Team Working Skills Assessment - Coursework Example

An Assessment of my Team Working Skills Most will, perhaps, agree that school life does not always entail completely enjoyable activities.Whenever I am loaded with schoolwork or encounter difficulties with our lessons, I always comfort myself with my favorite quotation about education. This inspirational passage claims that “Education is, at least, the endeavor to get people to do things they could not previously do, to understand things they did not previously understand, and perhaps, to become the people they did not expect to become” (Sockett, in Alderman, 2004 p. 3). This semester, my experience working on a group project at British Airways once again found good application of the passage from Sockett. Introduction I should say that for as long as I can remember, I am not a team player. I prefer working on individual assignments. Working in a group project, therefore, as a requirement for this module was some sort of a struggle for me. This paper is a self-assessment of my team working skills based on how I evaluate my performance in our group project at British Airways. As much as possible, I exerted every possible effort not to compromise the objectivity of the assessment. However, since this is a group project, the assessment is still in relation to how I see myself as a part of the group. The first thing I noticed was that there was difficulty right at the start. It seemed very difficult not just for me but for the entire group to get going. I began to think then that I might be stalling the progress of the group. It was, therefore, a relief that I stumbled upon a book by Levi (2001) which revealed that “start up-activities take up longer than anticipated … [because] it takes time to decide on the definition and goals of a project and to develop social relations and procedures for effective teamwork” (p. 40). It was also quite a revelation to discover from this reading that the most difficult stage of a group work is the definition of the project itself. For the first time, I was reading a book that I can relate to in real life. I felt an interest in being an active and productive member of a working group. The group was assigned tasks related to booking and reservation with British Airways. We were simply given a list of tasks to complete and we were on our own. To make the long story short, almost every one in the group would like to take on technical tasks. The first group brainstorming session ended with no tangible results. The same thing happened to the second group session to thresh out problems in the first session. To encourage group that we are capable of taking on the group assignment, I volunteered to take care of the e-ticket tasks and the rest can divide the technically-related tasks among themselves. Nobody objected. The third session ended with the details of the individual assignments and the time table. To live up to the promise of objectivity, I carried out the assessment in two ways: first, my role in the group project and second, my effectiveness as a team member. I adopted two instruments for the assessment: the University of Kent (n. d.) Exercise on Team Working Skills (UK-ETWS), for my role in the group; and the University of South Australia (2005) Teamwork Skills Questionnaire (USA-TSQ) for my effectiveness. I have included these two instruments as appendices at the end of this paper. The UK-ETWS instrument is web-based and consists of 28 questions; while the USA-TSQ was a hand-out in an online workshop about working in teams, and consists of 15 questions. The UK-ETWS instrument scores a team member according to seven roles, namely: compromiser, encourager, evaluator, ideas person, leader, recorder and summarizer. One may score from 0 – 12 in each of these roles, where 12 is the highest. A description of each role is given at the end of Appendix 1 after the questionnaire. Meanwhile, the scoring scheme of the USA-TSQ is shown in Appendix 2 at the end of the questionnaire. My role in the group project Based on my scores in the UK-ETWS instrument, my dominant or strongest role in the group was that of an encourager, where I scored the highest with an 8. According to the accompanying explanation for scoring the web-based team working exercise, an encourager “energizes the groups when motivation is low through humor or being enthusiastic” (University of Kent, n. d.). The description of an encourager from the Web site is positive, one who does not enjoy sitting around, but rather, prefers to facilitate progress in a discussion or project by making suggesting, clarifying vague aspects and confronting problems. These, I believe, are true and I consider these are my strengths as a team worker. Harrison and Lock (2004) indicated that members of a team perform different roles to smoothen the progress of a project. These roles have been broadly categorized as task roles and building and maintenance roles. Task roles are those which assist the team in accomplishing its goals, whereas, building and maintenance roles help establish and maintain team work relationships among the members of the group. My tasks pertaining to the e-tickets involved sending the e-tickets by mail and in occasional instances when the passenger does not have an e-mail address, I need to send the e-tickets by post. It was practically my task to confirm booking with the passenger with the e-tickets. I also record, keep track and update all transactions related in the e-ticketing. The job was not easy and perhaps this was the reason why the other members of the group refused e-ticket related tasks. In terms of the Harrison and Lock (2004) classification, my strongest role during the group project as encourager is one of the six building and maintenance roles. The other roles under this category are compromiser, follower, gatekeeper, harmonizer, and observer/commentator. Meanwhile, the ten task roles include clarifier, consensus tester, elaborator, energizer, information seeker, informer, initiator, procedural technician, reality tester, and summarizer/ coordinator. I have average teamwork skills as a compromiser, evaluator, and summarizer, where I obtained identical scores of 7. The role of a compromiser is to maintain harmony in the group, while an evaluator sees to it that the group does not come up with hasty decisions. I agree with the results of the evaluation that my compromiser and evaluator skills are just about average. The summarizer in the UK-ETWS instrument has the same qualities as the task role of a clarifier in Harrison and Lock (2004). I think I might even have less than average skills as summarizer/clarifier, because I rarely elaborate on the ideas of others. Results of the team working exercise also revealed that my weakness as a team player pertains to leadership skills. I accept the results of the evaluation that aside from a paucity in leadership skills, I am not also a good ideas person and recorder, especially during the start of the group project. I believe that leadership is the skill where I need to improve on a lot. I definitely have difficulties controlling people and events, and in managing resources. As far as being an ideas person, I can give myself a “0” at the start of the semester, but ever since I participated in the group project, I discovered that little by little, I am able to contribute new ideas and better ways to organize the individual assignments for the project. I was also a late bloomer with my recorder function. I remember that when I started to get frustrated with the group’s progress, I was the one who rallied the other group members to focus on the tasks, as I made sure that everyone of us does our share. My effectiveness as a team player At the start of the module, I would say that my team working qualities are deficient because I do not have much experience working with a group. I perceived a conflict brewing. I told myself, I do not want to be a liability for the team, so I tried to reach out to them. In retrospect, I surmise that my motivation was brought about by my concern to maximize my own utility as explained in Alkire and Deneulin (2000). In this regard, I was motivated to do something because I was expecting success as an outcome. Motivation of this nature is explained by the expectancy theory (Huitt, 2001). I also focused my attention on the module and continued reading about teamwork. Harrison and Lock (2004) offered a good contrast about teamwork and conflict by enumerating the characteristics side by side. There is teamwork when: (1) members are focused on the project objectives (2) there is open communication; (3) mutual trust is present; (4) feelings and ideas are freely expressed; (5) members work out their disagreements; (6) atmosphere is relaxed, comfortable and informal. I admit I saw none of these characteristics when the group project was just starting. The characteristics of conflict in a group according to Harrison and Lock (2004) are: (1) divergent objectives; (2) guarded, censored or withheld communication; (3) presence of mistrust and negative stereotyping; (4) absence of support initiatives among members; (5) ideas are withheld and feelings are hidden; (6) disagreements lead to power struggles and win-lose battles; and (6) atmosphere is formal, cold, strained and unpleasant. Four of these characteristics were present in the group when we were just struggling to get started. Even if we were working on the same project, individual differences may be a factor for our divergent objectives. As defined by Cooper and Varma (1997), individual differences consist of “any observed difference between individuals on any variable chosen by the observer” (p. 2). In this case, individual differences are on our different ways of thinking about the objectives of our project. Individual differences, according to Furnham (2008), help predict and explain behavior. Based on my readings, the absence of support among members is typical of starting groups, as Steinberg (2004) stressed that “mutual aid is not a de facto dimension of group life”. I scored 38 in the USA-TSQ instrument, where a score in the range of 35 – 40 indicates that I am an effective team person. There are, however, areas, where I think there is much room for improvement to enhance my performance from an effective team person to a very effective team person. The areas where I can still improve based on my scores are: (1) on taking responsibility for ensuring that tasks are completed - I should engage less in this aspect when I am working with a group; (2) on giving positive feedback to the other members of the group - I should do this either frequently or very frequently; (3) on suggesting directions which the group can take - I should disengage on doing this rather frequently so that I can give a chance for the others to share their skill in this area; (4) on summarizing what is happening to the group – I should do this less frequently; and (5) on starting the group working – I guess I over-motivated myself to the point that I do this rather frequently. Conclusion On the whole, working with a group made a better person out of me. The professor did great in explaining the module and in motivating us, students to accomplish a school task by cooperative effort. The self-assessment thing is also a good vehicle in reflecting over a past activity. I learned a lot from the experience and from my readings about working with a group. In this group, I was more of an encourager and less of a leader. Not all groups in the future would need me as an encourager, though. If I were to do better in my next effort with a group, I should also work on my leadership skills, as well as on the other roles. I believe that the group project was a good exercise for students to find out their strengths and weaknesses in working with different people. If I were to do well in the workplace, I would have to be a very effective team player. Thus, the essence of being a team player is reliance not just in my own ability to accomplish the task, but in synergizing our individual differences in a cooperative effort to produce the desired outcome. The British Airways experience definitely introduced the entire group into the value and complexities of teamwork and we learned a whole lot from it. References Alderman, M. K. (2004). Motivation for achievement: Possibilities for learning and teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Alkire, S. & Deneulin, S., (2000). Individual motivation, its nature, determinants and consequences for within group behaviour. Research Paper 184, World Institute for Development Economics Research. Cooper, C. & Varma V. P. (eds.). (1997). Processes in individual differences. New York: Routledge. Furnham, A. (2008). Personality and intelligence at work. New York: Routledge. Harrison, F. L. & Lock, D. (2004). Advanced project management: A structured approach. 4th ed. Hants, UK: Gower Publishing Limited. Huitt, W. (2001). Motivation to learn: An overview. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/motivation/motivate.html Levi, D. (2001). Group dynamics for teams. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Steinberg, D. M. (2004). The mutual-aid-approach to working with groups: Helping people help one another. 2nd edition. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press. University of Kent (n. d.). Team working skills. Retrieved June 28, 2008, from http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/teamwork.htm University of South Australia (2005). Working in teams: Team work skills questionnaire. Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/ Appendix 1 University of Kent – Exercise on Team Working Skills The questionnaire which follows should help you analyze the workings of a group and should help you to reach some tentative conclusions about role in the team. For this exercise, you will need to think of teams of which you were a part. These could be project groups for your course, seminar groups, sports teams, societies or clubs in which you were involved, vacation jobs in which you were part of a team, or even perhaps when you were sharing a house with a group of students. Try to answer the 28 questions as honestly as you can think. Click on “First Question” to begin. Please try to answer ALL the questions. You can go back to the questions to change your answers by clicking on the previous question button. 1. I help others to find compromises between differing viewpoints.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 2. I introduce new ideas to groups in which I work.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 3. I try to decide on the criteria on which I will make my decisions and then stick to these.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 4. I am not swayed by emotional arguments.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 5. I am an optimist who tends to look on the positive side.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 6. I am a well organised individual who is good at keeping to deadlines.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 7. I build on the ideas of others.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 8. I stick up for my opinions and try to argue persuasively and with logic for them.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 9. I suggest new ways of doing things.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 10. I make sure all possibilities are explored.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 11. I act as the note-taker for the groups I am involved in.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 12. I support and praise other team members.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 13. I elaborate on what others have said.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 14. I am willing to compromise my own view to obtain a group consensus.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 15. I use humour to remove stresses in groups in which I work.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 16. I act as the spokesperson, to deliver the findings of the group.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 17. I clarify other peoples contributions.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 18. I am more concerned with major issues than with details.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 19. I try hard to keep up the groups energy level.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 20. I try to keep relations between group members harmonious.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 21. I ask others to take responsibility for particular tasks.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 22. I use dispassionate, critical analysis to make decisions.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 23. I summarise what has been said.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 24. I usually lead and co-ordinate the team effort.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 25. I listen carefully to what the other team members have to say and try to get quiet group members to contribute.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 26. I dont allow the group to over-run the time limit for the task.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 27. I suggest new ways of looking at problems.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always 28. I am good at evaluating competing proposals.  Rarely  Sometimes  Frequently  Always The roles people play in groups. There are a number of different roles that people adopt in meetings some of which are listed below. These roles are not always constant - one person might adopt several of these roles during one meeting or change roles depending on what is being discussed. Your score for each category should give you some idea of which of these roles you play in teams. Encourager Energises groups when motivation is low through humour or being enthusiastic. They are positive individuals who support and praise other group members. Dont like sitting around. They like to move things along by suggesting ideas, clarifying the ideas of others and confronting problems. They may use humour to break tensions in the group. They may say: "We CAN do this!" "Thats a great idea!" Compromisers Try to maintain harmony among the team members. They are sociable, interested in others and will introducing people, draw them out and make them feel comfortable. They may be willing to change their own views to get a group decision. They works well with different people and can be depended on to promote a positive atmosphere, helping the team to gel. They pull people and tasks together developing rapport. They are tolerant individuals and good listeners who will listen carefully to the views of other group members. They are good judges of people, diplomatic and sensitive to the feelings of others and not seen as a threat. Able to recognise and resolve differences of opinion and the the development of conflict, they enable "difficult" team-members to contribute positively. They may say: "We havent heard from Mike yet: Id like to hear what you think about this."  "Im not sure I agree. What are your reasons for saying that?" Leader. Also see our leadership styles test Good leaders direct the sequence of steps the group take and keeps the group "on-track.". They are good at controlling people and events and coordinating resources. They have the energy, determination and initiative to overcome obstacles and bring competitive drive to the team. They give shape to the team effort. They recognise the skills of the individuals and how they can be used. Leaders are outgoing individuals who have to be careful not to be domineering. They can sometimes steamroller the team but get results quickly. They my become impatient with complacency and lack of progress and may sometimes overreact.  They may say "Lets come back to this later if we have time."  "We need to move on to the next step."  "Sue, what do you think about this idea?" Summarisers/Clarifiers Calm, reflective individuals who summarise the groups discussion and conclusions. They clarify group objectives and elaborate on the ideas of others. They may go into detail about how the groups plans would work.= and tie up loose ends. They are good mediators and seek consensus. They may say:  "So heres what weve decided so far" "I think youre right, but we could also add ...." Ideas person. See our lateral thinking skills page The ideas person suggests new ideas to solve group problems or new ways for the group to organize the task. They dislike orthodoxy and not too concerned with practicalities . They provides suggestions and proposals that are often original and radical. They are more concerned with the big picture than with details. May get bored after the initial impetus wears off.  They may say "Why dont we consider doing it this way?" Evaluator Evaluators help the group avoid coming to agreement too quickly. They tend to be slow in coming to a decision because of need to think things over. They are the logical, analytical, objective people in the team and offer measured, dispassionate critical analysis. They contribute at times of crucial decision making because they are capable of evaluating competing proposals. They may suggest alternative ideas. They may say:  "What other possibilities are there?"  or "Lets try to look at this another way."  or "Im not sure were on the right track." Recorder The recorder keeps the group focused and organised. They make sure that everyone is helping with the project. They are usually the first person to offer to take notes to keep a record of ideas and decisions. They also like to act as time-keeper, to allocate times to specific tasks and remind the team to keep to them, or a spokesperson, to deliver the ideas and findings of the group. They may check that all members understand and agree on plans and actions and know their roles and responsibilities. Acts as the memory of the group They may say: "We only have five minutes left, so we need to come to agreement now!" "Do we all understand this chart?" "Are we all in agreement on this?" Appendix 2 Team Work Skills Questionnaire (Measure of Effectiveness) Working in teams Information to Start You can use this Word document to assess your team work skills (as part of the Working in teams online workshop) by printing the document and using the hard copy to write the answers on or transferring the file to disc and then using it, or a copy of it, to fill in as a Word document on your own computer. If you copy it before you begin to answer the questions you will continue to be able to access the blank document at a future time. Team Work Skills Questionnaire Visualise a particular group or team you have worked in. Answer the following about how you responded within that group. There are no wrong or right answers and some answers you may need to guess at. You might like to ask a friend or a team member to use this questionnaire to evaluate your effectiveness as a team member. You can then replace the ‘I’ in the questionnaire with your name before you give it your friend or team member. A scoring table is set out below the questions for you to score your effectiveness as a team member. 1 I offer information and opinions a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 2. I summarise what is happening in the group a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 3. When there is a problem I try to identify what is happening a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 4. I start the group working a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 5. I suggest directions the group can take a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 6. I listen actively a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 7. I give positive feedback to other members of the group a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 8. I compromise a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 9. I help relieve tension a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 10. I talk a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 11. I ensure that meeting times and places are arranged a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 12. I try to observe what is happen in the group a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 13. I try to help solve problems a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 14. I take responsibility for ensuring that tasks are completed a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never 15. I like the group to be having a good time a..Very frequently b..Frequently c. Sometimes d. .Rarely e. Never Scoring Score by awarding yourself the number of points shown in the Table on the following page. Put the score in the score column. Add the numbers together in the score column to discover your total score. Scoring table Question a b c d e Score 1. 1 2 3 2 1 2. 1 2 3 2 1 3. 1 2 3 2 1 4. 2 2 3 1 0 5. 0 1 3 1 0 6. 3 3 2 1 0 7. 3 3 2 1 0 8. 2 3 3 1 0 9. 1 2 3 1 0 10. 0 0 3 2 1 11. 2 3 3 1 0 12. 3 3 2 1 0 13. 2 3 3 1 0 14. 2 2 3 1 0 15. 1 1 2 1 1 Total Results If you have scored between 40 and 45 you are a very effective team person. If you have scored between 35 and 40 you are an effective team person If you have scored under 35 it would be useful if you worked on some of your team skills. Read More