Standing Out in a Group Essays

Standing Out in a Group Essays Standing Out in a Group Essay Standing Out in a Group Essay Personal Learning Journal 1 Company Name: Fliers for Fires Mark Pond 12930775 Over the last 5 weeks I have come to learn a lot about my group not only in terms of working in unity as one company, but each member within it on an individual level. My first impression of the group was one of surprise and ambiguity as I was a little hesitant whether or not we would work well as a team. This is due to the fact we have six members spread across three totally different countries/cultures with these being America, Australia and Saudi Arabia. When initially getting together and meeting everyone for the first time our group suffered from a mild case of shy-ness which ultimately resulted in Groupthink. This phenomenon was most prominent when we were presenting our various ideas to the rest of the group because we all tried to minimize conflict and reach a consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas. 1] Evidently, as time went on and we got to know one another on a more personal level both inside and outside of the classroom and the formation of ideas and group discussion evolved allowing us to bond as a group and establish the foundations of a promising company. Throughout the last 21 years of my life I have come to understand that I am a person of two differing characteristics. As such I have come to realize that I am both introverted and extroverted. When discussing matters as a group I become extremely introverted, unless I have pre-prepared what I wanted to say. This was prevalent in our first group meeting where we had to come up with ideas of what we could do for our project this semester. It was in this meeting that I held back from discussion and merely absorbed what others had to say. However, at the end of the meeting and after we learnt about brainstorming in class we all went away and formulated as many ideas as we could think of for potential events we could host. The following week when we re-gathered to express our ideas, I stole the thunder as I was well-prepared and had multiple proposals that could be used. It was during this meeting that our first concept (hosting a fair) was agreed upon and it so happened to be my idea that received the thumbs up/consensus from the rest of the group. After learning about Belbin’s team roles and completing the questionnaire, we as a group discovered a lot about one another. When comparing our results we discovered that we all seemed to fall under differing categories regarding our personality in terms of work ethic, organizational skills and how we could all contribute to the project. In saying so I was able to identify certain characteristics and traits from each group member, allowing me to assign them to a role within the company. My results are as follows: James Severance (CEO): Team Coordinator and monitor (great leadership skills) Luke Wilson: Shaper (due to his ability to propose various concepts on the same idea allowing us to create the best event within the idea we agree on) Alexey Potpov: Team Worker (he is good at contributing ideas and thoughts from all departments) Sarah Osman: Specialist (Sarah has excellent writing and drafting skills, as such she can specialize in editing and improving the report). Mohammed Almelahi: Team Worker, resource investigator Mark Pond (Myself): Team Worker, Completer/finisher, Implementer After having our idea of the fair being disproved by BUSA due to OHS issues, we were ultimately back at square one in terms of coming up with an idea for our project. After learning further in class about creativity and types of thinking we sat down and tried to implement what we had learnt. We discovered that there are two types of thinking: 1. Vertical thinking involving rational and logical steps resulting in an evaluative decision. The second type being lateral thinking, which is not as creative or logical and often results in distracted group members where their mind is everywhere but the task on hand. The second type of thinking was obvious when we sat down using the Delphi technique and tried to come up with a new idea that would be less prone to rejection. As such Luke, Alexey and myself were easily distracted and started discussing what we were going to do that night instead of trying to brain storm new ideas for the group. However, once we went away from one another and tried brainstorming on our own, Luke came up with an excellent idea that is now the forefront focus of our company. The most important element of our group is the way that no-one solely dominates group discussions. James our CEO does a wonderful job at getting the group focused and initiates conversation but in particular it is excellent the way he will move around the group and get ideas and opinions from everybody on each matter. This type of leadership works particularly well especially since Sarah and Mohammed are the quieter ones in the group. James’s ability to relate to the introverted-ness of some of our members allows for all individuals to speak up and provide their honest input into the decision making process. Due to the enthusiasm and initiative taken by our CEO James Severance, we are able to function as a group without any members being self-limited and overruled due to lack of expertise/knowledge on the subject. Furthermore as we have all proposed various ideas and come to a unanimous agreement on one event, no one has been pressured, undermined or bullied into agreeing to do anything they didn’t feel confident about compared to other groups that have experienced this dilemma. After studying the article ‘When members raise a White flag’ we were able to draw many aspects of how to create and maintain a well-rounded, on the ball, task orientated group. This article/exercise helped us become more accustomed to one another’s presence and allowed us to learn a little bit about each other in terms of teamwork, confidence in each member’s ability to not raise a white flag/give-up and ultimately establish certain goals and objectives we wish to achieve at the conclusion of the event. One of the most important things I have learnt over the past five weeks, is that in order for a team to function to the best of its ability, trust/friendship my first be established. At the start of the semester and after the groups had been chosen by the different CEO’s we found it difficult to connect as a group. This was because we didn’t know one another and the only reason we had to meet was because of the project at hand. However, as the week’s rolled over and we began to communicate outside of class, I felt that team unity was developing, especially between Luke, James and myself where we have started to call each other even when it’s not work related. This out of class friendship has strengthened our work ethic as a team and has increased the communication level between group members. I believe this has provided me with greater confidence to express my ideas and opinions and ultimately speak up a lot more than I did at the start when I was self-limiting myself due to not knowing anyone. After completing the Hofstede exercise on cultural dimensions in class this week, it was interesting to note the cultural differences between our group members. Unfortunately only Mohammed, James and myself were present for this exercise but at least I was able to determine the different quality’s between all three cultures in our group. As James is from USA, their wasn’t much of a difference between our cultures as our countries are very similar in almost every aspect. The biggest difference I discovered was with Mohammed’s cultural background. Mohammed is from Saudi Arabia and as such his country was found to have a relatively high power distance. In most circumstances this will relate to members from that country expressing their own ideas and not being suppressed by others even if they are in an authoritarian position. Most importantly however countries with this high power distance usually analyse and think about an idea before making any rash decisions and diving into the deep end of the pool. The fact that Mohammed simply agreed with everyone’s idea’s and didn’t propose any of his own had me startled as his culture would suggest that he do the exact opposite. Furthermore, anyone who comes from the Middle-East and in particular Saudi Arabia seems to be brought up in a very reserved and conservative society, where they must establish some sort of trust/friendship with someone before conducting business. Perhaps as Mohammed simply agreed with the ideas and didn’t really speak his mind he was intimidated by how quickly we got passed the ‘getting to know one another’ stage and was forced into ‘shy-ness’, thus becoming introverted. To date we have come along way as a group. Together we have overcome hurdles, had our proposal rejected by BUSA, further formulated ideas, built on our friendship’s on an individual level between group members and ultimately have had a great time thus far working as team ‘Fliers for Fires’. I feel that I still have a lot more to learn from/about my group members as they do about me, and I believe once we begin to put our proposal into action we have the commitment and ability to conduct a fantastic event with all proceeds going towards Victoria’s fire victims. [1] http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Groupthink