Group Effectiveness,Team Roles, and Time Management - Essay Example

Contents

Reflection on group effectiveness

Group or team projects are prominent form of assessment and incorporates various strengths and weaknesses which stand as trait attached to the diversity involved. Usually, working in teams or groups involves more complexities than working alone since not everyone works in the same manner or pace (Belbin, 1985). In addition, the complexities are further fostered by the extensive interpersonal communication, interaction and coordination that these groups feature. However, regardless of these complexities and challenges, team projects are highly efficacious and rewarding (Levi and Slem, 1995). This section of the reflection provides a deeper look into the teams effectiveness, identifies achievement areas as well as cases of incompetency that affected the success of the project.

Team roles

Each member of the team participated in the project and impacted the project’s success in one way or another. The fact that group work welcomes people with different abilities, talents, experiences, skills and personal traits was effectively demonstrated in the project since each member professed a different attribute that had an effect on the final outcome of the project. Decisions in the group in regard to the group project were made through an agreement among the group members. The group adopted the Belbin’s self-perception inventory for the purposes of analysing the individual attributes of each of the members. The Belbin’s self-perception inventory identifies a group to at least have people to play roles as plants, resource investigator, coordinator, shaper, monitor elevator, team worker, implementer, completer/ finisher and specialist (Furnham, Steele and Pendleton, 1993). With a group of four people, the roles were played differently in that one individual could play a number of roles in the Belbin’s self-perception inventory while the others took up the others.

Individual who played the plant were identified as creative and good generators of ideas. Whenever the group encountered a difficulty either in research or in what to write when preparing the report, everyone’s opinion was asked and the best chosen (Cannon-Bowers, and Salas, 1997). The role of the planter was played by most of us since the decisions that were to be made regarding the project revolved around only four of us and as such, every opinion was reviewed and its benefits reviewed against other opinions. I also played the role of a resource investigator in the group by pursuing and giving contacts and opportunities (Sommerville and Dalziel, 1998). However, I was not entirely focussed outside the group since we played most roles as a group. The co-ordinator was identified as an individual who could step back and review the path that the group was following. It was through him that most decisions were clarified (Sommerville and Dalziel, 1998). It was to the group’s advantage that everyone appeared to play the role of a sharper since we all seemed task-focussed and we could pursue the project’s objectives with vigour with the primary need of achieving the project’s objectives. I was also identified as the completer or finisher since I professed traits that could be associated with a perfectionist and I was willing to go the extra mile in order to make things right in the manner that they should (Swailes and McIntyre-Bhatty, 2002). Lastly, the group unfortunately did not have a specialist since we were all peers and no one had specialized knowledge in the topic.

Time management

The most identifiable influential aspect in our team was that of time management. It was noted at the beginning that the time within which we were supposed to complete the project was significantly limited yet the demands that we had to meet seemed to be overly unlimited. This made it possible for us to allocate time effectively where it was most needed and spent it wisely in order to save more time for activities that lay ahead undone. Tasks outlined in the project including the planning of the project, research of information, self-directed project work, analysis of the information, and final writing and editing of the project was allocated enough time to ensure quality work (Bolman, and Deal, 1992). Despite the limited time, interrupted by aspects such as work, classes and personal life among other commitments, we felt that we could manage the time and do a good job with the project. Time was allocated strategically in order to ensure that the quality of work due to the project was not compromised since the project had a greater weighing towards our individual grades.

Overall effectiveness of the group

I believe our team of four made a good group since everyone brought with them an advantage or a useful trait in the group that in one way or another helped us achieve a finished product with which we could all proudly identify. The group was well packed with individuals who served double responsibilities as innovators, shapers, co-ordinators, resource investigators, planters and finishers who contributed to the completion of the project on time and with high standards. Everyone in the group took various responsibilities and I am pleased to report that no group member seemed to try any lesser than others (Stewart and Sims, 1999). However, we experienced episodes of ill experiences during the time. Specifically, in other occasions, some group members were observed to be frustrated by what was going on in the group or by the performance of others in the group. Nevertheless, we understood the negative aspects of group works, which were, for the most part, inevitable (Kutnick and Rogers, 1994).

There were positive elements that we experienced by working together. First, we were pleased to have the exercise run on a SMART criterion where our objectives were majorly specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (Levi and Slem, 1995). These objectives directed our path and we, thanks to them, stayed organised and focused.

Reflection on module layout

The module was specific in the providing of students with knowledge and insight regarding human resource from a strategic view point. I enjoyed the framework upon which the module was based since it not only gave us an opportunity to master related academics but also engaged us in the application of these academics to scenarios in the contemporary world. Application of skills learnt in class was a proper way to help us increase our understanding and mastery of the business environments in the world outside the classroom while at the same time improving our employability.

Reflection on organizational projects and links

The projects we tackled professed similarities and differences in their overall organization. However, while these similarities linked every group to the objectives of the module, each project given to each group had emphasis on different elements and organizational culture to which we were supposed to adapt. Through this aspect, we can learn that academic grounding elements such as workforce flexibility and coaching approaches are similar in one way or another and the main objectives of these projects require different sets of skills in order to achieve each objective.

Personal reflection of the project

Regarding my personal contribution the group project, I believe I came out as a hardworking and goal-centred yet accommodative member of the team. In addition, I consider myself to have been a valuable member and contributor of the team. Although it may not have manifested itself clearly, I somewhat felt that some of the group members sat back and benefited from others’ work, which is also an aspect hat is unavoidable in a group setting. My experiences in the group have, in one way or another, sparked significant thoughts of myself, mostly positive and others negative. First, I noted that I experience episodes of frustration whenever I note that risk or effort is not spread equally among the members of a group in which I am. This aspect, on the other hand, made me realise my need and desire to be in control for the purposes of ensuring that everything is carried out in the same fashion that it appears in my mind. For this reason, I lack trust in others in cases where certain levels of perfection are desired. As such, the project has enlightened me in a number of ways including the fact that there are times when I should have more faith in others and that there are people better at carrying out duties than I am and I should provide them with that opportunity whenever necessary (Mullender and Ward, 1991). As a result I have learnt the need to be calm in situations that appear to be pressuring.

In conclusion, the completion of the project was successful in more ways than one. The team did well in the meeting of the project’s objectives and, I believe, everyone got to learn concepts beyond the scope of the project. Our group, like any other group, faced challenges, overcame them and achieved the primary goals of the project. On a personal level, as discussed above, I thought the experience was exhilarating and it is my hope that other members of the group felt the same way.

Reference List

Belbin, R.M., 1985, January. Management teams, why they succeed or fail. In Bulletin of the British Psychological Society (Vol. 38, No. FEB, pp. A1-A1). ST ANDREWS HOUSE, 48 PRINCESS RD EAST, LEICESTER, LEICS, ENGLAND LE1 7DR: BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOC.

Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 1992. What makes a team work?. Organizational Dynamics, 21(2), pp.34-44.

Cannon-Bowers, J.A. and Salas, E., 1997. Teamwork competencies: The interaction of team member knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Workforce readiness: Competencies and assessment, pp.151-174.

Furnham, A., Steele, H. and Pendleton, D., 1993. A psychometric assessment of the Belbin team‐role self‐perception inventory. Journal of occupational and organizational psychology, 66(3), pp.245-257.

Kutnick, P. and Rogers, C., 1994. Groups in Schools: Groups, Group work and Cooperation in School V. 1. Continuum Intl Pub Group.

Levi, D. and Slem, C., 1995. Team work in research and development organizations: The characteristics of successful teams. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 16(1), pp.29-42.

Mullender, A. and Ward, D., 1991. Self-directed group work: Users take action for empowerment. Whiting and Birch.

Sommerville, J. and Dalziel, S., 1998. Project teambuilding—the applicability of Belbin's team-role self-perception inventory. International Journal of Project Management, 16(3), pp.165-171.

Stewart, G.L.M. and Sims, C.C., 1999. Team work and group dynamics (No. 658.4036 S8).

Swailes, S. and McIntyre-Bhatty, T., 2002. The “Belbin” team role inventory: reinterpreting reliability estimates. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 17(6), pp.529-536.

Appendices

1.

2.

3.

RISK REGISTER FOR PROJECT: Recruitment, flexible working and health and well-being of older worker - BATH & NORTH EAST SOMERSET COUNCIL

Project:

3 = High/Major

R

Late > 2 weeks

R

Project members:

GUANRU JIAO, HAN WANG, YIyou WU and Yi zhou

2 = Medium/Moderate

A

Late 1 week

A

P

Project Manager:

1 = Low/Minor

G

Completed on time

G

Risk No:

Risk description:

Likely-hood

Impact

Weight

Description of Impact

Planned action to prevent the risk

Who

When

Date resolved

1

As a Chinese student group, we do not understand the UK culture very well.

1

2

2

It could result in mistakes about UK culture and government policies.

We have to pay more attention on background research.

2

B&NES’s wellbeing policies for older workers are less developed than we anticipated.

1

1

1

Information we obtained was not as we expected.

We'll focus on information we have got.

3

We can only find some research about their high pressure.

2

3

1

It will make us don’t older workers very well.

We’ll careful deal with this issue and do more research about it.

4

Some well-being factors of B&NES older workers are similar to other employees.

2

2

3

If we neglect this issue then other people may be think we discriminating against older workers.

We need to handle the issues fairly for all workers.

Risks, limitations and issues

Simply list all the possible constraints, limitations, dependencies and current issues that you know about. This may also include the fact that there are some ‘unknowns’ about your project. Consider this along with the risks register which will help you to identify priorities.

As a Chinese student group, we do not understand the UK culture very well.

We only can find out a few the B&NES well-being of older workers policies

Researches about High pressure of older workers is hard to discover

Some well beings of B&NES older workers is similar than normal employees.

4.