Analysis of the Effectiveness of Group Work - Assignment Example

? Group Work Table of Contents Introduction 3 Evolution of the group over the term 5 Group dynamics 6 Group structure 7 Group Conflict 8 Summary 9 Reference 10 Introduction The world of the 21st century is progressing at a rapid pace, on the line of fast change and tremendous development. It is important to highlight that the fast change of the current century is being powered on the lines of highly connected telecommunications technology that has advanced in a tremendous way in the recent past. It needs to be mentioned that throughout the previous decade there was a tremendous surge in penetration of internet based connectivity in various parts of the world. As a result of a fact acceptance of the single mode of connectivity which has developed on the lines of internet powered virtual platform in various corners of the world, the world has been transformed into a single connected global entity. This has increasingly paved the way for easy synchronization of various trends related to globalization that are emerging from the different corners of the world. In discussing the trends of globalization, it has to be considered that in most cases, the trends originate from the developed countries and slowly gets diffused in the emerging economies. Because of this shift in trend, related to globalization, there is a continuous emergence of various business opportunities. Most of these business opportunities are highly innovative in nature, while some are routinely traditional in nature. However, the evolution of the new business opportunities simply represents the fact that various companies around the world will be trying to gain advantage of the opportunity that is evolving in these new markets. So, automatically, this will fuel an increase in competition. Now, in order to gain an edge in the marketplace, with regards to the locally as well as internationally promoted competition, the organizations needs to have a very cost efficient structure of management. When an organization embraces a lean structure for employee management, it brings in the concept of getting more work done from the employees of the organization. Also, it has to be considered that in today’s highly connected global environment, employees of an organization are no longer bounded to their respective cubicles or workstations on a timely manner. Rather the concepts of flexi timing, work from home enables employees to stay connected to their workplaces through the virtual world on a minute and hour basis. However, despite organization and lifestyle based adjustments in the society, companies work in a structured and layered formation, when it comes to daily activities. Organizations have various divisions and groups of people who handle diversified job related functionalities for the organization, either being physically present or being virtually present. Often these groups needs to be directed and made to work in perfect synchronization with each other under the able leadership of a efficient team manager or team lead. While a team leader or a senior manager managing the group provides directional support, it is the members of the team whose seamless collaboration and cooperation with each other helps an organization of varying dimension to achieve its day to day objectives as well as short and long term goals. It can be stated in a very simple manner, that group work either in the physical or in the virtual mode promotes an environment where members of a group can effectively learn, collaborate and communicate in a very smooth manner. Effective and successful group work also helps in a great way in developing the morale of the employees of an organization which promotes an environment of physical as well as virtual workplace. In this particular case, the focus is on analyzing as well as studying the effectiveness of group work among a collective group of students who were made to work in a group format for the purpose of handling of assignments of an academic nature. Evolution of the group over the term From the theoretical point of view, a group is defined as a cluster or combination of two or more individuals, who share a connection in the form of a social or a work related relationship. It is very important to state that the group is often dependent on a variety of characteristics. The general characteristics of a group comprises of goal orientation, interdependence of the group members, occurrence of interpersonal interaction, perception of membership, individual motivation as well as mutual influence (Levi, 2011, p. 3). While discussing about the evolution of the group over the term, it has to be highlighted that the formation of the group happened with the beginning of the term. The group was very new and comprised of people with varying emotional attachments and work related responsibilities. When the group was formed during the beginning of the course, each and every member of the group was unaccustomed to the nature of working as well as the level of dedication of the other. Hence, with the course of time, for the group to stick together for the purpose of accomplishment of various tasks, group dynamics started to develop. From the academic and theoretical point of view, it can be said that the group dynamics represents a combination of influential actions, changes as well as process that develop and happen within the members and elements of the group over the course of time (Forsyth, 2010, p. 2). Now as highlighted in the event of defining a group, it is very natural to say that a group will be propelled forward towards future functioning on the lines of group dynamics, which normally occurs as a result of interaction and communication of the group members. In this particular case, the multiple members of the group started interacting with each other using the online virtual platform. The communication that happened between the group members occurred mostly through email communications. Online discussion boards were also used to communicate the task related goals and directives to the members of the group during the duration of the conduction of the course. Group dynamics It has to be said that any group that is being developed and formed has some underlying group dynamics. The group dynamics originate right from formation of the group and continue to linger in varying degree throughout the course of existence of the group. It is very important to mention that any group dynamics always undergoes a significant amount change in the form of stage wise development. The first stage is the phase of forming. In this particular stage of group dynamics, the members of the group focus on knowing each other. The next phase is related to storming where the member of the concerned group tries to negotiate a way out in regards to the conflict of roles, responsibilities and procedures. The third phase is termed as norming where standard rules as well as social relationships start to originate and take shape within the group members. The fourth phase is performing where members of the group try to work in perfect collaboration so as to deliver the objectives with which the group was formed. The last stage is related to adjourning or termination where the group gets dissolved after the completion of the task related objectives (Haynes, 2012, p. 9). In the course of handling of assignments of academic nature in this term, the group coordinated within itself through communication via email and discussion boards. But, the group faced issues in regards to conduction of leadership roles by the members of the group. Now in connecting this issue with textbook description of group dynamics, it can be stated that the group continued to face issues in regards to the storming phase of evolving group dynamics. Group structure The issue of group structure can be well explained from the organizational point of view. It has to be mentioned that for the purpose of effective handling of the various organizational responsibilities, various groups and teams are formed as well as disbanded within a single organization in a regular manner. Talking in the context of an organization, it can be said that the group can be either permanent or temporary in nature. In an organization, the nature of structure for a particular group might vary from horizontal to vertical in nature. In case of traditional organization, it has been noticed that the structure is more vertical in nature where as in case of a modern organization; the structure tends to be more horizontal in nature. In discussing the variations that might exist in case of reporting amongst various group structures, it can be said that the level of bureaucracy is more prominent in the case of a vertical structure. On the other hand, a group that follows a horizontal structure has a more friendly and relaxed kind of reporting. The horizontal group structure creates the impression of a boundary less organization in a seamless world (Aryasri, 2009, p. 5.24). In this particular case, it can be said that the group of students followed a non formal way of communication. Every member of the group communicated with each other in regards to fulfilment of the objectives of the assignments. In connecting with the group structure mentioned in the text book, it can be said that said the group followed the horizontal structure. This automatically helped in the process of developing more transparency among the group, besides keeping the members of the team well informed about the progress of the entire group towards the main goal. Group Conflict From the theoretical and organizational point of view, group conflict is the term which represents breaking down of a standard decision making process so that the group members finds it difficult to attain a decision (Rahim, 2011, p. 15). Conflicts can be intergroup or intra group in nature. Talking in details about the various kinds of conflicts, it can be said that in an intergroup conflicts, problems occur between two teams mostly in regards to resource sharing or shared decision making processes. On the other hand, the intra group conflicts happen when it becomes difficult for members of a particular to work in perfect harmony as well as collaboration. Talking more about intra group conflicts, it has to be highlighted that the root cause of the intra group conflict can stem from a variety of issues ranging from ego clashes, overstepping of authority while reporting, lack of group cohesion, and failure of duties as well as leadership issues. Talking in a categorical manner, it can be stated that intra group conflict can be either a resultant of task related conflict or relationship based conflict (Rout and Omiko, 2007, p. 36). In this particular case, the conflict that has happened is mostly related to leadership issues. The nature of conflict might fall in the category of relationship based conflict. Talking in more details about the issue related to the conflict, it can be said that the conflict mainly originated as the chosen leader wanted to step down from the leadership position while no other member of the group was ready to take on the responsibility. Other issues that happened in the course of conduction of group activity is that the members of the group took a longer time in regards to completing their respective tasks. Summary Lastly, it can be said that though the group faced issues related to leadership as well as slow performance from the team members in some cases, yet the entire group succeeded in a positive way in accomplishing their relevant objectives. This made the group work a commendable success. Reference Levi, D. (2011). Group Dynamics for teams. UK: Sage Publications Ltd. Aryasri, A.R. (2009). Management Science. India: Tata Mc-Graw Hill Education. Haynes, N.M. (2012) Group Dynamics: Basics and Pragmatics for Practitioners. USA: University Press of America. Forsyth, D.R. (2010) Group Dynamics. 5th ed. USA: Cengage Learning. Rahim, M. A. (2011) Managing Conflict in Organizations: Fourth Edition. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. Rout, E.L. and Omiko, N. (2007) CORPORATE CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: Concepts and Skills. New Delhi: Prentice Hall Bibliography Jones, G.R. and Mathew, M. (2009) Organizational Theory, Design, And Change, 5/E. India: Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd. Jex, S.M. (2002) Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach. UK: John Wiley & sons. Bhatia, S.K. (2007) Management of Change and Organisation Development: Innovative Approaches and Strategies. New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publications Pvt. Ltd. Read More