Organizational Behavior: Mastering Team Dynamics and Leadership

Posted on Apr 9, 2026 in Energy Resources, Fuels, and Explosives Engineering

The Big Picture: How Organizations Work

All eight papers address a central question: How do people work effectively with each other in organizations? The answers cover:

  • Leadership: How leaders learn (P01)
  • Teams: How teams overcome dysfunction (P02)
  • Virtual Work: How trust is built remotely (P03)
  • Politics: How to handle political environments (P04)
  • Conflict: How to manage disagreements (P05)
  • Power: How individuals gain influence (P06)
  • AI: How technology changes behavior (P07)
  • Identity: How self-perception shapes actions (P08)

P01 | Leadership Learning on Broadway

The Big Idea: Effective leadership is not about natural talent; it is about learning. Studying Broadway producers reveals how to manage creative chaos, finance, and people simultaneously.

What Leaders Must Learn

  • Context: Understanding how strategy, finance, and marketing connect.
  • Self: Knowing your strengths and blind spots to delegate effectively.
  • Intuiting: Combining creative gut feel with business judgment.
  • Envisioning: Building genuine belief in a vision to inspire stakeholders.

How Leaders Learn

  • Reflecting: Extracting lessons from past successes and failures.
  • Networking: Building relationships to access better opportunities.
  • Doing: Gaining experience through active production.

Key Distinction: Explicit knowledge (what you can write down) vs. Tacit knowledge (what you earn through experience). Tacit knowledge is what separates experienced leaders from the educated.

P02 | 9 Teamwork Barriers

The Big Idea: Most teams fail due to structural problems rather than incompetence. Success relies on two concepts: Shared Mental Models (SMM) and Psychological Safety.

The 9 Barriers

  1. Competing Priorities: Fix by clarifying non-negotiables.
  2. Undervaluing Teammates: Fix with vocal appreciation.
  3. Power Differentials: Fix by inviting and thanking dissent.
  4. Leader Not Modeling Collaboration: Fix by seeking feedback.
  5. No Shared History: Fix with intentional onboarding.
  6. Dynamic Demands: Fix by alerting, discussing, and debriefing.
  7. Interdisciplinary Teams: Fix with genuine curiosity.
  8. Overload: Fix by speaking up early.
  9. Lack of Resources: Fix by differentiating short-term crunches from systemic issues.

P03 | Building Trust in Virtual Teams

The Big Idea: In virtual settings, leaders must intentionally replace the informal trust-building of the office.

  • Cognitive Trust: Rational, task-focused trust (e.g., “I trust you to deliver”).
  • Affective Trust: Emotional, connection-based trust (e.g., “I trust you because you care”).

Build cognitive trust through clear roles and shared goals. Build affective trust through psychological safety and informal connection.

P04 | Empathy and Office Politics

The Big Idea: In political environments, pure empathy can lead to manipulation or burnout. Use Situational Perspective-Taking (SPT) instead.

  • Empathy: Feeling what others feel (can lead to fatigue).
  • SPT: Intellectually understanding the situation (keeps you objective).

The Sweet Spot: A 50/50 balance between SPT and empathy allows you to remain human while maintaining professional boundaries.

P05 | Team Conflict Dynamics

The Big Idea: Not all conflict is bad. The goal is Task Conflict (TC) without Relationship Conflict (RC) or Process Conflict (PC).

  • Task Conflict: Disagreements about ideas (Healthy).
  • Relationship Conflict: Personal friction (Destructive).
  • Process Conflict: Disagreements about roles/timelines (Destructive).

Teams thrive when they achieve a Task-Conflict Dominant (TCD) state, characterized by high TC and near-zero RC/PC.

P06 | Becoming Powerful at Work

The Big Idea: Power is fluid and can be built through personal and relational sources.

  • Personal Sources: Self-monitoring, proactive personality, and internal locus of control.
  • Relational Sources: Political skill, impression management, and strategic social networks.

Power Dependence Theory: You can shift power by finding alternative resources, becoming indispensable, or forming a united front with peers.

P07 | GenAI Loafing

The Big Idea: AI can lead to “GenAI loafing,” where employees use tools to reduce effort rather than augment their skills.

  • Effort Loafing: Outsourcing the thinking process, which stunts skill development.
  • Time Loafing: Idling after using AI to finish tasks quickly.

Mitigation: Redesign metrics to prioritize quality and learning over output volume.

P08 | Identity Theory vs. Social Identity Theory

The Big Idea: Who you think you are shapes your behavior.

  • Social Identity Theory (SIT): Identity derived from group membership (“I am part of us”).
  • Identity Theory (IT): Identity derived from role occupancy (“I do this”).

Both theories explain how individuals align their actions with group norms or role expectations within an organization.