The Process of Working Within Collaborative Group - Essay Example

The group works which involved working together and ensuring that the group dynamics were used to accomplish the desired result was not evident in our group. My notion of working in a group was totally shattered as I was of the perception that all individual members have a role in a team and it’s the duty of each member to contribute but when the team starts towards forming smaller groups and start to dominate the team members it results in the entire planning to go wrong. This was something which I witnessed while working in the group. I feel that the entire aim of working in a group and looking towards acclimatizing with the real world scenario that will be witnessed was clearly evident in our group. This paper thereby looks to present a reflection on the entire group work, the contribution of each member and the positives and negatives which will help to understand the manner in which group dynamics were used. Before moving on I would clearly like to state that the entire assignment was very frustrating and demoralizing for me as the group lacked the dynamics. It is important that while working in a group an atmosphere is created where people look to work cordially with each other and contribute towards the goal. This creates an environment where the work culture helps to contribute positively towards a common goal (Ralston, Hallinger, Egri & Naothinsuhk, 2005). This was something lacking in our group as in the beginning I looked towards contributing positively but when I found out that the group was being dominated by 2 members I lost interest as I knew that my work will not get the required recognition and will have to be altered and worked according to their whims. This resulted in dividing the group and members instead of working together looked towards just hurrying with the work. This affected the motivation level and made the group loose its focus (Ross & Eeden, 2008). I was demoralized to such an extent that I was just focusing on securing a pass grade. This impacted my understanding and I completely lost interest in the manner the team performed and was waiting just for the assignment to be completed. The manner in which the group was working clearly highlighted the lack of coordination and willingness which resulted in lack of motivation to achieve better results (Sufficool, 2010). These made me just look for pass marks and made me loose interest in the manner the team performed. Despite the manner in which I lost interest and the manner the team performed the working still had some positives and negatives which will help me in the future as encountering a similar situation will help me to find an alternative to deal with it. One of the positives while working together was the potential that the team on a whole had towards shared collaboration, experiences, knowledge so that the team could achieve better results. This was clearly evident in the beginning when the team members were looking towards knowing each other so that they could contribute towards a common purpose. This also made us understand the point that people need to work together and need to lead the team by motivating (Jay, 2010) which was clearly evident in the beginning when the team looked towards a same purpose and had a common realization towards the goal. The other positives were that the group looked towards dividing the work among the group members so that each member got an opportunity to work and contribute towards a common purpose. This helped to unite the team together and also ensured that the members were able to present their views and work in a coordinated manner. This lasted for a small period as dissonance between the members cropped up and members formed small groups and started to take all the credit by themselves which further divided the group (Porfeli & Mortimer, 2010). This thereby made the team members work for a certain period of time was the time frame was very short lived after which the members again stated to dominate the others Another important positive for me was that this group work helped me meet different people residing in different part of the world. Since, the course we were enrolled was a distance education one it helped us to work with people belonging to different areas of the globe. To ensure proper communication we used different technology like emails, Skype, conference calls and face to face meetings (for group members based in Sydney New South Wales) were continuously. This helped me to understand the importance of communication and the way proper communication helps to ensure better sharing of knowledge and ideas so that the group is able to gain effectiveness (Berger, 2008). This also helped me to meet new people and understand the different perception of people and the manner the things have to be encountered for the betterment of the group. This ensured that the individual members looked towards ensuring that the group goals dominated their personal goals and all worked towards a common purpose Another positive for me during this group work was that the work was divided equally among the team members. This ensured that each member was treated with dignity and the team was of the notion that each member had the required knowledge and skills through which they can contribute positively towards the goal (Alexander Page & Wentling, 2003). This ensured that members were able to contribute and work positively towards the team but only for a certain time period after which the team stated to experience difficulties. This thereby helped to shape the manner in which the team worked and highlighted various aspects of the team dynamics which were present but not utilized to the fullest extent. As already mentioned previously that my experience with the group was not very positive and had a lot of negatives which made it difficult to deal with the actual scenario and I had just to wait for the project to get over so that the burden could be finally released. This brought various negatives which are as One of the biggest drawbacks while working together in a group was that the entire group had members from different field of nursing and didn’t have a common interest. This made it difficult for the team members to come together and work for high marks and as a result most of the members were just looking to secure a pass mark. This highlighted a clear case of lack of group thinking and integration of common interest (Tim, 2005) which divided the group and made each member focus on just getting a pass mark. This thereby made it difficult for the team members to work together for a common purpose This compounded the problem for the group as living is different places made it difficult for the team to meet for meetings. This was an area which got toughened as each member had different family obligations and relatives so coming to a common point or meeting over the internet were a rare possibility. This complicated the matter as it made the members look towards working on their part and without discussion which made it difficult to come together and resulted in a formation of small groups as two members had similar opinion and belonged to the same health care facility. This clearly highlighted the fact that the group lacked the required efficiency (Fizel, 1999) which made it difficult for the members to work on a common goal and divided the group totally. The lack of communication was clearly evident in the final objective of each member. The fact that each member was busy with their respective field of study complicated the matter as it resulted in the group to look towards their personal objective. Also, the fact that there were differences in opinion within the member resulted in lack of intensity within the group. This even had an effect on me and I was just looking to secure a pass mark in the course. This thereby affected my performance as my objective was short lived and only looked towards passing instead of ensuring that the group worked towards performing in a manner that it wins accolades and high marks (Hale, 2003). This thereby made each member focus on their individual goals instead of the larger goal of the group. The problem was seen from the beginning as in the first meeting itself it was quite evident that 2 group members had very clear and strong minded opinions about how things needed to be completed. This resulted in the fact that both the team member met each other and were able to discuss the issues. This was not evident in case of other team members. This resulted in the both the members dominating the team and putting on the things they wanted in the group. The voice of others was unheard and it was quite evident that any work done by any member had to be changed until and unless it met their requirements. This clearly highlights that the group was divided and lacked the required group dynamics which would help the members to ensure that the group worked towards achieving better results. This showed that the group completed lacked the principles of working together (Murray, 2010) and were being influenced to take the decisions made by others irrespective of the fact whether they liked or not. Thus the team was not able to work on a common objective and the entire purpose was defeated. This resulted in creating a different opinion about the manner the group worked and resulted in keeping myself away from the group. My role soon became one of detachment and disenfranchisement as I was not happy and pleased to work in the manner the members were working together. This created differences between me and others which resulted in not taking part in the group affairs as the group was dominated and members were unheard. The manner in which the group was working also gave rise to conflicts as I noticed that my work was changed by one of the group members without asking me about it. This showed that the group was influenced by the other two member and all the players looked towards following their advices. This also resulted in creating a wide gap between the manner the members thought as I was not consulted before making any changes shows that the spirit of team was lacking within the group members (Anthony, 1999) and each member just look to follow the dominating members in all respect Since, the team was not working together it showed in the result as the work was either too creative or too bland making it difficult to ensure consistency in the work. This was a major hurdle which I also encountered as due to this the team was unable to work together and further having a mechanism where the members were looking to just highlight their work made it difficult to work as a unit. This was making it difficult for the members to work efficiently so that the team could work in the most effective manner. Since, the team worked entirely in the manner the two dominating members wanted this thereby made it difficult for the group to ensure that they were able to ensure the same efficiency. This made the other members work according to the whims of the dominating members so that they can be happy and ensure that the team was in good spirit. The team while looking to change any part could have asked me or given me a feedback which would have help me identify my mistakes and based on it I could have worked and ensured that the team requirements were met but it was not the situation as the team instead looked towards using their own ways and made changes which shows that the members didn’t have trust and were not happy to work together as a unit where all members could contribute The different experience which I had gained during this group work highlighted various important learning which will help me in the future when I work within a group and encounter similar situations. This will also prepare me better and will provide me the resistance power and strategy to deal with it in a better manner. One of the important learning for me from the group work is that it is important to have a driving force for a project but they must not allow their needs to influence the whole project which was quite evident in my group work. This is an important learning for me as it will help me in the future to ensure that I work according to the requirements of the project and will also ensure that I don’t influence the work of other as it will help to build the required goodwill and ensure that the work is ensured as per the requirements of the group. Further, this learning has also taught me to understand the importance of having a driving force which will provide the required motivation to work towards a common purpose and ensure that the goals are achieved in the most efficient manner. The most important thing at this point is to ensure that I don’t influence the working of other people and allows them the freedom so that I can deliver a superior performance and ensure a better strategy based on which the business will be able to yield effective results. The other important learning for me is that it is important to have a shared goal so that the members in the unit are able to work towards a common purpose. The importance of this multiplies in case of conferences as people staying at far off places have to come together and ensure that they work effectively towards a common purpose. This also helped to learn the importance of sharing responsibility in case of group goals and ensuring that the efforts of each and every member is shared so that the best results can be achieved. Thus, the overall work that was conducted in the group was not pleasing as I was not allowed to work and a couple of members dominated the group. Despite, the added disadvantage that the team work provided it still ensured that I was able to learn various things which will help me in the future. I was through this exercise realized the importance of team work and the manner in which each member has to fulfill their responsibilities so that the objective is achieved. This will thereby help me in the future as it will ensure that I am able to deliver the required performance which the team requires. This will thereby help to ensure that all members are happy and will ensure that I am able to work for the well being of the entire group and use my skills and contribute towards the growth of the business. References Alexander, A., Page, V. & Wentling, T. 2003. Motivation & barriers to participation in virtual knowledge sharing. MCB UP Ltd Volume 7, Issue 1 Anthony, R. 1998. Management Control Function. 2nd Edition, Harvard Business School Press, Prentice Hall, UK Berger, N. 2008. Why Can’t John read? Perhaps he is not a good listener. Journal of Learning Disabilities, Volume 11, Number 10, page 633-638 Fizel, J. 1999. Does efficiency matters in managers. Journal of Management, Volume 25, (4), Page 567-585 Hale, J. 2003. Performance based management: What managers should do to get result. 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons Inc, UK Jay, J. 2010. Lead & Motivate: not just your team but yourself too. Super Vision, Volume 71, Issue 6, page 11 Murray, A. 2010. What do managers do. The Wall Street Journal, Harper Business Review, Dow Jones & Company Inc Porfeli, E. & Mortimer, J. 2010. Intrinsic work value reward dissonance and work satisfaction during young adulthood. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Volume 76, Issue 3, page 507 Ralston, D., Hallinger, P., Egri, C. & Naothinsuhk, S. 2005. The effects of culture on work place strategy of upward influence. University of Bangkok, Elsevier Inc Ross, W. & Eeden, R. 2008. 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