EHSAN KARIM

MBA (Day)
Representing: Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Organizational Behavior (BP6903); Sec 56
Faculty: Dr. Ioan Voicu
Home Assignment-6
Date: November 16, 2015

Specificity of Group Work in a Bangladeshi Company

The use of teams in Bangladeshi organizations has increased constantly over the
last years. Part of the reason is the expectation that teamwork provides additional
performance gains that exceed the mere sum of its members' single contributions.
However, such process gains in teams are not for granted but depend on specific
preconditions and context factors. Psychology research has just begun to explore
these success factors in a systematic way.
One focus in the Bangladeshi context is on motivation gains in teams, for example,
the question when and why persons in groups are more strongly motivated as
compared to working alone. This question is not trivial given that group researchers
have often demonstrated that team members overestimate their performance in
teams, leading to motivation losses rather than gains. But most importantly in the
companies, in terms of manufacturing firms in Bangladesh such as Unilever, Nestle
and other giants, they tend to structure work settings into groups and teams with
specific functions assigned and also with managers and supervisors likewise. So
when it comes to motivation, because of the modern and friendly working
environment, each of the members in the group support others, never try to bully or
throw nave words on finished task, rather try to solve problems as a whole. When
people working together in Bangladesh, they tend to build bonds among themselves
and they consider others finished sub-projects as their own and demonstrate helping
attitude towards each other. But it is not always the best possible happening unless
there is no co-worker support and motivational leadership among the belongings.
Now-a-days, with increased number of foreign assignments and keeping pace with
international standards for work settings and projects, the need for group emerges in
Bangladesh. Now most of the projects require extensive support from the outsourced
parties and in order to complete those projects, it is not a piece of cake for any
individual all alone. For example, in Bangladesh, while I was working with the
Tobacco manufacturing company, I volunteered in several projects such as Health &
Safety Audit 2014, Battle of Minds competition 2014 etc. So there was a time frame
and it was not possible for any specific department to comply with the necessary
works. When the audit started, it was very hard for the Employee Health & Safety
dept. to focus more on compliances as the range and area of work is vast and
spread across the other supply chain functions for instance, Primary Manufacturing
Dept, Secondary Manufacturing Dept, Logistics and Procurement likewise. As Health
and Safety Audit is a crucial part of operations, the other department supervisors and

EHSAN KARIM
MBA (Day)
Representing: Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Organizational Behavior (BP6903); Sec 56
Faculty: Dr. Ioan Voicu
Home Assignment-6
Date: November 16, 2015

managers come along and sat for strategies for the fulfillment of the whole project.
For example, supervisors from logistics focused more on distributions and
communicated with the suppliers, secondary manufacturing dept. was more inclined
towards making of tobacco and packaging, health and safety dept. focused more on
hazards and accidental inspections etc. Now each dept. worked as a group with
specific responsibilities but with common shared goal in mind which was the Audit.
When I used to work in my specific department, my supervisor used to meet with the
EH&S team/group and explain that working as a team will benefit all members by
increasing motivation, satisfaction and productivity. He also asks the team members
for input regarding improving group performance as well. He provided us with
guidelines by giving explanation about how the work you do benefits the company. At
the very first day of our program, he assigned each persons role in the group. While
that might seem like obvious information, some members of the group may not
realize the scope of another team members responsibilities or the importance of the
work to the company. But with sheer belief on goal setting made us accustomed to
the difficult tasks likewise. Most importantly, in most of the fast moving Bangladeshi
companies, goals are set in order to complete an important project before deadline,
increase communication between members or increase sales by a certain
percentage. The prime concern is to establish metrics to determine success and
provide them to all team members. Here, the managers set strategies to decide how
the group can accomplish the goals. They have that belief that if you are concerned
about meeting a deadline, then they suggest members to take a look at workflow and
redesign the process with team input. Planning weekly meetings, use the company
intranet to post updates on projects or hold informal lunch-and-learn sessions to
improve communications in between the members of the groups are of main concern
in most of the organizations in Bangladesh as well.
In addition to that the team leaders keep team members informed of the groups
progress in meeting goals. Activities also include providing regular feedback and ask
them to keep all of the concerns informed of problems. They offer solutions to difficult
problems and serve as an intermediary if conflicts arise with other departments or
employees.
At the end, when success reaches the door, the team leaders celebrate reaching
goals and describe the way each team member contributed to the success. He/she
thanks each team member and takes the group out to lunch or give them gift cards in
appreciation for their work.