Roles Played by Different People in Workplace Group Meetings - Coursework Example

Group Dynamics Name: Institution: Date: Group “five”, MGMT240 students, University of Address September 9, 2014, Dr. Colleen Mills, MGMT240 Lecturer, University of Address Email Subject: Roles played by different people in workplace group meetings Dear Dr. Colleen Mills; I am pleased to forward to you the report on the roles played by different members of workplace group meeting in accordance to assignment two. The report was based on a simulated group meeting that was held on August 18, 2014. I acknowledge that the report is in line with the theory that we have been learning in class and the group members would like to meet with you at your free time to discuss it before the oral presentation date (September 30, 2014). In case of any questions we can be contacted through our group mail groupfive@gmail.com. Yours sincerely Joseph Koop, Group five Secretary. A REPORT ON THE ROLES PLAYED BY DIFFERENT PEOPLE IN A WORKPLACE GROUP MEETING, WRITTEN ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 BY JOSEPH KOOP UNDER THE INSTRUCTION and supervision OF DR. COLLEEN MILLS. Acknowledgement The group members were thanked for their full cooperation and participation during all the group meetings. Special thanks to the group chairperson who acted as the leader, motivator and the harmonizer of all the important opinions that were raised by the members. Without the chairperson’s help the compilation of the report could not have been a success. Executive summary During all the meetings it was observed that every member of the group had a unique characteristic and the level of participation was subject to those characteristics. It was hence easy to determine the role that each member of the group played as the proceedings continued. Consultations with other group members on the noted behaviors of each member was used to determine their role in the group. It was very clear that the actions of each of the members were within the theoretical descriptions given in the reference books. Table of contents 1. Transmittal letter 2. Title 3. Acknowledgement 4. Executive summary 5. Table of contents 6. Introduction 7. Body 7.1. Formal roles 7.2. Informal roles 8. Conclusion 9. appendices Introduction The report on the roles played by different members of a workplace group meeting was commissioned by Dr. Colleen Mills to evaluate the relationship between the theoretical roles learned in class and the practical roles that any group member will always play in a group meeting. This roles were either formal or informal. The formal roles included: leaders such as the chairperson, secretary, and treasury and etc. informal roles on the other hand included contributor, information seeker, opinion seeker, challenger, and etc. Body The formal roles that were played by different members were the leadership roles that were only three; the chairperson, the secretary and the timekeeper. The chairperson after being elected by acclamation was the overall person in charge of all the activities that were carried out in the group during the group meetings The chairperson was a democratic man who gave every member an opportunity to air out his or her opinion out and allowed for every point to be fully debated upon before he could give the final decision on what was to be noted as the overall, agreed upon opinion[Mat08]. The chairperson also gave a sense of direction to the group by not allowing other members to stray away from the topic of discussion. This ensured that the inactive members who had personal issues could not have any chance of doing so during the group meetings. Ones in a while the chairperson could delegate some duties to other members of the group, such as crosschecking with the other groups The timekeeper on the other hand ensured that each person had equal opportunity to give his or her opinion. The timekeeper was also ensured that the meeting ended at the intended time, this forced all the members to be as precise as possible in giving out their responses. By so doing the possibility of the members straying from the topic of discussion was hard. The secretary was responsible for jotting down all the points of discussion in a brief, clear and reliable manner. This was mostly through minute taking though ones in a while the secretary was just taking notes with future reference. The secretary also had the responsibility of comparing the minutes of the meeting or the notes recorded during the meeting with those of the other groups. Due to the fact that the secretary was the person to do the presentation, the secretary had to be fluent in the English language both spoken and written. The informal roles played by the members included; the challenger, player, blocker and etc. the initiator-contributor, information giver, information seeker, opinion seeker and etc. some of the members of the groups tended to inhibit more than one characteristic with those active members always ready to learn while the inactive members always looking for a way to lead the group away from the topic of discussion. The challenger was one the latter individuals who were always opposing the already agreed upon opinions by looking at it from a different angle. Though this was very useful in determining the credibility of the decisions, sometimes it slowed down the group and even demoralized some group members[Bes70]. The player was also a member of the group and was constantly cracking jokes giving no attention to the facts being discussed. Once in a while the person could sleep, wakes up and start talking about the new fashion trends, the latest albums released etc. this led to the detraction of most of the members from the topic of discussion to such peripheral issues. It was always a challenge trying to convince the person to keep such issues and discuss them later when the meeting is over. The blocker was the also in the group and was only good at criticizing other people’s decisions but not giving their own opinions to be debated upon. This habit always led to heated arguments between the group members and sometimes led to the adjournment (see appendix) of the meeting due to disagreements. Such people’s actions led to the slowing down of the group discussions. Though the group had people who slowed their operations down, there were also a bunch of good members who always helped ensuring that the meeting ended within the scheduled duration of time by being very active during the meetings. The first person was the initiator-contributor who used to give the first ideas and directions on how to handle the topic of discussion, it was hence very easy for the group members to build on their ideas and hence end the meeting at the right time. There were those members who were constantly asking for suggestions on the topic of discussion, they also were asking for clarifications, evidences to support any opinion given by any member and from other groups. Such people proved to be vital as they helped in ensuring that most of the topics agreed upon were viable and could be easily supported by credible evidence. Such people could be referred to as the information seekers. There were also the information giver, who had the ideas concerning the topic of discussion and constantly answered any doubts or questions that other members of the group could be having. This role could not be played by anyone who had no vast knowledge of the topic of discussion and the exposure in that field of discussion. Conclusion It was evident that every member of the group had a unique characteristic that made him or her play the different roles that could be observed within them during the meetings held by the group. This roles could slow the group down during their meetings hence lead to time wastage before any decision is made e.g. the players or they could be healthy as they lead to the contributions to the topic of discussion and hence lead to faster decision making, such roles includes; information seeker, information giver and etc. References Mat08: , (Matthew, Davies, & Fanning, 2008), Bes70: , (Best, 1970), Appendix Adjournment – refers to the postponement of a session of a meeting or any other proceeding e.g. court proceedings until a later stated date or indefinitely. Sociograms, this were used to determine the flow of information between the members of the group Read More