The Interaction between Teamwork and Organizational Commitment - Essay Example

REFLECTIVE REPORT By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Reflective Report Brief Description of what happened The study was conducted about the travel pillow as well as how to add features to the existing product to help the potential customers. Basically, we defined s travel pillow as a head support which is created to be carried when traveling. We realized that a number of passengers carry travel pillows so as to make trips on public transportation more relaxed, whereas others carry them as special pillow to make sure that they are comfortable and that they get the needed carry travel pillows to sell travel pillows of different designs, and it is as well likely to utilize a common throw cushion as a travel pillow (Hu, 2013). My team mates Muaid Alellaghi and Esen Balevska on their part discovered that pillows developed for travelling are typically travel-sized, connoting that the pillows are undersized or can be folded or compressed in several ways in order that they occupy a least amount of space. In their research, team Mates Styliani Chatzikosta and Ben Thompson established that the standard travel pillow is used mainly in the airplanes, whereby the offer support to the neck and head for travels who desire to sleep while travelling (O'Neill, 2012). I observed that scores of airplane pillows are U or C-shaped; this according to O'Neill (2012) guarantees that the neck and head are not twisted while a person tries to sleep in the seat of the airplane. In a group of five members (James Templeman, Muaid Alellaghi, Esen Balevska, Styliani Chatzikosta, and Ben Thompson) each member was tasked to carry out a research with regards to travel pillow. For instance, Muaid Alellaghi came with the idea which is travailing pillow, provided the introduction, brief history SWOT analysis, and marketing, while James Templeman was tasked with conformance to specification, marketing, and supply: Esen Balevska was tasked to find the smart objective; and Ben Thompson was tasked with financial part, and finally Styliani Chatzikosta was tasked to find the possible legal issues. We followed the democratic leadership style, whereby discussion as well as consultation had to occur prior to making any decisions. This undoubtedly allowed me and my team members to give our personal opinions, but not all opinions were taken into action. What’s more, every person in our team had a role to play, and every role was productive and helped the group as well as the members to achieve the set goals. Importantly, communication was the basis of the teamwork success. How I felt about what happened I have realised that members of the team make use of joint effort to spring up initiatives prior to deciding, which development path is suitable for the project. In addition, I observed that teamwork is vital because of the analytical synergy obtained from various brains working on a resolution. When an individual works hard to solve the organisational setback, that individual just has his/her individual knowledge as well as experience from which to draw the needed solutions (Chen, 2010, p.249). However, through teamwork, members of the team pool their shared concepts jointly to produce exceptional concepts for handling the organisational setbacks. Setbacks in this instance are not only off-putting; instead, the challenge might be designing an artefact for a customer to satisfy the desired by the customer. Parumasur and Govender (2013, p.642) claim that successful teamwork can bring about various advantages to business organisation such as enhanced communication, a wider sense of responsibility, and expansive relationship. However, there are various barriers that may prevent team from working effectively, which we had to recognize and remove. Promoting industrious teamwork in our midst made our job more comfortable and helped us to be successful. Whereas enhanced communication can promote teamwork, I realized that deplorable communication presents a hurdle in developing a prolific work environment; so I always ensured there was communication between team members. According to Kelly and Spoor (2007, p.211) team members who fail to communicate, or lack knowledge of suitable communication methods to employ in the team, may generate failures that slow down development of the team. For this reason, managers must be conscious of the team communication and must be in a position to identify when pitiful communication is slowing down the success of the team. Basically, most groups are created to realize goals, and more importantly, these goals may be rooted from a certain project. I noted that failure to present group goals clearly or if the entity role of all team members in realizing those goals is indistinguishable, then it will be hard for team member to work efficiently. I also noted that a team that has members who value themselves more than other team members can create a challenging platform that will reduce productivity. Naturally, two people will never be alike, and within a team setting, this is even more articulated. Whereas one entity may perhaps be an outgoing person, another team member may be reclusive. Beside, whereas one team member may approach life in intuitively, the other team member may see it logically and rationally. Even though having distinct characters on a team may enhance its power, I noted that it can as well bring about conflict. Richard and Shelor (2002, p.960) posit that a team member can use a certain approach to handle a certain task rooted in his personality attributes, whereas another make use of an approach that is totally distinct cluster of personality attributes, irritations may surface and struggles for authority can occur. All team members have their personal life. Whereas one member of the team may live quietly with life that free from stress, another team member may perhaps have monetary uncertainties, parental issues or marital stress. I have realized the day after day stress can depressingly influence the affected member of the team, making him/her to address other team members with hostility. A Statement of What I Learnt As a result of the group work, I realise that for effective teamwork, there must be feedback and communication. Basically, feedback makes group communication consequential, and it is the outcome of a concept and enables communication to be incessant (Hung & Lin, 2013, p.145). In the communication process, the inventor foremost obtains the idea to be transmitted and afterward reflects of how to broadcast it across through suitable medium or channel. Subsequent to the coding as well as distribution, one anticipates the decoder to give feedback after receiving the idea or information (Marks & Richards, 2012, p.231). As a result, the feedback provided is recognized as the response which can be non-verbal or verbal, that is to say, in just a smile, fleeting look, applaud, or words. Even though feedback can be instant as seen in verbal communication between two individuals on internet instant message or telephone, it can be belated for a moment prior to the feedback, which is offered to permit the recipient to reflect and contemplate what he/she is offered. It is through feedback that our group succeeded to achieve the set goals. To effectively use our time, we had to keep a to-do list, which is a prompt system that told us of what we should do; thus, helping us to reduce the stress of memorizing everything in our heads. I always had to walk with a pen and paper when I went to our group meeting. My simplest reminder system was my diary, in which I recorded the important things I had to do, such as deadlines (Xavier, 2002, p.37). One method that we could have used to prioritize our workload and monitor the deliveries was keeping a list of projects and deadlines. I realized that when one is concerned about deadlines, he/she will write in their diaries, where they can check often to know what is outstanding and at what time. In my case, I use an uncomplicated online list. Feed Forward I have learnt that an individual's self-image is a strong inducement pertaining to how he behaves as well as his/her decisions. The self-image can make a team member think he/she is at all times correct; thus he/she cannot easily accept his/her mistake, even when he is obviously mistaken. In a group setting, when the self-image is prevailing but unfounded, supremacy struggles can surface, bringing about conflict. Furthermore, I have learnt that when the group confidence is broken by the team member, a violation of trust and trust takes place. This trust violation makes the influenced individual to respond expressively; thus, generating conflict. Faith and trust can make members of the team be positive as well feel protected, and if ruined, it generates strong feelings, bringing about pain. In teamwork, stress among team members can be solved by enthusiasm: for a team member to be enthusiastic, we had to act enthusiastically by being optimistic and avoiding pessimism that may have an effect on him/her. In teamwork, unenthusiastic energy can leak through one team member to other team members around him/her, but when he/she is enthusiastic he/she can convey the affirmative energy to other team members (Stickley, 2011, p.396). Enthusiasm destroys every unconstructive venomous that supply the negativism’s seed such as stress, and if that seed is not destroyed by enthusiastic power will grow and produce negativism fruits, which will be supplied to the team members; therefore, when a team member is enthusiastic he can perform things efficiently and with effectiveness. For team to be successful i have learnt that team members must demonstrate dependability, bearing in mind that a dependable team member should work time effectively and ensure his/her fair work share is done resourcefully. This can be achieved by always following through their tasks. I have also learnt that teams must have members who speak their mind and communicate their ideas and thoughts plainly, directly, sincerely, and with esteem for others team members. References Chen, Y.-C., 2010. The Interaction between Teamwork and Organizational Commitment Influenced by Organizations' Characteristics in Electronics Companies. The Business Review, Cambridge, vol. 16, no. 2, pp.248-254. Hu, E., 2013. Weekly Innovation: A Better Travel Neck Pillow. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/30/207122023/weekly-innovation-a-better-travel-neck-pillow" http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/30/207122023/weekly-innovation-a-better-travel-neck-pillow [Accessed 22 March 2014]. Hung, K.-P. & Lin, C.-K., 2013. When is Communication Effective for Reducing Interpersonal Conflict? The Moderating Effects of Credibility and Benevolence. International Business Research, vol. 6, no. 10, pp.141-52. Kelly, J.R. & Spoor, J.R., 2007. Naive Theories About the Effects of Mood in Groups: A Preliminary Investigation. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.203-22. Marks, A. & Richards, J., 2012. Developing ideas and concepts in teamwork research: where do we go from here? Employee Relations, vol. 34, no. 3, pp.228-34. O'Neill, S., 2012. Five flight-tested travel pillows. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120606-five-flight-tested-travel-pillows" http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120606-five-flight-tested-travel-pillows [Accessed 2014 22 2014]. Parumasur, S.B. & Govender, P., 2013. The Importance of Teamwork, Continuous Top Management Support and Training in Bringing About TQM. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, vol. 5, no. 9, pp.639-51. Richard, O.C. & Shelor, R.M., 2002. Linking top management team age heterogeneity to firm performance: Juxtaposing two mid-range theories. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 13, no. 6, pp.958-74. Stickley, T., 2011. From SOLER to SURETY for effective non-verbal communication. Nurse Education in Practice, vol. 11, no. 6, pp.395-8. Xavier, S., 2002. Clear communications and feedback can improve manager and employee effectiveness. Employment Relations Today, vol. 29, no. 2, pp.33-41. Read More