Many Hands Make Light Work

When I think of a “team,” the first thing that comes to mind is sports.  Therefore, I will be discussing the experience that I had in high school while playing club volleyball.  Club volleyball, otherwise known as traveling or competitive volleyball, is a high intensity team sport in which teammates heavily rely on one another to be successful.

For those of you who know nothing about volleyball, it is a sport in which teams of six players compete against each other by moving a ball over the net between two sides.  The objective is to force the ball onto the other team’s side and have it drop onto the ground, but each team only has three touches to get the ball over the net, and a single player cannot touch the ball twice in a row.  However, if one accomplishes this and the ball touches their opponent’s floor space, they receive a point.  To win a volleyball game, one must receive 25 points and win by at least 2 points (so if the score is 25-24, you would have to play another point and would win when the score is 26-24).  

Volleyball has various positions, but to simplify things, in my description we will group these players into three categories, back row players, front row players and the setter.  Back row players are often the first people to touch the ball and their objective is to get the ball to the setter.  The setter is usually the second person to touch the ball, and she places the ball so that the front row players can use their third touch to hit the ball onto the opponent’s side.  The setter is oftentimes called the “playmaker” because she acts as the connection between the front and back row, and she can also initiate various plays for the team to carry out in their three touches.  Nonetheless, communication between all team members is key.  It is crucial that players “call” the ball by saying the common phrase “mine” in order to avoid confusion as to who is performing a touch.  Additionally, everyone must know what is occurring on the court and how to react to their competitor in the back row, front row and setter positions.

I believe that a successful volleyball team is an all-channel network.  It demands that all team members communicate freely, effectively and efficiently, because oftentimes, a team does not have time to develop a thorough plan before executing its three touches.  Players must also communicate where they are moving to in order to aid the play.  This is crucial because without this communication players may run into each other and become confused as to where their position is located on the court.  Communication must also be open because sometimes, plays or touches don’t go as planned, and the said positions don’t touch the ball when they are normally supposed to.  This requires the team to adapt and work together to solve a complicated situation and send the ball to the other side.

A successful team is also an all-channel network because morale is characteristically high.  Volleyball teams oftentimes do cheers when they win a point and try to bring up their energy in order to intimidate their opponent.  A strong team will keep their spirits high and encourage one another throughout a game.

My club volleyball team met many of Katzenbach and Smith’s characteristics of high-functioning teams.  First off, my team had a common purpose that could be translated into specific goals.  Each year, our goal was to receive an invitation to compete in the USA National Volleyball Club tournament.  One could receive this invitation by winning so many tournaments in a season.  Each time we were successful at a tournament, we were able to see ourselves reaching our goal.  Besides this, my team was also “of manageable size.” There were only 15 girls on my team, so it was easy to communicate goals and organize ourselves.  Additionally, we accomplished Katzenbach and Smith’s fourth requirement because we each had distinct talents.  We were selected for the team based on our ability to play in the back row, front row and setter positions, so each player brought a specific skill set to the team.  Finally, we held each other accountable.  Coaches often say, “there’s no ‘I’ in team,” and we were a perfect example of this.  When someone was having a tough time on the court or a bad day, we picked each other up.  We took wins and losses together and realized that each game truly was a team effort and if we won, or lost, we did so together. 

Morals and Opportunism

Many of the organizations that I am in involved in, such as the Society of Women in business and my sorority, have anywhere from 100-200 members.  This makes it difficult for the executive board or other authoritative leadership role to check for attendance.  At many of these events, sign-in sheets are placed on a desk or table, and members are asked to sign in and participate in said event once they arrive.  In such a large group setting, it would be so easy to simply sign in and leave undetected.  However, I have never done this before.

One of my close friends recently “attended” the Career Fair by simply swiping in at the ARC, walking around the gym for three minutes and leaving.  They measure attendance at Career Fairs by swiping our I-Cards at the entrance of the fair, and employers receive information about attendance and as does the Career Center.  I understand why she did this; she wanted to receive credit for attending without actually having to talk to employers, but in the long run, I’d argue that her actions were not actually opportunistic.  Many students receive valuable information at the Career Fair by speaking with employers, and she did not receive this benefit.  Additionally, some students also receive interviews and job and internship offers due to Career Fair interactions, and she did not receive this benefit either.

In terms of opportunity costs within organizations, such as the Society of Women in Business and my sorority, signing in and leaving immediately afterwards would be opportunistic.  I would receive recognition for attending the event (since participation is not a factor and is not recorded) and I would be able to complete other coursework or participate in other activities during the event’s allotted time.  I suppose not acting opportunistically in these situations would make me “responsible,” as that is what we decided that the antonym to opportunism was in class on Thursday.

I would agree with the concept that responsibility is the opposite of opportunism.  Personally, I like to take ownership for my actions, and I participate in organizations because I enjoy the events that they hold and I genuinely like to be involved in these organizations.  I would feel as though I was cheating if I acted opportunistically and didn’t actually attend events.  It would be as if I received credit for something that I didn’t actually do, and I would feel a guilty feeling similar to one that I would have if I had cheated on a test or homework, which that wouldn’t sit well with me.  I like to hold myself to a higher standard, that is that I should act responsibly, honestly and kindly in my daily life, and frankly, acting opportunistically doesn’t align with my morals.

Therefore, I think one's ability to act opportunistically is somewhat a reflection on one's self.  I don't think it is possible for everyone to take advantage of opportunism.  Some people refuse to better themselves at the cost of others.  I'm sure that studies have been conducted asking individuals if they would cheat or lie if it resulted in personal benefit and no one would find out about it, and I'd be interested to see these results.

   

Organizational Change and Transaction Costs

I am, and have been, involved in many organizations, but very few of those have undergone any sort of structural/organizational change.  One small example of organizational change that I have witnessed is in the Society of Women in Business (SWB).  Traditionally, SWB has ten executive board members and a handful of committee chairs that have committees of 3-5 women.  In order to accommodate a growing member population, SWB added additional committee and chair positions to better regulate and facilitate their organization.  We now have ten committee chairs as opposed to around 7 in the past.  I believe that the additional leadership positions have greatly benefitted the members of SWB, because now, it is much more efficient and has more interesting and worthwhile events.

In terms of transaction costs in this example of organizational change, I believe that they were very low compared to the payoff that they created.  Though it did take extra time and effort to create new positions, hold interviews and elect members to these new positions, I believe that the organization and its members have benefitted from this extra work.  SWB doesn’t produce a product, however, it does provide a service, and by creating new positions, they increased efficiency and are now able to reach a greater population.



I believe that the greatest transaction costs in many of the RSO's on campus, including the Society of Women in Business, are the result of bargaining and policing and enforcing costs.  I define bargaining costs as any cost required to create an agreement between two parties, which, in this case, would be the member and the leadership of SWB.  In SWB, I believe that the membership agreement and requirements create a bargaining cost because this creates an understanding between both parties and creates expectations.  In SWB, the leadership (the executive board and committee chairs) must generate acceptable requirements for membership eligibility, while the member understands that by agreeing to such standards, she must attend said number of specific events.  


Similarly, I define policing and enforcing costs as any cost that the parties incur while making sure both parties stick to the contact.  There are very few costs to the members in this transaction cost area, but the leadership of SWB must pay attention to this concept.  Oftentimes, members do not keep track of the number of events or types of events they attend, and this causes a problem for the leadership.  In order to clear up any confusion, they created a system in which at every event, members sign in with their Net ID and name and this is then entered into a Googledoc containing member information.  This member information is accessible to members by means of the SWB website and makes it easy for the leadership and members to keep track of requirements.  Though this system requires more effort by the leadership committee of SWB, it helps the organization run smoothly, and I believe it is efficient.

Armen Alchian Bio

Armen Alchian was an American economist born on April 12, 1914 in Fresno, California.  Alchian attended Fresno State in 1932.  He then transferred to Stanford in 1934 and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford in 1936.  Alchian continued at Stanford and received his PhD in 1943.  He served in the US Air Force, was an economist with the RAND Corporation and then became a full-time professor at UCLA.

Alchian did not publish many articles, however, the articles that he did publish are very well known.  Alchian is famous for his text, titled Exchange and Production, and the research he performed relating to property rights.  Alchian used his property rights research to explain discrimination and reasoning behind labor unions.

Alchian passed away at the age of 98 on February 19, 2013 in his home.  After a lengthy career influencing the minds of economics, he is still remembered by his work and missed by many today.

I was not familiar with Armen Alchian before being assigned him as my alias.  I believe that his work is very relevant to the course because he studied exchange, production and property rights, which are all vital parts of an organization and affect an organization’s structure.