Summer internship

During a summer internship, I was on a team of 5 people including myself.  We were hired to digitize paperwork that the company had in storage. The company was in construction and they had to hold onto the paper work in case of law suits. The company was moving which meant that we had to finish before the summer was through. We had to scan, name, and organize about 56 boxes in 13 weeks. This means that every week we had to do a little bit more than four boxes.
When we were hired, our supervisor showed us the storage room with the boxes, explained how to label and save the documents in the computer, and how to scan the documents. After we scanned the documents we then had review the documents to make sure that they scanned correctly. If this was the case we were supposed to throw away the paper files. 
Every Friday our supervisor would count the remaining boxes, this was the only time that they would check on our progress.  Occasionally an intern would be taken off scanning duty and be given a new assignment. That would rarely last more than the day it was given.
This means that there were two forms of organization. The first was a single boss. Our supervisor oversaw all of us. We reported to her with any problems and so forth. That said this rarely happened except when we had technical issues. (scanner broke, server froze, etc.)  I think that the more applicable organization method was the star network. The team worked together, distributed tasks together, succeeded and failed together. While there wasn’t any part of the task that was truly difficult it did involve a large amount of cooperation and clear communication. Everyone needed to know what step in the process any given file was in.  Each file was either, going to be scanned, scanned, in the database but unnamed, named but no double checked, or finished. If someone was unaware of what step in the process a file was in it could lead to a duplicate or it could be missed.

I think this method was effective. The most obvious benefit from this organizational style is that it helped keep everyone in a good mode. The task we were assign was banal to say the least. Every step of the process was boring. By having a loose organization, it helped to keep everyone active. If someone got tired or bored of what they were doing they could trade or rotate with someone else. This method also encouraged everyone to talk about what we were doing. While it did cause a lot of overlap made sure that we did not miss something. Given the circumstances this was a very good thing.
In terms of Katzenbach and Smith my team was not high functioning.  The task that we were given was important. That said it did not resonate with myself or the rest of the team. We spent hours de-stapling paper so that we could scan them. The task we were given did not lend itself to giving us a sense of purpose or allow us to make goals we were excited about. After all, once the first 4 boxes were scanned, everything starts to look the same. I think that the only quality that my team had was mutual accountability. The team function together we divided up work together, and were talking to everyone. If we missed our goal for the week our supervisor did not ask who was to blame, everyone was to blame.  This meant that no one wanted to be the reason that the goal was not met.

A good teammate is an active participant in the team, they work towards the goal, while talking with their team. I think a good example of this is about sending emails. When we made our teams, it was suggested that we should always cc our entire team in every email. This behave is emblematic of a good teammate. Not only are is the person taking responsibility by sending the email, they are also making sure that everyone understands what is happening and is receiving the same information.  This helps the team by making everything run smoother, since everyone knows what everyone else is working on. I think it is also important that a teammate is trust worthy. A team cannot operate effectively if everyone is always second guessing their other team mates. Trust allows for the work to be done faster and better. There are a lot of things that can foster good team work and mates. But, I think at the core of those things is a respect between teammates. The more people trust (respect) and like each other the better a team will work together. Good relations between teams lead to a better more productive environment.


As a side note Katzenbach literally translates into cat stream. 

Comments

  1. Professor ArvanSeptember 30, 2017 at 3:42 PM

    As an old dog who has a trouble with new tricks, please tell me why this wasn't just a summer job rather than an internship. I gather you are not planning to pursue a career of scanning documents.

    Your story could have benefited from one detail that was omitted or wasn't articulated clearly. That is, was there something of an assembly line in the the scanning activities? Or did one person shepherd a document from beginning to end. If the assembly line metaphor makes sense here, then the baton pass from one stage to the next is critical. You talked about this some. You might have talked about it some more. There is also the issue of whether each stage takes the same amount of time or if one step is more arduous. So one person working on the tough step might be very busy, while people at the other steps might be idle. That just didn't come through in what you wrote.

    I'm glad you said this was grunt work and keeping people going doing grunt work require some talent in providing motivation. I am not sure grunt work illustrates all the issues in B&D chapter 5, particularly on trying to own the full process and that happening for each team member, but you go with what you've got so this story is okay.

    One other thing you might have said is how much the role of getting paid mattered for performance. If you were doing volunteer work (for a worthy cause) would you be willing to do grunt work then? Or would you want the work itself to be meaningful in some way? Effective teams have the members wanting to do the work.

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  2. Milton Friedman Econ 490 fall 2017October 2, 2017 at 2:30 PM

    This does not sound like the most fun way to spend a summer. I think the people you were working with would have a big impact on whether or not you were able to enjoy any of this work. After reading the post I was still unclear as to the process of the work. Could you have split it so each person took one box and did all the steps themselves paper after paper?

    Also, if the jobs were split, how was it decided who would do what job in the star network organization? If some jobs are more desirable, who would decide who did what? I was also wondering if when an intern would leave to do other work if your manager specifically chose a certain person, or if they came in and then you guys had to decide who would be able to go do less boring work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Francis Edgeworth Econ 490 Fall 2017October 2, 2017 at 5:27 PM

    In your post it seems that teamwork is quite useful for such mundane tasks. It seems that being a good team member can boost morale, which is once again important for such repetitive tasks. How did your productivity change when one intern was given another task. Were you excited for the change in work?

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