Blog #2 Cultural Synergy by Colleen Arenal

Synergy is the synthesis of what each individual in the group has to offer. It is about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts” (PSU 2021) In this weeks reading in our conflict resolution class I found similarities to what we have been learning about synergy.  We learn there are three stage models group conflict can be addressed, interdependence, reciprocity and compensation.   Interdependence, “creates a climate that shapes parties’ expectations and their behaviors toward one another.” (Folger, Poole, & Stutman, pp. 104)   Reciprocity has to do with the idea that, if you do something for me, I will do something for you, it “portrays parties to conflicts as either matching one another’s behavior or responding in kind, or compensating; that is, the tendency to respond in just the opposite fashion.” (PSU 2021) Synergy is another way of getting people to work together, “Synergy is a cooperative or combined action, and occurs when diverse or disparate individuals or groups collaborate for a common cause.  The objective is to increase the effectiveness by sharing perceptions and experiences, insights, and knowledge.” (Moran & Abramson, 2014)

Depending on the nature of the collective goal, promotive interdependence would be an option to get people to work together if we could establish that the group would benefit as a whole.  Sometimes it is beneficial to have more of a competitive drive in order to reach the common goal, and sometimes it is better for parties to work individually on accomplishing the task.  There also may be those who are hesitant to perform, in which case reciprocity or quid pro quo would be beneficial to get the job done.

I have found the most success when trying to reach cultural synergy at work have been individualistic followed by promotive and lastly the idea of reciprocity also works well in most professional circumstances.  I do prefer to work alone most of the time, but I do find it can become somewhat draining if I am asked to do more than my fair share of work.  If the supervisor is the one who delegates the assigned work, then there is usually success when the supervisor puts an email together which lists our individual strengths and cc’s all parties involved so everyone can see what they are responsible for what it is they are good at. In this way it both gives a morale boost as well as tends to hold everyone accountable for what it is they are working on in order to gain the best outcome when working as a group towards a goal.

Sometimes I’m asked to train people on how to do a specific project and so they know they can always come to me also if they have questions and we can work together for the solution or the answer to the member’s benefit question.  Our company already has us set up as teams so we work together in groups under one supervisor per team and we work with other teams as well as we try to be, “reflective of the whole organizationational environment, then they become closely knit and productive.  The more team participation is provided and employees are included in team decision-making, the healthier and more relevant is that human system.” (Moran & Abramson, 2014)

References

Pennsylvania State University (2021). Lesson 6: Cultural Synergy Retrieved from: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2146712/modules/items/32847680

Joseph P. Folger, Marshall Scott Poole, and Randall K. Stutman (2018), Working Through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations (Chapter 3, “Conflict Interaction,” pp. 99-107).

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (10th ed.). Oxford: Routledge. ISBN: 9781138223684 ives, 1980: 238–57