Introduction
In todays dynamic environment and the present scenario of work culture; associations and educational establishments require their staff members and students to work in a team under specific conditions and tolerant range, in this way they provide on hand experience of working in teams/ groups. Professors ask their students to work in a team as it permits them to learn in an interactive manner. There are different types of theories proposed by the management professionals regarding team management. Such theories guide the managers in the organizations how the entire team can be made to work together towards the organizational goal (Shuffler, et al., 2014). Various researchers and scholars believe that people who tend to work in a group, irrespective of the subject matter are witnessed to learn more than what is taught and they also retain that learning for a longer duration. On this note, it also becomes essential that each member of the group must reflect on his or her individual performance in the team. This will help an individual to identify self-working capability and potential.
The main purpose of this reflective report writing is to reflect my own experience in the group presentation assignment. I will reflect on what I have learned about managing and operating in diverse cultural groups. My group comprised of five students and all were from the same field of education. The best thing about the group was that each student had his or her own talent, potential and skills which made the team more robust and efficient. For the evaluation of groups effectiveness; objectives of the assigned task were set and regular feedback from the team members was encouraged in the regular meetings.
Establishing the group
Our group was structured by the professor to complete an assignment in which presentation was to be compiled on the topic How do managers manage their teams and what theories they apply to check the effectiveness and performance of their teams. This assignment was successfully accomplished by considering a case of National Australian Bank.
In order to arouse the sense of teamwork; the group interacted with each other on an open platform, did brainstorming about what procedure will be followed to reach to the desired results, the setting of goals was done to accomplish the task allotted in a stipulated period of time. Each member of the group shared his or her own perspective and ideas for the assignment. We jointly decided to choose a leader for the group in order to make the communication smooth and fair.
After the group formulation and the groups first interaction, the main task was to organize the work. On the initial stage, the work was divided into small segments and each segment was assigned to each member of the group; analyzing the respective calibre and work skills of an individual. This made a clear description of roles and responsibilities assigned to each one of us where everyone knew who will do what, till what period and in which format. For this, a Gantt chart was also prepared (Woodley, et al., 2014).
Team Processes
Communication with each other is an important aspect of a group task. To remain in touch with each other, the group leader decided to conduct regular meetings. Those meetings helped us to reassess the activities and make changes in order to meet the goal of the group project. There was no protocol set for the behaviour of the team members but the leader of our group kept on monitoring the coordination among team members. We did not make any alterations in the planned processes scheduled in the first meeting but yes minor changes were made according to the need and circumstances. For example, at the end of every meeting, the progress of individual was check and if the person was lacking in his or her assigned work as per schedule then that gap was covered with the support of all members. The entire team undertook research and used qualitative research method to gather the information pertinent to the managing team. The group conducted an interview with the NAB manager; where different types of questions were asked. The progress of the team processes was presented on a regular interval to our group mentor who had assigned us this task to collect his valuable feedback and suggestions (Johnson, 2017).
Strengths and challenges
My group was diverse in nature as my group had both males and female members who were from different parts of countries and they carried along with different skills and attributes. One of the members of our team was very passionate about his work and had good writing skills. The other member worked with a slow pace but was very hard working and was good at software. I had different characteristics; as I am habitual of writing each and everything discussed in the meetings which were not common among other members. It was my first assignment where males and female members worked together on a common platform. Initially, we faced challenges to cope up with each other but within few interactions, all the members were compatible with each other. In fact, there were some tasks where girls learnt from boys and there were the tasks which girls performed in a better way than boys. Diversity of our group strengthened our ability to complete the tasks in a better way (Gwynne, 2009). So I got to work with people having diverse working attitude and background.
Equal contribution policy
To make this group activity a success; each member of the team was asked to contribute to the team by presenting their respective ideas about the assignment. Each one was assigned an equal amount of work but yes that was done depending on the interest and potential of an individual. To quote one example; in the project allotted; I was held responsible for compiling the summary of the findings acquired in the research. Everybodys valuable inputs were given equal importance. Along with this policy we also used collective decision-making approach which encouraged each one of us and also increased the individual respect. This approach increased the overall efficiency of our group (Parker, 2008).
Conclusion
In this entire journey what matters the most is what I have learned from my group project experience. During the period of working in a team, many situations turned up and tested the decision making scale and my pressure bearing ability. Group performance is affected by the sorts of individuals making up a group, however, the way to its usage is the manner by which the group examines its performance and after that adjusts the circumstance so as the outcome can be accomplished. The team accomplished the final result because it worked collectively as a team. The roles and responsibilities of each member were predefined but we regularly consulted with each other when we kept running into challenges with our work. I was able to empower the group as a whole and through this team project; I enhanced my knowledge, skills and competencies. Along with this I also strengthened my problem-solving ability.
References Gwynne, P., 2009. Managing Culturally Diverse Teams. Research-Technology Management, 52(1), pp. 68-69. Johnson, J., 2017. Teamwork and leadership : a communication perspective. Parker, G., 2008. Team players and teamwork: New strategies for developing successful collabration. Shuffler, M., Rico , R. & Salas , E., 2014. Research on Managing Groups and Teams. Volume 16. Woodley, C., Augar, N., Whitefield, D. & Winchester, M., 2014. Theres no I in team but there is a U in group: Student reflections on improving the team assessment experience. International Journal of Pedagogy and Curriculum, 20(2), pp. 45-59.
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