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- What is the organization hoping to accomplish with the intervention?
- Who is the target of this intervention (e.g. employees, managers, etc.)?
- What population is this intervention intended for? (e.g. type of organization or industry)?
- What problem does this intervention seek to solve, and/or what positive outcome does this intervention seek to enhance or create?
2. Has the presenter adequately described the components of the intervention?
- What are the psychological (or physical) mechanisms this intervention seeks to impact? (e.g. Would it work by creating positive habits of attention? By increasing self-efficacy? By causing a positive physiological shift?)
- What are the expected outcomes and practical results you would anticipate from its implementation? (e.g. Would it result in more positive emotions? Greater productivity at work? Reduced crime rates?)
3. Has the presenter provided empirical and theoretical evidence for the intervention?
4. Has the presenter made a strong case for his or her intervention?
5. Does the implementation plan seem well thought-out and appropriate for the population? If the team already implemented the plan, did they adequately describe their thought-process and learning?
6. Do the expected outcomes seem supported by evidence? If the team already tested the intervention, were the outcomes well measured and explained? Do you think this intervention would work with other populations?
Thanks John for zeroing into what is an important part of work: teamwork and interpersonal relationships! I was wondering if you had any references or theoretical support for the relational agency pyramid? I appreciated the reflection on how we allocate our team during team tasks!
Jessica,
Thank you so much for the time you took to listen to the video. You emphasised the centrality of interpersonal relationships in team work. I agree totallyand it i like good breathing air or oxygen. You notice it only when you can’t breath it. .
There is as yet no coherent theory on relational agency except emerging models. Kolb et at (1974) on decision making that I quoted started it all in my mind and practice. I enriched those ideas and sharpened my thinking through Schein, E.H. (1987) on Process Consultations, Volume 2: Lessons for Managers and Consultants. Cooperider et al (2008) prompted me to situated what we have been doing within the Positive Movement. You could also look at Edwards, Anne (2007): Relational Agencyin Professional Practice: A CHAT Analysis; Action, an International Journal of Human Activity. To understand Anne fast, you may need to also look at the main source namely, Engestrom, Yrjo (2008) From Teams to Knots: Activity-Theoretical Studies of Collaboration and Learning at Work: Cambridge University Press.
Thanks so much
John (JCM)
Dear John, thanks for a though provoking presentation. The idea of promoting relational agency through establishing a team reflective process in the workplace has merit. Your case examples were helpful as was your qualitative data. Keep up the good work.
Dear Lea,
Thank you so much for the careful words you have chosen in your appreciative comments. I particularly liked “Thoughtful provoking” and “team reflective Processes”. They remind me, to avoid taking for granted what we do on a regular basis without continuous reflection. I admit that quite often, in the heat of getting work done, I work routinely instead of taking time off to reflect on its impact on my clients including my students. So thank you for spotting this aspect of the message because I need it myself.
In this vein I should appreciate the Work and Organisational Division of IPPA because like you Lea, they provoked me to take stoke of what I do regularly. Thanks Lea and the Division.
John (JCM). .
Thank you John. Your interest and intervention to increase team work by promoting positive relations at work,
I believe are two aspects every organization should support.
Dear Member,
Like I said to the two other commentators, I strongly appreciate your encouraging and appreciative choice of what the general message meant to you. Strengthening team work is key in the increasingly interdependent work situation. As one author reminds us, the era of Fordism has probably gone for ever and we must resume learning to work with each other since the assembly line is going to be left to robots. The infrastructure of teamwork is composed of interpersonal relationship, as part of the data from our interventions currently points out. Such interactions are the lowest most micro activity systems that exist in any organisations and are easily missed because they as so “everyday”! Focusing on team work management to increase task management may be key.
It is also very appreciative of you to remind organisations to pay attention to and support positive relations and teamwork. As many of us are finding, this is still easier said (or listened to and understood) than done. But we must be resilient.
Thank you so much for this encouragement.
John (JCM)
Thank you for these very appreciative comments and the wonderful question. I can literary feel the energy bubbling inside as a result of the insightful comments. Jessica and Lea reminded me that it is all still about reflection on how we work; we get this right everything else may flow. Atejandra confirmed that it is the positive relations we are aiming at. I also appreciated Lea’s interest in the limited data I was able to show, both qualitatively and quantitatively
Thank you so much. And Yes, Atenjdra, I will endevour to work on the resilience you have implied inn your encouragement for us to continue.
John
John, thank you for presenting your theory of relational agency and an innovative intervention to enhance relational agency in teams through reflective activity. I like also how your reflective activity asks participants to identify 2 positive and 1 negative events. Your research found that teams tend to focus on process (more than content). This is an important finding that underscores the importance of interpersonal relationships in teams. Within the reflective activity that you described, I can imagine several opportunities to incorporate training on PP concepts like active-constructive responding, strengths-spotting in others, etc. Hopefully we can continue this discussion within the WOD.
Hi Jenny,
This is all so encouraging!. Mastering constructive responding would certainly be a winning intervention. It reminds me of a book I used years back when I was training Work and Organisational Psychologist in basic counselling skilsl. It is Egan’s(1975) Skilled Helper. May be we could find some answers there? Thanks so much for this. It would be challenging to train people under the task performance pressure to remember to fall back to such basic but essential and necessary practices for getting team tasks done.More home work.
I also strongly buy into strengths-spotting. I haven’t travelled this road much, since like most of contemporaries, I was brought up on the negative, i.e. weakness spotting. But since I joined the Positivity movement I am sure I am learning to shade off the negativity baggage. Yes I would be interested in the discussion.
JCM
Professor JCM,
This is quite instructive and highly inspirational. I love every aspect of it maximally. I am inspired greatly. Thank you.
Dr J. C. Gandi
Department of Psychology
University of Jos, Nigeria