ASO Team Organization

      On campus, there are two African Organizations, African Cultural Association (ACA) and African Student Organization (ASO). Using one of the six assumptions of the structural grid to differentiate them, one can clearly identify that they both have opposite established goals and objectives, and they use different devise strategies to reach their goals. ACA focuses more on creating cultural shows to appreciate the different African countries and their cultures. They host many social events that brings students from other school to participate. In fact, they are known as the "Cool African RSO", and this tends to draw many freshman's to join the club. In a nutshell, ACA's main goal is to bring Africans at the U of I together and establish a unified bond of friendship. On the other hand, ASO focuses on encouraging the participation of African students in various university activities beneficial to the organization, as well as their academic life. ASO hosts many conferences and round table events that focuses on different themes every year. They are known as the "Serious African RSO" especially because most of the members are upperclassmen and graduate students, with only a few  freshman's. ASO's main goal is to bring Africans and others together with interest in Africa to study the fundamental problems facing the African continents and her people.
      My involvement with a successful team has been with ASO. According to the chapter 5 reading from B&D, our team structure is similar to the circle network where information and decisions flow properly from one group member to another. We have various positions in ASO such as president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and publicist. Having only six board members that are really passionate about the organization has been productive because that ensures that everyone performs their duties diligently. Although the president has the "authority role", he still relies on each team member to perform their roles, and collectively make decisions together. For example, as the treasurer, I develop financial proposals to different departments on campus to request funds for upcoming events. I also manage ASO's budget and keep the account accurate by ensuring that all funds are collected and deposited. As the circle network implies, I still have to make every money transaction accessible to other board members by sharing the excel sheet with them. This makes it easier for other board members to know how much money we have available in our account. Thus, I mostly work with the social chair to ensure that there is enough money to organize different social event throughout the school year.
       For our big events, specifically ASO Annual Spring Forum, we have event committees members that helps with the planning of the event. The applicants typically submits an application writing an essay and indicating their interest and experience about why they want to be responsible for planning our event. After the applicants have being selected, they pick their interest which varies from catering, managing the event publicity on facebook and eventbrite, to writing and finalizing the event booklet, making flyers and inviting guests through emails.  For the event, we invite two keynote speakers, usually a professor or someone that has extensive knowledge about the year's theme. We also have PHD students present their research, and invite alumnis, parents, and associate to attend the event. The big turnout of the Spring Forum requires that everyone perform their duty diligently because one weak link affects the event outcome. In fact, board members usually act as a guidance to the committee member, and often time oversee the event plans. This also helps with the variety of the event because we typically have new committee members every year.
     ASO exhibits primarily two of the distinguishing characteristics of high-quality teams mentioned by Katzenbach and Smith. As I  mentioned before, we are a team of six people and the election process of team members includes making a pitch to members about why you are interested in your desired position. Also, we have interview sections where previous board members interview and access your commitment the organization by considering your previous participation with ASO. The small number of board members also helps us hold ourselves collectively accountable while reaching each semester's goals. Additionally, we develop a common commitment to working relationship, that is before everyone takes on their post they are sent a summary of their duties for familiarity.  This usually prevents situations where board members are not performing well because of the uncertainty of their job description.  This clear objective pushes the team forward, and in turn leads to a desired outcome. During every weekly meeting, we all agree on different tasks that needs to be completed before our next meeting. We explore different ideas when implementing decisions, and the president also does a great job of reminding people of deadlines by ensuring that no one has difficulty completing their task.
      One trait that helps our team work to be more efficiently is that we frequently create a comfortable environment by having social events where board members get to know each other more personally. Most importantly, we give room for constructive criticism because this helps everyone improve their skills, and also help the team meet expectations and shared goals.