Personal Learning Paper| Vikram Khanna (P16027)

Group Decision Making

A group activity was planned for this session in which the whole class was divided into a number
of groups with 9 people each. The group had to collectively come up with a ranking of certain
items given in the problem statement. The items ranged from pistol to five gallons of water
which were to be used by a crew which had to reach its mother ship after crash landing on the
surface of the moon. The activity was divided into two parts. In the first part each of the
members of the group were to assign their personal rankings to the items. Thereafter the team
needed to deliberate among the members to arrive at a common ranking.
We started with the discussion and soon came up with rankings for a few common things.
People, in general were in agreement on them. However, later on some of the things were
contentious and we wasted time not in deciding the ranks but in deliberating on their working on
the moon. There were a few digressions but we came up with our rankings within the stipulated
time. Two people emerged as leaders who directed the discussion, a few were extroverts and two
of us including me turned out to be introverts who spoke little but meaningful and usually
brought the discussion back on track when it was getting digressed.
Some of the learnings from the activity were:

We should have got a better strategy in deciding upon the rankings. Initially we were fast
enough to come up with ranks quickly, which turned out to be disaster with some of them
way off the mark from the ranks given by experts. We could have defined our problem
and planned out our discussion in a more structured way which could have resulted in a
better result.
If some of the members are not speaking up, it is an intellectual loss on part of the group.
We should ensure an environment in which all the members speak up and give their
inputs so that there is no loss of idea or information. We should be able to identify those
people and encourage their participation.
As pointed out earlier, many a times my group digressed from what should have been
discussed. We should strive to keep the discussion as to the point as possible. I tried
doing this a few times but ensuring this should be the responsibility of all the members.
 Personal Learning Paper| Vikram Khanna (P16027)

We should make sure that we filter out discussions which are not useful as part of the
solution for the problem at hand. Ability to discern between useful and junk information
is a quality of a leader.
We should learn the ability to convince our group members on our point of view. A
balance between the spirit of enquiry and that of advocacy should be maintained at all
times.
The productivity of the group is more than the sum of the productivity of each individual.
Among my group members only I had a score which was better than the score of the
group. It either indicates that I was not speaking enough or the team was not supportive
of me. We should learn to avoid these situations.
As a leader we should be sensitive to the needs of each individual member. Introverts and
extroverts have totally different requirements and we should adhere to them to have a
quality discussion.
In the discussion I also observed that while we ensure that our points are taken up for
discussion, we ourselves dont deliberate on the points raised by others. We should
understand that a good leader is one who takes along everyone and not push through only
his or her ideas.
Team performance is usually the highest at the end of the discussion. It tends to increase
in the second half and reaches its peak at the end. This might help in devising my
expectations from my teammates.
In larger groups, as people are usually individualistic, some of the team members might
develop a habit of depending on others for their tasks. This should be avoided at any cost
because it will hamper their intellectual and social development.
A leader should adhere to the time limit which has been given to his team to complete the
task.
 Personal Learning Paper| Vikram Khanna (P16027)

Power and Politics

To explain the point we discussed the Apple Inc. case in which an employee named Donna
Dubinsky wasnt able to convince her bosses about her reservations to the idea of JIT.

Some of the insights which we got from the discussion of this case were:

In a new company it is the owner who would like to take key decisions irrespective of the
positions he holds. In the case it was Steve Jobs, the owner and founder of Apple, who
wanted the JIT in the Macintosh division. This was opposed by Donna Dubinsky who
happened to be Manager in the Distribution division. However Steve Jobs being the
owner of the company wanted it to happen and so tried his best to shot down the points
made by Donna.
Steve Jobs was too cautious to shed upon any responsibility to his subordinates. Also, as
he was both the founder and the Head of Macintosh division, it created some disturbance
in the power distribution as none was in a position to oppose his ideas, not even the CEO.
We should learn to delegate our responsibilities to the subordinates and also have the
confidence in them. We should, as managers, define our limit so that our group members
and subordinates too get a chance to excel in their respective fields.
We should be receptive to the ideas of others and give a careful thought to them. We
should look at what people are saying keeping in mind the companys long term goals
and not our individual goals.
The different types of power are:
1) Coercive: It refers to getting things done through coercion and intimidation.
2) Legitimate: It refers to using positions of responsibility to get things done.
3) Expert: It refers to getting things done through convincing.
4) Reward: It refers to getting things done by coaxing through giving awards and
recognitions.
5) Referent: It refers to getting things done by encouragement and personal requests.
Different situations demand exercise of different kinds of power. We should not remain
fixated on one kind of it as it can be damaging. We should be flexible enough and
experienced enough to know which power should be used in which circumstances.
 Personal Learning Paper| Vikram Khanna (P16027)

Success depends on the networking skills which we develop over the years. It is never an
accident and is earned through hard work and performance in the company.
Performance in the job on the other hand depends on our competence and skills. It is
usually this which differentiates us from others in an organization.