1.It is a normal phenomenon and instinctive characteristics for people to identify themselves with certain groups based on social status, educational level, race, religion, or origin. Because people naturally strive for ingroup distinctiveness, ingroup favoritism is bound to occur (Wang, Zheng, Meng, Lu, & Ma, 2016). Perception tends to mean everything to the eyes and minds of people, especially those who think of themselves as outgroup members. It is important leaders stay professional at all times and avoid raising suspicion from their interaction with employees. Leaders do not have to be friends with employees to express how much they care about them (Lussier & Achua, 2015). Leaders need not be mean either to employees to establish authority. Leaders need to balance social and professional life.
Leaders need to establish fairness in a workplace. When a group of employees start feeling left out of the group, their work performance and motivation tend to be low (Lussier & Achua, 2015). Favoritism or perceived favoritism is one of the most common complaints received by human resources. Most often, favoritism becomes almost inevitable especially when the leader was previously a co-worker and peer to his/her subordinates. They used to go out for drinks and party together, but s/he has to direct them on what to do. It will take someone with a strong will and character is overcome the challenges of favoritism.
While it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid perceived favoritism in the workplace, leaders can maintain personal friendship with some members. However, such friendship should be influenced by work values and ethics (Lussier & Achua, 2015). Leaders must have the courage to exercise honesty and fairness by counseling every employee about the rewards and punishment policies.
2.In my opinion, there can be personal friendships within the workplace. Leaders need to be more aware of their surroundings and how they treat everybody. Good leaders do not play favorites – it’s that simple. An excellent way of handling this is by creating an environment where everyone is encouraged and respected for providing their ideas. They also have to treat everyone equally, even if it is there best friend. For leaders to show the workers that there is no favoritism or in-groups within the workplace, they have to be fair to everyone, which means splitting up good trips or projects to everybody and letting everyone get the chance to perform the same responsibilities. Leaders would have a personal friend, but they should, to be honest with them and give them the same expectations as everyone else. It’s hard to discipline your friend, but you should to set rules at work and let them know what is agreeable and what is not. Also – good friends would never want or expect you to play favorites – they would find that disrespectful.
3.Virtual teams can be a challenge to manage because one needs to create a corporate culture remotely. Here are some strategies to successfully build a virtual team that can be implemented instantly.
Define Work system
Various individuals have various methods for going about assignments. Setting norms can abbreviate the time expected to accomplish the ideal outcome. By setting gauges and characterizing repeatable work frameworks, the group has commonly less questions and gets an inclination for to what extent certain assignments should take.
Multiple communication tool
The advantages of setting up various specialized instruments is two-crease. As a matter of first importance, your group has an approach to impart something that is pressing to the opportune individual right away.
Schedule regular meeting
Booking briefings simultaneously on a similar weekday adds to making an everyday practice. Schedules furnish the group with something they are utilized to and acquainted with.
Clear and detailed deliverable
Just advising someone to accomplish something is typically not the prominent approach to overseeing groups. Miniaturized scale overseeing isn’t either which is the reason a few chiefs abstain from giving directions with such a large number of subtleties.
4.How can virtual teams work well together when the team members are spread far apart?
Building a virtual team should be a top consideration for every startup, entrepreneur, and online business in growth mode, because expanding your talent search to “everywhere” means access to better job candidates. However, managing a team that’s spread across the country (or the globe) presents its own unique set of challenges (Mcardle, 2019).
Working from a distance is becoming the new normal. As travel costs continue to rise and the search for talent is no longer limited by geography, more and more companies are turning to virtual teamwork for their everyday operations (Lepsinger, 2019). Teams that operate in this way are sometimes called “virtual teams”.
Managing a virtual team comes with its own set of challenges, but they can all be overcome with the right tools, planning, and leadership. Some basic principles that make virtual team work well together are:
Organize With The Right Tools: Technology is a huge help when it comes to managing virtual teams. Make sure you have the right set of tools to communicate and collaborate effectively from anywhere (Mcardle, 2019).
Find The Right People for Your Remote Team: Since you won’t be in the same office to oversee their work, you want to be sure the people you hire are proactive and resilient self-starters who have experience managing their time effectively (Mcardle, 2019).
Clarify tasks and processes, not just goals and roles. : All new leaders need to align their team on goals, roles and responsibilities in the first 90 days. With virtual teams, however, coordination is inherently more of a challenge because people are not co-located. So it’s important to focus more attention on the details of task design and the processes that will be used to complete them. Simplify the work to the greatest extent possible, ideally so tasks are assigned to sub-groups of two or three team members. And make sure that there is clarity about work process, with specifics about who does what and when (Watkins, 2013).
Foster shared leadership: Defining deliverable and tracking commitments provides “push” to keep team members focused and productive; shared leadership provides crucial “pull.” Find ways to involve others in leading the team. By sharing leadership, you will not only increase engagement, but will also take some of the burden off your shoulders (Watkins, 2013).
Build a Strong Company Culture: Despite the fact that 90%+ of your communications with a remote team will take place digitally, it’s still possible to build your culture. Strong leadership and a healthy company culture will help you retain the talent you spent so much time finding (Mcardle, 2019).
5.The introduction of ERP software Shell reduced complexity and enabled change through simpler business models, standard global processes, and IT systems. The initiative allowed for the consolidation of back-office functions to global centers in lower-cost countries. The company not only reduced overall operating cost by millions of dollars but also allowed staff to spend more time face-to-face with their customers (IBM, 2019)
6.WTC provide entrants with a life changing experience which challenges their status quo of health and has the ability to change the way they live! What’s more, WTC implements this in such a way that participants want to come back again and again. This is no longer a transaction but a ‘Customer Life Choice!’ Customers are buying into their dream…something that makes them feel unique. WTC developed this business model putting customer at the centre and focusing on three areas such as Customer Experience, Customer Value and Customer lifecycle. Thats why this business model is more famous and successful.
