Roleplaying for Each Team Member - Assignment Example

Activity one: who owns the zebra?

DESCRIPTION

The activity involved role-playing for each team member to find who owns the zebra. Individual data was given to the participants of the group. There were strict instructions which group members had to follow. The use of mobile phones or any other electronic device was prohibited, and notes-taking was banned. Even looking/peeking in other group member’s data sheet was restricted. Each group was given one hour to complete the task to discover who owns the zebra using the provided information. Each group was positioned in separate rooms and was supervised by the lecturers, accompanied by the students at the residential weekend, to make sure the rules are correctly enforced. In each of the group members' information sheets, there were different sets of information which included the color of the doors, pets, nationality, profession and gave a hint of who is neighbor to which person. Group had to summarise all the information and collaboratively find out who owns the zebra as a pet out of all the neighbors. I took the initiative to play the role of leader of a leader in my group. At the start, my group was as confused as me, but I tried not to show it, to keep the team morale high. I was being a diverse group of individuals belonging from various cultures and countries. It was difficult to communicate due to the language barrier. According to Fisher's model of small group communication (Fisher,1980), my group required effective communication for decision making. However, the task was achieved on time.

Feelings

I felt this activity involves brainstorming and mental alertness amongst the teammates. Before the business commenced, I was in a dilemma. I had no understanding of how will I complete the task, and I was baffled. But by the time the lecturer explained what we had to do, there was a bit of understanding. During the activity, when I was discussing the task with the team members, I felt they were as confused as me. All the Team-members were in a psychological contract with each other to solve the task. According to (Rousseau 1995), the psychological contract is between the individual and the organization. I took the initiative to lead my team in the right direction. I started interacting with my teammates. I informed all of the members what information is written on my paper and expected them to do the same. As all the team members were from different nationalities and backgrounds, I felt my group had a bit of communication problem. While discussing the information, I wasn't able to understand another teammate who was from china due to the different accents of the language. I felt I was unable to explain my idea or point of view to that team member. I also misunderstood one of the most critical clues due to the language barrier. According to Laswell's model of five W's, I feel my group should have established a proper channel to develop effective communication. (Laswell,1948) Which, in result, demotivated me as a leader of the group. While discussing the situation, my teammate and I got involved in an argument with each other over our views. I feel it could have been dealt with in a better way. When I look back now, I think I shouldn't have got demotivated. It was my responsibility as a leader to motivate my demotivated team members, to involve them in the activity and take their input.

EVALUATION

The things that were good and worked well for my group and me was the fact that each team-member gave inputs, shared their ideology, and expressed their concerns. My team had debates and discussions openly without hesitation. As a leader, I was happy that my team was able to complete the task in the given time period. However, my teammates and I were working with mere assumptions and not facts. The things which would be counted as a bad experience would be the problem of communication and language barriers. It was time-consuming to understand each other as one had to repeat itself to make the other teammate understand its point of view. The arguments between my teammates and me made others a bit hesitant to express their views. However, in the more significant interest of the team, I conceded to the group's point of view over mine to avert a more significant psychological conflict, which could have led to the demotivation of the organization. Even though I had conceded my argument, one of the team members supported and voted for my opinion against the other. As a group leader, I went with the majority to uplift the team morale and keep the team task-oriented without wasting time in arguments. According to James MacGregor Burns Transformational leadership theory, I played the role of a transformational leader, where I connected and tried to raise the level of motivation. (Burns, 1970)

Analysis

I think initially, my group and I had a bumpy start to the activity but eventually went well in solving the mystery of who owns the zebra. I feel the reason it all went well was that all group members cooperated to work as a team. They understood the role of being a team member. Every team member played its own important role in the completion of this task. There were a few instances where things didn't go as expected, my teammates and I indulged in arguments over different opinions psychological differences. Being a diverse group, my teammates were from different countries, cultures, and social backgrounds. Due to this, my group faced a communication problem because each group member had its own accent of the language, which caused a language barrier. In turn, it made the group's communication inefficient and time-consuming. The conflict arisen during the activity was due to the difference of opinion, which was successfully managed because of the democratic culture agreed by the group. According to Quinn and Cameron, there are four types of organizational cultures. Out of which I feel we fall in Adhocracy culture (Quinn and Cameron, 2013). I think I could have worked on my team's strengths and weaknesses before assigning them to their roles to increase team effectiveness. I could have played the part of the leader with a better approach than the situation demanded.

CONCLUSION

In my learning experience, I believe that group activity was meant to get different individuals to work together as a team. I learned that as a leader I should have divided the roles based on my team mate's strengths and weaknesses, having done this would have made it easier for the team and me to achieve the task. Moreover, it would have made my team more effective and productive. Being in a diverse group with individuals from various cultures and backgrounds was challenging and slowed down productivity. My team suffered from ineffective communication, mainly due to the language barriers. In large projects or activities require clear communication for the adequate performance of the group. I have realized that as a manager or a leader, I should have established excellent discussions in the team. Now that I reflect upon the experience, I think I could have been better in a few aspects of my leadership role. I need to develop my leadership skills for a situation like this in the future so that I'm better equipped to handle it. According to Blanchard and Hersey, leadership style corresponds to the development level (Blanchard, 1993).

Such a situation demands characteristics of a situational leader with an innovative working style to keep the collective goal insights.

Action plan

In a similar situation like this in the future, I will talk to my team members about their strengths they have. This is a natural process to do in the first meeting and also a reminder of this learning experience. It also works potentially as an ice-breaker for the team. I will try to work within the cultures of the group and behave ethically when in disagreement. Belbin's model of Team roles suggests that team needs to access team role behaviors to become a high performing team (Belbin, 1993). As a leader, I will try to identify which team member plays what role in using this model before assigning the task. This is turn will help me increase team effectiveness as a manager or a leader in future similar situations. Hence, by doing so, I can make sure I can try doing this differently next time to achieve better results.

ACTIVITY TWO: CAVE RESCUE

Description

The activity was a condition-based human behavior action. Members were separated in a set of five. The games were specified the relevant evidence of the details of the event. My clutch had to play the part of a research managing committee. The information sheet stated that six volunteers were in a cave system and linked only by a radio link. The rescue site informs the group that only one being can be transported out each hour. The accountability to decide the sequence in which the volunteers will be rescued was given to the committee. The group was also assigned volunteer data that had information and details of the volunteers. Each group was given 45-60 mins to complete the task. In the first five minutes of meeting my group, I had an interaction with all teammates where we introduced ourselves as each one of us was a stranger to another. It was a good ice breaker. I had a sense of what the task was and how I will approach it. My teammates seemed hesitant to start, so I took the ingenuity and started the initial stage of the conversation. Using Tuckman’s perfect team development Bruce et al. (1965). I investigated the collection to be in the forming stage. Throughout this stage, I expressed my views and viewpoints of the situation and expected the team members to agree or disagree with making them involved in a conversation. As a result, all team memberships on-going reflecting and articulating their views and thought. I desired team associates to create a compelling statement and not feel hesitant to speak their attentions. Our collection had effects and differences over each other’s viewpoint. My groupmates and I deliberated and replaced profoundly to choose the order of statement. But somehow, my collection managed to complete the task in time.

FEELINGS

I feel this action involves a proportion of thoughtful severe as one has to think about the state in many different ways. As I pampered in discussions, in a few instances, there were arguments and disagreements between the team members and me. Mainly due to a different ideology, views, and also the fact that we all belonged to different cultures and countries. It may have brought down team morale as well and decrease team performance. I feel I could have solved it with Gordan Curphy’s Rocket model for boosting team performance Curphy, (2012). Before the conflicts arose, I didn't expect that negotiation would play a significant role in decision making. However, after the activity was completed, I felt my negotiation skills proved to be a helping hand for me in deciding the order of rescue. I had a sense of understanding that no matter whom the group chose to rescue first, one of the team members always felt disappointed with the verdict throughout the situation I was intellectual that the clock was ticking and my group was not on track instead all of us we're wasting time in selling our way through. Now when I think about it, I feel it was the main motive of the activity to converse and exchange with your team members.

EVALUATION

In my recent set action, a skill I would reproduce to be an optimistic one would be the helping where I had to indeed be argument my viewpoint and had to exchange my method done just to prove my point. When I arrived back, I think our announcement in the group was actual. My boundary with the set in the preliminary few minutes went very well, which in turn aided in removing communication barricades for me. The negative information was that there were a lot of changes and battles privileged the work setting. I would propose the ‘strategic theory’ of conflict organization to resolve its Lip et al., (2008). I felt it reductions team morale and decreases team competence. It might also lead to demotivation of a team player. Also, due to the democratic culture, my group recognized in the form of elective for a decision. No substance which volunteers does the group select, one of the team members or members always disagreed with the decision and was not satisfied with the chosen volunteer. In order to complete the task and make a joint decision, my group started the process of voting. Now while reflecting upon my experience, I think not having a sense of satisfaction amongst the teammates was a negative thing. I donated to the situation by signifying to put the decision to a vote so that the group culture is not disrupted. Also, it would satisfy most of the group members, if not all.

ANALYSIS

I learned that the reason things went well is that there was a psychological contract amongst the group to complete the task in time. The ethical behavior of my teammates and me during a difficult contributed to moving things smoothly. Even motivation to complete the task played a role. The reason for things not going as expected would be the constant conflicts and dissatisfaction towards the decision Gouran et al.;( 1983). I think the situation demanded the group to have unity amongst themselves. So that decision making is effective and satisfactory. I feel my group failed to provide. There was improper planning amongst the group, and the roles of team members were unclear from the start. Social loafing also contributed as not all team members were entirely motivated in the completion of the task. I feel if I had more knowledge of critical behavior, I would have been able to eliminate a lot of obstacles in my group's path. Even if not reduce, I could have anticipated or seen them coming. Also, I understood that my group members didn't have any knowledge of critical behavior to improve the situation. It seems natural to me that this was also the case in other groups.

CONCLUSION

I learned that this experience improved my critical thinking ability, which might be useful to me as a manager or in a similar situation like this in the future. I feel it could have been a highly positive learning experience for everyone involved if there was unity amongst the team and fewer conflicts so that there could be ease of decision. For similar situations in the future, I need to develop my critical thinking skills as a manager for my future endeavors. I will use Watson-Glasser's critical thinking skills to achieve a better result Glasser, (2018). I should have also focused on team building and team effectiveness. Now when I reflect upon it, I comprehended it was not attentive on whom to save. It was about working composed as a team for a mutual goal, notwithstanding having mental -battles.

ACTION PLAN

In the upcoming, if I had to do it all over again, I will found team unity on the very first communication with the teammates. I would work together for team efficiency. I would mature critical, intelligent skills. Improve my team organization and leadership services. I can develop these skills in attractive and contributing and group schemes and activities in the future. I will use this learning knowledge and my likeness upon it as a reminder for me to act otherwise in similar circumstances in the future. I will use Belbin's model of team roles to divide the work grounded on the part they are playing Belbin, (1993). In conclusion, I will ask if I can test the initial decision so that my team is self-assured, and my team is making knowledgeable conclusions to avoid groupthink.

EVALUATION

The things that were good and worked well for my group and me was the fact that each team-member gave inputs, shared their ideology, and expressed their concerns. My team had debates and discussions openly without hesitation. As a leader, I was happy that my team was able to complete the task in the given time period. However, my teammates and I were working with mere assumptions and not facts. The things which would be counted as a bad experience would be the problem of communication and language barriers. It was time-consuming to understand each other as one had to repeat itself to make the other teammate understand its point of view. The arguments between my teammates and me made others a bit hesitant to express their views. However, in the more significant interest of the team, I conceded to the group's point of view over mine to avert a more significant psychological conflict, which could have led to the demotivation of the organization. Even though I had conceded my argument, one of the team members supported and voted for my opinion against the other. As a group leader, I went with the majority to uplift the team morale and keep the team task-oriented without wasting time in arguments. According to James MacGregor Burns Transformational leadership theory, I played the role of a transformational leader, where I connected and tried to raise the level of motivation. (Burns, 1970)

Analysis

I think initially, my group and I had a bumpy start to the activity but eventually went well in solving the mystery of who owns the zebra. I feel the reason it all went well was that all group members cooperated to work as a team. They understood the role of being a team member. Every team member played its own important role in the completion of this task. There were a few instances where things didn't go as expected, my teammates and I indulged in arguments over different opinions psychological differences. Being a diverse group, my teammates were from different countries, cultures, and social backgrounds. Due to this, my group faced a communication problem because each group member had its own accent of the language, which caused a language barrier. In turn, it made the group's communication inefficient and time-consuming. The conflict arisen during the activity was due to the difference of opinion, which was successfully managed because of the democratic culture agreed by the group. According to Quinn and Cameron, there are four types of organizational cultures. Out of which I feel we fall in Adhocracy culture (Quinn and Cameron, 2013). I think I could have worked on my team's strengths and weaknesses before assigning them to their roles to increase team effectiveness. I could have played the part of the leader with a better approach than the situation demanded.

CONCLUSION

In my learning experience, I believe that group activity was meant to get different individuals to work together as a team. I learned that as a leader I should have divided the roles based on my team mate's strengths and weaknesses, having done this would have made it easier for the team and me to achieve the task. Moreover, it would have made my team more effective and productive. Being in a diverse group with individuals from various cultures and backgrounds was challenging and slowed down productivity. Read More