Following this week’s Collaboration Center discussions, I gained a little better insight into my own topic per peer and professor feedback. One thing that I was certain about, was that I wasn’t about to switch topics. At least not as of this week. Actually, I feel a little more confident about my topic: Maximizing team dynamics.
What exactly does this mean? I spent at least two hours exploring keywords and categories to get a better understanding of what comprised of “team dynamics” from past research and experience (combined). Such insights also helped to address Clark’s set of questions in Chapter 3, as follows:
1. What is already known about this topic?
Topic: Team Dynamics. I addressed this question by first outlining any or all keywords and placing each into categories (Thesis Word List). This enabled me to frame my topic a little better insight to determine what I could expand upon. One peer’s reaction to my topic was, “This seems to be leaning more toward sociology than it is design.” I would completely agree, however allow me to frame my topic within its context, as addressed in the next set of questions…
2. What would someone in the field like to investigate further?
In the field of graphic design, team dynamics is an essential component for the sake of feedback, stimulation, expansion, sharing of knowledge and the potential to discover innovative solutions. Let’s face it, without one another, we are left creating similar results over and over – perhaps, without ever realizing it for ourselves. Another aspect of team dynamics in the field of sociology is that graphic designers are not trained to deal with internal, social dysfunction. While we are often analyzing external factors of social, cultural and communicative components, we often overlook our own internal deficiencies. However, we damn well complain about these to the point of exhaustion or changing career paths. The cliché has been placed before us: artists and designers aren’t always easy to “get along with.” Why is that?
Team dynamics applies to just about any and every professional field as well. My focus, however, is to dissect what makes team dynamics successful within a creative, graphic design (thinking) team. On the surface, I’m wanting to explore more into the personalities that make up a creative persona. Equally so, how these personalities need to coexist amongst personas of an opposite caliber – primarily, management lacking a creative background, facilitators that are power-hungry or over-competitive colleagues that risk everything to fulfill their own agenda. These personas could be considered more problematic than the “misunderstood artist.”
3. What question can I ask that will lead me to find out more about this topic?
Intangible components, such as: learning styles, valuing or interpreting information, personality traits, experience, open-mindedness and willingness to collaborate; are rarely tracked during the process of collaboration. Wanting to know more about these components inspires me to find out how each can build successful, functional team dynamics.
Another way to look at it is, because others agree that they experience successful collaboration within a team, doesn’t exactly mean that they know why each individual is successful. The same could be said for dysfunctional dynamics. How are functional or dysfunctional team dynamics proven? What good would become of finding a means of restricting or minimizing these types of barriers in order to nurture progression?
One peer addressed this stereotype during our discussion as a basis for her own topic: discovering how others perceive graphic designers and the challenges of bringing awareness to what a designer does (and thinks). I think about this in terms of designers collaborating with other designers, as it’s assumed that just because you are creative that there is a natural relationship in place.
4. What method can I use to find an answer to this question?
A few dominant corporations come to mind when wanting to know more about their own team dynamics: Google, Apple and IDEO. What do all three have in common? Each has experienced and created innovative solutions based upon diverse, team dynamics. Another method is exploring articles from design thinking experts, such as: Tim Brown, Jeff Conklin, Roger Martin, John Camillus and Hugh Dubberly. While I have read many articles leading up to my topic, I may benefit looking at sociological leaders and articles too. Another idea, would be to conduct my own research with a team that has little or no experience working with one another, as opposed to a team that is all too familiar with each other (iterative).
Finding existing surveys or data about team dynamics is a must, yet finding how to expand upon such data will be a time-intensive exploration. I think that all in all, what I’m really after is harmony. I can’t expect to solve team dysfunctionality, as I don’t believe that there is an all-in-one solution. There are experts for “fixing” these problems. What I can expect to achieve is getting a better idea of what contributes toward functional dynamics versus knowing (through experience) what contributes toward dysfunctional dynamics. My own biases will definitely need to also be outlined and kept at close distance throughout my exploration process.
Matt,
I have to say, your topic stirs excitement for me. I had this course (one of many) during my senior year in undergrad on organizational psychology with a focus on team dynamics. Here are some insights I have into your topic that may (or may not help). I find that in our corporate world, we experience as creative, a competitive and frequently changing business marketplace.
I think that teams (or perhaps the team leader?) needs to have a basis for understanding the behavioral patterns of his or her team. By doing this, he/she can create a strong creative/company culture based on the team’s combined strengths and in turn facilitate continued achievement. The success or failure of any team-based initiative depends on the synchronized efforts of its team members. The behavioral and communication style of the team members both internal and external affect the client’s perception of ability to meet their needs effectively. If you look more into the role of organizational psychology, I think you may find valuable info regarding you topic. O.P. empowers teams within larger companies to achieve greater productivity and financial attainment. The agency can in turn benefit in multiple ways.
Perhaps you can research the following: understanding organizational psychology, the role of research and statistical analysis, and in what manner to employ this practice. The first step to properly applying organizational psychology is to understand what it entails. Hope this helps! Also, I have some thoughts and ideas regarding improving organizational performance that may be of use. Let me know.
Outstanding!
I had a hunch that you’d have insights into this topic, having heard you mention about your past experience during our collaboration session. Thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction… and yes, I would love to hear your ideas about improving organizational performance.
– Matt
Wow, I am impressed by your thought process, or maybe how you processed some of Clark’s questions, either way, very well done. I have a clear understanding of where you are going, or at least, where you want to go. I think your topic is extremely interesting, and definitely worth pursuing. Team Dynamics. How will you show your results in a factual manner? Just like creativity is subjective, do you think team dynamics is a subjective subject matter? How do you even begin to show a group works well together. Sometimes one person in the group thinks they made a great team, while the other was about to jump down their throat. Definitely a time-intensive exploration, but I look forward to it!
Mariska
Ha, ha!
You hit the nail on head: “Sometimes one person in the group thinks they made a great team, while the other was about to jump down their throat.”
I believe that’s exactly what I want to explore – when does this type of indifference occur? We may know exactly why it occurs when viewing the other, but neither individual walks away from the moment learning (gaining) about themselves and the other person. I’m hoping that my goal is to present this type of learning dynamic in the form of a visual system, so that design individuals can see (not hear, nor read, nor feel) how this type of moment occurs within team dynamics.
It is a giant task, which is why I’m struggling to narrow down my focus. For one, I don’t know if taking something that can be deemed subjective and presenting it as objective, will result in anything worthwhile. I think that it’s possible, but would tracking the intangible factors (such as learning styles, personality traits, level and type of experience, age, gender, socio-economic background) empower individuals to understand their barriers, preferences, reactions, etc.?
I’m currently building a mind map on a wall with these topics and questions in place. It needs to simmer for a bit, but I love your feedback!
– Matt
Hi Matt,
I am getting more and more interested in your topic. I know you are still exploring it, but you are asking really good questions and I am sure you are about to finally nail it.
I am currently reading “The Necessary Revolution. Working Together to Create a Sustainable World” by Peter Senge. He has a chapter on collaboration and he mentions David Kantor’s Four-Player Model. The idea is that people tend to play certain roles when working with other people, some tend to dominate the conversation, otehrs tend to stand by), and a successful collaboration depends on the presence of 4 action roles – move, oppose, follow and by-stand. What I find interesting, however, is that he proposes that in a healthy team “individuals (should be) fluid in their ability to take on different roles”. In other words when the team gets stuck, people should assess the presence or absence of each role and consider switching roles to defy behavior patterns and listening without hearing. Just an idea you might add to your research.
Also, I don’t remember seeing if you thought about considering the presence or lack of competition, or overprotectiveness of one’s ideas, or envy among creatives. I think there is a special sensitivity in creative people about how their work is perceived or valued and that might influence the way they collaborate. This is not a positive scenario, but you might find something here.
Looking forward to reading some more!
Great feedback, Marina!
I’m continuing to process the topic, seeing that it’s waaay too broad. After all, I’m not a psychologist.
I’ve made note of Kantor’s Four-Player Model. It might be exactly what I was in search of. As of today, I’m leaning more toward focusing on interaction in “team dynamics” and ideally, if it’s possible to visually depict this. The problem that I keep experiencing is the tendency with how to fulfill a visual thesis, when in fact I’ve been advised to not put the cart before the horse. Wise advice, I might add.
Let’s plan to keep in touch. Our topics seem to be closely related, and we might find that it helps for both of us to collaborate in order to form our own path.
Hello Matt,
Very impressive. I believe you have raised a discussion on a topic that is definitely well needed in the design industry. You have done a great job framing out your initial process in this matter of “Team Dynamics”. You have made the direction very clear and I look forward to seeing how things formulate.
Marvin
Thanks Marvin.
Hey Matt,
Alrighty Matt! Let me say first of all that I like the ‘idea’ of pursuing team dynamics. Some questions that I have that were raised from your posting. You mentioned you want to focus on the personalities that make up a creative persona in a team dynamic that is successful. Are there specific skills or variables that make them better? Is a visual learner a better team player? Someone who is quiet and reserve may have some great ideas, but isn’t too willing to speak up — just type it in an email. Do opposites attract and make a great product? You mentioned looking into Google/Apple/IDEO; perhaps they are willing to share some of their ideas on team dynamics. That can help you get a direction to follow.
Team Dynamics appears to be a complex, and multi-layer idea on what makes up just not only one team,but individuals as well. Perhaps there are correlations in skill sets, learning styles, type of person at home, etc that contribute. Several variables to work out. Maybe conducting a survey or interviews on finding out about different designers in the companies mentioned can shed some light?
Rob