling) when working on our blog. Our team also has a tendency to live our lives very planned and organized (judging). Having one (1) person being perceptive has led others to be more open and make us more dynamic. Simon ensures that we stay flexible (perceiving) in our approach and that we consider all options before posting our final blog. While Kara and Randy tend to be more detailed oriented (sensing), Ellen and Simon ensure our group sees the bigger picture (intuiting) when approaching team assignments.

All personality types are represented (mix of all results) with the exception of our energizing preference (we are all introverts) according to the Jung Typology results. While this could present itself as a pitfall, a couple of our team members seem to be pretty close to the extroverted side, at least as far as thinking outside the box. While our test results show us to be introverted, sometimes we obtain our energy from the external world (extrovert). We are all creative individuals, but in most settings we would prefer to keep more of our creative solutions to ourselves. Whereas in a group of like minded introverts, we have less of a feeling that our remarks will be criticized, so we are more open to sharing them then we would normally be. Also, having a strong extrovert could possible hurt the team when we brainstorm or converse with each other. On the other hand, it could limit us in communication, but it hasn’t to date. Even though we all scored as introverts, in this type of team setting it seems to work really well. No one team member dominates our weekly discussions. When we converse, everyone generally stops and allows everyone to finish their thoughts, which might not be as easy with a big extrovert on the team. We probably all appreciate this, but an extrovert might get annoyed with our conversations!

Based on the “Big Five” (CANOE: Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness to experience, Extroversion.), we have all the personality dimensions and demonstrate these on a weekly basis within our group communication. We have high conscientiousness, high agreeableness, low neuroticism, high openness to experience, and the opposite of extroversion.

Our team effectiveness is impacted by having a balance of all characteristics. We feel that our personality types compliment each other. As a result, we are able to effectively work together to complete team assignments and to post quality work to our blog.

Week 6 Update

Ellen relies on referent power since she’s fairly new in her position and has not acquired expert power. This type of power works well when interacting with her patients and co-workers. Kara tends to rely on expert power in performing her job. She’s valued in her department for her knowledge and expertise. She also relies on referent power as she is respected by her peers for her willingness to help increase their knowledge. Randy tends to rely on legitimate and expert power. Legitimate power is the easiest to use at Widget Inc. since people tend to respond quicker to those with higher authority. If he needs to get certain tasks completed, he‘ll use his legitimate power. If his legitimate power isn’t enough, he relies on those with higher legitimate power in order for them to communicate what he needs. He frequently relies on other’s expert power when working on projects since these individuals are looked to for their work process knowledge /skills. People will tend to listen when the “expert” speaks. Simon generally relies on expert power. He holds expert knowledge within his organization which he uses to make discretionary decisions in order to complete tasks. He uses coercive power, if needed, to move obstacles in order to complete a project.

Ellen uses integrating as the method of choice to handle conflict. She finds that she is more comfortable in situations where she is aware of the root of the problem and then works to fix it. She uses this type of conflict resolution daily as a nurse. Kara tries to use a problem-solving approach when it comes to handling conflict. She finds it counterproductive when working on complex task not to try to come up with a 'win-win orientation'. If not, she feels it can potentially de-motivate team members and suppress creativity. If; however, the situation becomes too emotionally charged, she reverts to an avoiding approach. Simon’s preferred method of conflict handling is integrating; however, once a decision is made, he relies on a dominating approach. Instead of letting others change the outcome, he takes a stand to ensure the best solution is adopted. Randy’s preferred style when it comes to handling conflict is based on what the conflict is and how strongly he feels towards the problem. Typically, he avoids conflict but will always work towards the ultimate best solution and won’t settle.

Ellen would like to expand her expert power. She doesn’t feel she’s an expert in anything even though she has worked in the field of medicine for over 30 years. She uses avoiding for conflict management at times and would like to have the confidence as an expert to take on the little issues instead of avoiding them. While Kara's tendency is to use an avoiding approach in emotionally charged situations, she’d like to learn how to use a problem-solving or compromising approach as she realizes the conflict is still there and will continue to manifest itself until dealt with. She would like to develop reward power. Simond would like to develop his referent power in order to reduce the need to use his coercive power. Change is difficult but in order for Randy to expand his skills in conflict management, he would like to try less avoiding. As for power sources, he believes using influence would expand his skills.

Our team roles continue to develop and are dynamic. Ellen is the initiator, Kara is the summarizer, Simon is the gatekeeper and Randy is the encourager. We’re all harmonizers since we’re all professional and want to succeed at this project. There is no clear leader in our group. The roles of summarizer and creating the blog are well defined.

We continue to work well as a team. We’re all task oriented and have team trust to complete assignments on time and correctly. The initial f2f meeting and multiple teleconferences have allowed us to build team cohesion.