Marcus Rose
ADED 6388
Week Three Assignment

Continuous improvement is an ongoing process that is established within a group in an attempt to enhance how it functions. In order to make this process work effectively, a vision for the group must first be developed. There has to be a clear direction with goals and objectives in which the group is trying to accomplish. Once you have set your goals and objectives and your group has a clear vision, you can begin to create norms and behaviors that are traditionally practiced. These norms are put in place to help the group accomplish its goals (Gershenfeld, 2004). These norms can either stay the same or be changed as the goals of the group change. You can also have norms that are acquired from new members.
A clear vision for the group must be set. It will be difficult to assess the function of the group without a vision. The vision gives each member the guidance on how to perform their tasks and deliver quality results toward their goals. With an established vision, the group will have support from each member as well as outsiders. People on the outside looking in will also have an idea of what the group stands for. They could soon join and become members if they have common goals with the group. The vision can also help the group measure their success. The group’s measuring stick for process improvement is spawned from the vision. You have to be aligned with the group’s vision in order to be successful (Gershenfeld, 2004). If you are not aligned with the vision of the group, then the appropriate changes must be made by each member.
Diversity is one of the most important aspects of any group or organization. Without diversity, growth of any group is limited. Including various types of people into groups adds opinions, ideas, and a wide range of decision-making capabilities that are vital (Gershenfeld, 2004). People will also be more inclined to support a group if they feel that it represents who they are as a person. They want people who reflect them in the decision-making processes of the group, as well as people who come from the same backgrounds (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) as them functioning in the group. This will make people have faith in the group because they feel like someone that reflects them, exist within the group and have some influence on the decision making.
Diversity and norms are really closely related. If you look at where the norms comes from you realize that people within the group have put them in place. This is why it is good to have diversity so that you have a wide range of norms that are associated with individuals. If each person can bring something different to the table the group will be well rounded and can increase production. Ethics and values are personalized and is valuable to a group. People of different backgrounds in one group are the ideal situation. Just because you were raised around a certain group of people doesn’t mean that you will necessarily have the same ethics. It is quite possible to have the same ethics as the people around you, but there are exceptions to every rule. Some people may have experienced isolated incidences that don’t have anything to do with their culture, how they were raised, or their friends and family. For example, a person that is the victim of a crime may be less sympathetic toward a person with a criminal record. They may even be offended by the presents of someone who has committed a crime, in which they were a victim of. If you haven’t been a victim of a crime, then you probably won’t have such strong feelings about an individual who has a criminal record. The personal experiences may not be consistent with a person’s background, but can help shape the person’s mind. This can all have a profound effect on the group as a whole.
Each group is going to have norms that are established by the members. It is important to have a diverse group so that all of the norms are not limited. In the military there is a lot of diversity. The military would fail if there wasn’t an emphasis on the diversity. Before I joined I had never eaten all of the various foods that I now enjoy. My mother never made Asian food before, and now I incorporate Asian, Italian, and various other types of food to my everyday meals. Once I was introduced to certain things, they became the norm. Reference:
Gershenfeld, R. W. (2004). Groups Theory and Experience. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.