Leading Groups -reflection on team activities.

by dimitris5222hotmailcom (student)

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Reflective Essay

Περιεχόμενα

Introduction.

Reflection has been defined as "consciously looking at and thinking about our experiences, actions, feelings and responses and then interpreting them, in order to learn from them" (Boud et al., 1994). Further to this experience of having worked with my study team, the below tree activities were the most reflective for me since they have taught me and made me realize some peculiarities of a team. Making teams work effectively is a challenging task towards a common objective. There is a need for mutual trust and respect and an appreciation of individual weakness and strength. As Murray, R. et ca ( 1998) commented, there must be a general indicator of synergy during the team interaction process in order to improve satisfaction and task-specific team competence. The development and maintenance of a cooperative environment are essential between the individuals in a team.

Main body.

1 Space ship Dilemma.

To begin with, we started working on the first activity called space ship dilemma. It was a very interesting activity as the members of the newly formed team were unfamiliar with each other, therefore a sense of cautiousness and unease was circulating on all of us. In the beginning, I remembered I was very restrained and anxious because there was no specific guidance on how to allocate the execution of the tasks and the role of each member. Slowly afterwards, some members started sharing their ideas on how to work out the tasks but it was visible that my team experienced difficulties with the distributions of the workload. During the negotiation process, some team members felt overlooked with the tasks given as they were given fewer opportunities to participate while some other members had a more active role in allocating tasks. Evidently, teamwork can be challenging; especially when team building is overlooked and there is ineffective participation of all the members. Bruce Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory (1965) proposes four stages in building an effective team: forming, storming, norming and performing. Undoubtedly, my team faced particular challenges through the initial stage of forming. During the forming stage, members should invest time and effort in building a team. In this way, the team members will achieve mutual respect and trust based on individual strengths and weaknesses in terms of task performances. This stimulates the exchange of ideas openly and can create equal opportunities for each individual. For the first time, I understood that the contribution of ideas from the team members in allocating tasks requires leadership in order to achieve team working and avoid conflicts. Looking back, I might have overlooked some of the team members' ideas in support of some others without giving opportunities. After all, the communication of multiple ideas or details is key in achieving problem-solving and task processes during negotiations (Mannix, A. et ca, 2011). In future teamwork, I will encourage the selection of a leader so there will be effective communication between members and allocate tasks based on skills. In this way, the leader will establish some ground rules and develop a collective vision.

2 Alligator River.

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2 Alligator River.

In the sequel, we worked on the second activity called “Alligator River.”. It was a challenging task involving two parts: an individual ranking and a group ranking. The individual ranking was based on your personal opinion but then the group ranking was a collective procedure through a discussion between team members. Being part of this team activity revealed that some members are more outgoing while others prefer to be more discreet and observe the situation first before acting. Some members are open to new ideas, in contrast with others that they are conservative. I found myself to be more active, sociable and cooperative; however, I should have been less persistent towards my opinions. This is an area I might need improvement by making a positive attempt to bring a person's ideas into the discussion rather than rejecting it based on personal judgements. People bring not only their knowledge and skills to the team but also their personal attributes based on needs for power, achievement and affiliation as McClelland (1965) notes. Hence, these needs give the motivation and reasoning for an individual to concentrate on a specific purpose. In combination, an individual's values are not equally important to all team members and based on this activity, the extent of each of the five is wrong may vary. It was evident that this created some conflicts between the group and some members preferred to "group" with members that ideas match their judgment as mentioned in Turner (1985)'s theory of self-categorisation. Diversifying ideas and judgements help to achieve new ways of thinking, new perspectives and good organisation of ideas (Franz, 2012). Compromising and collaborating in seeking to find solutions that are appreciated by all parties is the key. This is the only truly win-win approach I will follow in the future; giving focus on the problem rather than on personalities and matching judgements.

3 Moon Landing.

The third activity of this seminar called "Moon Landing" was based on the communication skills to negotiate and conciliate ideas in a social team. Group dynamics can have an impact on other member's behaviours which can influence the team's performance. Some people are decisive and want to display their opinions with details while others like to behave very spontaneously, expressing via emotions. On the other side, some people prefer to be easygoing, and maintaining a relationship is what they need. In the context of the social style model, my team could be characterized as “Amiable”. The majority of the team was composed of easygoing, cooperative members with a strong willingness to hold relationships (Merrill & Reid, 1981). Therefore, team functioning relies on the social factors that shape how members experience the team as a social unit. Effective listening provides support to members to avoid adverse consequences and maintain friendly relations without sacrificing the needs of a person at the expense of the other. Nevertheless, I managed to communicate and cooperate efficiently with those members because I felt very comfortable and familiar. Being sociable and open to new relationships helped me significantly. After all, I could have confronted the situation by focusing on a different social style such as the “Driver” or the “Analytic”. I should have been more determined or persistent because I believe the task lacked the need for results and the necessity that the members do the right thing. As far as the interpersonal circumplex model is concerned, the team initially was split into “Distant VS Close”. I, as well as some of the members, were both suspicious and carefully analytical to the interactions, in contrast with other members that seemed to be more cooperative. The reason for this reaction was due to lack of familiarity and we wanted to be discreet and action-oriented. At the end of the activity, we understood that communication skills determine our relationship. By sharing information or listening carefully, we can improve those skills, by achieving good relationships and effective communication.

Conclusion.

These although every activity was a challenge, I was able to easily adapt to the current circumstances. different activities as well as my communication with other persons as a team, made me discover some benefits and drawbacks of my personality. Although every activity was a challenge, I was able to easily adapt to the current circumstances. I consider myself self-confident and for this reason, the complexity of each task made me take more action and not hesitate going forward to create an action plan. My interaction with unfamiliar people was not a problem during this cooperation, due to my sociability and my willingness to meet new people. Last but not least, in difficult situations my temper helps me to keep control with determination. However, I am very persistent, a fact that acts negatively since I am devoted to my ideas and beliefs. I tend to be more passionate about the tasks which can be exhausting for the rest of the team. In conclusion, this experience helped me to discover traits in myself that I have not explored yet and give a more in-depth understanding of how each member's personality can influence the decision-making process. Therefore, for the team to execute its task, the members have to be motivated, confident and feel that they are good performers. So leadership can oversee the team working and concentrate on the emotional needs of the team (Tracy, 2014). Moreover, a leader must be a good communicator and coordinator. Τhis is due to the different types of character in the team which can easily distract the members or create unnecessary conflicts. And finally, diversity is a good advantage in a team. Different knowledge, skills, experience help the team to go forward and evolve, reaching probably a better approach to the task.

Bibliography.

References.

Boud, D., Keogh, R. and Walker, D. (1994). Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning. London: Kogan Page.
Franz, T. (2012) Group Dynamics and Team Interventions. West Sussex: Willey-Backwell. (77-81).
Mannix, A., Neale, M. and Overbeck, J. (2011) Negotiation in groups. First edition, Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. (Page: 13).
McClelland, D. C. (1965). Toward a theory of motive acquisition. American Psychologist, 20(5), 321–333.
Merrill, David W. , and Roger H. Reid . 1981. Personal styles and effective performance: Make your style work for you. Radnor, PA: Chilton Book Company
Murray R.; Stewart, Greg L.; Neubert, Mitchell J.; Mount, Michael K. (1998). "Relating member ability and personality to work-team processes and team effectiveness". Journal of Applied Psychology. 83 (3): 377–391.
Tracy, Brian, 2014. Leadership. 3rd ed. Amacom, pp.19-20.
Tuckman, Bruce W. (1965) ‘Developmental sequence in small groups’, Psychological Bulletin, 63, 384-399. The article was reprinted in Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal
Turner, J. C. (1985). Social categorization and the self-concept: A social cognitive theory of group behaviour. In E. J. Lawler (Ed.), Advances in group processes (pp. 77-122). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.