Organizing at Swinburne - After Action Review - Case Study Example

Organizing at Swinburne: After Action Review (AAR) Report Name Institution Course Date Organizing at Swinburne: After Action Review (AAR) Report Introduction Effective management is critical to the success of a team. The core management functions that ensure the success of a team include planning, organizing, leading and controlling (POLC). This AAR report assesses the performance of the team on the project ‘Organizing at Swinburne by integrating the POLC model in order to identify and learn from the successes and failures of the team. What was supposed to happen? The purpose for which this team came together was to understand and come up with a report about organizing at Swinburne. The team was expected to understand the university’s history, its mission and vision, as well as its organizing principles. The group consisted of five members all of whom were expected to work as a team. In this respect, every member of the team was expected to put an effort towards ensuring that the team goal is achieved. Other than the five members, we also had a team leader, a meeting facilitator, a time-tracker, and five executive members to guide and facilitate the work of the team. The team had four group meetings that ran for duration of one and a half hours for every meeting. What actually happened? Planning is one of the most critical functions of management. Planning involves creating a detailed plan of action intended to achieving the set goals (Tyson2007, p. 523). Therefore, the first thing we did was to come up with an action plan that involved setting the objectives/goals that acted as a guide for the activities that were to be executed and set the boundaries so that the team do not just operate haphazardly. After coming up with the objective of the project (organizing at Swinburne), we divided the tasks to be executed among the team members. After coming up with an action, the next thing we did was to organize the team and ensure that all the resources needed are available. Organizing is regarded as an important function of management as it involves bringing together human, physical and financial resources to enable the achievement of the set goals. Organizing as a function of the management involves undertaking a number of activities, including classifying activities, creating responsibilities and assigning tasks to the members of the team (McNamara 2009, p. 63). Therefore, in line with the organizing function of the management, the next thing we did was to organize the tasks in which we divided tasks to each member of the team to ensure that every one participate actively the execution of the project. However, for purposes of effectiveness and efficiency, the tasks were assigned to each member of the team according to individual strengths (Ancona, Bresman and Kaeufer 2002, p. 35). Although each member was assigned a task according to strengths, all the ideas were discussed by the members of the team before arriving at a final verdict. Discussing ideas was important for the team because it provided the members of the team to build on the ideas and share views. Besides, discussing the ideas that individual members of the team also provided the team with the opportunity to scrutinize the ideas that the individual members had come up with so as to minimize errors and mistakes (Dyer, Dyer and Dyer, 2010, p. 45). Moreover, discussing the ideas of individual members together gave the team the opportunity to socialize and build strong relationships. Additionally, the members consistently helped each other and provided support to one another in areas that individual members encountered difficulties. Leadership, which the other important function of the management, also became important in ensuring that the team worked hard to achieve its objectives. It is argued that the success of teams is determined by effective leadership (Edmondson 2012, p. 34). Northouse (2010, p. 4) defines a leader as someone with the authority over the others. In this respect, the group had a leader who always facilitated the work of the team by providing guidance and making pointing for the team areas that needed to be changed so as to ensure successful project execution. The leader also acted as a motivation to the team as she kept motivating the team to work hard to ensure the accomplishment of the team objectives. After completing the project, the team compiled the ideas into a PowerPoint which was presented to the tutor. The last thing we did was to control the tasks by measuring the achievements and shortcomings against the objectives that we had set. Controlling is a critical management function and involves measuring the successes against the objectives set to ensure that any deviation is singled out and corrected (Schraeder et al. 2014, p. 55). In this respect, after performing the tasks in line with the goals that the team had set, we measured the success and determined the areas that had challenges to ensure corrective actions are taken immediately. What We Did Well / What We Would Do The Same Next Time? The first thing that we did well has to do with effective planning. In order to execute any task effectively, planning is necessary. In this respect, before doing anything, the group sat and decided on the agenda, determined the strength of each member of the group after which the tasks were allocated to each member based on strength. By each member specializing in their areas of strengths, this resulted in efficiency and greater productivity (Ancona, Bresman and Kaeufer 2002, p. 37). The second thing that the group did well was working as a team. Groups only achieve results where there is team harmony and each member contributes to the team effort (Dyer, Dyer and Dyer, 2010, p. 58). By working as a team, this created synergy for the team and increased efficiency since it allowed members to specialize on areas that they have the greatest strengths. For example, by working as a team, we were able to support each other in areas where individual members encountered difficulties. Accordingly, this helped the team minimize errors and mistakes, thereby ensuring the successful execution of the project. The other good thing we did is having an effective leader. Effective leadership is important for the success of team project (Northouse 2010, p. 11). An effective leader is that person that is capable of exerting positive influence on the followers. In this project, although the tem was led by an authoritarian leader, the leader was of great value because she kept guiding the team on what to do and pointing where corrections should be made to ensure success. The leader was also of great value to the team because of his transformational leadership approach. As a transformational leader, the leader not only ensured that the team had a good vision and objective, but also inspired the team to pursue the mission for which it was formed. Her transformational leadership approach was evident towards the end of the project as she kept encouraging and motivating the team to work hard towards ensuring the achievement of team goals. What we did not do well / what we would do differently? Despite the many things that we did right, there were also a number of things that we failed to do well and would do differently given next time. The first major challenge experienced by the team had to do with lateness. Occasionally, some members of the group reported late for the project and this affected teamwork performance. The effectiveness of teamwork requires that members plan and work together at the same time to ensure that no one is left behind (Dyer, Dyer and Dyer, 2010, p. 61). As such, the fact that some members were not punctual enough for the project, this impacted negatively on the teamwork. The other challenge faced was getting into contact with the Swinburne manager. As such, to ensure that such difficulties in getting into contact with the Swinburne manager or any other managers in the future, the team will ensure that proper arrangements is made with the people the team wants to contact in advance as this would ensure that an effective means of contact is identified. Additionally, the leader’s lack of trust on the ability of some members of the team to execute their tasks was a big shortcoming. A good leader is expected to have trust in the followers that he/she is working with so as to ensure effective teamwork (Druskat and Wheeler 2004, p. 67). The fact that the leader had no trust in some of the members had a demotivating effect on the members of the team whom the leader does not trust their work. As such, having a leader that have trust and motivate members to put effort will be critical going forward. Conclusion Planning, organizing, leading and control are the core functions of the management. As described in the AAR report, planning proved helpful to the team as it ensured that the team had an action plan and the objective/goals to pursue. Organizing ensured that the resources availability is evaluated and that tasks were assigned according to the strengths of the team members. Leadership as described in the report ensured that the team was guided on the right path and motivated to pursue the team goal. However, controlling the activities was necessary as it ensured that the team did not deviate from the objectives/goals that it was formed to accomplish. Above all, the AAR report above has provided a detailed analysis of how the team performed in executing the task of Organizing at Swinburne by highlighting the successes and pitfalls that needs to be corrected going forward. References Ancona, D., Bresman, H, & Kaeufer, K.2002, 'The comparative advantage of x-teams', MIT Sloan Management Review, vol.43, no.3, pp.33-39. Druskat, U. V., & Wheeler, J.V. 2004, 'How to lead a self-managing team', MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 65-71. Dyer, W. G., Dyer, W. G., & Dyer, J. H 2010, Team building: Proven strategies for improving team performance. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken. Edmondson, A. C 2012, Teaming: How organizations learn, innovate, and compete in the knowledge economy. John Wiley & Sons, Upper Saddle River. McNamara, D. E 2009, ‘From Fayol‟s mechanistic to today’s organic functions of management,’ American Journal of Business Education, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 63-78. Northouse, P. G 2010, Leadership: Theory and practice. SAGE, London. Schraeder, M., Self, D. R., Jordan, M. H., & Portis, R. 2014, ‘The functions of management as mechanisms for fostering interpersonal trust,’ Advances In Business Research, vol. 5, pp. 50-62. Tyson, S, 2007, ‘The management of the personnel function,’ Journal of Management Studies, vol. 24, Iss. 5, pp. 523–532. Read More