Problem Solving and Team Code of Conduct - Essay Example

Task 1: Referencing Team Code of Conduct Members in a team will tend to develop some ways in which they interact with each other with effectiveness in interpersonal communication among the members and those external to the group being critical in the functioning of the team. The interaction of the members is a powerful tool in determination of the success and thus it is important to establish a team code of conduct. Team code of conduct encompasses a set of rules established so as to set a clear guide on the interactions of the team members together with others who are external. The code of conduct is usually developed and later adopted when the team sees the need. After the adaptation the team code of conduct is used to guide the manner in which the members are to behave and is also used as a tool of assessment of interaction of the members. Some of the team code of conduct topics may include team members as coworkers, communication among the members, and the interaction of team members when in meetings, organization and function, problem solving and decision making. Accountability is one of the code of conduct expect from the team members and this is where any member should be willing to submit their actions to scrutiny and they should exhibit openness and responsiveness to other group members assessment (Martin, 2005). This makes accountability to relate social and emotional needs of a team as well as the way the team interact. In the team each one accepts responsibility and in so doing the members held accountable to each other. Necessity of using referencing materials and their acknowledgement Referencing makes it easy for a reader to easily locate the sources of material that is being referred and thus they can consult the material Referencing is the best measure of the depth of research Through the references used the reader is able to know the range and nature of materials that the author has used in their work Proper referencing ensures all the necessary details are given and thus can easily be consulted. A person assessing the referenced work will then be able to make evaluation on how the source materials have been used by the author to develop their own work. Information that require referencing are Discussion, summary and paraphrasing the ideas of other author Direct quotation of other authors When there is use of statistical or other data Definition of plagiarism Plagiarism is the use of other people’s material without acknowledging them. Task 2: Personal Learning Goals Personal learning goals during the project Personal Learning Goals Steps and Resources Needed Evaluation strategy To help one of the team members to improve in their of presenting materials to teams members Point out to the team member that he is poor in presenting materials to others and that I would like to help him during the team work to make improvement. Ask for an evaluation from the team member I assisted; reflect on the mentoring process. Be able to draw graphs and execute other basic function in MATLAB after 1 month Look for the software and install on my laptop. Regularly contact a friend at least 1 hour per day to be helped in the use of software. Use this skill to produce a graph which is incorporated in the teams report. Undertake several exercises involving drawing graphs such as sine waves, quadratic function and solve some maths in the program. Improve on punctuality in group meetings Mention to some of the team members that i have a problem in keeping time and ask a team member to monitor me on a daily basis on punctuality Ask team to say if I was any good. Improve on contribution team work Mention to one of the team members to help me in making contribution to team activities by always asking my opinion. Ask team members to tell me if contributed as much as i should when the chances were Available. To develop the habit of searching internet for materials required in the team Let team members ask you to search internet and bring findings to the group whenever there is the need. Let the team members comment on the quality of materials you retrieve from the internet Task 3: Teamwork & Leadership Transforming a group of people into a functional and effective team Setting out a clear set guidelines for team functioning and having members to formulate a common set of expectations are the two important steps that help in turn groups to effective teams. In effecting this we need to have Team Policies Statement and Team Expectation Agreement where the former gives guidance on effective team functioning with different team roles is outlined and the responsibilities for each role, working procedure and submission of assignment and the strategies o be used in dealing with team members who are uncooperative. The later first, it unites the team with a common expectations generated by the team members which they agree to honor and secondly it is taken as a “quasi-legal document ”that prevents members from making claims which are invalid on what they were supposed to do. All this is backed by research finding that has indicated that when one makes commitment in public there will be little chance that the commitment would be violated (Salacik, 1978). In trying to make a team to be effective one should be well aware that team members are not born knowing how they are to work in a team and that project groups are likely to have mistakes being made and thus limiting the effectiveness of the teams. Many instructors have the tendency of beginning by giving extensive instruction on team stills and team-building exercises but it is better to provide just a few precautionary notes and then providing guidance on the way the problems are to be dealt with as they arise as at this point there is likely to be more impact. A team member getting into problem with the team is a common phenomenon with the most common issue being the case where a member may refuses to do their share of work but wanting to get the same grade as other team members who are contributing more towards team work success. There are other members who may be domineering and this will always tend to coerce others to do things their way. All these people are to be identified and dealt with to ensure success of the team. Personal characteristics that may work against the team I am sometimes too domineering and because I like things done my way and this may be detrimental to success of the group as some members may withdraw their full participation. Advantages and disadvantages of teamwork Advantages Through team work it is possible to generate multiple ideas for solving problems, making it easier to resolve issues this can be maximized by ensuring that there is good leadership in the team to ensure that members are free to give their contribution. Through team work there is provision of a wide pool of talents, letting members work together to complete tasks. To maximize of this it is important to select team members such that they supplement each other’s ability. Strengthens bonds between employees and improves their job satisfaction. Team work may result to slowing down the problem-solving process because of discussion and disagreements. This is particularly true when teams grow larger. As a result, deadlines may be compromised. These needs to be tackled by ensuring teams are of appropriate size and good time management is encouraged Potentially challenging for employees who prefer working alone or are not comfortable working with people with widely divergent skills and backgrounds. In order to help the team members with this problem there is need to ensure that the mix of a team that both who may prefer working alone and those who are active in team work. Through this the active member will help the other non active group members without the later feeling isolated. Team work may result to some team members doing less work than others and not participate as much. This can be discouraged by establishing the appropriate code of conduct that will ensure all members contribute to the team success. Importance of leadership to effective teamwork There two ways in which leadership can be defined one being the ability and process of being able to motivate and move your subjects towards a common goal. The second is where leadership is taken as the ability and process of effecting thoughts and behaviours of others. In the first, we can see that here is where leadership is more visible with typical characteristics of leadership being displayed. This shows that a leader is bestowed with the task of motivating the members of the team to achieve their goals. In the second leadership it is where we can have leadership from a team member without necessarily having the leadership position officially as here no need for the official position in leading by example. Task 4: Design Area Choice ICT project in Cameroon As a student who is part of the project I will benefit substantially in my career development by going through overcoming the huddles that will come in execution of the project. By part of the team that will be involved in the ICT project in Cameroon I will get a chance of exploring the theoretical knowledge I have acquired in class work in the field and coming up with solutions to human problem. Some of the challenges are likely to come our way in the process of project execution include communication barrier when interaction with local population. There is a great need for have educational programmes that will ensure that the youth and teachers who are within the school facilities are trained on how to use computers. Lack of technicians that can be charged with maintenance of ICT facilities is also a problem that needs to be addressed. Bearing mind the economic, infrastructural and the level of computer literacy of people in the project area the ICT projects that will need to include training which will be aimed at building capacity or having a training centre which will provide the youth with electronics repair skills. Training package on use of computers targeting the youth and teachers will be introduced. There will also be the introduction of a computer centre that will be able to run without the necessity of connection to mains electricity and a GPS mapping system meant for data collection. From the solution will need to address some important issues that will ensure its success. The cost associated with ICT solution is an important factor that needs consideration. This would includes the cost of buying computers and other related accessories, cost of maintaining, the payback period and any chance that the government would offer some subsidies (Colin, 2010). There is need to assess the availability of types of hardware and infrastructure where the possession of computers, smart phones and other ICT gadgets will be investigated. Cost benefit analysis of the projects to be undertaken so as to determine is the solution will be acceptable to the people and also this will increase the chance of the government partnering in the projects. The cultural aspects of the people will need to be put into consideration in the design. References Ancona, D. G. (1990). Outward bound: Strategies for team survival in an organization. Academy of management Journal,33(2):334-365 Colin H. (2010). Review of the Ministry of Education’s financial management processes Davis, M. (1998). Thinking like an engineer: Studies in the ethics of a profession. New York, NY: Oxford Press. Loui, M. C. (2005). Ethics and the development of professional identities of engineering students. Journal of Engineering Education, 94(4), 383-390. Parker, A. (1990). Problem solving applied to teaching technical writing. The Technical Writing Teacher, 17(2), 95-103. Martin, M. W., & Schinzinger, R. (2005). Ethics in engineering (4th ed.). Bos­ton, MA: McGraw Hill. Salacik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. (1978). A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23, 224-253. Appendix PSC is comprised of six steps or stages in providing the solutions Stage 1: This stage involved asking what the problem was and then breaking the problem down to help describing the problem fully. In finding the solution to the questions where a list was to be made and after answering what was on the list then it was full indication of having satisfied the original question. Stage 2: The next was to question oneself the knowledge in relation to the list of factors. Having some knowledge on the problem further research was done on line in books and journals to back up the writer’s knowledge. Stage 3: This step involved identifying the knowledge the writer lacked on the problem at hand. This was the gap between fully answering question components in stage 1 and what was already known and identified in the previous stage. Stage 4: At this stage there was application of the writer’s knowledge with knowledge from stage 2 and 3 being combined. Stage 5: At this stage there was evaluation if the answer in stage 4 was adequately answering the questions of problem that was identified in stage one and if all factors had been addressed. It was at this stage any new information was looked at and assessed if it could alter the information. Stage 6: There was a reflection on the use of the PSC. Read More