BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 1

BOMSS Team Charter

Betsy Ledger, Olena McCuaig, Marty Johnston, Shauna Mooney, Sarah Schoales

Confederation College

Organizational Behaviour

HR 520

October 31st, 2013

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 2

Table of Contents

1. Team Charter………………………………………………………………………………...3

• Communication……………………………………………………………………….3

i. Team Member Contact Information………………………………………….3

ii. Methods………………………………………………………………………3

iii. Frequency…………………………………………………………………….3

• Team Objective……………………………………………………………………….4

• Team Procedures……………………………………………………………………...4

i. Team Ground Rules………………………………………………………….4

ii. Decision Making Process…………………………………………………….5

iii. Conflict Resolution Strategy…………………………………………………5

• Team Composition……………………………………………………………………6

i. Analysis of Team Composition………………………………………………6

ii. Analysis of Areas of Potential Conflict………………………………………9

• Skills and Roles……………………………………………………………………...11

i. Team Members’ Current Skills……………………………………………..11

ii. Skills Required for Job Evaluation Assignment……………………………13

iii. Future Roles of Team Members……………………………………………13

2. References…………………………………………………………………………………...15

3. Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………..16

• Appendix A: Team Member Self-Assessment Scores………………………………16

• Appendix B: Timeline……………………………………………………………….18

• Appendix C: Agenda Format………………………………………………………..19

• Appendix D: Meeting Minutes Format……………………………………………...20

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 3

BOMSS Team Charter

Communication

Team Contact Information

Name Cell Phone Number Email Address

Betsy Ledger (807) 251-2481 bledger@weqlodge.org

Olena McCuaig (807) 251-2505 olenamccuaig@tbaytel.net

Marty Johnston (807) 707-4042 mjohnst3@lakeheadu.ca

Shauna Mooney (807) 631-9074 smooney@confederationc.on.ca

Sarah Schoales (807) 629-9521 sschoale@confederationc.on.ca

Methods

Team members will use email as our main source of communicating larger amounts of

information outside of team and face-to-face meetings. If a quick response is needed or the information

being distributed is small and concise, texting or calling will be used. For example, if a team member

learns at the last minute he or she will be late to a meeting, he or she would call or text the other team

members to let them know.

Frequency

Since all of this team’s members are in the same program, we will communicate often. Scheduled

communication consists of two weekly meetings taking place every Monday (2:30pm-3:30pm) and

Wednesday (10:30am-11:30am). If necessary, meeting length on Wednesdays will be extended to keep

the team on our scheduled timeline for the assignment. Additionally, a meeting on Friday from (9am-

11am) will be used if the team feels they need extra time.
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 4

Team Objective

Our team’s objective is to complete our Job Evaluation assignment according to our timeline (see

appendix B) and to achieve a grade of 80-100% on the aforementioned assignment. In addition to this, we

wish to gain understanding of how to work together to form a high-functioning, cohesive and effective

team while maintaining a supportive and respectful environment.

Team Procedures

Team Ground Rules

In order to maintain a safe, respectful and efficient environment, team members must:

1. Be respectful of all team members.

2. Foster an open and safe environment for all team members.

3. Be upfront about how he or she feels about a decision.

4. Allow each team member to give input into the assignment.

5. Be punctual for each meeting.

6. Be present during meetings, providing ideas and feedback.

7. Keep phone on silent during meetings.

• Exception: If a team member is expecting a call or message, he or she may put his or her

phone on silent. He or she must inform group of this before the start of the meeting

8. Give advance notice and valid explanation for missing a team meeting.

9. Provide the material to the team in advance of the team meeting if he or she will not be present

for it.

10. Take a turn recording minutes for the team meeting and email the minutes out to the other team

members after the meeting.

11. Follow the agreed upon method for consensus in the decision making process. (Refer to Decision

Making Process)

12. Refer to the team’s conflict resolution plan when conflict arises. (Refer to Conflict Resolution)
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 5

13. Provide good quality material/information that he or she has agreed to complete according to the

timeline.

14. Answer emails by 9:00 pm the day they are received and reply to texts at his or her earliest

convenience.

Decision Making Process

For our decision making process we will attempt to come to consensus conclusions. In order to

facilitate this, we will allow each member input into all decisions and value each idea equally. If there are

any disagreements that cannot be resolved by discussion alone, we will refer to our conflict handling

strategy.

Conflict Resolution Strategy

• If a conflict is starting to become dysfunctional, team members should take a break.

o 5-10 minutes away from the team or team setting for minor issues such as:

Formatting

Structuring

Being impatient

Communicating of ideas is not occurring

Deciding how to proceed with the assignment is difficult

o One day away for larger issues such as:

Team is very divided on an issue or one or more team members has a strong

opinion on an issue and will not hear out other team members’ argument

We are at an impasse

• After the appropriate break, team members will resume the meeting and try to solve the problem.

• All team members will provide suggestions that we will all assess.

• Team members are responsible for keeping each other positive and in-check. A technique that we

will use to assist in this process is using the word “Neechee” which means friend in Oji-Cree. When

a member uses this, it is to remind us that we are friends and this is a respectful, positive
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 6

environment. It helps us, in a non-confrontational way, to realize that we may need to take a step

back from a situation and our emotions.

• We will assign task members to be responsible for mediating and facilitating in the problem-solving

process.

• If we come to an issue that we have tried multiple times to resolve and we cannot, we may consider

bringing it to the facilitator or an outside resource for an objective opinion.

• The overall strategy is to maintain open and constant communication.

Team Composition

Analysis of Team Composition

Machiavellian

The average American score was 25 and all of us are below the average with Shauna being the

highest at 24. The two lowest scores are Olena at 16 and Sarah at 17 (Langton, Robbins, & Judge, 2013).

With all of our scores being below average, our team is most likely to look out for, listen to and cooperate

with each other. We will also be able to communicate our emotions and opinions to each other without

feelings being hurt or members being judged harshly (Langton et al, 2013).

Self-Monitor

High self-monitors have a score of 53 or higher. Shauna is the only one above this with a score of

56 and Olena is at 50. It is hard to know the average for self-monitors so the rest of us with scores

between 46 and 50 could very well be the average (Langton, Robbins, & Judge, 2013). This suggests that

we all know how to control our behaviour when acting in a team setting with Shauna maybe having a bit

more control of her emotions and behaviours. It is likely that we all controlled our behaviour when first

meeting each other, but after being in a team for a few weeks we are all a lot more comfortable with our

personalities (Langton et al, 2013).

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 7

Risk-Taker

Our scores were not that far apart with Betsy as the highest with a score of 6.25/10 and Marty

with the lowest score of 4/10. The other scores were above 5.5/10, meaning that our team likes to be

modestly confident about a decision before making it. Marty could make hasty decisions with his

analysis, but the other team members will be able to critique his decisions in the team setting so that

everyone can come to a consensus (Langton, Robbins, & Judge, 2013).

Type A

Olena has the highest score of 135 making her a type A1, and Betsy is also an A1 with a score of

120. On the other side of the spectrum, Sarah and Shauna are type B1 with 93 and 96 scores. Marty is in

the middle with type A score of 114 (Langton, Robbins, & Judge, 2013). These results show we are a

diverse team with everyone offering different perspectives. The positive of being diverse is that we are

able to balance each other out by being more proactive in our approach to teamwork. The negative of

being diverse is that we have a potential for conflict within the team (Langton et al, 2013).

Motivation

Motivation is broken down into Achievement, Power and Affiliation (Langton, Robbins, &

Judge, 2013). Almost everyone’s highest score was in Achievement: 20 for Betsy, 20 for Olena, 23 for

Shauna and 24 for Sarah. One exception was Marty’s score of 23 for Affiliation. An interesting point is

Marty had the highest overall score for motivation with 23 for Affiliation, 21 for Achievement and 20 for

Power. Betsy, Olena and Shauna have almost identical scores across the board while Sarah has a really

low Power score of 12, but her Affiliation score is similar to those of the other team members. With very

high Achievement and Affiliation scores our team will strive to do our best on each assignment and

maintain positive team relationships (Langton et al, 2013).

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 8

Primary Conflict-Handling Style

Betsy and Sarah had Problem-Solving as their highest score, 16 for Betsy and 17 for Sarah.

Shauna and Olena had Compromising scores of 17; Shauna also had a Problem-Solving score of 17

giving her a tie for two separate Conflict Handling styles. Marty had a score of 18 for Forcing and a score

of 17 for Problem-Solving. All the scores show that everyone in the team has a good understanding of the

importance of working together to solve problems. Marty may be the only issue with a high Forcing score

but with many Compromisers and Problem-Solvers the issue may be more muted (Langton, Robbins, &

Judge, 2013). The team scores have a potential for lots of win-win scenarios. Having both Betsy and

Marty on the team, who will also take a more directive approach to conflict management, can help to

ensure that any given situation will not be focused on for longer than necessary and that an agreeable

outcome can be reached within an appropriate amount of time (Langton et al, 2013).

Self-Manager

Olena has the highest self-manager score of 106 with Sarah and Shauna at 98 and 94,

respectively. Betsy and Marty are lower with scores of 72 and 73 scores. With a variety of scores in Self-

Managing from 72 to 106, there may be a difference in how team members prioritize their commitments

outside of the team. This suggests that we may need to have specific systems (e.g., timeline) in place to

keep all team members completing their individual tasks at the same pace (Langton, Robbins, & Judge,

2013).

Decision Making Style

Four members of our team use Feeling (Marty, Olena, Sarah and Shauna) over Thinking (Betsy).

Our team is split 3 to 2, Sensation (Betsy, Olena and Sarah) to Intuition (Marty and Shauna). Betsy

differed with having Thinking as a part of her decision making style, whereas other team members had

Feeling as the second part of their decision making style. Since our team has similar decision making

styles we are likely to approach a decision, a problem or a solution in similar ways. Betsy’s Thinking
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 9

style will greatly benefit our team to provide a more logical approach when needed (Langton, Robbins, &

Judge, 2013).

How Defensive am I? (Falikowski, 2007).

This test is designed to indicate a person's level of defensiveness in their day-to-day life.

Defensiveness in this situation would describe more of a person's need to protect or shield themselves

from others and how they might interpret things being said to or about them. This test can be useful for

identifying a tone for the team and for understanding the position some individuals may take in a conflict

and why. Someone who has low defensive tendencies would score 1 - 2, a score of 3 would indicate some

defensiveness and a score of 4 or 5 would indicate strong defensive tendencies (Falikowski, 2007).

Of our team, Betsy scored the lowest at 2.50, which indicates minimal defensiveness, with Sarah

scoring just above her with 2.82. Olena and Marty scored a little higher in their defensiveness with 3.50

and 3.13. This indicates that they can be occasionally defensive in various situations. Shauna scored the

highest at 4.00, which indicates a high level of defensiveness in given situations. Understanding how

defensive we are can help create a constructive atmosphere within the team. Considering defensive scores

may assist us in approaching discussions in a respectful and individualized manner.

Analysis of Areas of Potential Conflict

“Conflict occurs when one party perceives that another party’s actions will have a negative effect

on something the first party cares about” (Langton, Robbins & Judge, p. 345). With five people in our

team, some form of conflict is expected. When a disagreement occurs, our goal is to have strategies and

processes in place that will help our team to maintain a functional and cognitive team atmosphere.

There are a few areas of potential conflict in our team. First, Betsy, Olena, Shauna and Sarah are

driven by achievement, which may cause some panic and uncertainty if the assignment progress becomes

complicated or ambiguous. Second, Olena, Betsy and Marty are Type A personality. People with Type A

personality tend to be competitive, impatient, ambitious, aggressive and fast-talking (Langton, Robbins &
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 10

Judge, 2013). Type A persons are also critical and can come across as rude and forceful (Langton et al.,

2013). Third, Shauna, Olena and Marty are sometimes defensive. Being defensive can sometimes

misdirect or disrupt attention to an assignment. This can be hindering to the team because everyone’s

attention is crucial in completing tasks.

Our conflict-handling style is quite balanced with an array of style preferences. The majority of

the team consist of problem-solvers and compromisers, meaning that we will attempt to address all

concerns within the team and evaluate all approaches to come to conflict resolution. Having one member

with a Forcing style in conflict resolution may cause a push to look at only a few solutions to the issues

causing the conflict.

Olena grew up in Ukraine, Russia, Latvia and then lastly Canada from the age of 15. Once

moving to Canada, Olena began to learn English. Since she learnt English at a later age, Olena has minor

difficulties in communication and grammar. These difficulties may result in Olena and other team

members needing to clarify her opinions or ideas so that Olena’s thoughts do not get misunderstood.

Betsy’s heritage is First Nation and Metis; she was born in Thunder Bay. Most of her formative

years were spent in a remote First Nation Community where she only spoke the Oji-Cree dialect and there

were very few non-Native people who resided there. At the age of six, Betsy moved to Hornepayne where

she learnt English as this was enforced by the public school. This change in language caused Betsy to lose

the ability to speak her native tongue. Betsy grew up practicing her Aboriginal rights of hunting, fishing

and trapping which she feels is important to maintaining her Cultural roots of living off the land.

Both Betsy and Olena grew up in very different environments than the other members in the

team. Our unique backgrounds could cause us to not see eye-to-eye on some issues. This conflict though

may be functional as it brings various perspectives.

The ages of the team members are 39, 34, 25, 23 and 22. We have a variety of ages in our team

make-up. This means that we are all at various stages in our lives so our priorities are very different. The
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 11

two members in their thirties both have children, a strong commitment which causes them to have to put

family above team work at times. The other three team members are in their twenties and they may be

trying to decide on future goals and are working on figuring out what their priorities should be. The ones

in their twenties may also have strong familial commitments as well. Everyone will occasionally need to

focus on other areas of their lives and items that are more important to them. This may cause conflicts as

we may not always be able to meet the goals of the team. The age range will also bring forward different

opinions and perspectives based on life skills and experiences.

The team is comprised of four females and one male. There is clearly a strong female

representation since there is only the one male, Marty. Marty does not feel that being the minority in

gender will cause conflict with him personally. There is a larger representation for the female perspective

on the team, so that may create a tendency to overlook the male perspective on topics. Gender can also be

tied in with different goals and commitments.

Skills and Roles

Team Members’ Current Skills

Olena has multiple skills that will be very useful to the maintenance and productivity of the team.

She is a very intuitive and interpersonal individual, able to understand the feelings and emotions of those

around her and communicate in a sensitive and effective manner. She has excellent analytical skills and is

very task- and goal-oriented which is useful in the completion of the team assignment. Olena also has

strong dedication to the many commitments in her life, including the team projects. She will bring a

willingness to work and be helpful to the team.

Marty's skills are reflected strongly in his daily interactions and interests. His abilities in

leadership and organization help to give the team direction and maintain an effective order to the tasks to

be completed. Marty has strong skills with performing research which will be very useful to the

completion of the assignment. His analytical skills will be very useful in interpreting information found

and using it effectively. Marty also brings a level of enthusiasm and motivation to the team which assists

in maintaining a fun and welcoming atmosphere to the team setting.

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 12

Shauna's skills are more reflected in her relationships with other people, striving at all times to be

supportive to the team and bring in a level of enthusiasm and creativity to everything she does. She is a

very empathetic individual, interpreting the feelings and moods of those around her. Her work as an Early

Childhood Educator has given her some skills in interpersonal relations as well as in reflective listening

skills which can help with maintaining a warm and welcoming environment. Shauna is also very

dedicated to the success of anything she attempts to accomplish, working as hard as she can to accomplish

tasks to the best of her ability.

Betsy brings with her many skills and interesting perspectives. She is confident, which helps the

group make decisions and be happy with them. She has the ability to step in and take over when things

need to get done. Her working experience has provided her with technical skills in setting up and

coordinating meetings. She has a professional approach to school work. Teaching others is a strong

interest of Betsy’s and she does it very well. She has taught our team a lot in our time together and will

continue to do so in the journey of our next assignments. Betsy is very approachable and respectful. This

is very visible in her welcoming of questions on her culture and background. Her willingness and

openness in sharing information fosters bonding within the team. She has provided us with invaluable life

perspectives that we have been able to incorporate into the team’s culture. She has helped us to keep an

open-mind when approaching issues with the project.

Sarah has a strong attachment to people and relationships and, because of this, she would like to

assist fellow team members and foster healthy, supportive relationships between members. Sarah has

some writing experience from her university career as well as a background in psychology. Her interests

in psychology may provide the team with insights on human motivation as well as ways to approach

future projects. Sarah laughs easily. She contributes warmth and caring to the environment of the team.

Sarah brings with her an element of creativity to the team’s approach to assignments. She has a talent for

phrasing and writing in general. She also has the ability to combine all the team members’ ideas and

inputs into one cohesive thought.

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 13

The team values all of the members’ unique skills and personalities. We find each other important to our

overall goals.

Skills Required for Job Evaluation Assignment

• Technical

o Statistical: creating scattergram

o Computer formatting: typing up project, creating charts

• Interpersonal

o Leadership: directing team members and tasks

o Mediating: keeping the team working efficiently, helping to problem solve

o Harmonizing: keeping the peace between team members

o Problem-solving: assisting and directing decision making processes

• Task

o Delegation: assigning roles and tasks

o Time management: keeping team members on task and keeping track of goals

o Decision making: Evaluating the ideas generated by the team and helping come to

a conclusion

Future Roles of Team Members

Every team project needs members that focus on the physical completion of the assignment

and those that are responsible for managing the team’s effective functioning. In this team, Marty,

Betsy, and Sarah will be taking on more task-related roles whereas Olena and Shauna will be

taking on more maintenance related roles. All team members will be involved in evaluating every

step of the project and in leadership duties. The reason for dividing the main roles is so that we

have individuals that are responsible for creating a productive and respectful atmosphere as well

as those that will carry out tasks.

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 14

Olena and Shauna have tactful and warm personalities that will be important to

approaching issues in the group. Olena and Shauna will maintain a positive, problem-solving

atmosphere as their interests and personalities suggested they would be effective in this area. They

have both been integral to keeping the peace in our team so far and are interested in continuing to

play this important role in the next assignment. They will be in charge of responding to issues that

arise in the group whether they are related to the task or to individual personalities. They will assist

in problem solving and in conflict resolution.

Betsy, Marty, and Sarah will be taking on roles related to the technical aspects of the

assignment. Betsy is talented at organizing team meetings, and is proficient in running meetings.

She will be in charge of monitoring minute taking and assigning a chairperson and minute taker

for each meeting. She has designed an agenda and minutes format, which we will use for our

assignment. Marty is good at bringing interesting ideas to the table. He will be in charge of any

research that is needed and generating discussion amongst the group. He will be the lead on

discussing any changes that should be made to the evaluation tool. Sarah will be in charge of

computer work. She will be responsible for generating the scattergram and related materials. This

is because Sarah has experience with computer software that may be helpful in completing this

aspect of the project. As mentioned previously, all members will contribute to every aspect of the

project and will be responsible for maintaining order in the group. The delegation of roles is only

to allow us to function more efficiently if time is of the essence. The roles that we are each assigned

means that we are more responsible than other team members are for carrying out those tasks; it

does not mean that the other team members should not contribute to or support the completion of

those tasks or roles.

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 15

References

Falikowski, A. (2007). Mastering human relations (4th ed.). Toronto, ON, Canada: Pearson Prentice

HAll.

Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behaviour Concepts, controversies,

applications (6th ed.). Don Mills, ON: Pearson Canada.

BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 16

Appendix A

Machiavellian Self-Monitor Risk-Taker

Type A
BOMSS (Langton, (Langton, (Langton,
Team Members Robbins & Judge, Robbins & Robbins &
(Langton, Robbins
2013) Judge, 2013) Judge, 2013)
& Judge, 2013)
Betsy Ledger 23 46 6.25 120

Olena McCuaig 16 50 6.00 135

Marty Johnston 21 48 4.00 114

Sarah Schoales 17 48 6.00 93

Shauna Mooney 24 56 5.50 96

Are you a
What Primary Conflict-Handling Style Self-
Motivates (Langton, Robbins & Judge, 2013) Manager?
BOMSS You?
Team Members (Langton,
(Langton,
Robbins & Robbins &
Judge, 2013) Judge, 2013)
Problem-solving (16), Forcing (14) &
Betsy Ledger Achievement Compromising (14) 72
(20)
Achievement Compromising (17), Yielding (14) &
Olena McCuaig (20) Problem-Solving(14) 106

Forcing (18) , Problem-Solving (17) &

Marty Johnston Affiliation Compromising (12) 73
(23)
Problem-solving (17), Yielding (15) &
Sarah Schoales Achievement Avoiding (13) 98
(24)
Compromising (17) & Problem-Solving
Shauna Mooney Achievement (17) & Avoiding (15) 94
(23)
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 17

BOMSS
Team Members
Decision-Making Style How Defensive am I?
(Langton, Robbins & Judge, 2013) (Falikowski, 2007)
Betsy Ledger 2.50
Sensation & Thinking Rarely Defensive
Marty Johnston 3.13
Intuition & Feeling Occasionally Defensive
Olena McCuaig 3.50
Sensation & Feeling Occasionally Defensive
Sarah Schoales 2.82
Sensation & Feeling Rarely Defensive
Shauna Mooney 4.00
Intuition & Feeling Strong Defensive Tendencies
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 18

Appendix B

Timeline

Week One (October 28th-November 1st)

o Review team rules and roles

o Rate each job on degree points
o Enter total job points for each job on chart
o Keep notes of discussions on each job
o Record minutes for each meeting

Week Two (November 4th-8th)

o Compare our ratings to current salaries

o Prepare scattergram
o Discuss recommendations for salary and policy changes
o Evaluate where we are according to timeline and discuss any need to adjust goals or deadlines
o Record minutes for each meeting

Week Three (November 11th-15th)

o Critique the Evaluation Tool

o Recommend changes for improvement of the Evaluation Tool
o Have first draft of project done by November 13, 2013
o Have final edited draft of project done by November 15, 2013
o Record minutes for each meeting

Week Four (November 18th-22nd)

o Hand in project on November 18, 2013

o Adjourn HR 510 Team
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 19

Appendix C

BOMSS Agenda Format

Date: Time: Place:

1. Appointment of Chairperson

2. Appointment of Recorder

3. Acceptance of Agenda

4. Review of Previous Minutes

5. Business Arising from Previous Minutes

6. New Business

7. Other Business

8. Next Meeting

9. Meeting Adjournment
BOMSS TEAM CHARTER 20

Appendix D

BOMSS Meeting Minutes Format

Date: Time: Place:

Present:

1.0 Review of Previous Minutes

2.0 Business Arising from Previous Minutes

3.0 NEW BUSINESS

4.0 Adjournment