. Read the article on “Stages” in building Teams. Now briefly discuss the nature
ID: 350418 • Letter: #
Question
. Read the article on “Stages” in building Teams. Now briefly discuss the nature of Startups (meaning new Ventures) that makes it harder to push through each of the 4 Stages (when compared to established ventures).
Explain the concept of “conflicts at work”? What is “turf” in an organizational context? What might happen if conflicts are not “resolved”? Are there any positive things that can come out of such conflicts?
What is “networking”? Why is it important in assembling a new venture team? If you work for a Startup, how would you network to benefit your organization?
these are not long essay type please answer all
BUILDING A QUALITY TEAM IS JUST PLAIN HARD Building a quality team is one of the most challenging aspects of the entrepreneur experience and there are two places where this challenge is most acute. The first is finding and selecting core team members in the early stages of a venture. Finding people with similar character, commitment, and work styles is more important than expertise or abilities. Finding people with the requisite technical skills is unquestionably important, but people's ability to commit to the vision and work as part of unified team far outweighs the question of ability. Many entrepreneurs recognized in hindsight that they did not fully appreciate the importance of this insight and admitted that this it was the source of many subsequent conflicts. And of course, these are among the hardest qualities to judge before actually working with someone. It's relatively easy to ascertain whether someone can code. It's quite difficult to know what people will be like to work with after the 40th unsuccessful investors meeting when everyone is effectively working for free and one of the co-founders is advocating a significant change of course for the venture Even having built a strong team, there is still a lot of hard work required to maintain those relationships. Ongoing team synergy takes concerted effort on the part of the founder, co-founders, and early members of the team. Again, this was an aspect of the experience that many felt surprised by and largely unprepared for For example, Mike and Seth, CEO and CFO of an online marketplace that connects people looking for custom home furnishings with crafts people who make them, bought their business in Cambridge MA, they had an immediate need for a full team of developers and sales staff Like many entrepreneurs, they tarted by hiring their friends thinking it would great to work with people they already knew However, they quickly realized that some of these people were ot the right fit or the best people to be working on the venture. "Which means you have to fire people. You have to fire people that you love, that have contributed a ton to the company because they no longer fit with where the company is going.Explanation / Answer
Team Synergy is difficult in general and are especially difficult for startups. This is because new ventures often do not have the expertise of time to hire the correct cultural fit employees. New ventures often operate focusing on the task rather than the cultural suitability. This also means, since startups tend to grow quickly, the strategy and the people requirement changes too which results in refreshing the old team through firing and then hiring new people. These activities makes it difficult to achieve team synergy in startups.
Startups find it difficult to push through all 4 stages of team building because the team is often halted at stage 2 for indefinite period. The first stage is moderately easy. This is where the founders hire team members. However at stage 2 (storming) the team faces ongoing conflicts within the group and group leader do not reduce the conflict or address the team and individual issues, the startups face an uphill task to move to the next stage where team cohesion can develop. Established venture on the other hand has structural system in place that helps them overcome many of these issues that startups face.
Conflict at work can have several meanings. It could be a conflict of idea between groups of people at workplace. It could be a conflict of personality and job requirement of team. It could be a conflict of company values/visions/mission and the method of working.
Turf in an organizational context is the domain or area of operation of an individual or a group. For example, marketing activities is the turf of the marketing team. If the HR team attempts to provide suggestions to marketing teams it could considered as breaching the turf (or coming into marketing turf).
In case conflicts are not resolved, the team members will likely be demotivated. This in turn will cause delay in work, or poor quality work which may result in organizational breakdown.
If the conflict is managed properly and opportunities are provided to correct the conflict, then there is possibility that the result will be a harmonious working environment.
Networking is the process of maintaining relationship with various groups of people, teams and other organizations. It is also an effective way of keeping an open line of communication between different parties.
Networking is important in a new venture team because, the startup founders often tend to hire people that are their friends even if they are not suitable. This is not a good approach. Wider network of people allows founders to reach out to different types of people with different views and skillsets. Hence networking is quite important while starting a new venture. Post the venture, networking also helps founders to get their initial set of customers.
If I work for a startup, I would network internally as well as externally. Internal networking means, I would catch up with colleagues from my department and other departments on a regular basis to maintain a healthy working relationship. External networks with peers from other organizations, people with similar interest, etc. will help me in keeping myself updated with the industry and other developments.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.