Interpersonal Relationships and Team Effectiveness - Essay Example

?“Reflection Essay – Interpersonal Relationships and Team Effectiveness” “Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.” – Stephen Covey The project upon which I worked along with my group mates has been quite eventful. This project has taught me much more than I had imagined in the beginning. Surprisingly, majority of what I have learnt was from outside of the multitude of course books. During my project, almost all kinds of experiences occurred, from memorable to impressive. The major problem occurring in any team is ineffectiveness of team members and adverse interpersonal relationships. If team members do not have better understanding and acceptance of each other’s differences, then resulting conflicts might not let the group members work on an assigned project. If looked from a critical eye, those experiences have brought change in my personality and have furnished my understanding. I certainly developed myself in many areas after this project. This paper will be examining and reflecting upon my behavior and self-awareness and shows an analysis of my role with respect to my team. It also highlights the roles of my team members and ways through which we increased team effectiveness. The principle purpose of this reflective essay is to examine our team coherency and team effectiveness while working on our group project. This process will be evaluated in the light of relevant academic theories such as communication, and leadership, as well as few models of behavior in team such as Adair-Action-Centered Leadership, Belbin Roles, Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development, and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Building and maintaining team effectiveness is essential for the accomplishment of assigned task. At the beginning of our project, all of our group members were unfamiliar to each other. It is because the groups were to be made as per instructor’s criteria and we were not allowed to choose our own group mates. We did not know how we are going to work together since we are not aware of the behavior and attitudes of each other. Prior to reflecting on my individual performance and our team’s performance, I would like to describe the critical happenings and summarize the overall experience. On the very first day, many complexities occurred among us as team members primarily due to unfamiliarity with each other. Largely, these complexities were related to lack of interpersonal relationships with each other. Some of them included communication gap, fear, not listening to each other’s ideas, running away from assigned tasks, and egoistic nature. Some complications relating directly to projects were availability of group members at certain time and schedule for discussing project details, time, and schedule for discussing the project proceedings with professor, company to be selected for the project, assigned task, and responsibility of each group member etc. I had no idea about how to approach these problems and I had no clue what I could do to solve these problems. Rules of task were also not known to us due to which we acted independently. Each one of us was lacking planning, understanding, and communication. All the group members appeared to be astounded by the project. It was looking very hard to complete and I, as a group leader, was feeling fretful regarding how I would carry out the entire project with increased complexities among group members. The team consisted of five group members, which means several ideas for the accomplishment of project. Suddenly, the best idea came to mind. In our very first meeting, I was able to convince my group members for this idea. I explained the importance of this project for each of us. It was 30% of our course, so we all have to contribute substantial attention to this project. The goal of all of us was same, that is, getting as higher points for this project as we could. The first thing that united and created harmony among our team was our common goal of ‘achieving excellent points in our project’. Things began to flow in the direction as soon as we decided that we have to do whatever it takes for this project. Usually, I am not good at handling pressure and stress better. I often exert pressure on my own self that results in physiological effects on my health as well due to which I cannot do work properly. Working within this team furnished mu skills of coping up with pressure and I began to handle pressure and work productively. This project enhanced my confidence and support of my team members provided me more power. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Our team consisted of couple of international students as well. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions provided us with understandings of each other’s culture so that we can intermingle with each other in a better way. Two dimensions of culture assisted us in managing with each other’s culture. Long Term Orientation; people in U.K and U.S.A have low tendency of long-term orientation. It reveals that almost anything is expected related to novel ideas and creative expressions from people coming from these two countries. We, as U.K Natives, do not value traditions so much therefore, we were more inclined towards helping in executing the innovative plans for the project. Our Asian group mates also supported us in doing so. Individualism; it refers to the level of potent ties that individuals have for each other within a similar community. In high individualism cultures, interpersonal connection lacks whereas in low individualism culture there is strong cohesion among members. Asian countries tend to have low individualism culture where as UK and USA has high individualism culture. Our Asian group members showed support in creating and maintaining harmony within the team. Adair-Action-Centered Leadership Being the team leader of our group, I had more responsibilities than my team members did. I was also responsible for representing and leading my team during group presentation. John Adair’s Action Centered Leadership assisted me in doing justice to my role. John Adair states that three elements are crucial for all leadership situations. They include: Accomplishment of Goal; the goal is what brings all the team members in the first place. In the very first meeting with my teammates, I scheduled and time and day for meeting at a particular place in order to discuss the task. I disseminated the project into small components and assigned those components to group members as per their level of proficiency. For instance, a group mate had an acquaintance in LEGO, so he was responsible for data collection and other financials of the company. Another group mate was proficient in the field of finance so he was responsible for analyzing the financials of the company. A group mate pursuing majors in HR was responsible for the HR aspect of LEGO. Another group mate was given the task of analyzing leadership strategies of the company. Being the leader of the group, I took the responsibility of identifying and providing resources and tools required to pursue the project. I ensured that the progress of each member is in timely manner. I ensured that cooperation, team working, and team spirit are present as well as observed and maintained discipline at all times. I also discussed and presented the results of the project in our later meeting. Team members performing the task; after the tasks have been assigned, team members were then given specific period for completing those tasks and reporting the progress in weekly meetings. Any discrepancy or conflict must then be resolved in those weekly discussions. All the team members supported in coming up with the progress of assigned tasks. Involvement of each members of the group in the accomplishment of final objective; due to team effectiveness and better interpersonal relationship, as the groups progressed the identity of each individual did not lose. Belbin Roles Team may become unstable if all the members possess similar behaviors, styles, or team roles. If all of them have similar weakness then the entire team may collapse. Belbin, (2004) helped me in creating and balancing my team. As I mentioned earlier, I identified the area of proficiency of each member and assigned the tasks accordingly. The team roles that were present in my team were: Specialist; this person has specialized knowledge of their area of expertise. One of our team members was specialist so I assigned him the task of working on the financials of the company. He was responsible for analyzing the financial position of Lego and during presentation, he was responsible to present this part to the audience and make them understand the financial position of Lego. Shapers; this person has the tendency to challenge the team to enhance performance. This person supported me the most through the entire project in order to motivate and improve team performance. Implementer; one of the group member was identified as having this role. He assisted the team in converting our concepts and ideas into plans and practical actions. Resource Investigator; this person was the one who was given the task of gathering information and collecting data. He negotiated for resources and utilized his contact to provide us with authentic data. Monitor-Evaluator; being the leader of the group, I took this role. I evaluated and analyzed the idea of my group members and carefully weighed the pros and cons of each idea. Tuckman’s Group Development Process This process consists of five steps. They include: 1. Forming; as mentioned earlier, during the formation of team we experienced substantial difficulties, as we were unaware of each other and were feeling resistant. We could not help it because this criterion was unchangeable and was asked to perform by instructor. At this stage, each member of the team was trying to find their place in team, the purpose of being in the team, and their role to be played in the team. All of us were resisting to conflicts in order to avoid giving bad first impression. No work was done at this stage, and this stage primarily consisted on getting familiar and acquainted with each other. 2. Storming; certainly, members showed resistance and hostility. Each of the team members was receiving challenge from others but as mentioned earlier, as soon as I attempted to convince them, the entire group harmonized to achieve a common goal. At this stage, not only brainstorming happened, but arguments and disagreements among team members regarding the proposed ideas occurred. At this stage, it felt like as if our tolerance and maturity is being tested. It was the most crucial of all stages, as it required compromise from each member for opposing ideas. At this stage, roles and tasks were assigned to each member. 3. Norming; at this stage, I assigned task to each group member and responsibilities and roles were clear and accepted by team members. At this stage, group members were ready to move forward and begin executing the assigned tasks and roles. Physical production of work started at this step. 4. Performing; at this step, all the team members were aware of what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. Members became more strategically aware of the purpose of the formation of team. Disagreement that occurred in the due course was resolved through discussion. At this stage, all the team members began work on project as cohesive unit in a productive and efficient manner. Very little hesitation or argument was present at this stage. The project was near to completion and team members were appropriately harmonized with their assigned tasks and roles. 5. Adjourning; after the successful completion of project, the team adjourned. The experience that we gained from this project made us learn so many things regarding individual roles, respecting others views, coming up with innovative ideas, harmonizing as a team etc. At this step, we segregated as team workers. However, the understanding that we had developed during the project, helped us in making new and good friends even after the dissolution of team. Conclusion This paper aimed to reflect my view regarding the project that we were asked to perform. With the help of this project, I received practical learning of academic models and theories. I learnt how to manage with team members in times of conflict, fast approaching deadlines, and scarcity of resources. I also learnt that being authoritative is better for handling people coming from different background. This project refined my personality and ability to work in teams. Works Cited Adair, J., 1979. Action Centred Leadership. Farnborough: Gower  Adair, J.E., 1973. Action-centered Leadership. London: McGraw-Hill. Belbin, M., 2012. Beyond the Team, Oxford: Butterewoth Heinneman Belbin, M., 2004. Management Teams: Why they succeed or fail. Amsterdam: Butterewoth-Heinneman Hofetede, G., 1991. Cultures and Organizations. London: McGraw-Hill. Tuckman, Bruce W. 1994. Conducting Educational Research Fifth Edition. Chicago: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. Read More