Cognitive Learning Theory in Team Management - Report Example

COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY IN TEAM MANAGEMENT Cognitive Learning Theory in Team Management Customer Name: Lecturer Name: Date: Introduction Introduction Managing a team is a challenging exercise, which demands the acquisition of various skills and knowledge by the team members and the team manager. There have been varied theories proposed, as ways of acquiring knowledge. Some of the theories have been controversial, with several researches forwarding contradictory opinions concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the theory. Cognitive learning theory, look beyond behaviour to explain brain-based learning, some researchers have argued that cognitive learning is the most suitable alternative to knowledge acquisition in team management, whereas other researches maintain that team management demands behaviourism, social learning theory or humanism and constructivism. Kinds of knowledge required to manage teams Managing teams requires the utilization of prepositional knowledge, which is the knowledge of facts. Propositional knowledge also referred to as descriptive knowledge or declarative knowledge, is the type of knowledge which by nature is expressed in indicative propositions or declarative sentences. Team management is imperative in several disciples. Considering that there are several different specialties which generate beliefs that can be regarded as knowledge. These disciples include history (which generates historical knowledge, science (which generates scientific theories), law (which generates verdicts) and mathematics (which generates proofs). Whereas teamwork can be defined to be more sociological, gaining propositional situated knowledge is vital. In managing teams, knowledge gained in one situation does not always imply that the knowledge can be relied on in another situation. In a team, a situation such as election of a team leader, may share fundamental characteristics with another situation, however the facts understood in a specific situation may not necessarily be duplicated in another situation. Therefore understanding propositional situational knowledge is important, that is the facts about the situation of the team. Considering that the situational knowledge is in most cased entrenched in the teams’ culture, traditions and language, culture, some opponents of cultural imperialism have been against the need of acquisition of entrenched team situational knowledge, holding that teams tend to be global in nature and the rise of a global monoculture results to a loss of local knowledge. The situational knowledge created is also dependant on the knowledge generation methods used. This is the underlying principle necessitating the utilization of scientific method which generates theories that are much less situational knowledge, in comparison with other methodologies. Learning from experience and trial and error methods, have been argued that they more likely generate highly situational knowledge. Team management also requires the acquisition of propositional Knowledge in science, where scientists endeavour to achieve knowledge through the scientific method. In the propositional knowledge acquisition, scientists begin by recognizing an experience of interest that generates questions. From the team management perspective, to acquire knowledge a scientist picks an inquiry of interest, and utilizing the previous knowledge, develops a team management hypothesis. The researcher then designs a controlled experiment in a team setting which shall permit the researcher to test the hypothesis against the actual world. The knowledge propositional scientific acquisition occurs from the researcher making predictions concerning the outcome of the test, based on the hypothesis. This is done through experimenting, where the results of the experiment and compared vis-à-vis the initial predictions. The matching of the predictions with the observations, then this suggests that knowledge in team management has been acquired in favour of the hypothesis. Failure to match means falsification of the hypothesis. In the team management, scientific knowledge undergoes several stages to be appreciated as theories. The affirm the knowledge, the hypothesis is then tested and should be in a position to precisely and consistently forecast and exemplify a given physical phenomenon in the team,. Since scientific theories are in most cases considered as knowledge, therefore the propositional knowledge can be gained in team management from scientific perspective. Knowledge in history is also imperative in team management, which should be acquired. Considering that teams are dynamic in nature, the scientific method may not apply to teams dealing with history and correlated fields including archaeology. In such teams, managing the team may require diversified knowledge since it is not possible to construct experiments to test theories. In this case, teams which require historical understanding such as the world war cannot be replayed or experimented hence the need for historical propositional knowledge. Furthermore, the methodology is fundamentally based on the application of the inductive approach to analysis. The approach may face diverse challenges in teleological sciences, since human relations tend to be subjective valuations, hence with immeasurable and inconstant variables which cannot be represented as experimental constants. In team management scenario, team members do not necessarily behave in the same manner under different conditions or under the same constrains, moreover individuals may exhibit different reaction characteristics under same conditions at different times. Essentially, only spurious inferences can be achieved from observing the team members, yet a global law of human behaviour cannot be easily derived. Therefore, acquiring propositional historical knowledge is necessary considering that historians in most cases, given the same primary sources tend to generate different interpretations of the same event. It is also important to acquire Procedural knowledge, also referred to as imperative knowledge. This is the knowledge exercised in the performance of specified tasks, in the team. To manage a team, it is important to have knowledge on how to perform some procedures such as team development. The need for acquiring procedural knowledge by a team manager is necessitated by the possibility of directly applying the knowledge to task as well as the dissimilarity of procedural knowledge to other types on knowledge. Acquiring procedural knowledge arises from the stages of team building, where the concerned persons has to appreciate that team building involves four procedural stages, forming, storming, norming and performing. The forming is the first phase in the procedure when the team comes together. Forming involves orientation of the project members to the mission, vision, objectives, aims and goals of the organization. Since cliques can develop at the forming stage, having procedural knowledge helps to be aware of the possible alliances that can occur at this stage, and translating the alliances to servicing the team, towards the realization of the team’s objectives. This is achieved through procedurally outlining the specific tasks expected of the team, being specific about each team member’s role in the team's task, being open about the team operations, strengths and weakness, and ensuring conformity with the set of rules and guidelines of the team as well as decision making. It is also important to have procedural knowledge to make decisions on having open discussion at the beginning of the team's undertaking to enable the team members to air views, concerns and queries. Procedural knowledge in team management aids in the storming stage which is characterized by spotlight on personal relationships in the group. The stage arises due to the roles, goals and rules becoming confused and unclear, due to the different interpretations of the defined roles and rules are somewhat different in reality. There is need for procedural knowledge so has to endure that the established procedures are followed, to avoid confusion and conflict caused by difference in behaviour. In addition, procedural knowledge helps in understanding the possible challenges and synchronizing the activities of the team individuals and the team as a whole to support and enable them to ensure concurrence concerning the goals, roles and rules with respect to the individual and to the team. Moreover, new members can join the team, hence procedural knowledge is important to enable the team manager to induct and orientate the members to avoid occurrences of challenges. Procedural knowledge ensures that new members are informed about the team’s goals, roles and rules before they join and informed on the procedures of the operations of the team. The norming phase involves normalization of the group members’ relationships and cohesion is evident. In this stage, focus and calm is evident with the goals being clearly understood, rules and regulations are being adhered to, roles are clarified and the team members have strong positive relationship and work together. Procedural knowledge is imperative to realize strengths and weaknesses and utilize them accordingly, since norming is characterized by acceptance. Procedural knowledge also aids in maintaining positive behaviour and following the right channels in addressing challenges. Since not all teams make it to the performing stage, procedural knowledge plays an important role in ensuring that the team does not get stuck at norming stage, which is exhibited by lack of motivation and momentum towards achieving the outlined team goals, since most team members may have established comfort zones. At the performing stage, procedural knowledge aids in moving forward the team members to concentrate on the team goals. In addition, the procedural knowledge aids in utilizing the team’s strengths and weaknesses and fostering the team members’ individual personal growth. Understanding the team dynamics enables the team members to deal and facilitate the solving of arguments, disagreements and disputes that may arise. Moreover, the procedural knowledge serves in ensuring that the team is self-directing, perhaps even self-appraising, towards the achievement of the organizations goals. The last stage in the procedure is the Adjourning which involves break-up of the group on successful completion of the task was not achieved in this team project .Procedural knowledge is therefore important in team management. However, some researchers have argued against the utilization of procedural knowledge in team management. According to Cornwall, (1990) procedural knowledge has inadequacy resultant from its job-dependence, since the knowledge is perceived to be less general than declarative knowledge. In the context, some team management skills may be superior in managing teams of specific nature, and the same procedures cannot be duplicated to manage other teams. In this case, an expert in managing engineering project teams may be constrained from utilizing the same procedural knowledge in managing sociological teams. However, other researchers have been of a contrary opinion maintaining that the merit of procedural knowledge is that it can involve more senses, including practical problem solving, hands-on experience and having a diversified view of the strengths and limitations of a specific solution, therefore procedural knowledge can recurrently obscure theory. Metacognition which is an individual’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes or anything related to them, is also a fundamental knowledge required in team management. It is important that the team leaders and the team members have the knowledge of learning-relevant properties of information or data. Metacognition as a type of knowledge is appreciated by several schools of thought as the knowledge concerned with ‘knowing about knowing’. This type of knowledge can be exhibited in many forms in the team management since the metacognition knowledge involves the consideration and appreciation of the timing and the way of utilizing particular strategies for learning or problem solving. In managing teams, being engaged in metacognition is an outstanding attribute of excellent self-regulated learners. Therefore in team management, teams’ reinforcing collective discussion of metacognition is an outstanding aspect of self-critical and self-regulating teams. Metacognitive knowledge is imperative is understanding the individual’s strengths and weakness since it entails what the team members know about themselves and others as cognitive processors. These include understanding self to appreciate team work and diversity of the talents available in the team and focus the energies of the team to the achievement of a common goal. Moreover, having Metacognitive knowledge fosters the appreciation of the team vis-à-vis the team leader as being creative in problem solving by possessing powerful lateral thinking capacity. Legendary means of solving problems at times fail to substantially solve emerging problems due to dynamism of the team’s working environment and technology, therefore Metacognitive knowledge aids in overcoming the challenges and proposing new innovative and creative means, which are beneficial to the team in the long term. It is also important to gain Metamemory, which is appreciated knowing about memory and mnemonic strategies, to foster team management. Teams are build from understanding the background of the various team members, therefore metamemory, an underlying construct of Metacognitive knowledge is vital. Acquiring dispositional knowledge to manage a team is controversial in most literatures. Dispositional knowledge, describes an agent's potentiality to act intentionally on the basis of experience, Sørensen, and Lundh-Snis, (2001). The approach of dispositional knowledge is holistic and general. Considering the generality off dispositional knowledge, the knowledge is not quantifiable, Sally, (2000). Other researchers argue that it is challenging and practically impossible to unambiguously relate dispositional knowledge to success or failure of an action, therefore the applicability of dispositional knowledge in team management is limited to making knowledge actionable and operational. Cognitive learning theory in team management Cognitive theory is defines as a learning theory of psychology, that endeavours to enlighten human behaviour by appreciating the thought processes. Cognitive theory is founded on the basis that humans are logical beings which choose an alternative that they perceive to make the greatest sense to them. In team management, the team members either as an individual or as a group endeavour to make choices, that according to them, are the most suitable towards the realization of the teams’ aims, vision, mission and objectives. According to Wood & Bandura, (1989), the leader emergence in self-managing teams is based on the fundamental cognitive skills. Learning to manage teams primarily depends on display team management behaviour and constructive task. However, precise cognitive skills and processes herald the apposite endorsement of the required team management behaviours by fostering an exact examination of the task situation. In team management, to gain expertise, an essential understanding according to the cognitive learning theory, direct reinforcement cannot account for all learning in all the situations. The theory holds that team members can learn through observation. According to Zerubavel, (1999) practice and cognitive theories have influenced team knowledge and learning, where the cognitive learning theory encompasses Self-efficacy Theory and the Social Learning Theory. The strength of cognitive learning theory in managing teams is founded on the understanding that human emotions, thoughts and behaviour are influenced by several factors not a single reason. The human behaviour, thoughts and emotions are products diverse influences which influence the team and as well influence each other. Team leadership emergence is influenced by the acquired knowledge and the assessment of the behaviours that influencing emergence of team leaders. Considering that leadership resides in the situation; where different situations have particular demands that call for certain leadership behaviours, cognitive learning is essential towards attainment of trust building and task coordination. Cognition and cognitive analyses herald behaviour; therefore to having cognitive analysis enables the team leader to achieve skilful group task coordination. Carr, (2002), who is a proponent of cognitive learning theory, argues that team members absorb information in diverse ways: auditory, kinesthetically, visually, and through reading and writing. In a team setting, the individual’s thought process can control their way they act. To become an expert in team management, cognitive learning theory is applied in personal effectiveness. According to Gherardi, (2001), the paramount foundation for learning and processing information is a team manager’s good relationship with himself. To achieve better team management, visualizing self’s personal effectiveness translates to an increased ability to absorb new information and enhanced self-confidence. Having self-confidence and positive Self-esteem fosters the capability to comprehend new concepts and utilize existing concepts. Social Learning is also a means of fostering an individual’s expertise in team management. Social learning results from a team manager observing or imitating situations that occurs in a social context. Cognitive learning enables the learner to observe other behaviours and the consequences then alters their behaviour due to the observation. Whereas different specific cognitive skills may result to team task coordination, the cognitive skill of perspective taking is of paramount importance to the behavioural skill of supporting and developing team members, hence attaining expertise. Moreover, cognitive approach enables the learner to take cognitive perspective which enables them to understand other team members’ viewpoint. This enables the learner team leader to develop the interpersonal trust and rapport needed to skilfully support the team members. According to Cohen & Bailey, (1997) emotion comes before cognition, therefore affective information and emotion offers primary source of information, which could foster cognition. In addition, the cognitive theory places concern to the internal mental processes of the mind, and the utilization of the processes to enhance effective learning. Gaining expertise in team managing is also fostered by the theory since it appreciates the transformation of information received through sight and hearing into skills and knowledge in the memory of human beings. Moreover, the theory considers the importance of significant learning where the doctrines on which proficiency is built are utilised to foster the transfer of knowledge. In this case, the learning experience is made more meaningful, while appreciating that the learner in managing teams have to systematize their learning into relevant structure, which enhances the integration of new information The challenge to cognitive learning however that, it is is observational in nature. Some learners may also lack sufficient observational capacity to learn within a limited timeframe. In addition, the observable cases may be limited, which may not sufficiently expose the learner to sufficient knowledge to be applied in most cases of team management. In comparison to behaviourism, cognitive theory has several strengths in learning team management. According to McClelland, (1998) and Chamot, (2005) behaviourism has does not provide explanation to all kinds of learning, since it does not consider the activities of the mind. In addition, behaviourism is limited some phenomena, where there is no reinforcement mechanism. Behaviourism is not therefore the suitable alternative to learning to manage teams. On the other hand, social learning theory proposes learning founded on close contact, understanding of concepts, imitation of superiors and role model behaviour. The theory which holds that that people learn new behaviour through different means such as overt reinforcement or punishment, or via observational learning of the social factors in their environment, has several strengths in the development of team management skills. The theory has several strengths, such as explaining how people learn new behaviours, values, and attitudes. Furthermore, constructivism which views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds fresh ideas or concepts is a suitable alternative. According to Descombe, (2001) , constructivism addresses the perception of cognitive learning theory, but enhances the theory further to include active participation of the learner. Constructivism is therefore, a better alternative. Conclusion Whereas several studies suggests varied knowledge acquisition theories for managing a team, Cognitive learning theory, has been supported since it fosters the development of a leaner to become a expert in team management by looking beyond behaviour to explain brain-based learning. Team management is a procedural exercise, whose success depends on the input of the team members and the team manager, can effectively be achieved through cognitive learning, while some theories such as behaviourism are limited. However, social learning theory or humanism and constructivism can also enhance learning in team management, with constructivism having superior impacts than cognitive learning theory. Read More