The exposure to work with the group members was a satisfying one considering the opportunities I had. However, it was a difficult experience because of the problem I confronted at the beginning considering we had never gotten collectively before. A key issue that I realized interacting with my group members used to be that some of them were finding the group work to be an unusual way of undertaking on a project because of the nature of the task itself. It is plausible to think of how many people locate trust to be a challenge because of the variety factor so that people find it fantastic to undertake assignments based on how best they think of it from an individual perspective. It was unfortunate that the group at first was just a collection of individuals who were working together, but there was no progress because others found it hard to trust the team members on the assignment that we had embarked (Ray & Preston 2015,p. 1). It was then that we decided that the primary goal was to clarify things so that all the members understood what we had ventured in exactly and how vital it was to trust others work in a group as if it was their work (Hensey 1992, p. 68). With time, the problem was solved because the team got along with each other easily and the team members understood each other better which led to the development of trust (Du et al. 2013, p. 485).
The other problem I noticed
I did not have enough time which meant that I would come late for the discussions. In fact, there were challenges related to the time that each member was willing to allocate the assignment considering the busy schedules that became a common feature for all the members. It was thus unfortunate to realize that some people were extremely busy that they found the project to be a distractor to their programs (Xu et al. 2013, p. 139). I was affected much because of the many errands I have to run apart from my school work. In fact, when I asked my friends in other groups about it, I realized that it was a problem that they were facing too (French & Kottke 2013). The outcome was that I missed the presentation due date even though I was offered the chance to submit the following week.
I however took the opportunities positively
and learned how I would use the experience to become better at a personal and interpersonal level. At an individual level, I have also ended the course when am better in my communication mechanism, a feature that I believe is attributed to the success in accomplishing the group presentation objectives. My interaction and communications skills have received a significant boost because I had difficult communication in fluent English but am not much better than before. The ultimate competency that has been achieved over the semester, however, is that it is apparent it is important to be reliable when there is a need for someone with competent decision-making skills (Salas et al. 2005, p. 555). It was particularly interesting that the need for ethics is undervalued yet it is so vital in enabling someone to make an objective decision when they are faced with a dilemma situation when group members are lazy. I realized that I will be required to abide by the principles that define group work because when ethics are factored, there is better cooperation. In fact, I was amazed by the fact that the team cooperated so much towards the end. I trust that most of what I was able to learn will help be to become better in work process with other students in future (Pirraglia 2016).
The chance also made me deliberate of the importance of strategic decision-making
in a group environment as a theory of teamwork. I noticed that for success to be pertinent, it is paramount that the leader sets the wave of hard work especially when the team is demoralized. It is vital that a person in a leadership position warrants that there is constant formulation of goals to be achieved so that each member realizes their personal goals (Nunamaker et al. 2009). It is especially important because I noted that the ability to strategize based on the approaching deadline directly affected the response rate by the members. The ultimate goal for the leader is to ensure that they do not focus on personal objectives but the goals and objectives as per the curriculum (Rousseau et al. 2006).
References:
French, K.A. & Kottke, J.L., 2013. Teamwork satisfaction: Exploring the multilevel interaction of teamwork interest and group extraversion. Active Learning in Higher Education, 14(3), pp.189–200. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1469787413498034. Hensey, M., 1992. Making Teamwork Work. Civil Engineering, 62(2), p.68. Nunamaker, J.F., Reinig, B.A. & Briggs, R.O., 2009. Principles for effective virtual teamwork. Communications of the ACM, 52(4), p.113. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1498765.1498797. Pirraglia, W., 2016. Why Is Strategic Planning Important to a Business? Hearst Newspapers, LLC. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/strategic-planning-important-business-2671.html. Ray, B. & Preston, V., 2015. Working with diversity: A geographical analysis of ethno-racial discrimination in Toronto. Urban Studies, 52(8), pp.1505–1522. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098014536628. Rousseau, V., Aube, C. & Savoie, A., 2006. Teamwork Behaviors: A Review and an Integration of Frameworks. Small Group Research, 37(5), pp.540–570. Salas, E., Sims, D.E. & Burke, C.S., 2005. Is there a “Big Five” in Teamwork? Small Group Research, 36(5), pp.555–599. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1046496405277134.
