Effectiveness of Teamwork in Achieving the Goals Set - Essay Example

i. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On the 9th week of the of Leadership and Team Management, an activity was held inside the room. The teacher, who was the team leader, instructed the students to form groups according to the Belbin roles and each role had to be present in a group to make it function properly. The purpose of the activity is to assess the competencies per course guide, as well as understand the different models and theories to be applied in real life situation. The team leader instructed the group to make a strong and stable tower using only 3 materials: straws, sticky tape and scissors. The construction of the towers began as soon as they materials were given. After the construction, the towers were to be assessed in four criteria: height, stability, creativity and resource efficiency. ii. INTRODUCTION Group work, under proper conditions, encourages peer learning and peer support and many studies validate the efficacy of peer learning. Under less than ideal conditions, group work can become the vehicle for acrimony, conflict and freeloading. It may also impose a host of unexpected stresses on, for example, students with overcrowded schedules living long distances from the University. (University of Wollongong assessment policy, 2002) This report refers to the effectiveness of a team in achieving the set goals while taking into great consideration, the contribution of each member of the team. There are various criteria and steps that are presented in this report to determine whether the team followed the right measures to achieve their aims and goals. It also determines the performance level of the team and the author in the making of the said project. iii. DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY a. TASK AT HAND i. The groups’ task was to create a tower using only the materials given to the team which were the straws, sticky tape and scissors. The team was to brainstorm and come up with a creative plan and an idea as to how to make a tower made of straws the best they could in 60 mins. How the tower would look like, given the creativity of each team using the maximum resources was up to the team. The tallest, the most stable and most creative group were to be awarded the number one. b. GROUP’S DEVELOPMENT i. According to Robbins et. al, in the book Foundations of Management, a group is a two or more interacting and independent individuals who come together to achieve particular goals. In Chapter 11, team effectiveness lecture notes, slide 3, formal groups were identified in 4 types. These are the command, cross-functional, self-managed and task force. In this case, the group is classified as a task force. This is a group that is made up of individuals that are joined together to carry out a certain job. It is normally temporary given that they disband after the job is done. (Chapter 11, team effectiveness lecture notes, slide 18). Given that the group was formed only to do the task and adjourned after the task was completed, then it clearly was a task force group, just the same as a group of a company’s high calibre workers from different departments were sent out for a project, but then return to their normal jobs right after a project was done. ii. Forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning are the five main stages of the groups development. (Chapter 11, team effectiveness lecture notes, slide 4) Since the team was allotted with a 60 minute time frame to accomplishing the task, the second and third stages were being cut short to precede and focus on a much more time consuming stages which is the performing stage. The team members hurriedly performed and built the project or the tower and then adjourned straight after the task was done. iii. After a normal greeting in between the members of the team, the members all then agreed that building the highest, most creative and stable tower was the main thing the members had to do. With this, the team decided on how to start the project by firstly, drawing a sample of how the desired tower was to look like. This provided the group a clear and uniform idea of their aim, which is to build the kind of design for the tower. Providing the group a clear picture of what has to be done gives the team to walk forward and build a uniform and single aim. After agreeing on the tower’s design, the team then moved quickly to start the building of the tower. c. ROLES OF TEAM MEMBERS i. There are 8 roles a person may play in each group or team in which he or she is included in, as stated in Belbin’s theory. These are the shaper, coordinator, resource investigator, team worker, monitor evaluator, implementer, plant and the complete finisher. (Belbin Test Handout, team effectiveness class). Author- coordinator Sung- resource investigator Tom- shaper Jerry- team worker ii. In the group, Tom, the shaper, followed through with the role given to him. The team member led the group by deciding what the group should do, and how the team should do it. He gave the idea how the base should look like, and how the team could make it look like that. He also gave instructions as to how to put the straws together in such a way that it will be stable enough to hold the tower together. Jerry, the team worker, followed every single thing Tom was saying. He didn’t argue with anyone and just did what he was told to do. He put the straws together quietly. He was also he one who kept trying to bring up a conversation with the author and sung, to try to make those members more comfortable and to avoid awkward silences. Sung on the other hand, had the role of a resource investigator, kept changing the idea of what we could do to the said project. She kept coming out with ideas just by trying to combine the materials. She was also the one that kept reminding the group about maximizing the materials. The author, on the other hand, who had the role of coordinator, gave the final decisions, which everyone agreed upon. The author also made sure that the team was motivated and that they stayed on track. d. TEAM COHESIVENESS i. In the book Foundations of Management by Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, page 383, team cohesiveness is defined as the level or attraction between members or a group to one another and the degree at which they all share the group’s goals. From these goals, we can define the specific accomplishments required by each level to be successful in each task. ii. In the author’s group, given that the members just met when the task was given, and there was little time for getting to know each other, distance between the members and awkwardness was apparent. Tom and jerry have known each other before hand and Sung and the author have also known each other before that, so the members where more interactive with the person each member already knew. Although attraction towards each other and comfort was lacking, the degree to which the members shared the group’s goal was clear. The group wanted to achieve just one goal and were ready to work for it. ii. ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF THE GROUP’S PERFORMANCE a. OUTCOME or TEAM PERFORMANCE i. Team performance is the end result of the activity. (Foundations of Management, 2nd ed. Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, page 550). The team the author was included in finished 3rd out of 5 teams. This owing to the fact that the team worked together as a group, kept each other motivated and made sure that the task at hand was carried out. b. GOAL SETTING i. Goal setting is one of the most important parts of doing a group activity. A group and its members have to know the goal of the team in order to know what is wanted out of them. A goal is said to be the future aim of the organisation or the outcome that the org wants to achieve. (http://blackboard.rmit.edu.au/courses/1/DM301/content/_441149_1/Planning___Goal_setting.pdf). The members also have to share the same enthusiasm about the set goals as each other member in order for the team to work properly together. A team however, cannot just have any kind of goals; they have to be SMART goals. Smart pertains to specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time related. ii. There are 8 steps in the goal setting process. However, given that there wasn’t sufficient time given to the group to go through the proper process, the group only performed 4 of them, which were to define what is it the group wanted to achieve, in this case build the highest, most stable and most creative tower made out of straws; identify how the goals would be measured, which were given on how the tower would be rated and judged; set the time limit for the goals to be achieved, which was already set at the beginning of the project and lastly develop an action plan for the goal, which the team had to formulate in bout 10 minutes of the time allotted to them. (http://blackboard.rmit.edu.au/courses/1/DM301/content/_441149_1/Planning___Goal_setting.pdf pages 17-18) c. DECISION MAKING i. Decision making is as important as setting the goals of a group and any other aspect of a group activity. This pertains to the making of a choice amongst various alternatives. In a group, there is a process that is usually followed. Given the type of decision maker the group might be, in this situation a directive decision maker, all the steps may not have been followed yet again. ii. Given the amount of time given to the group, the members had to work as quickly as possible and they had to make decisions based on what is given right away. A directive decision maker is one that makes use of the least amount of information and considers less amount of alternatives. The process is quick and doesn’t take much effort to do. In this case, the decision of how to push through with the project was made as soon as the group was formed. (http://blackboard.rmit.edu.au/courses/1/DM301/content/_442706_1/RobbinsFCh06_Decision_making.pdf slide 26) d. COMMUNICATION i. Communication pertains to the transfer or conveyance and understanding of meaning. This means it is the information is passed on from one person or organization to another, in order to send out what is wanted to be known to the other party. (Foundations of Management, 2nd ed. Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, page 498). ii. It is said that in order for a team to be effective, having good communication between the members is essential. (http://blackboard.rmit.edu.au/courses/1/DM301/content/_450242_1/Robbins_Ch11_Group___Team_Theory.pdf slide 20). Not all teams however, have that. Good communication within members of a team is sometimes hard to establish due to some barriers. iii. In this case, emotion was one of them. A person is said to have a hard time saying what he wants to say if he lets his emotion take over him. Tom, the shaper of the group tend to work quietly and just did what he wanted and expected everyone to follow him. He could say what he wanted right away, and other members did try to understand him, because there was awkwardness and not being comfortable with each other. So at times, members tend to ignore each other. iii. EVALUATION OF THE AUTHOR’S OWN PERFORMANCE i. In this particular project, the author functioned quite acceptably. The author was able to carry on the role of the coordinator during the entire tower making and stuck to the plans of the group. She had enough self- confidence to finish and give what was asked of her from the beginning of the project up to the last. Although there were some problems about how the author perceived some of the members, Tom and Jerry given that she only met them at the start of the project. And some of their actions were disliked and disapproved of by the author. This gave way for awkwardness among the members. ii. The author could improve herself by trying to control her emotions and what she perceives about other members of the team, to avoid any bad effects on her work. She could help herself by being more open and talking to other members even though the acquaintance isn’t that well established yet. Also doing the assigned task with much conviction could help the team become more effective. iv. CONCLUSION i. In his tower building activity that was made by groups formed out of members which different roles was successful. The whole experience gave the author and the other members a glimpse of how a busy work place might be. It helped the members to be more open and prepared them for similar tasks they might undertake in the future. It also taught the members how to thrive in pressure and still get good results. Finishing 3rd out of 5 teams isn’t bad at all. Given that the author’s team was the only one with 4 members and the getting-to-know part of the team was left out. If members of the team would play their exact roles they have to, then a good outcome like in this case would be greatly expected. v. RECOMMENDATIONS a. COMMUNICATION i. The team has to be more open to each other and they have to value each others opinions like it’s their own to avoid any conflicts and demotivation in the group. Also members should each try to hold of their emotions and let it be as less personal as it can be. They should focus on the task at hand and not on their emotions. b. PLANNING AND GOAL SETTING i. The team’s performance might have been better if only the it had planned and set the goals properly. The team should have followed the planning and goal setting processes right through the end even if there was a small amount of time given. The members should learn how to do these things fast. And do them right. c. DECISION MAKING i. Some of the blame for maybe the lack of performance of the group was based on the decision making of the group, the style and how it worked out. Also it possible that the team could work better next time if they would consider and evaluate more alternatives and take their time in deciding, rather than going with the first thing they think of. This way, it will give way for members to analyse possible outcomes first. Everyone should also have a say in the group’s decisions and not everyone should follow one person because that person might also be wrong. d. TEAM COHESIVENESS i. Although the group only met at the beginning of the project, the members should still be able to work with the other members with as much enthusiasm and conviction to the group as possible. Comfort should not come in the way of doing the job right and at the best the team could do. Members should go around and find ways to make things more mellow between them and should work harder together, rather than just doing it to finish it quick and so they can disband quicker. REFERENCE University of Wollongong, (2002) Code of Practice - Teaching & Assessment http://www.uow.edu.au/about/teaching/teaching_code.html#group. Accessed 29th September, 2006. Foundations of Management, 2nd ed. Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, page 374 http://blackboard.rmit.edu.au/courses/1/DM301/content/_441149_1/Planning___Goal_setting.pdf pages 17-18 http://blackboard.rmit.edu.au/courses/1/DM301/content/_442706_1/RobbinsFCh06_Decision_making.pdf slide 26 Foundations of Management, 2nd ed. Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, page 498 http://blackboard.rmit.edu.au/courses/1/DM301/content/_450242_1/Robbins_Ch11_Group___Team_Theory.pdf slide 20 Read More