Organizational Learning Theory And Activities Assessment Answer

of task conflict. It makes clear that an open environment that can make space for varied decisions can be extremely helpful for obtaining best task results. The third paper (Giebels et al., 2016) highlights on the attainable benefits of task conflicts and brings into the picture employee personality and work context for analyzing the depth of innovation within the team. The paper opens with the argument that every organization should consider the emerging global contexts and are bound to incorporate structural changes for gaining better team production. Organizations are responsible for insinuating the best change within an employee that would generate better workflow and productivity. Proactive personality that the paper argues about is an essential component that can give rise to innovative behavior within an employee by striving to establish a link between proactive personalities and inventive behavior and interpersonal conflict. The three papers cited are interwoven to provide a conceptual idea of task conflict and its effect on team performance, the variables and conditions that can influence task conflict, environment under which it can nurture it. The third paper is equally resourceful in providing the individual requirements and elements that would finally act as a catalyst for the organizations to make the best out of task conflict and implement inventive decisions into managerial sector.  The essay would provide with the summary of each paper cited for review followed by a critical analysis and recommendation for organizations as deduced from the three papers

Article summary

The article (Kostopoulos & Bozionelos, 2011) highlights the inadequate research in the domain of organizational learning theory and mentions the significance of exploratory learning that is tremendously useful in enhancing knowledge and potential. The paper also provides the subtle relationship between exploratory and exploitative learning which is essential in understanding team-level performance. Any reader would be benefitted by the wealth of information provided in the conceptual framework of exploratory and exploitative learning and with the help of empirical evidence that both exploratory and exploitative learning activities can consequent in help in learning new skills and better accomplishment of team tasks. The paper provides a deep analysis on the relationship between both the activities and its relevance in team work. Role of psychological safety and effectiveness in exploitative team learning is lucidly stated. Some of the theories like intragroup conflicts, its role in psychological balance and team learning. With the help of charts and tables the study shows that working condition or climate and organizational level supportiveness has a fundamental role to play in both types of learning activities. From the stated tables and analysis it can be easily predicted that task conflict has an impact on team effectiveness which it influences through relationship conflict and agreement-seeking behavior. In the discussion sector the concept that both these types of learning activities can facilitate better performance of the team has been enumerated.

The second paper with the usage of data and charts demonstrated the particular way in which each members, both from majority and minority, perceive conflicts within team.  In a positively skewed task the minority members are less likely to make their views and opinions apparent infront of the dominating members who do not perceive their concerns in a serious manner. It categorizes skewed tasks in different rates like highly negative, moderately positive and the involvement of minority and majority members with their viewpoints. The conflict rate of minority members are also provided in a clear order for complete understanding. One can firmly arrive to the conclusion that task conflict can only be effective when there is the scope of reflective communication within the team. The minority members have the potential to increase the opportunity of reflective communication within the team that can influence on the overall team performance. The paper provides a new insight on the factors that influence task conflict and team effectiveness, one of the dominant factors being  skewed  task. Furthermore, with the help of qualitative data it shows that proactive workers make the best output of task conflict whereas the lesser proactive members are not encouraging of varying opinions or views on a situation.

It is a lucid commentary on understanding how proactive behavior can be used actively to deal with stressful  and challenging situations in work. If a reader wants to analyze how a proactive member can influence the realm of task the paper provides a thorough analysis on proactive behavior and innovation. In the process of innovative and out of the box decisions an individual’s proactive behavior should in no way become suppressed and rather be allowed to make the best advantage of task conflict. the third paper is a an extensive study on one of the essential factor of task conflict which is individual participation and their proactive nature in encouraging such an atmosphere within the environment. Research on the variants of task conflict is rare and therefore this paper can be used as a powerful reference the dynamics through which proactive behavior could be influenced in an individual. Apart from providing an interesting paragraph on the connection of proactive personalities and innovative behavior  that elaborates on the positive effects of idea generation and useful implementation within the team. The research study completes the understanding of task conflict analysis and its role in enhancing team effectiveness which can be prospered in the team with the help of reflective communication. Moreover, if a reader wants to know about the dynamics of interpersonal conflict within a team, the paper provides a positive relationship in between proactive personalities and interpersonal conflict. the amalgamation of different perspectives that is an important element of team conflict can only be expected when an individual within an organization is being permitted to nurture his/her  proactive behavior. Next, the article provides a paragraph on conflict and innovation which enriches readers’ understanding of the entire concept of team involvement, task conflict and  its power to bring in innovation within the team. Team proactive and task conflict are intricately intertwined and it therefore connects with the first paper in stating that psychological safety has increase in the activeness of the team members to participate in demanding tasks and provide their best potential into it. Proactive environment therefore can be deduced to compliment the growth of variation, experimentation, discovery, flexibility of opinions which will enhance team effectiveness and output. The third paper also supports the argument present in the first paper that teams are at its very core knowledge creation units and therefore should serve as the foundation for the flow of ideas.  The section of job autonomy also makes it clear that the degree of involvement that an individual feels towards his job is a determinant of proactive behavior.  Job autonomy has the power to increase individual’s proactive nature and their potential to bring in the best to the tea

Analysis

The paper (Kostopoulos and Bozionelos, 2011)  in a coherent manner gives rise to a number of inferences like a team  can incorporate both exploitative and exploratory learning without sacrificing one of the other. Such a collaboration would result in more team productivity which will make room for mutual trust and harmonious relation. The paper drives home three crucial points like the environment has a role to play in influencing both the kinds of activities, therefore the concept of increased creativity and psychological safety, where a person in indulges in risky activity in a team is apparent. It can be safely inferred from an in-depth reading of the paper that if a member within a team is not bothered of imposing criticism and degradation of self-image, the person can engage more in exploitative and exploratory learning. The comprehensibility of the entire paper along with its support of the claims made are truly appreciable and can be consulted during further research in this arena.  The second paper (Sinha, et al., 2016) analyses that task conflict skewness and reflective communication have a positive connection with performance. If a reader wants to gain an in-depth analysis of magnitude of team conflict within a team this paper provides a very comprehensible analysis. Organizations can learn from the results that this paper demonstrates regarding level of skewness and its impact on team engagement. The practical implications stated in the third paper (Giebels et al., 2016) regarding the room for proactive behavior for purpose of change and effectiveness can be extremely relevant in the field of studying organization behavior and its major impact on individuals. The paper completes the inadequate study that has been carried forth in the domain of organizational behavior  and can be extremely helpful to understand  a very different aspect of task conflict and its impact. In the views of Giebels et al., (2016) it is explicit stating that without proactive team behavior  it cannot progress neither can work with the incorporation of creative ideas.

Recommendations:

A number of recommendations can be made for business organizations for instance the proliferation of environment that can prosper an effective exploratory and exploitative learning environment. Intragroup trust results in a harmonious relationship amongst the group members that allows for better sharing of ideas and perspectives from which an organization can benefit. However if the organization wants to benefit from multiple perspectives task conflict is the route which also paved the way for  psychological safety where team members will not be reluctant to participate in conflicting scenarios. Since task conflict is positively related to relationship conflict, organizations can benefit from better decisions and alternative policies. The team members would however need to accept the culture supporting reflective communication amongst the various team members that would make fruitful the application of task conflict within the team. Apart from the fact that business organizations should learn to make the best usage of proactive behavior it should also assure for a work environment that can flourish such behavior within an organization. It should understand that before a task conflict can take place and result in innovation, proactive behavior is the primary force that can help an individual in taking up the challenge. In this respect, the proactive nature should be made to sustain amidst other team members and team members should never be cornered or made aloof by the virtue of their proactive quality.

Conclusion:

The main findings from the above discussions are that task conflict has a positive relationship with psychological safety and which can be further advanced with the help of proactive individual behavior. It can be asserted that organizations should always ensure an atmosphere that would allow for an easy exchange of alternative ideas and opinions.  Essay limitations: lack of time to verify the findings with the help of qualitative data and fund for achieving the same are some of the limitations in writing the essay.

References:

Giebels, E., de Reuver, R. S., Rispens, S., & Ufkes, E. G. (2016). The critical roles of task conflict and job autonomy in the relationship between proactive personalities and innovative employee behavior. The Journal of applied behavioral science, 52(3), 320-341.

Kostopoulos, K. C., & Bozionelos, N. (2011). Team exploratory and exploitative learning: Psychological safety, task conflict, and team performance. Group & Organization Management, 36(3), 385-415.

Sinha, R., Janardhanan, N. S., Greer, L. L., Conlon, D. E., & Edwards, J. R. (2016). Skewed task conflicts in teams: What happens when a few members see more conflict than the rest?. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(7), 1045.