Working in a Team Project on Walt Disney Company - Essay Example

? During this semester I worked in a team project on Walt Disney Company. The four members of the group were me, Jay, Shane, and Elena. The team reached consensus on a topic by scheduling a team meeting in which the members discussed different alternative topics. All the members agreed that a project on Walt Disney Company was the best option. The tasks and responsibilities within the group were assigned during each team meeting. The group would complete its tasks and then it would meet to discuss the deliverables and assign new tasks. In general the team had pretty good track record of delivering the assigned tasks on time with exception of some minor incidents. The team had strengths and weaknesses that affected the performance of the group. One of the strengths of the team was that it did not waste any time in choosing a topic for the project. This enabled the team to quickly start working on the topic. Another strength of the team was its communication process. The team often utilized emails to communicate with each other. The use of emails was very effective because it allowed the members of the team to exchange information instantly. The members of the team communicated well during meetings. The organization of the team was also very good. Everybody was assigned their own part so we would not have any incidents. The teammate that worked the hardest in the team was Jay. He did more work because every one emailed their part to him and he had to connect and correct all of them before making the final paper. He deserves a lot of credit for his tremendous work efforts. The weaknesses of the team can be best described by evaluating the work behavior of the members. Shane did a pretty good job, but one time he submitted his part late. Despite his mistake the team was not hurt. The weakest link on the team was Alana. Alana was a problematic teammate that often acted unprofessionally with her antics. Alana contributed fairly to the topic, but it seemed like she always choose the easy part to do. My assessment of Alana is that sometimes she did not take the work seriously. She often laughed at all times about any topic whether it was good or bad. She did not seem to realize that her antics were annoying to the group. She also had the bad habit of nail biting. Another thing is she acted like a child when she kept knocking her pen on the table nonstop during the class and group meeting time. My role in the group was to bring up ideas and make some suggestions at the time we choose topic. I also submitted my work on time despite the fact that I had a hard time due to personal problems. I had to come back to my country due to an emergency to resolve a problem. If the team had to work together again next semester I would make changes by establishing ground rules to follow during the team’s initial meeting. I would also increase the amount of meetings during the project to improve the planning and the communication process. The team achieved a coordinated effort. This was accomplished by meeting regularly and by each member being accountable for their actions. The leadership function of the team was not clearly defined, but the team member that showed the most leadership was Jay. I also informally provided leadership to my team by leading through example. I always supported my teammates during the project. I helped my teammates by giving them ideas on how to proceed with their assigned tasks. I was able to build a sense of trust with most of my teammates except with Alana. Her childish behavior made me think she would be an irresponsible teammate. In the end she actually delivered her assigned tasks and performed a fair job. Since leadership roles were not clearly defined by the team I can honesty say that the team exercise did not help me that much in building my leadership abilities. I did not feel compromised by the team because the work was evenly distributed. The team did not experience any major conflicts that would have compromised the project deliverables. The tasks performed by the group were interdependent. The final report of the project depended on the effort of all the teammates. The work tasks were distributed in a fair manner. Since Jay took the initiative of editing the paper he performed more work than the other teammates. The teammate that slack off the most was Alana. The team was inclusive in its work efforts. The work was organized by assigning tasks during team meetings. The decision making process in the team took place by discussing issues collectively. The team did not have any conflicts or issues regarding its decision making process. There were aspects of groupthink in our group. The groupthink took place when the team performed brainstorming sessions. The collective ideas of the team were written in a piece of paper. They were then discussed to select the best ideas to utilize in the project. The team was able to apply problem solving effectively. The minor behavioral issues and conflicts the team experienced were resolved quickly and in a cordially manner. There was a positive relationship between my personal goals and the team goals. The expectations of me and the team were to submit a quality paper on time. In the last meeting the team reflected on the collective efforts of the group. The team concluded that the project was a complete success. During the course of the project I had to compromise my standards to reach agreement. I am a person that expects my teammates to act professionally and as matured adults. In order to avoid conflict with Alana I had to practice the conflict resolution technique of avoidance to ensure the interpersonal conflicts of the team did not escalate. I can honestly say that this team project help me enhance my creativity. The brainstorming sessions were very productive because they generated a lot of creative ideas. I sometimes felt a little frustrated while working with this team, but in reality the frustrations were insignificant and I did not let it affect my work performance. I felt that this project help me evolved as a person because I showed a lot of patience with my teammates and I did not let my emotions cloud my judgment. Despite the personal problems I faced while working on the project I was able provide my teammates with the support they needed. The team was able to evolve through the passage of time. I believe that the team went through all the stages of team development. The four stages of team development are forming, norming, storming, and performing. This team project helped me think more deeply about leadership. The team did not formally used leadership since there was not an official team leader. I wonder if the team had used a team leading mechanism whether it would have change the outcome of the project. In the future I will take a more active role in the leadership responsibilities of my teams. A leadership mechanism that I will suggest for future team projects is choosing a team leader. Read More