Diversity between in Group in Terms of Culture and Languages - Coursework Example

GROUP ASSESMENTS Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s name University City Date Introduction The paper examines the effectiveness and challenges encountered with team work activities especially the individuals learning within group work. The paper points out diversity between in group in terms of culture and languages, the strength and weakness of culture diversity in group. The essential communication skills used in group work and the one required to be developed. Procedures are given out on how to manage conflict between students due to intra-conflict. Team works processes are highly correlated. In general team work has both positive & negative effects regarding the effects of group outcomes. The group members interdependently work together to converts inputs and outputs through cognitive, verbal & behavioural activities with intention of achieving the structured team work objective goal effectively (Ilgen 2011). The common taxonomies associated with our group in respect to communication are the task related processes which includes planning, monitoring and coordination. Interpersonal interaction process was also observed within the group in conflict management, motivation and outcomes. Literature attributes that effective communication is well associated with task processes in group. With reference to limas, 2011, the group technique of communication was so simple, e.g. verbally and print information, discussing one topic at a time and clearly stated decisions that all members understand, since individuals in group absorbs information differently and in varying rates. In addition, active listening, asking questions for more information, paraphrasing statements, checking individuals feelings and offering and requesting more information all attributed to effective communication. Teamwork triggers impressive performance (Hertel 2011). The work performance using team technique is of higher quality in comparison to individually work activities which has limited capabilities. The productivity is higher and it takes minimal time to present the results or findings as per the task given in the group. With diversity advantages of team work in efficiency and productivity, intra conflict team work was encountered. Individuals hold discrepant view especially ones that concerns opinions, attitudes and knowledge ideologies. The main essence is due to interpersonal incompatibilities between group members. Source as reported by literature, the challenges behind the situation is due to limited resources resulting to stress and tension or rather due to cognitive states (Schruijer 2011). My group assignment experience has been of significant importance to my self- growth. It is virtually impossible to pinpoint with specificity a single dimension of growth since my overall gain was diverse. However, for this discussion, I will dwell on the aspects learnt about group communication and team work with special consideration to the implications these lessons would have not only to my personal intellectual development but, to a larger scale, how this will experiences will shape my group/team work in future. Group communication is significant in the achievement of group goals. In our group assignment work, we had to communicate on various issues that ranged from time schedules, venues, changes in schedules, allocation of responsibilities among other arising issues. Effective group communication is key to the success of a group. It can make or break a group. It was important for us to set the rules and regulations that would govern our group, while assigning duties and responsibilities to each of the member with a sole purpose of ensuring that the group’s objectives were attained. For example, we had to communicate on the significance of each member’s presence and availability during each of our discussions, the importance of keeping time and accomplishing the tasks assigned in time. Because of this, we experienced a run that I would consider smooth, if it were not for a few hiccups; still, as a result of communication. For example, there was one particular instance where the meeting venue was changed but the information did not reach all the member, in which case I was affected and therefore late for that particular meeting. My lateness upset members who were there in time, particularly because it was the day to present my findings but I was rather more upset because of the lack of communication that created the inconvenience. This still offered a learning experience on the significance of group communication. Team work was essential for the overall final achievement of the group assignment. It was necessary for each of us to understand and appreciate their role in the team/group. In some cases, we had to divide and delegate duties to individual members such that we were to work within stipulated deadlines and present our research findings to the group in the next sitting session. Appreciating the fact that a group works towards a common goal, goes a long way into helping achieve team goals. Those of us, who conducted our research within the set time frame, boosted the group’s morale. However, I still remember of cases where progress was slowed down by other team players. In whichever case, both the positives and negatives were significant dimensions of the learning process and eventually helped shape my team work skills. In an institution of learning, elements of diversities are a common phenomenon. These diversities would emerge with differences in culture, religion, language, nationality, race, abilities among other things. Dealing with such diversities at times proves to be a challenge especially in cases where there is one dominant identity, as it were in my discussion group. We had to achieve our group objectives amidst the diversities of language and culture that existed within our group that basically arose from different nationalities of some of our group members. These factors, overlooked, would have negative implications on the affected individuals and undermine their effort and contribution while lowering their esteem. As such, despite the diversities, we had to engage the members within their limits of ability. For example, we heard a member whose first language is Arabic, but currently on an English Language Program. He would communicate very little due to limited vocabulary. How did we engage him in the team? Together with our help, he was responsible for organizing our meeting schedules and venues and usually at the end of our discussion one of us was assigned the task of breaking the resultant findings - using the simplest language possible – to keep him equally at par with class work. Eventually, we were able to complete the task within the set time while engaging these diversities head on. With regards to communication skills, I have learnt the significance of listening as an important aspect of communication. Who would have known how much divergent opinion would be beneficial in the construction of ideas? As Winston Churchill once put it, “true genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain and conflicting information.” Through the group assignment, I learnt to listen to my colleagues and appreciate their different views on the subject matter of discussion. It was amazing to discover the massive extent of research that had been conducted by my classmates and the wide scope of knowledge that was put to our table for consumption and consequent deliberation. Through listening, I was able to add much information to that which I already knew while at the same time gained access to pieces of knowledge, which I personally consider, would have cost me ages of perusing through books and web pages to find. Besides listening, I also realized the importance of observing turn taking for successful group communication. I particularly recall the number of times when each of my group members appeared to have been bombarded by ideas at the same time, thus each of us struggling to disseminate this knowledge at the same time. Our discussions ended up being rowdy and disorganized. Only until we attained order, did we realize how much time had been spent with nothing tangible as conclusive evidence. Literally, what we had been doing was ‘making noise unconsciously’. Turn taking in communication is an essential skill to achieving the overall objectives of communication while minimizing on the time spent in delivering the targeted information. Apparently, this also proved to be my greatest area of weakness in communication, but with the lessons acquired through time wastage, I realized the significance to work on it and build on my turn taking skills. In a group with individual differences, I learnt the need to use simple language that is understandable to each and every member, as such giving room for participation of the members. However, this does not mean that professional or subject matter jargon should be entirely eliminated in the process of team communication. It is through the use of technical language, dictated by our assignment, that some of us came to understand their meaning and use. Ideally though, use of ‘slang’ that sometimes cropped up during our discussions would put off some of the group members hence shutting down the channels of participation and as a result limiting the scope of knowledge. Conclusively, my group assignment despite the several hitches, as would be expected as challenges in any task performed by individual or group, was a success. The measure of success would not only be benchmarked through the acquired marks in the group assignments submission but on the overall through the skills disseminated on the group members involved. It was not only an academic learning experience but an eye opener to the outside world which is characterized by the existence of companies and organizations all that are successful because of team work and a people sharing a common goal determined to see their efforts come to fruition. Even the failed companies, arguably, would attribute their failure to a malfunction in the team effort. To sum it all up, my group assignment experience has empowered me with team skills that make me an effective team player. The beliefs on the importance of group diversity has become more popular with the concepts of sharing different ideologies, skills of attending to task given and coming up with effective decision making (Schulz 2011). However, elusive results are displayed by group diversity to either positivism or negativism. The cultural, language, and integration-and-learning are major diversity observed within the group. Cultural diversity brings about wider scope of knowledge presentation which contributes in quality outcomes of activities undertaken. Individuals shared the opinions and result outcomes were impressive. Individuals are creative and learning through exposure to different cultures hence stimulating group members to find relevant information in given task. In contrary, it is observable that group with intense cultural difference make individuals to have lower performance and well being in group with feelings. Language diversity results to difficulties in communication and results finding are not impressive. The challenges faced in communication attributes to conflict and reduces the group compatibility hence the group outcome is impetuous. The distribution of status and power among individuals in terms of team leader either as chairman or secretary within cultural diversity group determines the performance of group and before selecting individuals, one should be concerned with the outcome of group. The developed communication skills build trust and loyalty and clarity within group members. Active listening and asking questions for clarity and paraphrasing are among the communication skills developed. Complications arises when decision making through opinions arise whereby every individuals arise with varied decisions expected all to be implemented. Currently that has proven challenge in communication skills and needs to be worked on. In addition, ethnic diversity contributes to failure in the worked communication skills. Conclusively, coming up with team work members have proved to be of huge benefit to varied institutions and society. It is attributed to impressive productivity and efficiency in tasks given out. Team work within students assists individuals in met cognitive awareness, creative thinking, development of communication skill, accommodation of different ability levels and personality type among students. It is advocated that team functions well when a minimum number of people are allocated in a group hence hard work perforce is registered. Introducing larger groups within institution results to laziness whereby only few members are involved hence poor results since the finding responsibilities are so minimal in regard to accountability. Allocating roles and responsibilities in equality to all members in group is essential especially if the group is diverse since it will reduce conflict situation, members will feel assignments are integrated well hence equal team contributions are achieved. In addition, introducing of conflict resolution chart among members prior to starting assignment will assist the students to know which pathway to follow when conflict arises hence able to solve conflicts without seeking assistance often. Reference list Hertel, G. (2011) Synergetic effects in working teams, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 26 Iss: 3, pp.176 – 184 Limas, J. (2011) Small Group Dynamics in a Nutshell. Manage, 1(4), 3-5. IIgen, D. (2011) Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams. A journal of Association for Psychological Science Schruijer, S. (2011) Does conflict shatters trust or does trust obliterate conflict? Revisiting the relationship between team diversity, conflict and trust. Group Dynamics: Theory, Res. Practice 2011, 14, 66–79. Schulz S. (2011) Group decision making under conditions of distributed knowledge: The information asymmetries model. Academy of Management Review, 32, 459-479. Frontiera J & Leidl D 2012, Team Turnarounds: A Playbook for Transforming Underperforming Teams, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, USA. Lencioni, PM 2012, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business – 1st Ed, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, USA. Pritchard K & Eliot J 2012, Help the Helper: Building a Culture of Extreme Team Work, Penguin Group, New York, USA. Read More