INTRODUCTION

It is important for you as an IT professional to communicate with colleagues and navigate workplace situations. Being able to understand the different behavioral styles of individual team members and develop strategic thinking skills will help you choose appropriate communication techniques and influence tactics to effectively work with them. It will also help you evaluate situations from different points of view and recommend effective strategies for decision-making.

For this task, you will use the scenario, the attached “Implementation Email,” and the “Implementation Meeting” video found in the Web Links section to analyze interpersonal dynamics, evaluate communication strategies, and develop a plan to lead a follow-up meeting.

SCENARIO

You were recently hired as the implementation team lead for Seamus Company. After completing your orientation and onboarding period, you are assigned as the point of contact on a company-wide equipment upgrade project that has been delayed once already. Your supervisor, Kamal, who also serves as the committee chair of the project, is looking to you to get this project launched quickly and effectively. While there are over a dozen teams on your list to upgrade, you have proposed an initial, single-team rollout in order to pilot your implementation plan and resolve any unforeseen issues in that plan. You asked Kamal to select the best team for your pilot rollout. Kamal identified two potential teams and scheduled a meeting with the team managers and a data analyst to decide which team should be prioritized for the equipment upgrades. This is a critical decision that your team is waiting on in order to start planning. Unfortunately, you were unable to attend the meeting due to a last-minute conflict.

Since you are new to the organization, you have not yet built relationships with any of the people who attended the meeting. Kamal recorded the meeting and shared it, along with the meeting minutes, via email. You also see that Diego, the manager of Team A, requested time to meet with you one-on-one. While the project is behind schedule and you have only been assigned to this role for one week, you cannot move forward with planning until you know which team to prioritize in the rollout. Following the events of the initial meeting, you are tasked with analyzing the meeting and developing a meeting agenda for a follow-up meeting to facilitate agreement on prioritizing one of the two teams.

REQUIREMENTS

Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The similarity report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.

You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.

Tasks may not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc., unless specified in the task requirements. All other submissions must be file types that are uploaded and submitted as attachments (e.g., .docx, .pdf, .ppt).

Using the scenario, the attached “Implementation Email,” and the “Implementation Meeting” video found in the web links section, analyze the meeting that took place by doing the following:

(Implementation Meeting Video
https://wgu.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Embed.aspx?id=20709996-72c2-4808-a524-ae6a010b4595

Attached is the Implementation Email).

A. Explain the outcomes of the meeting, including the following:

• how closely the meeting followed the meeting agenda

• the conflicts that emerged during the meeting

• how different individuals responded to conflicts that emerged during the meeting

B. Evaluate the effectiveness of communication strategies demonstrated in the meeting, including the following:

• how various communication strategies influenced meeting outcomes

• how some communication strategies hindered decision-making

C. Identify the informal leader of the meeting and analyze their approach to leadership, including the following:

• a leadership skill exhibited by the informal leader

• a justification of why you identified that particular informal leader

• how the informal leader maintains focus on the problem being discussed in the meeting

D. Explain the overall interpersonal dynamics of the team, including how each team member contributed to the meeting’s outcome.

E. Plan a follow-up meeting in response to Kamal’s email to facilitate agreement on prioritizing one of the two teams, including the following:

• a list of team members that should attend the meeting

• questions you will ask in the meeting

• goals and expectations for the meeting

• how you will facilitate the meeting and lead the team to a consensus

1. Justify each component of the given points from part E of your follow-up meeting plan.

F. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

G. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.

File Restrictions

File name may contain only letters, numbers, spaces, and these symbols: ! – _ . * ‘ ( )

File size limit: 200 MB

File types allowed: doc, docx, rtf, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, odt, pdf, txt, qt, mov, mpg, avi, mp3, wav, mp4, wma, flv, asf, mpeg, wmv, m4v, svg, tif, tiff, jpeg, jpg, gif, png, zip, rar, tar, 7z

RUBRIC

A:OUTCOMES OF MEETING

NOT EVIDENT

An explanation of the outcomes of the meeting is not provided.

APPROACHING COMPETENCE

The explanation of the outcomes of the meeting does not align with the recording of the meeting, or the explanation does not logically address each of the given points.

COMPETENT

The explanation of the outcomes of the meeting aligns with the recording of the meeting and logically addresses each of the given points.

B:EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

NOT EVIDENT

An evaluation of the effectiveness of communication strategies demonstrated in the meeting is not provided.

APPROACHING COMPETENCE

The evaluation of the effectiveness of communication strategies demonstrated in the meeting does not align with the recording of the meeting, or the evaluation does not logically address each of the given points.

COMPETENT

The evaluation of the effectiveness of communication strategies demonstrated in the meeting aligns with the recording of the meeting and logically addresses each of the given points.

C:ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE

NOT EVIDENT

An analysis of the informal leader of the meeting is not provided.

APPROACHING COMPETENCE

The analysis of the informal leader of the meeting does not align with the recording of the meeting, or the analysis does not logically address each of the given points.

COMPETENT

The analysis of the informal leader of the meeting aligns with the recording of the meeting and logically addresses each of the given points.

D:INTERPERSONAL DYNAMICS

NOT EVIDENT

An explanation of the overall interpersonal dynamics of the team is not provided.

APPROACHING COMPETENCE

The explanation does not adequately address the overall interpersonal dynamics of the team, or the explanation does not include how each team member contributed to the outcome.

COMPETENT

The explanation adequately addresses the overall interpersonal dynamics of the team, including how each team member contributed to the outcome.

E:FOLLOW-UP MEETING

NOT EVIDENT

A follow-up meeting plan is not provided.

APPROACHING COMPETENCE

The follow-up meeting plan does not support facilitation of agreement on the prioritizing one of the two teams, or the plan does not logically address each of the given points.

COMPETENT

The follow-up meeting plan to facilitate agreement on prioritizing one of the two teams logically addresses each of the given points.

E1:JUSTIFICATION OF FOLLOW-UP MEETING PLAN

NOT EVIDENT

A justification of the follow-up meeting plan is not provided.

APPROACHING COMPETENCE

The justification does not logically address 1 or more of the given points from the follow-up meeting plan from part E.

COMPETENT

The justification logically addresses each of the given points from the follow-up meeting plan from part E.

F:SOURCES

NOT EVIDENT

The submission does not include both in-text citations and a reference list for sources that are quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

APPROACHING COMPETENCE

The submission includes in-text citations for sources that are quoted, paraphrased, or summarized and a reference list; however, the citations or reference list is incomplete or inaccurate.

COMPETENT

The submission includes in-text citations for sources that are properly quoted, paraphrased, or summarized and a reference list that accurately identifies the author, date, title, and source location as available.

G:PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

NOT EVIDENT

Content is unstructured, is disjointed, or contains pervasive errors in mechanics, usage, or grammar. Vocabulary or tone is unprofessional or distracts from the topic.

APPROACHING COMPETENCE

Content is poorly organized, is difficult to follow, or contains errors in mechanics, usage, or grammar that cause confusion. Terminology is misused or ineffective.

COMPETENT

Content reflects attention to detail, is organized, and focuses on the main ideas as prescribed in the task or chosen by the candidate. Terminology is pertinent, is used correctly, and effectively conveys the intended meaning. Mechanics, usage, and grammar promote accurate interpretation and understanding.

WEB LINKS

Implementation Meeting

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

Implementation Email.docx