72 SPTS in The UK

Team 85 Poster

Team Reflection

What?

SPTS as an organization with the aid of Chris Webb’s interview allowed us to gather a clear insight into how the semiconductor industry has innovated to protect the health and well-being of the employees while considering its Environmental impacts. Chris discussed innovations created to achieve ISO140001 & 450001. These are general certifications for both environmental and health and safety. To achieve this SPTS needed to implement systems to ensure safe working practices. They created an in-house COSHH system to track chemicals onsite and a management change system to ensure all managers have a say. SPTS has additionally committed to a “continuous improvement practice”. Having these systems in place allows us to think about how SPTS has considered the health and well-being of its employees and has created a safe place to work in a potentially dangerous environment. Additionally, SPTS has further worked towards climate action with its environmental innovations such as its energy-efficient changes to the abatement systems to only activate when needed and its pledge to change its process chillers to create 5% energy and water savings.

So What?

Understanding what an organization does is far different from understanding how the organization functions. For all of us, interviewing at this highly technical organization was a first. Chris Webb, our interviewee, explained the planning, organization, leadership, and control procedures required to put his concept into practice. Due to ISO and British regulatory changes, STPS conducted an internal analysis, which resulted in an overhaul of how employees access outdated safety data. This illustrates how both internal and external factors may drive organizational change. By explaining how the mechanistic company developed an application that empowers its staff to easily access up-to-date safety data, Webb illustrates organizational change. Additionally, Webb described how they conducted a compliance audit to evaluate the reaction to change, demonstrating how a company may actively monitor its change in control. During our interview with the innovation leader, Webb, we observed his enthusiastic approach to his work, strengthening our preconceived notions about what a leader should embody. The story had some unexpected elements, particularly the part where Webb shared some of the data sheets that were 35 years old; this highlights the significance of conducting regular audits on internal procedures. Webb used some jargon that we needed to translate into more understandable language, which led us to discover more about the many chemicals utilized in the workplace at STPS, as well as the type of work done there. Because hazardous chemicals can negatively affect both the environment and its employees, we were able to appreciate the changes the company is making for both. The corporation would have taken longer to recognize the internal problems motivating the innovation we studied if ISO hadn’t revised its regulations. We learn from our research that regulation and other checks and balances are essential to businesses’ continuous improvement along with also allowing us to observe the different ways our academic studies may translate into the real world.

Now What?

After doing the entire AIM2Flourish story, we believe it will impact us, whether in the business world or our lives. In a few years, all of us will be businesspeople and bring our best foot forward. Knowing that certain companies prioritize employee safety, environmental sustainability, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) over profits illustrates that there is always room to improve. This remote teamwork was a challenge and a first for everyone in our group. We learned the importance of accountability, credibility, punctuality, patience, and a strong emphasis on communication. Another large learning outcome was being flexible and adaptable, and we found that some weeks certain meeting times would not fit everyone, so being flexible with scheduling was a blessing. As a result, the skills we learned will be put into practice and used daily in the real world when facing issues and obstacles in the workplace. Our anecdotes are quite reflective of each other, as about every group member agreed that we had an amazing group of hard-working go-getters who mentioned the importance of clear communication, which we pat ourselves on the back for. Miguel discussed that we used a laissez-faire leadership style in his reflection portion, which we believe sums up our group collaboration quite well, letting everyone take their course of action which, in turn, increased creativity, gave diverse perspectives, and reduced conflict. Overall, we believe that everything we learned throughout this AIM2Flourish project will be detrimental to the development of our careers as we navigate through life.

Articulation

Throughout the project, the team learned the importance of collaboration and dedication to the project. Given that this experience was cross-cultural, overcoming the barrier of time zones was a challenge that each team member was ready to face. Everyone learned the importance of completing their work within the given deadline and prioritizing this project over other assignments to meet deadlines. The learnings from our courses encouraged our leadership behaviors to flourish and allowed each member to have a positive mindset toward the project while focusing on the application of course material. The work was split up between our groups where we created three groups. The first group was Adam and Robbie who conducted the interview right away, allowing time to write the paper and complete the poster. Rowan and Miguel worked diligently on the paper asking for feedback from other team members. Carter and Kamryn utilized their marketing skills and understanding of the project to create the poster. Throughout the project, communication was prominent and made the assignment simple. Attending meetings and dedicating time to this project is the reason we, as a group, were able to complete this assignment with our best efforts. The time zone element was tricky, but each member focused on attending meetings and communicating when they could not be there. Everyone completed their portion of the project, creating a unique dynamic of students focused on the sustainability of companies throughout different cultures.

Individual Reflections

Miguel Camarena – This assignment gave me insight into what it means realistically to work with others in an office-like environment and how to work with people outside of the US. I am a first year taking a junior-level class, so it was a bit jarring and got me out of my comfort zone in a great way. I practiced taking initiative when working with others by setting goals, planning, and checking in with others. The laissez-faire authority in the group worked, at least for us, since everyone was cooperative and was willing to put lots of effort into their work, making everything go flawlessly. I was able to apply the skills taught in my management course, and although business management is not my main goal, this experience was extremely helpful and informative toward what I am capable of. Overall, I am proud of my group mates and believe we did a great job.

Kamryn Klinger – This assignment opened my eyes to new perspectives and granted me the opportunity to combine efforts with people throughout the world. Originally, the idea of this project worried me as I feared the team would not be able to come together to create a project. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the hard work and dedication of all my team members as well as myself. From the beginning, everyone had a plan, and we were able to collaborate in a way that made it easy for everyone. Throughout the meetings, we quickly determined who would do what and everyone fell into their roles quite easily. I feel that I was able to contribute and help my team members in this difficult project and feel that everyone dedicated themselves to this project and made an amazing group to work with. I enjoyed this experience of meeting new people who have helped me learn about different cultures and enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate and build a connection with people in other countries. There were no difficulties throughout this project, and I appreciate all team members stepping up and taking on a role in this assignment. The communication was effective, and we all collaborated very well. This project is one that I will never forget because of the opportunities it presented, and I am thankful that I was able to work with a team who all cared about the project and wanted to complete it within the expected time frame. Moving forward, this project has taught me to understand people and to be an assertive leader who assists people and has a servant’s mind to encourage respect and hard work.

Carter Young – I am grateful for this opportunity to collaborate with an amazing group of individuals to gain real-world experience. When the project was first announced in my classroom, I was doubtful about the experience but once I met our group, I knew it would go well. This was my first time taking part in a virtual team with members living across the world. There were a few challenges, especially in scheduling due to individual classes and the different time zones, but we made it work through clear communication. This demonstrated the importance communication has in a group project but also in life. Working together taught me that with commitment and respect for each other’s ideas, we can achieve more than I had imagined. This assignment has helped me to grow both personally and professionally by learning how to adapt and collaborate effectively in a team environment.

Rowan Johns – Overall this project was a pleasure. Meeting all my group mates was a smooth and straightforward process. This was my first experience being a part of a purely virtual team, meaning I had quite a lot to learn as we worked through this project. Thankfully, everyone in our group was a great communicator, which was immensely helpful. I never noticed any large cultural differences, the only real obstacle we had to work through was differing time zones, which we figured out meeting times quickly and effectively. Everyone held their weight, and no nagging had to be done, which is rare with group projects. We were able to effectively divvy up the workload so that not one person had too much on their plate. Miguel and I shared the writeup portion and the communication was top-notch. I have no complaints whatsoever; I thoroughly enjoyed this project and am thankful for my amazing groupmates.

Adam Holloway – Overall I have really enjoyed the ability and opportunity to take part in the COIL project. It has allowed me to meet a variety of people from around the globe as well. As the project was broken down into smaller tasks, I was given the opportunity to arrange and conduct an interview with my current work (SPTS), allowing me to provide the group with the innovations being conducted to create a safe working environment that considers its environmental impact as well as improving my interviewee skills. Additionally, having a group that worked as a team and played their part allowed for a smooth process when having weekly meetings and moving forward with the project.

Robbie Hawkins – This assignment has given me an opportunity to work with and meet a range of lovely people from other countries. It gave me the opportunity to be part of a virtual team. My group was great when it came to organizing things as we split it evenly, so things were fair. All my group members participated to the best of their ability allowing us to produce an excellent outcome.

References

SPTS. (2024) Retrieved November 3, 2024, from https://www.spts.com/