Role of teamwork in schools????

This is not an academic refection. I just try to figure out the rationale behind team formation in our class.
I don't really get this team based work. As far as I observed, you have the really good teams that managed somehow or simply had the luck to get the best members, and then you have the teams that are made out of half good, half floaters. I define floaters as those persons that change teams due to their lack of contribution/low performance/lack of interest, etc.
The good teams are already locked and they don't let anybody in or out. They are happy of having the best students and they don't want to risk it by taking newcomers, and I do not blame them. I would do the same probably. These teams can easily manage the assignments even if only one person works on the task. My team takes the same approach. We take turns and each of us do a task during the period of a course. It is easier and saves time. It takes more to travel with the bus from Raslatt, find a empty room (which is very hard to find by the way), then start talking and arguing which solution is better and why. Usually these conversations take hours and nothing productive comes out. And even so, the one that is the most insistent gets his/her idea through. Better have one dictator per assignment.

But what about the other teams? The teams that have floaters in them? What about these free riders? These teams will always get such students and I tell you why: as we take new classes and have the opportunity to remake the teams, the poorly performing students are usually thrown out. The rest of the team is sick of covering for that person, for waiting for their mails and so on. But who will replace this student? Well... most probably another "lemon", because these are the students that cannot stick to a team, or better said the team does not let them stick. Good students do not move, and a wise team will do its best to keep it. If another team wants that student, they cannot get him/her because he/she comes in packages of 3-4 (depending of the size of that team).
Maybe I shout explain this in more detail.
First of all, you can really see differences between the students here. Some did other things rather than a BA in Business and have a hard time comprehending the material. Others have a hard time speaking English. And others just don't care and are here to have fun. I don't blame neither. All are great people! In my opinion, these students make around 25% of class.
Now, the usual team here is made out of 4 people. There is a high change that you will get 1 such student per team. The other 3 well performing students will stick together (part of the same team) for the next class. They cannot get 1 more good student, cause these "luxuries" come in package of 3. So they will get stuck with another lemon floater....
So what to do?
Well... nothing I guess.... You need to help these students catch up. Many want to learn, but you have to teach them everything, which takes a lot of time and stress...

But then I ask myself: is this fair? 50% of the grade is based on teamwork. Why should those teams that have all members above average get good grades even if their individual work was less? Why do good students in bad teams need to suffer?

In the long run, this problem will solve by itself. Good students will also move one by one (and be assimilated int he 3 person group) and poor performing students will eventually improve. But What to do till then?

The schools knows about this issue. Anybody can figure this one out just by comparing the quality of the team based articles submitted VS the independent finals.

The results of this will only decrease the reliability of the student's grades. It will make some poor performing students get overqualified jobs while others, who worked more than the average in order to make up for the teams' members, underestimated grades.

Who has to win? Well... the smart or lucky teams that managed to get all members above average from the start.

This writing was not meant to insult/praise anybody. I just wanted to point out the flaw in the system, which I just realized that it is pretty useless, cause the students know about it and the university also knows about it, as I previously mentioned. So, I guess that my work was futile, but I will post this anyways....

Good night and have a great weekend

Reflections on the Middle Management Guest Lecture- for Leadership Module

The role of middle management has been debated for a long time. Some give them a crucial strategic importance within the company, while others see middle managers as additional costs which company needs to reduce. However, in nowadays fast changing business world, it became obvious that the success of important management processes such as implementing change initiatives and pursuing new directions depends heavily on the middle manager. Balogun and Johnson mention in their article “Organizational Restructuring and Middle Manager Sensemaking” that middle managers are “recipients of change as much as its implementers” and that their role will “increase in importance as organizations become increasingly complex” (Balogun & Johnson, 2004).
The role of middle managers and the dilemmas they face was the topic of the guest lecture presentation we had at JIBS. The guest lecture was Mica Wulff Kamm, the Head of Global Product Management at TeliaSonera. Mica has been working in the company for 11 years now and has passed through as many restructuring periods. In her opinion, “in knowledge intensive industries middle managers are definitely needed”. The role of middle managers is crucial in suggesting and implementing changes, not only executing somebody else’s plans (M.Kamm, guest lecture presentation, 2008-11-24).
In providing arguments, Mica used lots of examples from her personal experience and did it with a lot of enthusiasm and inspiration. At one point, TeliaSonera had to respond to a competitor’s action (we are talking about Skype). So Mica together with her team proposed to introduce a new service, and this suggestion was fully supported by the senior management. According to Balogun’s article “From Blaming the Middle to Harnessing its Potential: Creating Change Intermediaries” (2003), middle managers take advantage of the resources they possess to initiate innovative ideas and take advantage of the business opportunities. Moreover, they encourage projects within the department they manage and use their position to gather the necessary information (Balogun, 2003). What Mica did was developing a plan to react to the competitor’s move and showing all the information to senior management. This is one of the many examples she gave that supported the importance of middle management when it comes to innovation and needed change.
In the article “Middle Managers and Strategy: Micro-Dynamics of Inclusion”, Westley discusses the role of middle managers in strategic operations in bureaucratic organizations. The advice in this case is to keep middle managers “included” and “energized”. Middle managers are more enthusiastic and energetic if they are not excluded from “hierarchy of coalitions” and negotiation of rules with senior managers is possible. Also, middle managers should be allowed to dominate the “framing rules in a strategic conversation (Westley, 1990). Westley’s article can be categorized as pieces of advice for senior managers when it comes to supporting the middle management of their company. In TeliaSonera’s case, empowerment is used as a motivation and is one of the shared values of the company. According to Mica, empowerment is used to encourage innovative thinking and acting (M.Kamm, guest lecture presentation, 2008-11-24).
Moreover, middle managers play an important role in balancing emotions and facilitating organizational adaptability. This is how they succeed at “change, continuity in providing quality in customer service, and developing new knowledge and skills” (Huy, 2002). Especially when dealing with change, middle managers should pay special attention to the employees, as “tension between continuity and change also exists on the individual level” (Huy, 2002). If you want employees to join you in the implementation of change, you should foster an atmosphere of trust and support.
My personal opinion is that middle managers are indeed a strategic asset to the company and their value cannot be denied. They facilitate communication and guide employees when it comes to implementing changes. In her presentation, Mica gave us a couple of advices. One is to get involved in whatever is happening in the company, not just watch. Her leadership style is a participative one and she encourages us to be the same way. She has three golden rules for succes:
• be there when the ground shakes
• make your co-workers visible
• make your team self-running.


References:
Balogun, J. & Johnson, G. (2004) “Organizational Restructuring and Middle Manager Sensemaking”. Academy of Management Journal. Vol 47, 523-549.

Balogun, J. (2003) From Blaming the Middle to Harnessing its Potential: Creating Change Intermediaries, British Journal of Management, vol. 14, 69-83.

Huy, N. Q. (2002) Emotional Balancing of Organizational Continuity and Radical Change, Administrative Science Quarterly, 47(1), 31-69.

Kamm, M.W. (2008). Guest Lecture 24th of November, Middle Management - Real Life, Retrieved 2008-11-26 from Jönköping International Business School’s website:
http://jibsnet.hj.se/documents/files/download/832478114/3385827292690149047/Microsoft%20PowerPoint%20-%20Middle%20Management%20JIBS%2020081124.

Westley, F. T. (1990) Middle Managers and Strategy: Micro-Dynamics of Inclusion, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 11 (5), 337-351.