Working in teams - Essay Example

Working in Teams Reflection During this model, we worked together as a team to deliver a project. The purpose of our group project was to prepare a presentation. While we were planning on presentation delivery, the questions of what to assign to who, how to organize our content and the sessions, how to relate individual tasks to group topic and ultimately how to make our presentation successful were our biggest concerns. There were several theories that were inherent in our teamwork. Team formation employed Tuchman’s theory of team development.

At the beginning of the team, members expressed great uncertainty as we started the process of defining team leadership, structure and purpose (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977). As we progressed, there were a series of in-group conflicts especially due to conflict of ideas as some members wanted their ideas to get priority than others. With time, such conflicts were resolved and the members grew closer leading to achievement of great cohesion. Trust was also an important component in our team development as proposed by Bass and Ryterband (1979) since it allowed our team members to slowly learn to accept the group norms, virtues and values thereby enhancing conformity.

This move was essential in assisting us to have a common voice as a team and also in minimizing resistance and conflicts while ensuring effective coordination that allowed for successful presentation delivery (Bass & Ryterband 1979). Team Tasks were assigned based on Meredith Belbin’s Team Roles Theory in terms of the behavioural strengths and weaknesses (Henry & Stevens 1999). The content of the presentation was divided among members in small chunks in order to merge it after individual contribution.

Members were delegated individual tasks by the leader based on observation of their behaviour to identify who is better in what area. This enabled us to compensate for each other’s weaknesses while improving our strengths. As such, we were able to ensure that each member made a contribution to the final output. Participating in the group taught me a lot of skills and gave me experiences I didn’t have before. I learnt the importance of interpersonal skills, trust, communication skills, empathy, listening skills among others.

According to Brooks (1993), teams have emerged to be essential pillars of most organizations and, therefore, relevant skills are required since even the most brilliant person can miss out for lack of such skills. Furthermore, working in teams enabled us to establish a sense of belonging due to formation of friendship which reduced the feeling of insecurity (Brooks 2009). During our team work sessions, we faced several challenges such as lack of the necessary materials, lateness, absenteeism and conflicts.

As such, members kept translating their thoughts and pent up emotions into reality especially when expressing their frustrations. Expression of the difficulties and pain members were going through in their private lives was facilitated by the warmth, understating and empathy offered by the members. The team served as a therapeutic platform for members as expressed in the Bion’ emotionality theory (Bion 1961). This process was aided by cohesion and mutual trust among members at later stages of our team development.

The success of the teamwork in presentation delivery was based largely on effective leadership as employed John Adairs Action-Centred Leadership style (Adair 1973). The leadership style in our team was very practical and successful, especially since tasks were meant to be accomplished by a team. Our team leader was mandated with the responsibility of assigning tasks to different members while ensuring that all the members were satisfied with their individual roles. Our team leader diligently guided us towards the presentation preparation process by first defining the vision, aim, purpose and direction of the teamwork by communicating expected performance and behaviour.

The whole process was very insightful and experiential at the same time. Bibliography Adair, J.E. 1973, Action-Centered Leadership. McGraw-Hill, London.Bass, B., & Ryterband, E., 1979, Organizational Psychology, Allyn and Bacon.Bion, W. R., 1961. Experiences in Groups, London: Tavistock.Brooks, A. K., 1994. “Power and the production of knowledge: Collective Team Learning in Work Organizations.” Human Resource Development Quarterly, 5, 213-235.Brooks, I., 2009, Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Group and Organisation. 4th Ed. London: Pearson Education,Henry & Stevens, 1999, “Using Belbin’s leadership role to improve team effectiveness,” An Empirical Investigation.

Tuckman, B. W., & Jensen, M. A. C., 1977, ‘Stages of small group development revisited’, Group and Organization Studies, vol.2, no.4, pp. 419-27.