When creating the objectives for the team how should the tar

When creating the objectives for the team how should the target goals be set? Should the team members play an active role in setting the target goals for each group within the team? Explain.

What conflict resolution techniques do you believe would be the most effective in a cross-departmental or cross-function team? How would you alter these techniques for a virtual team?

Solution

The goal setting becomes more effective when team members are involved and SMART goals are used. Team leaders should inititiate the process of goal setting and share the responsibility with their team; this will gain a team’s interest and commitment to a project. The team that is fully aware of its goals has clearly defined expectations and tends to be higher performing and more effective at accomplishing its mission. The team leaders should be realized that their thoughts, ideas, and perspectives matter and they have a sense of ownership over the project. When team members are involved in the process, they tend to be more passionate about achieving project goals.

Team members should play an active role in setting the target goals for each group within the team. They should propose potential solutions to the problem. Team members should choose which parts of the project they would like to work on. Team members should analyze the goals to be realistic and attainable. Communication is the most important tool in this process.

The foremost method to avoid conflict is simply avoiding it. It can help get a group through a period of time. Another solution is smoothing the groups by focusing on common interests and de-emphasizing the differences between them. Groups, who cannot satisfactorily resolve their conflict, are commanded by management. Changing jobs or rearranging reporting responsibilities can be an effective solution.

In virtual team the source of conflict may include task role, repsonisbility, ambiguity, lack of trust cultural differences and low group cohesiveness. Virtual teams are usually composed of people from diverse backgrounds and cultures who have rarely met or worked with one another before. Negotiation and mediation are preferred way to resolve conflict in virtual teams. A variety of electronic technologies such as e-mail, intranet, and on-line chat can be employed as means of conflict resolution in virtual settings