How the Dynamics of a Group if Well Managed Can Contribute to the Success of the Attainment of the Set Objectives - Case Study Example

Title page Individual Assignment; Group Presentations Customer’s Name: Customer’s Course: Tutor’s Name: 10th February, 2012. Executive Summary Groups’ presentations are widely used in various organizations by departments like sales, research and development, finance among other departments in the organization. Group presentations draw from the individual member’s contributions who work together for a common aim. However, there are experiences that are gained in group presentations as well as needs identifications that an individual may identify. The paper therefore is an insight into the experiences that I gained through the group presentations and the recommendations that can be possible made in future group presentations for the overall benefit of the group. Contents Executive Summary 2 Purpose of the Report 4 Scope of the Report 4 Report Background 4 Reflects on Group Achievements 5 Reflection on lessons learnt from the Group Presentation 6 Reflects on Course Elements 9 Reflects on Individual Contribution to the Presentation 9 Conclusion 11 Bibliography 13 Appendices 14 Introduction Purpose of the Report The report concerns a group presentation on a case study involving a married couple who upon transferring their accounts experienced problems doing so. The couple therefore had to consult their personal banking consultant and the group has to identify the issues that the couples encountered and the how the couple solved the issues. The group presentation thus centers on the case study. Scope of the Report The presentation made by the group based on the case study will discuss the problems that the coupled encountered when they transferred their accounts through identification of the gap between what the customer’s expects when transferring their accounts from their bank providers, a presentation on how the customer’s expectations are influenced, the reaction of the couple upon encountering the problems and also a presentation of the costs infringed on the customer as a result of the problems in comparison with the underlying costs. The group presentation will also conclude through making recommendations of what need to be done to further avoid such problems in the future through identification of the root causes of such problems and providing suggesting possible solutions to the problems. Report Background Group presentations are known to be used when issues in organizations have to be presented. Reports are also known to be used by various departments when some issues have to be brought to the table for instance by the marketing department when new consumer trends or concerns have been identified among others. However, well presented reports are as a result of individual’s contribution to the groups which are largely ignored when judgments on whether a presentation is excellent or not. How did the group come up with the materials to be presented or did the group experience any challenges when preparing the presentation? Such questions are in most cases ignored as the focus turns to the quality of the presentation. A group can be defined as a group of people working together in light of attaining a common objective and hence the core of the report is on the group presentation in view of the case study mentioned above. Reflects on Group Achievements The presentation by the group was satisfactory for the group clearly addressed the issues that the couple passed through upon transferring their account. The group identified the problems and suggested the solutions to the problems and hence the presentation was a success and able to secure good marks. There was variety in terms of presentation elements and which were drawn from individual group members for instance, the group members were able to correlate that the roots of the problems arising from the case study was as a result of the variations in terms of the expected expectation and perceived expectation by the customer. As a group, we were able to deliver a quality presentation based on individual’s member understanding of the case study in addition to researching widely and preparing materials to present as a group, we drew from the different individuals and hence the materials that were selected for presentation incorporated various dimensions of the various group members forming the group for instance the debate between perception and expectations of the consumer. The marks that the group got out of the presentation reflected the individual’s efforts in the group and hence the members of the group were happy in regard to the marks. Reflection on lessons learnt from the Group Presentation Representation of the individual’s viewpoint in the group is among the key points that made the group’s presentation a success. For instance, when discussing expectation versus perception, some group members thought that the customers’ expectations of their banking service was too much while others thought that the couple’s expectation were within range of their service providers. Incorporating every group member point of view while still trying to reconcile the divergent views of the group members contributed to the success of the group. This ensured that every member’s point of view was incorporated in the presentation and this sealed the groups’ success. However, there were some hindrances and they included the fact that it was hard to get a common time when all members were free and hence this clash of time posed as a threat to effective presentation of the group. On the same note too, some group members felt that their ideas were not fairly represented in the group since any idea to the presentation was subject to member’s discussion and amendments to suit the majority of the members. For instance, in identifying the main gap, some group members felt that the main gap ought to have been over expectations of the customer as opposed to the one that the group finally settled on of customer’s specification of quality versus organization’s specification of quality. Dealing with members who were resistant to change and hence not ready to incorporate others views proved difficult for the group. Important lessons that were learnt during the group presentation is that group presentations are not always the simplest ways through which good marks on presentations are achieved for group presentations involve a lot of planning for instance of when the groups will be meeting, requires qualified group leader who can manage the various personalities of the group, the willingness of the group to work together as a team and towards a common objective, open – mindedness of the group members in such a way that the group members can take every member point of view among other key elements that are to be considered. Hence group presentations can pose as a challenge to people who are self centered or egocentric and always want to have their way in any situation. The idea of working in a group gave me the advantage of learning to cope with others while compromising to their ideas even if sometimes the ideas of the group members are not always the best. However, some situations where a member’s idea which was adopted by the group is not always the best, I felt stifled with my ideas. I also felt that working in a group, took much of my energy since some people were very uncompromising and not attentive to activities of the group. The impact of other people about working in a group is that they get to collectively contribute to the overall performance of the group (Knowles 1980). Their ideas and their input in the group collectively contribute to the success of the group for instance; one of the group members came up with the presentation model of expectation versus perception and the group identified the main gap using the expectation versus perception model. The most successful part of the group presentation was in the initial start of the group where the divergent views of the members have to be incorporated and to be coherent to correspond to the group’s objectives. For instance, the different viewpoints and ideologies of the members had to be streamlined to correspond to the aims of the group. The least successful experience in working in a group is when members had to argue about different point to the extent that some member’s inputs have to be compromised and they therefore felt that their ideas had been suppressed. For example, when addressing solutions to the case study, some group members felt that reducing internal failures and retraining staff were just but the same point for if internal failures were to be reduced, then staff had to be trained on how to reduce the internal failures of the system. Group presentations should always be used in future for proficiency that is gained when people do the same thing repeatedly for instance group presentations. However, in as much as group presentations are useful, I believe that members should be made accountable for their contribution to the group and hence the marks that collectively accrue to the group should be distributed proportionately to the member’s contribution in the group to ensure that each member participates seriously. In regard to Belbin theory, identifying the roles of every team member in the group helps the team to be productive and also create lasting relationships, become aware of each other among other benefits. Beblin has identified nine characters that are to be injected in a group if the group is to attain meaningful results and they include, the plant, sharper, coordinator, resource investigator, group implementer, evaluator, team worker, complete finisher and finally the specialist. Reflects on Course Elements Management concepts were very useful in organizing the group presentation. For instance, the coordinator had to be a leader and an effective leader capable of influencing the decisions of people. Therefore, the coordinator ought to have leadership qualities. Team building was also another important concept and which is common in many organizations and whereby employees from different backgrounds have to work together in light of their diversity for the overall benefit of attaining an organization’s objectives. Other concepts which were also helpful included concepts like group dynamics and conflict resolution where through this concepts; group members are more than aware of the differences that exist among the group and the various ways through which to handle the differences. Course Elements Attained Management Concepts; leadership Qualities and team building. Dynamics of groups Conflict resolution Reflects on Individual Contribution to the Presentation Ascertaining Belbin’s theory, I was the group coordinator and therefore utilized my skills as the group leader for the overall performance of the group. My leadership skills were most beneficial to the group especially in making the group members work as a team. However, some group members were not keen on the time that the group was supposed to meet and had to be contacted in advance before the meeting. However, given another chance to be a group coordinator, just like the way our ways of conducting business has changed over the years through ecommerce and telemarketing, I would incorporate online discussions for the group rather than the actual meetings for group members but online discussion will be monitored to allow members to log in to a control panel and hence the time they have started the group discussion monitored. Through the group presentation, I have gained various operations management skills for instance the act of organizing people, planning, building effective team work and also other skills like communicating effectively. It is through group presentation where skills which are needed in the running of an organization are acquired. Group presentations also allow senior managers of an organization to know which group performs better than the other and hence important to the organization. I also gained soft skills for instance, leadership qualities in managing people from diverse backgrounds for it was a challenge making them settle on a decision. Key skills which have been learnt are the skills of working in a group. During the group presentation, an important skill that I learnt is the skill of collectively contributing to the overall performance of the group (Boddy 2008). Through the various discussion of the main issue of the case study, the root of the problems identified in the case study and the solutions to the problem identified, the group presentation was a success. The group presentation also helped group members acquire the knowledge that is very useful in running an organization. In addition, the self confidence that one gains when one is chosen to represent the group or to take up a role in the group can only be achieved through group presentations. Group members collectively understood the value of group presentations, the value of doing research and coming up with facts that can be used to prepare a presentation. The whole process of searching, discussing, analyzing and presentation helped the group members appreciate their efforts and the marks gained. I would recommend that the roles of the group members are interchanged so that everyone gains an experience in diverse roles. For instance, in the next group presentation, I would love to play the role of evaluator. This will allow me to gain skills relevant to the evaluator and give someone else the chance to lead the group. Through the whole process of group presentation, I developed the learning need for supervisory skills. Supervisory skills should be inherent to any manager or person who is aspiring to heed any organization in the modern day. Therefore, swapping role in the group presentation for instance to become a group evaluator will help me fulfill the learning need that I developed during the group presentation. Conclusion In working together to prepare a presentation on the case study, it clearly emerged that the dynamics of a group if well managed can contribute to the success of the attainment of the set objectives. Group presentations are important elements in the organization for employees need to collaborate as one for effective performance of the organization hence group presentations cement or ascertain this fact. There were various suggestions that were put forth by the group in regard to the main problems, causes and solutions to the case study, but through the collaborative efforts of the group, the group was able to come up with a presentation that secured good marks hence emphasizing on the importance of group presentations. Bibliography Swanson, R. A. 1995. Human Resources Development: Performance in Key. Human Resources Development Quarterly. 6 (2): 207 – 13. Knowles, M. S. (1980). The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy. Englewood Cliffs. Cambridge. Boddy, D. 2008. Management: An Introduction. 4th Ed. Scotland, U.K. University of Glasgow. Pp 661 – 667. Appendices Group Mind map on an example of how divergent ideas of the different group members had to be discussed by all group members to arrive at ideas that were to be incorporated in the group presentation Causes Selected For Presentation Through Group Discussions Read More