Quality Management Reflection - Research Paper Example

Group-Work Reflection Essay Introduction One of the most effective ways of efficiently and effectively completing tasks is by use of team work (Brown, 2000). My group had an objective of designing a Quality Management Strategy for an improved system of Teaching and Learning at the University of West Sydney. Besides performing background checks which was mandatory to every member, my task was to ensure sufficient literature was reviewed in order to understand the current management strategy of the university.

I was directly responsible for the literature review part of the research. The following paper is my reflection of the group-work assignment. In begins with my personal view of the groups’ interpersonal dynamics followed by an analysis of group process. Success and failure factors of the teamwork are also analysed before the conclusion of this essay. My group began with a rough start but managed to overcome the barriers that hindered its proper interaction. It is expected that any work dealt with as a group must have challenges associated with the uniqueness of every member (Isa, 2012).

We had problems with organization and communication. There were conflicts of interest regarding times to schedule meetings. Communication problems arose when group members would prefer to speak without listening to other members’ opinions. They also arose when group members were was not articulate in expressing their opinions. Having this in mind, we needed to improve our interpersonal standings and reduce difficulties of working in groups. Our team performed a SWOT analysis on its members so that we could understand each other better (Tilo, 2002).

This task had limitations. Some of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat to some members were not well known. We therefore relied on a self-SWOT analysis for some members (Comite Euro-International du Beton, 1998). I believe this process was likely to have a degree of inaccuracy since a member could have personal objectives different from those of the group (Marion, 2010). The group’s tasks were clear from the beginning and were divided equally among the group members. We were leaders by ourselves since most of the work would be done independently done to some extent.

Concept advance by Deming and Covey about leadership and empowerment played well since were all our own leaders in the tasks we would handle independently (Stephen, 1999). Empowerment was manifested in how every member sort a common win-win agreement between personal and group efforts. The group process was successful especially after solving major interpersonal and personality differences during the initial meetings. The group agreed unanimously to have its research topic as ‘Quality Management Strategy for an improved system of Teaching and Learning: University of West Sydney’.

This was not the original title of the research project. With contributions of members, the title was changed to align it with the assignment requirement. Each of the members of the group was told to do a background check on the teaching and learning system used in the University of Western Sydney. I recommended that a PESTLE analysis be conducted so that the university’s strategic management component could be clearly understood. I believe this was important in order to create the group’s familiarity with the project to be handled (Katzenbach & Douglas, 2001).

Also, members needed to understand the tasks they would be required to undertake. This would promote self-supervision. This is one of the conditions of empowerment that I believed promoted efficiency in group-work (Julia, 2011). The result tabled back in group showed a great sense of accountably. I also attribute accountability to completion of the course requirement with high standards and timeliness. Conclusion The group process was generally a success though it experienced bits of failure in some tasks.

Failure was evident when some of the group members could not accurately finish tasks assigned to them. I attribute this failure to the group at large since we decided to allocate work using a voting system. Here, everyone in the group voted in order to allocate a specific task to a member (John, 2005). This would allow members to choose tasks that they are best suited for and hence increase efficiency in operations of the group-work (Carlson, 2002). Communication problems that were detected in the initial meetings of the group were handled by one raising his arm in before making his / her point.

The group leader was responsible of controlling communication. I associate a considerable part of the group’s success to the 7 habits of highly effective people. According to Deming, synergy and pro-activeness are two of the 7 most important factors of highly effective groups. I concur with the opinion as evidenced in my groups’ success. Reference Brown, A. (2000). Developing Project Management Skills: A service Learning Approach. Project Management Journal, 53-58. Carlson, Mim. (2002). Winning Grants (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Comite Euro-International du Beton (1998). Quality Management. Ontario: Thomas Telford. Isa, N. (2012). Working in Groups (6th ed.). London: Prentice Hall. John, O. (2005). Group Communication Pitfalls: Overcoming Barriers to an Effective Group Experience. New York: Sage Publications, Inc. Julia, T. (2011). Communication in Our Lives. (6 ed.). Chicago: Wadsworth Publishing Katzenbach, R. and Douglas K. (2001). The Discipline of Virtual Teams. Leader to Leader. 22: 16-25. Marion, N. (2010). Spirals Series Circle: Developing Language and Communication Skills through Effective Small Group Work.

Washington, DC: Routledge. Stephen, C. (1999). Principle Centered Leadership. Pennsylvania: Chilton Book. Tilo, P. (2002). Quality Management. Strategies, Methods, Techniques. Moscow: Hanser Fachbuchverlag.