511 Team Paper For this assignment, we are writing a paper about the 511 team .. I need 2 pages talks about their overall performance as a team ( their strength and weakness ) Please write this paper besad on my classmates 3 written parts + the audio for

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511 Team Paper

For this assignment, we are writing a paper about the 511 team .. I need 2 pages talks about their overall performance as a team ( their strength and weakness ) Please write this paper besad on my classmates 3 written parts + the audio for the actual interview we have conducted with them ( I will attache them ) Please take a close look at the written parts and the audio to write the paper .. I don’t need any outside sources ..

Team Design/Structure

5.11 is a fairly new company that is constantly evolving. The tactical design team has a simple yet very cohesive design structure. They have a great team dynamic but they weren’t chosen as a team initially. It started as a three person team and then two years ago upper management decided the hierarchy was too flat and brought in department managers. During this time an additional member was brought in from another location. In most teams the manager comes first but for 5.11 the manger was the last addition. Coming in last, Wendy (team manager) wanted to be a part of the team and not just a manager. She didn’t want to create conflict or change the way they were already doing things. As a team they talked about what was necessary for their success and made changes accordingly. Wendy’s management style has created a sense of loyalty, facilitates open communication, influenced higher moral and commitment amongst the team members.

Diversity amongst teams is important and necessary, but too much can cause problems. 5.11 is a growing company with client worldwide. They are fortunate to have both diversity in training and skills as well as personalities and demographics. These types of diversity can lead to functional and dysfunctional conflicts which can both be healthy to an extent. Each team member has a different specific skill set and have come from different places around the world. Having a diverse team when creating products they are able to have a wider range of ideas and views which helps them to prevent groupthink.

They are categorized as a self-managing or self-regulating team. They are primarily separate from the other departments. They are very autonomous and are responsible for managing how they will achieve their goals and meet deadlines. Although each individual has different expertise and strengths their work is very interdependent. When creating a garment they each work separately and once the item is complete they come together to critique and make sure it’s ready for the client. Their work is very tactical in nature but problem-solving and creativity both play important roles as well. For example, when they are asked by a client to create a hidden pocket or special buckle on a garment, creativity comes into play because the solutions aren’t always obvious. Alternately, they have to send the garments out to be put together and when the garments are returned, the team collectively and critically goes through it to assure it meets all specifications and functions as needed. If the garment doesn’t meet the standards they must put on their problem-solving hats to figure out how or what needs to be fixed and or adjusted.

5.11 is a very family oriented company and functions well internally. They spend lots of time together including holiday events. The team members come from different locations so they have become each other’s social network. They are a small and productive team but admit that have more hands would be beneficial to productivity. When it comes to recruitment, the design team takes it very seriously and makes it a collective effort. The work they do requires specific skills and recruiting is a major factor. Networking is a tool that the team uses faithfully because it allows them to find someone that would be a good fit for the team. They find that referencing someone they have previously worked with guarantees their skills, knowledge and abilities. In the recruitment process, Wendy prefers to make it group effort since all work so closely together.

Organizational Context

The 5.11 Tactical Series Technical Design Team is a team of individuals that work exclusively on the technical specifications of the products that 5.11 produces. The team’s members then divide the product lines into two sets of divisions, hard lines and apparel, and then divide those into subsections between each other so that a certain individual in the team works specifically on a certain product group. The team’s position in the larger picture of the organization is that they take a product design that has come down through the proper channels and creates a “blueprint,” or technical specifications, for the product and sends that to the manufacturer. After a manufacturer creates a prototype which is then returned to the technical design team to “tear it apart,” this means that they actually try to tear apart the product and look for faults in its design and try to rectify any that they may find. While in this process the team looks to verify the durability, the seams are stitched a proper way, and other quality control issues that may arise. This process ensures that their company is able to provide the best quality of products to the end consumers.

The technical design team has been a working progress for the last few years acquiring their latest member back in August of 2011. Their dependence upon each other though has been strong throughout. Speaking with them they shared with us about how their tasks makes and allows them to depend on each other for information and support even when it is out of their normal scope. For example they have certain individuals that work mainly on the women’s line of clothing that needs to depend on others that work on the men’s line as well as the outerwear and boots. Their dependence upon each other has strongly aided to their cohesion based upon the free flow of information from member to member and the strength and amount of communication that is needed in their daily tasks.

Each member on the team processes their own strengths that vary from the other members and that adds to the total strength of the team. As stated prior they depend heavily on each other’s strengths so that the overall goal of the team will be achieved and measured as a success for them and the company. Getting products from idea into development and finally to manufacturing is their ultimate goal of the team and the quicker this happens the better the measure of success for them. The team does depend highly on the collaboration of the unit and the company. Having collaboration and enthusiasm for the products and the goals of the company heavily aides into the teams overall success as well. The team also feels that they have benefited heavily from the pool of information and the bouncing of ideas off of each other. The collaboration levels for this team are viewed by all members at high levels and appreciated by them all as well.

Lives depend on the quality and the durability of their products. With that idea in mind the organization and the team align their goals mainly on the quality of the products that are distributed. As the team told us without the high quality of the products those products would not have a sustainable market, and without that the company’s profitability would then suffer. As far as the overall picture the team feels that they fit into the middle ground between the organization and the manufacturer. They are able to take the idea of the product that is approved of and designed as they play the go between roles to the manufacturer. They do this by developing the technical specifications that are needed by the manufacturers and also rechecking the quality of the finished product that is essential to the success of the organization.

The organization itself though allows this team to work very independently and fluidly. They feel that the autonomy and “all hands on deck” atmosphere there allow them to accomplish more. Yet their specialty also creates a buffer so that anyone who does share their skill sets would normally already be on their team because of the specificity, which then no one else in the organization could really be brought in and all new members would most likely be external or referral from prior experiences. The team also enjoys the family oriented and more coworker involved activities. Being all transplants into the Modesto area helped them create a bond between each other and which in turn helped strengthen their team dynamic.

Team Communication and Decision Making

After reviewing the team as a whole, it’s fairly evident that they are a team with a high emotional intelligence and cohesion amongst one another. Having to all share one big room and work in such close proximity to each other has created a very relaxed, comfortable, friendly and trusting atmosphere between the team. They’re in an environment with a lot of face to face communication, from yelling across the room at one another to ask questions, to peeking over their cubicles to have a conversation. This creates an adverse positive effect, since everyone can hear what’s being said across the room, they’re able to add input that normally would have been left unheard. This effect promotes a lot of collaboration among the team, and allows each member to use their specific strengths and resources to help one another.

This casual, comfortable, and open atmosphere that has become the culture and norm of the team, also translates into their meetings and the company as a whole. Meetings are only called when there’s a specific issue at hand, like implementing a new computer system, and the issues are more grey than they are black and white. The team or those involved are notified beforehand to allow time to prepare to discuss the proposed issue. The meetings themselves are very much an open forum, if someone has something to say they can say it. This holds true even when higher ups are in attendance, like the president or CEO. Being that the company isn’t necessarily run as a hierarchy adds to the collaborative atmosphere among the team. To avoid groupthink while discussing the issues at hand, they often play devil’s advocate with one another to foster new and creative ideas.

The ability to come up with new and creative solutions is imperative to the team, and the company as a whole. The decisions that the team makes affects entire timeline of the product, including the development and distribution of the garment. Depending on their decisions, time can either be added or taken away from the timeline. One of their goals as a team is to get their product commercialized and on the market as quickly and efficiently as possible as to meet customer demands. If the designs aren’t approved on time, deliveries to the customers are late, which inevitably lowers customers expectation of the company. It’s crucial for the team to make timely decisions and keep the ball rolling. As a team, they depend on each other to give feedback and be a pair of fresh eyes on a product to help ensure that deadlines are met.

If deadlines aren’t met, or a product is believed to be less than satisfactory, then the team doesn’t feel as if it has succeeded. Their goal and idea of success is to create a great technical package that they can send off to their factories and communicate clearly to them what it’s supposed to be. If they don’t accomplish this, they evaluate where they went wrong through problem solving and figuring out how to better communicate with the various factories.

With that being said, they do have performance appraisals as a team. They begin by doing their own personal self evaluations, to which they turn into their manager. Their manager proceeds to do their own appraisals of the team, which they then pass off to their manager. From there they are all evaluated and the feedback trickles back down to the team. Although their performance is appraised amongst themselves and the managers, the team does not currently provide performance appraisal feedback on one another. The team is lucky to receive as much feedback as they do on their performance, as many departments and teams in the company still don’t have any performance appraisals at all.

Overall, this particular team within 5.11 has a great sense of team cohesion and emotional intelligence. Their close proximity and culture brings about an atmosphere of trust, comfort, openness, and collaboration among one another that allows them to be enthusiastic and excited about their work.