Research papaer

Review the information in the lecture that presents Mining Group Gold as a method for facilitating meetings. Then, after you have studied and reviewed this information, answer the following questions in a two- to three-page paper. Your paper should use APA style.
Describe and explain the five basics for Mining Group Gold. (6 points)
Describe and explain the roles of the primary and secondary facilitator. Why is it important to switch hats when in one of these roles? (6 points)
Describe and explain what is meant by safe-guarding and gate opening.
How do both ideas empower all members of a group? (6 points)
What are the steps to dealing with emotions during a session or meeting? (6 points)
Describe and explain how you believe the Mining Group Gold process will improve teamwork, empowerment, and effective communication. (6 points)
Include APA style in-text citations as well as a reference section.

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Today, more than ever, organizations ‘are built around people working
collaboratively with one another }n teams. The continued impetus is for
the establishment of synergies between team members that can
accomplish tasks that are in keeping with an organization’s strategi

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. initiatives and vision. How are talented people working in groups (some,
for the very first time with a new gn;mp of people) formed into high-
performance teams? Along with this question is the issue of the ad-hoc

, work groups that are placed together to accomplish very specific tasks in
a short amount of time.
Additionally, there are the required departmental level meetings that are
called on some regular basis, either weekly, every two-weeks, or
monthly. The expectation IS that such meetings are necessary-and-

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therefore required. And yet, some people consider such teams to be a
“,(aste of time, money, and resources.

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The -Mining Group Gold process is a team process and meeting management process whose sole
purpose is to leverage the combined wisdom, experience, and ideas of everyone on the team in order
to cash in on this wisdom to improve the overall meeting process and to improve the decisions of the
organizational unit.

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Kayser (1995) developed and perfected a method for teams or groups of individuals to maximize and
capitalize on their collective effort in a decision meeting venue. Kayser’s steps to

Mining Group Gold

are to (a) establish a purpose for the meeting; (b) set the outcomes that the group wishes to achieve
from the meeting; (c) assign the roles of facilitator, scribe, and timekeeper: (d) set an agenda for the
meeting; and (e) perform periodic time checks during the session to keep the group on track and on
task. The connection between the Bikhchandani et al. model of observational learning and Kayser’s
Mining Group Gold process is that significant behavioral observation and reflection are taking place.
The focus is more on the process dynamics that a group uses to reach a consensus rather than on the
outcomes directly (Kayser, 1995).

Brandt (2001) r-eported that teamwor-k assists with understanding in an organizational unit. The author-
suggests that by fostering an environment of collaboration, managers will be able to positively impact
the outcomes of the groups. The appreciation, or understanding, of conflict in a group setting can be
made to work for the process rather-than against it. Brandt-further states that teamwork is imperative
with regards to enhancing decision-making and improving communication (Brandt, 2001, p. 32).
Brandt additionally posits that it is important to examine the behaviors of the members of the team.
The author suggests breakinq down the process into the elements of antecedent conditions, perceived
conflicts, felt conflict, and manifest behavior (Brandt, 2001, p. 34). Kayser (1995) suggests in Mining
Group Gold a methodology for dealing with feelings in a group setting. Brandt states that effective
problem solving is only possible when feelings are kept under control, Brandt concludes her article by
suggesting five ways to handle conflict in a group setting. They are collaboration, accommodation,
avoidance, competition, and compromise (Brandt, 2001, p. 35).

The following summarizes the key points of the Mining Group Gold meeting process.

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Mining Group Gold

The five basic steps for Mining Group Gold

1. Determine the purpose of the session or meeting.

2. Determine the desired outcomes of the session or meeting.

3. Assign the roles of facilitator, scribe, and timekeeper.

4. Set the agenda.

5. Establish the time allocation for each item on the agenda.
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*Remem/;)er. Mining Group Gold is a process. It is effective for all types of sessions or meetings.

Other ideas and concepts to consider:

.}. 1. The roles of primary and secondary facilitator

2. The idea of switching hats when you are the facilitator

3. The agenda check

*To create an open and collaborative climate or environment, team leaders or facilitators should be
objective: Everyone should practice safe-guarding and gate-opening.

*When dealing with emotions, use the sub-process of”feellngs..:facts-‘solutions~”·It is also suggested
that all members of the group take a moment of silence to relax. During this time, everyone writes
down their feelings in order to express them later. Then, the primary facilitator asks everyone in the
group to read what they wrote. From this information, additional and pertinent information is mined,
and then a path forward to solve the problem can be determined and implemented.

Leadership Styles

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Managers provide a great deal of influence on the success
of a company. In addition to developing and communicating
their vision for the organization, managers nurture the
culture of an organization. This culture is commonly called
the organizational or corporate culture and is defined as a
company’s shared values and sense of unity about
achievinq corporate goals. Good leaders create a positive

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\\environment, one that motivates employees and encourages
self-motivation. It is possible to be an effective manager and
not be a good leader. The best leaders, however, practice a style that fits a situation at hand.
Situational management utilizes the following leadership styles.

• -Autoc-f’atic -leadership – maktng managerial decisions without consulting others
• Participative leadership – involving employees with managers in the decision making process
• Free-rein leadership – setting objectives for which employees are free to do whatever is

appropriate to accomplish those objectives

Contemporary management practices seek to allow employees to make their own decisions
independently. The result is decision making that is timely and closest to the ultimate customer. This
I?ractice is called empowerment. Empowerment changes the role of the manager, making it less of a
director and more of a coach. For empowerment to be successful, managers need to enable
employees with training and education to be able to make the right decisions.

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Manufacturing

Satisfying customer needs depends on making products as
.,. a result of manual labor or from machines. Often, the scope

of what is being produced is large, and machines are used
to automate the assembly process. To make or process
products, especially by a large-scale industrial operation, is
called manufacturing. Throughout history, manufacturing
accounted for a majority of the gross domestic product of
this country. The economy of the U.S. shifted from being
manufacturing based to a service economy, with the service

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sector aocounting for approximately 70% of the U.S. GDP.

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Manufacturing has evolved into designing machines that can essentially multitask in order to-turn out-a
variety of products. This is called flexible manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is an effort to produce
more with fewer resources-less human resources, fewer materials, less tools and equipment, and
less space. Mass customization is an effort to make products that satisfy individual customer needs.

Production

Previously, manufacturing accounted for a majority of the
United States’ gross domestic product. In that case,
production and manufacturing were used interchangeably.
Knowledge, labor, land, entrepreneurship, and capital are
used to create finished goods and services. Professional
managers that assist with such activities are practicing
production management. The production process takes the

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factors of production (or inputs) and creates goods, services,
and ideas (or outputs). The production process adds value
through the production control function.

Steps in the production control function

Planning -> Routing -> Scheduling -> Dispatching -> FOllow-up

Manufacturers use different production processes to produce goods. Process manutaetunnq- is-a-
production process that actually changes the nature of the material. The assembly process conjoins
components in such a fashion that a product is built. Production processes are either intermittent or
continuous. Continuous production processes turn out finished goods over time. intermittent
production processes use short runs of production to meet specific customer needs and are used to
make a variety of different products.

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Modem production techniques include using computers in the design and manufacturing of products.
Computer-aided design (CAD) allows designs to be drafted in three dimensions. This removes some
of the manual process in the traditional design. Using computers directly in the manufacturing process
is computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Software that merges CAD and CAM is called computer-

l integrated manufacturing (CIM).

Operations Management Back to Top

Operations management is a special area within
management. It includes such activities as scheduling,
quality assurance, and a control function. Operations
management planning seeks to solve the problems of
manufacturing and the service sector through these
activities. It also works on issues of facility planning like the
facility location and layout. Ideal facility location conditions
favor proximity to production natural resources,
transportation, and customers. Operations management
uses automation and computers to gain productivity.
-Materials-requirement planning, or-MRP, forecasts in the process ofp1anning inventory amounts and
replenishment times for component parts that feed the production process. A form of inventory
management that attempts to limit the need to carry inventory, ordering a limited amount of component
parts for a production process, is just-m-timelnventory control. Enterprise resource planning, orERP,
is an improvement of MRP that automates all processes of the company, such as accounting or
finance and human resources.

Quality Back to Top

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Delivering products and services that meet and often exceed
the requirements of customers is quality management. Quality
in a production process means producing products and
services that meet the standards with each and every
production lot. Past procedures to manage quality focused on
inspecting the final product. Experience has demonstrated that
managing the production process results in greater quality
outcomes. Six sigma is a quality control process that seeks to
reduce errors to no more than 3.4 defects per one million
instances. Statistical quality control monitors all aspects of the
production process. Statistical process control tests statistical
samples of a product at various waypoints during the
production process. The International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) is a conglomerate of national standards that companies work to uphold through
an annual certification process. ISO certification requires developing a quality process and meeting the
‘standard set forth by it. ISO 9000 addresses assurance standards and quality management.
ISO 14000 is used for assessing and improving a company’s environmental impact. Companies that
implement quality management practices model the criteria set for the Malcolm 8aldrige National
-Quality Award. This award recognizes organizations that demonstrate quality in business resufts,
human resources, leadership, customer focus, strategic planning, and process management, to name

“, a few.

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·Operations management strives·to deliver products on time, according to specifications, .andon
budget. A couple of programs used to maintain control of the production process are the program
evaluation and review technique, known as PERT and the Gantt chart. PERT analyzes tasks and their
sequencing as wetl as the tnne for each task io identify the crtttcat patn or the tonqest iime to complete
the sequence of tasks. A critical path is important to measure where delays in a production process
can cause a project to become behind schedule. Gantt charts are bar charts that display which
projects are in production and what stages they are in at any given time.

The following are examples of a Gantt and a PERT chart.

Click on image
to enlarge

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UneA

(Assembty)

UnoB
(P,ainting)

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Click on image
to enlarge

PERTCH

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Motivat~on Back to Top

.). Management, operations, and the delivery of quality products depend on people. Recognizing the
value of employee contributions is the sign of an excellent organization. Feeling valued and
appreciated can be very motivating, and motivated employees are inspired to perform. Motivation is a
call to action or an inducement to act. It comes either from within, which is intrinsic motivation, or as a
result of external stimulus, which is extrinsic motivation. Understanding motivation can be very
powerful for successful management of an organization. A simple thank you can inspire a sense of
value and appreciation in an employee. Open communication can also be very inspiring to employees.
More formal strategies to inspire motivation are job enrichment, wherein the characteristics of a job, or
the work itself, are emphasized. Job enlargement combines tasks to make work more interesting.
Job rotation is the process of rotating employees between various jobs.,

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iil101lvattonaitheory originated from Frederick Taylor. Taylor is considered to be the father of scientific
management. Scientific management focused on gaining efficiency by evaluating the tasks associated
with completing work and trying to improve technique. Behavioral management theorists, beginning
with Elton Mayo, who learned from the Hawthorne studies that a Hawthorne effect could result when
employees feel part of something or a sense of purpose, eventually overshadowed scientific
management. Behavioral management theory takes into consideration the human relations aspect of
accomplishing work and motivation. Popular behavior management theories include Abraham
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which states that people are motivated to satisfy unfulfilled needs. These
needs range from physiological needs to safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs.
Frederick Herzberg presented a two-factor theory that includes motivators that lead to satisfaction and
hygiene factors that relate to the job environment. They do not necessarily motivate employees but
can cause dissatisfaction if missing. Douglas McGregor presented Theory X and Theory Y, which have
opposing views regarding how people view work. Theory X is built on the premise that people dislike
work, which gives rise to an autocratic management style. Theory Y suggests that people like work,
which lends itself to a democratic management style and empowerment. William Ouchi blends Theory
X and Theory Y by adding lifetime employment and consensual decision making to the ideals of
Theory X and Theory Y with his Japanese approach, Theory Z.

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Additional theories of motivation that shape the modern practice of empowerment were derived from
the expectation that good performance is rewarded, or effort results in an outcome which describes the

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expectancy theory. The equity theory involves maintaining fairness, or a balance of inputs and outputs.
The goal setting theory establishes aggressive goals that are attainable to motivate employees.
Management by objectives seeks to discuss goals with employees and to evaluate progress toward
established goals. Finally, reinforcement theory sends positive and negative reinforcement to motivate
good performance and discourage poor performance.

Keierences

Bikhchandani, S., Hirshleifer, D., & Welch, I. (1998). Learning from the behavior of others: Conformity,
fads, and informational cascades. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(3), 151-170.

Brandt, M. A. (2001). How to make conflict work for you. Nursing Management, 32(11), 32-35.

Kayser, T. A. (1995). Mining group gold: How to cash in on the collaborative brain power of a group
(2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hili.

Nickels, W. G., McHugh, J. M., & McHugh, S. M. (2013). Understanding business (10th ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hillllrwin.

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‘Sarvis, R: J: (2004). The impact of the decision theatre method of learning on orientation courses for
freshmen students attending Our Lady of the Lake University (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved
from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (AAT 3131370)

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