Collaboration and Group Work - Essay Example

Name Institution Course Date In the nursing, collaboration is crucial. It does not only benefit the nurses, but also the patients being attended to. Teamwork enables one complete a task faster and more efficiently. This paper is an in-depth evaluation of the group, I was part of, that worked together to develop and record a U-Tube clip on the topic, Mental Health and Refugees. The group comprised of members of different cultural backgrounds from various countries who came together and worked as one. The topic Mental Health and Refugees is a wide topic and thus it required so much effort and cooperation from members. The paper focuses on the strong points of the group in working as a team and the challenges faced in working in a group. It highlights the weaknesses of members and dispute solving mechanisms adopted in the group. It also looks into the characters and roles of members that helped to make the group work a success. Group work gave an opportunity to the group members to learn new ideas and skills. This was made possible through the interaction and support of members. The group members were very cooperative and good listeners. Individuals’ ideas were taken into consideration, and thus members were encouraged to express themselves. These ideas would then be scrutinized by the group members to ensure a good job is done. One of the members took up the role of leadership and the cooperated with the leader. The group leader was quite democratic, allowing members to come up with their decisions on various issues, for example, how they would love the group to be run, the times they were comfortable to meet and the roles each member should undertake. The leader was always present and offered advice whenever necessary. The leader did not have to follow up on any of the members as they always availed themselves during the meetings. The group rules were majorly implicit. The group did not have written down rules, but several rules like all meetings were supposed to be attended came naturally (Rothwell, 81). Having disciplined group members made it easy to work without clearly spelt out rules. Despite all the strong points of the group, members had a great challenge in keeping time. People would come for group discussions as late as one hour after the commencement of the meeting, and there were some members who were very notorious in coming late. This posed a great challenge in finishing the job at hand because; at times, the meetings would have to be postponed or cancelled until the leader communicates. The deadlines were never met on time thus the leader would sometimes get frustrated. Regardless of these challenges we managed to do the group work perfectly and within good time. The members came together and tried to address the issue of time. Certain members complied with the issues laid down during the meeting but others still came for group meetings late. In a group, every member has something unique and valuable that they can contribute to the group. Group members should always ensure that all the members to participate thus ensuring that everyone puts in their strengths and the experience they have in the project. (Frey, Douglas & Sandi, 15). Our group had an advantage because it comprised members from different backgrounds and cultures. This was an advantage especially to the topic medical health and refugees because refugees’ camps differ from place to place. The diversity of the members also brought together people from countries where the citizens had to move at some point in time from their country to other countries as refugees and students from countries who have welcomed other nationalities into their country as refugees. This was quite resourceful to the group and the information that everyone had was put together in coming up with the YouTube. The group members had different roles and responsibilities (Frey et al, 15). This was intended to help alleviate uncertainty about expected duties and to keep the group on task. Some of these duties included accountability, support and respect to all group members. All the members participated and collaborated to ensure effectiveness in the task. All the members held themselves accountable and were also accountable to other members. This was manifested in attendance to meetings, behavior of individuals towards other group members and the respect amongst the group members. The group did not assign specific roles to the members apart from the leader who was meant to ease communication amongst group members. The group members took upon themselves to take different roles (Zastrow, 180). All the group members played the role of initiators at given times. Group members brought different ideas into the project depending on the information they had of refugees in their places. Coming from different cultures brought diversity in notions and views, at times people would differ in opinions. People would then seek clarification of certain points and thus determining information that is either omitted, repeated or exaggerated. After this was done then the ideas would be built up with examples by any volunteer in the group. The volunteer would do this by using personal experiences or just looking for examples from other sources, for example, books, magazines or articles. The leader would then act as the coordinator. Before the assignment was completed, all the group members went through it. This enabled the members to evaluate the reasonableness of the entire assignment and thus certain areas were changed, and more points added. A group member would always volunteer to record all the ideas that came up during a meeting. This made the work of group members easier during compiling and making the final draft that was used to make the YouTube. The group was self-driven and thus there was no need for allocating specific roles to individuals but in some cases individuals would be asked to research on specific topics and come up with new ideas. This helped the group to avoid role disputes. The respect fostered amongst group members acted as a source of encouragement to the members. Everyone was equally active in the group, and there were no cases of members who were not participating (Finlay, 18). Interacting with people of contrasting ideas can be very frustrating and thus to build good relationships in groups, so much effort has to be put in place especially in communication. This was the case for our group. Good relation was one of the stressed factors in the group. Members of the group were encouraged to interact at a personal level and build friendships. The group provided a framework in which individuals could express their own feelings and positions especially when there was a conflict in ideas. Cooperation and respect was one of the major rules the group had. Individuals whose ideas were not taken up were addressed with respect and people would try to make them understand why their views could not be included. In cases of conflicting views, only the best was incorporated in the project. All the members were considered important to the group, and their inputs were appreciated. All the members were advised to build deeper relationships with one another to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of the group. The leader valued every member and constantly urged all the members to understand one another as everyone intended good for the group because the focus was on a common goal. Despite all the efforts to build good relationships, certain members had conflicts that led to great misunderstandings. This was because the group comprised of members from different cultures and thus the attitudes and values of the members differed. This posed a challenge to the group because at times sessions had to be dragged with the members disagreements. These conflicts arose because of issues of disagreements and at times pride from certain members of the group. The group members were encouraged to understand every person’s personal position. Listening to others is very important to help understand them. This will help them feel appreciated. To help solve the disagreements the group took the equal consolation approach. Both parties would be encouraged to understand the other party. They would then be allowed to express themselves, and they would be advised on areas they went wrong and the issues they needed to address. This helped solve most of the conflicts as the parties conflicting would see reason in resolving their conflict. To ensure that more conflicts did not arise. The group encouraged other members to learn from previous conflicts and urged to try to control their emotions. The group also tried to make differences educational and interesting. Differences were made debatable, and thus both parties would try to come up with strong points to ensure whatever they supported was taken into consideration. In as much as the strategy brought about aspects of competition amongst it helped solved disputes. In addition, it helped develop understanding and thus helped people acquire more information about the topic. It also helped members build the skill of supporting their points. Those who had not realized they could be good in debates discovered this strength in the group. Many people appreciated certain aspects about refugees that they would have otherwise never recognized. This helped keep the group together. The group was also able to remain united because we had a leader who was a good listener. We got to learn and understand each other. We appreciated each other’s weaknesses and tried to help one another improve on the weaknesses. We also pointed out our strengths and encouraged one another during the meetings. Working in a group helps an individual figure out his or her strengths as they work on producing the best (Frey et al, 14). Working in groups also helps individuals recognize their weaknesses; therefore, they work on them. Completion of the project successfully brings a sense of achievement and thus helps in creating a sense of responsibility amongst the group members. Group experience has helped me as an individual. In working in teams in the future, I can be able to play any role as I have acknowledged the importance to coexist and to share responsibilities. I can also be a leader in any group as I have the capability to deal with the challenges in groups. My communication skills have also improved immensely, and I have gained skills on how to be a good listener and to appreciate people’s differing opinions. Most importantly I have gained skills which are essential in questioning and persuading others. Group work has helped me identify my strengths. Through the articles I managed to collect for my group, I realized I can go the extra mile to get work done and thus I don’t have to be a nurse who only administers drugs to patients. I can try to identify the problems in society that are health related and work on helping the society. To improve on my skills as a nurse reading more medical articles that would help familiarize with medical terms and different diseases is important. Nursing involves a lot of teamwork and thus working in a group has helped develop the necessary skills I will need in my field. I have gained skills on how to respect people’s opinions whether I differ with them. I understand that everyone is important and thus deserves to be listened to. Additionally, I have understood the need to take responsibility without waiting for others as these shows the respect I have for other people’s time and contributions. This will help in handling tasks faster rather than waiting for other people who might also be waiting for me to take up the same tasks. Group work has helped me know how to help others improve on their weakness. I can now learn from my mistakes and accept correction with a positive attitude. Given that the group comprised of members of different cultures, I can easily work with anyone despite their background. I have learnt that I won’t choose the teams I will work with in the future; therefore I have learnt to accommodate everyone without discrimination. Group work is very important as it is a way of fostering interdependence and interaction amongst individuals (Frey et al, 14). The group is made up of several people. The success of groups is dependent on the relationships and the interaction of the members of the group. In a group people may have different goals. Some may enjoy the group work and thus be very helpful and supportive while others may be concerned with having the work done and may not care what means is used to finish the task while others may cause disunity amongst group members. It is the duty of groups to harmonize all this characters to ensure a successful group work. In the case of a big group like the one we had, cooperation can be a challenge. People from different countries are socialized in different ways and thus can differ in many opinions. Their view of the world and individuals differ. This calls for good management of groups and therefore group members should strive to build good relationships and to understand each other’s diverse characteristics. This lies primarily on members to take up the challenge with the leader. Additionally, it entails being there to ensure good relationships are incorporated and developed within the group. If this is done then the group members will not only achieve their goals but they will be able to learn from the group. Works Cited Group Work: A Practical Guide to Developing Groups in Agency Settings: Epub Edition. John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2009. Print. Glassman, Urania. Group Work: A Humanistic and Skills Building Approach. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2009. Print. Brown, Allan G. Groupwork. Aldershot, Hants, England: Arena, 1994. Print. Folger, Joseph P, Marshall S. Poole, and Randall K. Stutman. Working Through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. Boston: Pearson, 2013. Print. Keyton, Joann, and Joann Keyton. Communicating in Groups: Building Relationships for Effective Decision Making. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print. Finlay, Linda. Groupwork in Occupational Therapy. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, 2001. Print. Zastrow, Charles. 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Communicate!Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Basavanthappa, B T. Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers, 2007. Print. Read More