Observation of Group-Work during an Experiment at School - Essay Example

After the experiment was over, members of Group A and Group B were asked to reflect upon their experiences and share them with the rest of the class. On one hand, members of Group A said that factors that helped them win the contest included friendship among the group members, assignment of roles and responsibilities to one another with mutual consensus, mutual respect and harmony among the group members, and good use of time because of lack of conflicts. On the other hand, members of Group B said that factors that obstructed their way to success included but were not limited to lack of understanding of the group members, interpersonal conflicts because of differences of views and opinions, and the waste of time because of assignment of roles to incompetent group members.

Members of Group B were further asked to suggest ways to improve the effectiveness of their group since they had had a bad experience working as a group. They said that it is very important for the group members to take some time at the start to understand one another's strengths and weaknesses in general and those related to the task assigned in particular. This might not apparently seem a very good idea since it is a little time-consuming and exposes the weaknesses of the group members along with their strengths, but it saves a lot of time and energy in the long run that is otherwise wasted when the weaknesses show up at the eleventh hour.

The process can be as simple as conducting a meeting on day one.