Transcript Working Together at a Distance

AFS
Working Together
at a Distance
Completion of Menu
Choices
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Review “What’s For Lunch” menu
Make and mark your choices - 1 for
each section
Your goal is to get the group to
which you are assigned to select the
lunch choices you have marked.
Rules for the Exercise
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Your assignment is to select a group
menu for lunch, through whatever
process The Boss determines.
While selecting this menu, each of
you is required to work and
negotiate diligently to get your
personal menu choice selected.
Do not wimp out.
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The individuals who were split off
are still part of their Headquarters
(HQ) group for this exercise; they are
not a group of their own.
Members of the HQ group cannot
physically go visit members of the
field groups, nor may members of
the field groups visit the HQ group.
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Other methods of communication
(paper airplanes, yelling, using the
facilitator as a fax machine) are
acceptable.
Timeframe will not be provided now,
but you will be informed as the
deadline approaches.
Time Check
You have 5
minutes left.
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Time Check
You have 2
minutes left.
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Time Check
You have 1
minute left.
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Questions
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To what extent did you feel like
you were part of the decision
making process of your group?
What happened, or didn’t
happen, to make you feel that
way?
Side Effects of
Organizational Complexity
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Tension between “headquarters” and
“outposted” team members
Depersonalized leadership
Fragmented understanding
Inefficient project work and
teamwork
Growing subservience to paperwork
Individual agendas flourish
“Distance”
4
4
4
4
Physical
Hierarchical
Temporal
Psychological
Group Analysis
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Share the situations you wrote
on your cards with the other
members of your group.
Select one current situation or
to discuss as a group.
Discussion Questions
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When thinking about the people
involved in the situation, what
are the feelings and attitudes
that result from “distance”?
What could you do differently to
address the “distance” issues
and improve the situation?