The Interaction and Learning Experience - Essay Example

?In the 21st century teamwork has become a critical success factor for domestic and multinational corporations. It is imperative for employees to cooperate with each other in order to optimize the productivity of a company. At the University of Phoenix the school values the importance of teamwork. Online students sometimes forget that they have a team of classmates that exist in the real world that have similar aspirations. I love the fact that the UOP online forces students to interact with each other both in the classroom participation forum and through the methodology of providing team assignment. During the ACC 544, Internal Control System, I was a member of team C. The purpose of this paper is to describe the interaction and learning experience that occurred during this course through the team learning mechanism. I have taken over 15 courses at the University of Phoenix online at the graduate level. Each of these courses had team assignments to be performed by a small group of students of 3-6 members. I believe that the university is doing a great job in their teaching methods because it is preparing us for the workplace of the future. Virtual teams are a hot trend in the managerial field due to the globalization movement and the fact that there are thousands of global corporations worldwide. “Managing a virtual team means managing the whole spectrum of communication strategies and project management techniques as well as human and social processes in ways that support the team. During the last six weeks I had the privilege to work with an outstanding team. It was a pleasurable experience working with a great group of professionals. Starting in week 1 team C always had great communication among the members. Communication in the workplace is an important variable that must be managed well by the leaders of an organization. Communication problems can lead to misunderstanding and conflict. Team C did not experience any of these symptoms. Whenever anyone was called upon to deliver data or information everyone responded promptly. As I mentioned earlier I have been a part of several work teams at the University of Phoenix. I believe that this team has been the most functional and productive team I have ever been in. The academic results prove my premise. Team C received a perfect grade of 25/25 on five projects the team completed. I’m a good student, but I do not have a 4.0 G.PA. Team C achieved perfection due to its hard work, commitment to excellence, cooperation, outstanding communication, and concise writing. I wished I would have had these teammates with me in all my previous courses. One of the best things about Team C was the lack of an ego. In other team I have worked on somebody always wants to be the team leader without getting approval from the other members. Team C did not have that problem. I believe that the leadership responsibilities were shared equally among the members. I loved the fact that the team member willingly divided the work parts without having anyone tell them to do things they did not want to do. Another great aspect about the team was the punctuality of the deliverables. At the University of Phoenix online the members of study teams depend on each other. If one member fails to deliver their work on time it creates a chain reaction that affects the quality of the work of the team. Team C cared about each other and respected the academic well being of the other members. The perfect grade the team was able to achieve in the five assignments will increase the chances of all the team members obtaining a passing grade at the end of the course. I enjoyed working with this team because there was mutual respect among all the players on the team. The team was very organized throughout the entire course. This help the communication process because everyone always knew what they were supposed to do. I took initiative prior to week four and week five projects of creating an outline a few weeks before of how to separate the work in the team. This strategy worked well as everyone knew what parts of the project they were going to do in advance. In terms of problems that Team C faced I can honestly say that the team did not experience any issues. Team C was able to achieve synergy which means that the whole became greater than the sum of its parts. The only minor issued that I can identify was that during week 1 it took a few days for the team to get to know each other and begin to trust each other. This is a normal process in team formation. This course taught me a lot about accounting. The learning process was enhanced during the course due to the five team projects that the professor designed. Working in teams for me is a lot of fun. It reduces the academic burden of students due to the fact that the work can be divided among several students. I learned about the importance of teamwork and I visualized how teamwork can be applied in the workplace to improve the operating results. I believe that the University of Phoenix is at the forefront of a new age in education. Working in virtual teams is a unique experience that will become more valuable as we move forward in the second decade of the 21st century. The University of Phoenix has prepared me very well for the future. I am very eager to complete my education in order to apply my new set of skills in the workplace. This process has already begun as I have learned a lot in every course I have been enrolled in at the University of Phoenix and that knowledge has helped my a lot at my current workplace. For me this course has been a tremendous learning experience which was enhanced by the chance of working in a team setting for multiple projects. Personally I believe that Team C of ACC / 544 has been the best study team I have had a chance to work with at the University of Phoenix. The performance and productivity of the team was outstanding. Every member of the team always delivered their work on time. The quality of the deliverables was tremendous which helped me and my teammates obtain very good grades on each project. I learned a lot about internal control by reading the material that my teammates prepared in the projects we completed together. Along with the accounting learning the opportunity of working with Team C enabled me to improve my communication skills in virtual team settings. It is my opinion that in the future companies are going to increase the usage of virtual teams in the workplace due to the rise of the globalization movement. Teamwork will become more important than ever in the organizations of the future. My academic preparation is in business administration, thus I will be in the near future working in a managerial position. As a future manager it is imperative for me to learn how to communicate well in team settings. Communication is very important because a lack of communication can lead to misunderstanding, project delays, and potential conflict among employees. The experience I had during this course in my team projects showed the truth about teamwork. Whenever a team connects and interacts well the beneficiary of the work output is the corporation because teamwork allows workers to raise their level of performance. Read More