Greg’s team suffers greatly from separation diversity (Edmonton & Rolof) which occurs when there are discrepancies amongst a groups “horizontal continuum”. Separation diversity can cause certain groups feel like their leader is playing favorites, and generally eat away at group cohesion. This issue is apparent in Greg’s team with examples like the UAE team believing they don’t get as much face time with Greg as the other teams, and the French team believing Greg Is playing favorites due to the larger compensations the U.S. team members are getting. Greg’s team also suffers from a lack of spontaneous informal communication (Hinds & Mortensen) which would help with the interpersonal and task conflicts that Greg’s teams are experiencing. Due to cultural and time differences amongst the groups, they only communicate as a whole for 45 minutes every week in very structured meetings. This had led to many of the groups feeling disconnected and even disrespected at times from the other groups and even Greg. Greg should implement these concepts in his plan to improve his team by using more video chats instead of calls and emails, so that the groups and Greg can build deeper more casual connections whilst also making it easier to communicate more complex ideas in a streamlined and comprehensive fashion. Greg should also start doing group retreats/visits where his teams from different locations can physically meet up for a few days to hang out, get to know each other better and build trust based relationships.
I like how you mentioned the horizontal discrepancies within the group. It’s an important factor to not because I feel as though it causes many of the inherent issues within the groups. Very nice paper!
I think one important key aspect that many don’t consider that you touched on in this complex dynamic situation is the time difference between the teams. I thought it was great you mentioned that because finding a time to chat that works for everyone would be vital. Also cultural differences is another obvious discrepancy that causes a serious disconnect as well so maybe implementing a mandatory sensitivity training for everyone so they get a better awareness of themselves and others in different cultures would be beneficial.
I really liked the idea of the retreats for each team. It would definitely help with feeling the psychologically safety within their teams and the person running everything, Greg. Also, i liked that you used the example with spontaneous informal communication going along with the interpersonal relationships between greg and his team in the U.S, it helps describe the situation for others being upset without having to explain yourselves further.
I like how you provided a definition for separation diversity to clearly explain how Greg and his team displayed it. It is important for every member to feel valued and needed in a group, so when favorites are being played it changes the whole group dynamic. Instead of working with each other they start to work against and become less of a team.