One group that I am part of is the varsity football team here at Cornell. Even though it's totally a cop out for this to be an example of a group I'm in, I'm pressed for time and it applies to the model really well. :P
There are three parts to the Input-Output model: inputs, the interaction process, and outputs. The inputs portion is made up of three parts: the personnel, the tasks, and the tools and technology. As far as personnel goes, we are a pretty big group consisting of about 100 guys. We all share a history, especially the seniors who have been together for about 4 years now. Even the freshman share a history because they all played football in high school. They all learned the same set of rules and practiced the same set of strategies. Even though we all play football, we are all different in our own respects. There are many ethnic backgrounds on the football team, guys who have different hobbies, and we represent 48 out of the 50 United States. I don't care what you tell me, high schoolers that grew up in California are way different than high schoolers that grew up in South Carolina. One example of a production goal that we do is our annual phonathon. We make phone calls to alumni of Cornell and former football players and ask them to donate money to the program. It's very beneficial and we raise a lot of money. An example of a performance goal would be attaining a goal in the weight room. We lift 4 days out of the week so hopefully guys will squat and bench more as the off-season progresses. Speaking of weights, they could be considered the tools we use in order to get bigger faster and stronger.
As for the interaction process, communication occurs over many mediums for everyone part of the football program. The director of football operations emails us time changes for meetings or for lifts. We have face to face interaction at meetings, film sessions, and practice. We even recieve phone calls from our position coaches, but that's usually not a good thing because it means you've done something wrong like missed a meeting or a lift.
There are three questions that make up the output portion of the model. The first question is did we complete our task satisfactorily? Most people would say no this past season because we ended up with a losing season. I would say we did though because we upset the favorite to win the Ivy League, Yale, pretty handedly. Not only did we do that but we built a foundation that this years team can only grow off of. The second question is did everybody get what they needed? Hopefully everyone on the team would respond no to that question. We still want to be hungry to be atop the Ivy League. Complacency, especially in sports, is never good. The final question is can we work together again? I know that every member of the football team would do anything for a fellow teammate, so without question, we can work together again.
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Your post was well organized. You showed every part of Kraut's model and illustrated examples using your team. However, I would have liked to see more detail about co-location and proximity. What effects are there when team members are at practice or on the sidelines during a game as opposed to the effects there are when team members are separated? Also, you mentioned that your team is very diverse. What does each team member bring? Since the team members are from all over the country, how do the different styles blend together to form a cohesive team?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kyle that this is a really well organized post. I especially like how you answered the three questions of the output proportion model. Even though on the surface some people would argue if you reached your goals as a team or not, you do a very good job of making case for each one. I really liked how you broke down the different methods your team uses to stay connected and even specified which ones were preferred or avoided (i.e. the personal phone call) I think you really provided a comprehensive view of team communication.
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