Rachael Lohnes

Assignment # 1 – Psychological Contracts & Learning Styles

Part I – Group Experiences and the Psychological Contract
A. Concrete Experience
Think back on a time when a social / group / team experience did not work out as well
as you thought it would (or hoped it would).

1. Objectively describe the experience (who, what, when, where, how)

An experience I have had that did not work out as well as expected
happened 3 years ago when I first became a Shift Manager at Starbucks. I had
some management experience in my past and I had just gone through Shift
Manager training so I could transfer to a brand-new Starbucks that was opening.
The biggest challenge coming into the experience was bringing our team
together. The staff was made up of 4 brand new shift supervisors, about 6
people who had a few years of Starbucks experience from different stores, about
12 people who had just been hired and trained in various stores, and a store
manager who had come from a different district. Everyone had different
experience levels and had worked in different stores and even districts we all had
very different ideas of what was the right way to do things. The first year I
worked at the store was very difficult. There was lots of conflict amongst the
experienced people as we all had different ways of doing things. The tension
from these conflicts trickled down to the newer people as their training was
affected. Rather than coming to an agreement on how to do things, there was a
very “my way is the right way” mentality amongst everyone. This issue evolved
over time. This situation makes me think of the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a
day”. Teams must go through the process of forming, storming, norming and
performing… and this is not a process that happens overnight.

2. Subjectively describe your feelings, perceptions, and thoughts that occurred

during (not after) the experience. What did others seem to be feeling?
 Throughout this experience I felt extremely stressed out and constantly
thought about quitting, stepping down from my position as a manager, and even
transferring to a different store just to get away from all the conflict. I had never
experienced so much unwanted conflict before. As a new manager, I did not
know how to deal with these conflicts. Others felt the same stress that I felt.
Many people would gossip behind each other’s backs to relieve their stress and
hopefully find someone to relate to and align with. Our turnover rate was high,
which left us stuck between the storming and norming phases.

B. Reflective Observation
1. Looking back at the experience, what were the perspectives of the key actors
(including you?)

I would say that the key actors in this situation was everyone who
transferred to this new store with Starbucks experience. I think everyone had to
learn let go of their egos and work together. I believe the conflict that happened
between all key players set a bad example for our newer partners. By not getting
along this created cliques and uneasiness in our organizational culture.

2. Why did the people involved (including you) behave as they did?

When looking at my behavior and the behavior of the rest of the Shift
Managers, I believe we were behaving the way we did because we were trying to
prove ourselves. Three out of four of us were brand new in our positions. I had
completed my Shift manager training and had a few practice shifts before coming
to the new store. When you are put into a position where you are brand new to
your role and you must lead a brand-new team of about 18 people who rely on
you to be solid in your role you may have to fake it until you make it. I do not
believe that the people involved in the conflicts that prevented us from working as
a team did it on purpose. I believe we needed to learn to let our egos go to work
 together and grow to become stronger in our roles. It took time but many of us
did this and it helped us retain team members and work towards being a strong
performing team.

C. Abstract Conceptualization
1. Relate concepts/theories from the assigned readings and, if helpful, from other
readings you’ve done for other classes, to the experience. Please apply at least
two concepts (and/or theories) and cite them properly.

The first concept that came to my mind when thinking about my experience was
the life cycle of the team; forming, storming, norming, performing (Thompson, pg
318). My team spent a lot of time stuck in the storming phase. “Storming: Face-to-
face team-building sessions, training on conflict resolution, encourage conflicting
employees to work together to find common ground, shuttle diplomacy and
mediation to create compromise solutions” (Thompson, pg 318). I was introduced to
the life cycle of a team from a previous Organizational Leadership course. When I
learned about this concept I felt I could look at my team with a fresh perspective. I
realized that we lacked the ability to encourage conflict and by doing so we weren’t
finding any common ground or solutions to our problems.
Thompson states that “For teams to preform effectively, members must have the
expertise, or KSAs (knowledge, skills, and ability), to accomplish the task.”
(Thompson, pg 115). Thompson goes on to state that five crucial skills for team
members are conflict resolutions, collaborative problem solving, communication,
goal setting and performance management, and planning and task coordination
(Thompson, pg 115). A large part of my understanding and mastery of these skills
comes from what I learned last semester during OGL 340: The Aikido Way. This
course changed the way I handle conflict. In the past I avoided conflict because I
had never learned how to deal with it. I learned that conflict is a good thing and you
must experience it and grow from it. The Aikido way taught me the importance of
staying centered as well as the ability to separate the event from the reaction and
work through conflicts. I had mastered the first three of the five crucial sills for team
 members that Thompson discussed. By taking what I learned in my classes about
conflict resolution to work, I have become a better leader for my team as well as
share with them what I have learned. Now that our team has mastered some skills
and moved into the performing stage we can work on perfecting our skills of goal
setting and performance management as well as planning and task coordination.

D. Active Experimentation
1. What did you learn about psychological contracts from this experience?

“Psychological contracts differ from employment contracts because they

focus on a dynamic relationship that defines the employees’ psychological
involvement with their employer. The actions of both parties mutually influence
the psychological contract” (Osland, 2001, pg 5). Before reading The
Psychological Contract, I had never heard of this concept before. I learned the
importance of the psychological contract that we hold with the organization that
we work for. “The disillusionment over broken psychological contracts affects
employee job satisfaction, productivity, and desire to continue with the
organization. Violation of the psychological contract also reduces employee
commitment.” (Osland, 2001, pg 5).

2. What did you learn about yourself?

I have learned a lot about myself through my experience as an

Organizational Leadership major and as a Starbucks Shift Manager. I have
learned that I have a desire to learn as much as I possibly can to become the
best leader I can be. The psychological contract that comes along with working
at Starbucks is a strong one. Expectations that come with this contract include
an inclusive organizational culture, continued training, and a sense that everyone
is valued for the work we do at the company. I learned that this psychological
contract strongly impacts the day to day operations within our teams.
 3. What action steps will you take to be more effective in the future?

The biggest step I will take to be effective in the future is to always remain
centered. Doing this helps me clear my mind and let go of my ego. Along with
taking these steps I will keep learning and pushing myself to become a better
leader and learn from my experiences. I will embrace every conflict that comes
my way and I will use them as an opportunity to learn and grow. I think I used to
think I had to have all the answers. I have learned that nobody has all the
answers but we all can embrace teamwork and learn together.

Part II – Looking forward & developing a psychological contract for this class.

A. What was your Learning Style Type? Were you generally balanced or was there a
general dominant style? Given that this course focuses on the nature of teams in the
contemporary workplace, comment on your strengths and weaknesses with respect to
working effectively in an organizational team environment (see Exhibit 3.4, etc., in
chapter 3). Tell a story or two from your life that illustrates some connections between
your learning style type and some of your past or current behaviors when working with
others in an organizational or social context.

I would say I embody aspects of each learning style but I lean towards being an
accommodator. Knowing this I learned that my deficiency involves work not being
completed on time, impractical plans, and not being directed to goals (Osland, 2001, pg
54). Being aware of these weaknesses I can make sure I work on overcoming them. I
have strengths from many of the learning styles including; getting things done,
leadership. understanding people, recognizing and defining problems, problem solving,
and planning.
Planning is something that has helped me tremendously at work. At the start of
every shift I run I come up with a plan. This mainly includes knowing who needs breaks
and what tasks need to be done. When it comes to developing routines, I would make a
list before every shift so I could cross things off as I went along and make sure that
everything that needed to be done got taken care of. Eventually my coworkers picked
up on this and began to use my lists with me. This made our team stronger because
they could all see my plan for the day as well as work on things that needed to be done.
The behavior that influenced me to become a better planner was the fact that
some of my deficiencies include a lack of focus and scattered thoughts. Throughout my
life my Mom has always joked that I have a very ADD/OCD personality. As I grew up I
realized that this was not necessarily a joke and I did struggle with these things.
Throughout my journey as an Organizational Leadership major I have learned a lot
about myself in terms of my strengths and weaknesses. Learning about my
weaknesses has encouraged me to work on my improving myself. I can honestly say
that learning to plan has helped me become better in every aspect of my life.

B. Think about what you just learned from the reading and reflect on a significant social
learning experience from your past (an experience that involved working with others in
some sort of organizational, group, or team manner). Think about what you can apply
to set yourself up for success in this class as you reply to these items:

1. What are your personal goals for the course? To increase self-awareness? To
learn theories and concepts? To fulfill a requirement? To get a grade? To apply
learning in your job or life? Some or all of these or something else?

My first goal for this course is to continue planning. By planning I can set
personal deadlines for when I need to complete required reading, complete
assignments, and communicate with my team members. Planning will help me
to make sure I learn the most I possibly can from this course. My goal after
graduating is to become Starbucks Store Manager. As I work with that goal in
mind, my goal for this course is to take something I learned and bring it to work
with me. Another goal I have is to communicate with my group. From peer
review on the last course I took that involved group work I learned that
sometimes my group members felt I did not communicate enough and I would
like to work on that during this course. Finally, my goal is to complete this course
 with a passing grade knowing that I did the best I could.

2. How will what you have learned from your previous experiences with team
projects (at work or school) help (or hinder) your effectiveness? What are your
resources / support mechanisms for this course? What experiences, in or out of
school, will help you perform well?

An advantage I have going into this course is that I have worked with groups in
previous courses. I have taken feedback from all the peer reviews I have
received and I have tried my best to learn from what my peers had to say. I have
learned how to deal with conflict in a group setting. I have the goal to work on
making sure I always communicate with my team so that they feel supported by
me. I have learned a lot from previous experiences that has helped me feel that I
am ready to succeed with my team in this course.

3. As you go through the course, what strategies can you use to help facilitate and
enhance your own learning process (see Exhibit 3.4, etc., in chapter 3)? Be sure
to consider all four of the different learning styles, and suggest some approaches
/ strategies you could use to further enhance your level of success and/or bring
balance to your experience?

Having background knowledge on the various learning styles is beneficial

when working with a team. By allowing everyone on your team to share their
learning styles you can learn the strengths and weaknesses of your team
members. This will help when it comes to dividing up work and understanding
how to support each other. I also believe that creating an open line of
communication and an accepting team culture can help influence how successful
the team will be. Being open to conflict and ready to work through any issues
that may arise will also help to strengthen the team.
4. What norms of behavior or ground rules do you set for yourself (and hope to hold
your team members accountable for) to ensure a successful experience? What
level of commitment do you carry as you enter into this experience? (Also, be
sure to share these insights with your team when the time comes!)

A couple ground rules I have set for myself include communicating with
my group and always completing my part of the work in a timely manner. I
believe that communication, asking for help, supporting each other, and planning
are all going to be important norms for our team to embrace. I am 100%
committed to this course and my team. I can assume we all need to complete
this course to graduate. With that common goal in mind I believe we will be able
to set ground rules and norms that we all agree on.

5. You’ve already made a series of life decisions that led you to join this class.
Now, based on your thought processes associated with these prompts (and the
nature of this course), craft a personal contract statement that includes:
 Your decision to participate in the course. Provide a sentence or two
capturing your intention of committing to full participation (hopefully!)
and/or anything you’d like to state succinctly that serves as your personal
intention as you embark on this new adventure in BIS 343.
 Please clarify your decision to participate in the team experience which
is part of the BIS 343 course. Focus on issues of preparation,
attendance, participation, relationships with team members, and between
meeting communication.

I intend to not only participate but succeed in this course. It is my goal to

take what I learn throughout this course and implement it into my work life as
a grow as a leader. Working with my team is important to my success in this
course. I will prepare for and attend meetings, participate in the work, and
form positive working relationships with my team members. I will make sure
to communicate with them on all matters concerning our assignments. I will
do my part to make sure that myself and my team are successful in this
course.
 References
Osland, Kolb, & Rubin. (2001). Organizational Behavior.
Thompson, Leigh. Making the Team. Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.