I think Dutch's answer below, re avoiding ill-conceived firing of group
members, is so right on that it deserves to be repeated at least once. The
whole "bright star" thing is so relevant, even in non-firing situations!
>Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 11:03:08 -0600
>From: Dutch Driver <
ddriver@CS1.MCM.EDU>
>Subject: Re: firing a team member
>
>On Mon, 15 Dec 1997, Darryl Neher wrote:
>
>> Dick --
>
>> Some faculty members are considering implementing a similar "firing" policy
>> within the MBA curriculum. Ilike the concept but have two specific
>> concerns:
>>
>> (a) teams will fire a member without adaquate consideration of due
>> process. do you have specific guidelines in place to protect against such
>> knee-jerk actions?
>
>Might I suggest allowing each group to self-generate the criteria
>guidelines, the consequences of not meeting the criteria and how to
>interpret, evaluate, and apply the criteria to their own performances. I
>believe it would assist them in developing their judgment skills.
>
>> (b) in our MBA context it could benefit the brightest students to be fired.
>> many feel they could do the work without the baggage of those who just
>> don't grasp the ideas of finance, accounting, etc.... do you have
>> additional penalties in place to check against these types of cases (i.e.
>> grade penalty)?
>
>Here I would remind the "bright stars" that the task is one dimension of
>the assignment. The other dimension being the human element of group
>relations.
>
>While I lack the research to back this up, my conversations with quite a
>few "bright stars" indicates a fundamental lack of trust in the abilities
>of their group members to perform based upon their prior experiences in
>groups. Some of this goes all the way back to elementary and junior high
>and the "bright star" fails to incorporate the maturation process of the
>other members since then. I believe the social psychologists call this
>the fundamental attribution error.
>
>Anyway, the "bright star's" actions become self-fulfilling prophecies.
>They take on all the work because they don't trust their group, then the
>other members resent them and quit trying, so the "bright star" is
>justified in assuming responsibility because "no one else cares but me."
>
>I think this behavior may also be a misguided belief in perfectionism,
>which I try to discourage as counter-productive to groups.
>
>______________________
>Great Optimism,
>
>Dutch Driver
>Abilene, TX
>Hm. Telephone: 915.698.7217
>mailto:
ddriver@cs1.mcm.edu
Don Austin, Ph.D.
_____________________________________
Department of Organizational Behavior
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH 44106 (216) 932-8421
_____________________________________
Creating Appreciative Dialogue.
Researching how small groups
create valued organization.