Life, Love And Struggle: A Review Of The Movie 20th Century Women And Factors That Affect Employee Motivation, Teamwork, Leadership, And Conflict Resolution

Week 1 Activity: Perception

I have watched many movies recently but the one which I have liked the most is the 20th Century Women because I love drama movies. This movie is about a teenage boy, his mother and two women who took part in raising him among the freedom and love of South California in 1979. This fascinating movie is all about life, love, and struggles of a single mother as she raises a son during the end of the 1970’s. The movie highlights the clash between the needs of a teenage boy in a path of self-discovery and the ignorance of a free spirit. The family is living in a household which is shared by three people who have the same beliefs and ideologies, this is because they help each other pay the rent. The mother tries to develop bonds that he cannot deal with because to her she cannot cope with her son’s inability to express himself and she finally decides to seek help from her female friends so that together they can share the responsibility of raising him. Time flies and their lives take different turns but ultimately they live without serious aftermath.

My friend did not like the movie because they said it was emotional and to some point sad. According to her, the movie lacked a big event and personal crises failed to happen. Essentially, she said that the movie takes a while to be understood because it makes use of nostalgia.

Very many factors determine whether or not employees are motivated by their employers and whether or not a workplace is favorable for the employees. Many things tend to be common when it comes to best places to work and the best employers in terms of employee motivation. The companies listed on the website had a concrete administration which proved to be very effective in the implementation of different methods to improve the employee’s dedication to their work. Most of them gave their employees the chance to make decisions.

What is interesting to note is that these companies also invested I learning programs for their employees so as to improve their skills and give them a sense of satisfaction. The companies also motivated the employees by paying them fairly while maintaining a close-knit environment so as to maintain the employee’s self-confidence. Mars’s employees are given benefit in terms of healthcare for them and their families. Lastly, most of the companies mentioned foster creativity and innovation while being dedicated to the employee’s feedback and essentially this ensures that the employees are motivated (Lazaroiu, 2015).

1. Hackman has discovered that working in small teams, responsibilities per group and assertive leadership are elements which ensure the success of teamwork. Essentially, teams should be small so as to ensure that organization and coordination are maximized because small teams see to it that team members can easily understand the scope of individual tasks. Assertive leadership, on the other hand, directs others to be vigil of the group’s perfection in terms of the work assigned. Lastly, group responsibilities ensure that work is made easier through the division of responsibilities and duties. I believe that these elements are critical in terms of the effectiveness of team performance (Witte & Davis, 2013).

Week 2: Motivation

2. Adaptability, communication, responsibility, commitment, good relationship with members of the team and trust are the necessary elements which ensure the effectiveness of teamwork. What is important is that every member of the team has to have an in-depth knowledge of the other members’ tasks (Witte & Davis, 2013).  Communication is also essential because any crucial update can be communicated and therefore confidence can be built.

3. If I am in charge of new hires assigned to work on the development of an international market campaign, my major focus is my goal of ensuring that the task is completed without a hitch and with perfection. I will first ensure that each member has an assigned task then later focus on the planning and scheduling on the completion of the task (Witte & Davis, 2013). The other important thing is a regular meeting with the members where I share the progress and give feedback.

Trait leadership theory has its assumption that leaders are born and because of this belief, those with correct traits and qualities are more suited to lead. This theory many times find common characteristics in behaviors which are common in leaders. Behavior theory of leadership has its focus on the study of leader’s specific behaviors. According to this theory, the leader’s behavior is what correctly predict the influences he will have as a leader because the behavior is the only way to successfully determine the success of his or her leadership.

Based on analysis by Bryman (203), it has been known that the necessities of an organization most of the time make a replication of the reality that good leadership is very important to each and every type of an organization (Bryman, 2013). In a study by Camm (2013), it was concluded that leadership considered imperfect always encounter many problems where good leadership encourage frictionless performance, general efficiency in an organization’s presentation and lastly motivated workforce all of which ensure that factors within an organization are not altered.  According to Camm, leadership has its foundation based on the organizational market needs and nature. One example is that a leader of a given organization can develop better results in a given company but might not be good for other brands. This might happen due to different reasons including styles of work and approaches to the culture of the organization (Camm, 2013).

1. If I will be in Samantha Park’s shoes, I will ensure that I really engage myself in the process of decision-making which is related to a project which is by nature complex and holding a high priority. The other projects which have low priority will have to be delegated so as to ensure effective time management so as to ensure that come what may, both projects get completed in good time with precision.

2. Park interferes with and controls the project so as to assure effectiveness and efficiency in terms of the project’s completion. This is done from time to time where the manager’s continuous involvement makes the employees feel disturbed and underestimated. This can be solved by assigning work to employees based on their expertise.

Week 3 Activity: Group Behavior and Team at Work

3. For the sake of overseeing the project, the executive should not control and monitor the project by being forceful. Park mentions that she monitors and controls the project so as to ensure efficiency in completion of the project which the company has taken up so that the company’s reputation can be enhanced and strengthened.

4. The management of the company should not delegate the tasks and responsibilities which are closely linked to the organization’s management. What must not also be delegated is the power of individually developing a team because of their incapability in effective resource allocation.

1. I ensured sufficient discussions of issues I considered to bring about contention at any workgroup which focuses on the future while seeking to resolve conflict and not looking for someone to lay a blame on. Essentially, communication has a major role in group work.

2. Communication ensures that parties in conflict make it out of the conflict with a win-win situation. Compromise is used to speak to each involved party so that a clear picture can be observed. If effective communication is implemented, a win-win situation is achieved.

3. I had a big fight with my older sibling and we did not communicate with each other and instead focused on trying to find mistakes so that we could let our parents know. When my parents knew, she was scolded and things went to a whole new level and we did not speak for almost a year.

1. Sustainable innovations deal with bringing together products, practices, concepts, and ideas which ultimately bring about contribution to economic viability and cohesion at a social level (Greer & Bendersky, 2013). Sustainable innovations which have affected me over the past year include:

A. Auto payment at Melbourne highway is an innovative payment method which I have interacted with when I owned a car. What a user needs is an online bank account and he or she is charged when passing over the highway and the money is automatically deducted.

B. iPhone 6 is a product developed by Apple Inc. since its introduction to the market, I have been a big fan and I bought this latest update this year.

C. Blue-Gen is a company which aims to provide people with clean energy which is much cheaper than geothermal energy and is friendlier to the environment.

2. Disruptive innovation is involved with the utilization of innovation which is driven by growth in both small and large companies (Benn, Dunphy & Griffiths, 2014).

A. The entry of Uber as a transport service provider has completely revolutionized the entire transport system. I have used Uber many times and I believe it is very convenient because it utilizes the internet and GPS.

B. E-learning has been introduced by many universities. As for me, I have had experience with e-learning and I believe that it ensures an individual can manage his activities while also learning.

C. Music Combat Discs are innovations which ensure that I can listen and playback favorite music anywhere and anytime.

From my understanding as I went through organizational behaviors for the last eleven weeks, I have come to a conclusion that for an organization to succeed, an environment must be present. Regardless of gender, customs, religion, and culture, each and every employee has to follow a universal environment which brings together all employees in an organization so that the organization’s operations can be performed effectively and smoothly. An organization’s culture is basically used to manage employees and therefore it entails employee motivation, leadership styles, organization’s team attitude, and training and human resource management practices. An organization’s culture is different from one company to another because each company has different human resource practices and objectives. Human resource on its own individual sense makes decisions on the organization’s leadership styles to be adhered to by the leaders and later implemented so as to improve the welfare and development of employees (Alvesson, 2016).

Reference

Alvesson, M. (Ed.). (2016). Organizational culture. Sage.

Benn, S., Dunphy, D., & Griffiths, A. (2014). Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge.

Bryman, A. (Ed.). (2013). Leadership and organizations. Routledge.

Camm, T. W. (2013). Power and politics in organizations.

Greer, L., & Bendersky, C. (2013). Power and status in conflict and negotiation research: Introduction to the special issue. Negotiation and conflict management research, 6(4), 239-252.

Lazaroiu, G. (2015). Employee Motivation and Job Performance. Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations, 14, 97.

Witte, E. H., & Davis, J. H. (2013). Understanding Group Behavior: Volume 1: Consensual Action By Small Groups; Volume 2: Small Group Processes and Interpersonal Relations. Psychology Press.