The Importance of Group Work in the Learning Process - Essay Example

For various reasons, group work is important in the learning process. Basically, a group is defined as “two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives,” (Robbins, 1993, p. 285). As such this reflective report seeks to discuss the experience gained working in a group at school. The first section outlines the task we wanted to accomplish and how we did it as a group. The second section of the paper outline different stages in group formation and how we overcame some of the challenges we encountered as a group and how we resolved them. Our group was tasked with drawing a group meeting timetable that would guide us in different activities. First of all, we used focus group strategy to combine individual views and strategies. Basically, focus group method of collecting data is advantageous in that it reflects the views of different members in the group (Carol, 1982). As a group, we discussed various issues we thought could be incorporated into our group meeting time table. We also used the library to obtain some references that were relevant to our cause and after that we designed the first draft. One major problem I noticed with this method of gathering data is that each individual thinks that his or her ideas and views are more important than other people hence they should be given priority. This kind of misunderstanding in a group is counterproductive since it entails that a lot of time is wasted trying to come to an agreement among all the members so that we can achieve our desired goals. However, our outcome was mutually agreed by all members of the group. We drafted the first copy and it was read in the presence of all members and necessary amendments were made. The final draft was then drawn and it was agreed that it would be used as our usual time table for our group meetings. Indeed, we experienced some misunderstandings in drawing out group meeting time table but in conclusion, we finally achieved what we wanted. The final copy of the meeting was endorsed by each individual and it was agreed that all members were supposed to abide by it. Working in a group has its own challenges and benefits. In this case, people may not mutually agree on everything during the early stages of group development as I am going to outline below. However, once the goal has been set, it becomes easy for all the members to share the same vision such that it becomes easy to achieve the desired goals. There are different challenges that are often encountered working in a group. For instance, group development is a challenge in itself since it is comprised of five stages namely: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The first stage in group development is forming and it is often characterised by uncertainty since people involved are not yet fully aware of each other (Kleynhans, 2007). During this stage, we collected views and ideas of different members but this was quite challenging since we all had different views. The storming stage was characterised by different conflicts and disagreements. At this stage, we tried to come to terms with pertinent issues that we were supposed to give priority but all members could not easily agree on certain aspects. However, the relationship and tension among group members eased during the norming stage. The members of the group began to understand each other well and they began to share the same vision of the group. Assigning tasks was made relatively easy during this stage since we all had the same vision towards the attainment of our desired goals. The performance stage was quite easy since we just tabled the information we had collected to see how we could use it to design our final draft. The fifth stage was adjourning and this was more of concluding the tasks we had assigned each member. The final draft was drawn and it was read in from of all members of the group who in turn endorsed it. The draft was then adopted as our group meeting time table. I can say that the challenges and conflicts that are often encountered when working in a group are quite normal and functional. When forming a group, you cannot mutually agree on everything. This helps to generate different ideas and views that can be incorporated into the final decisions made by the group. In order to deal with these challenges, it is imperative to discuss as a group and agree on certain aspects that you view as important. In our group, we utilised this strategy and at the end, we managed to solve all the conflicts through engaging each other in dialogue. All the decisions we made were based on mutual understanding and this helped us achieve our desired goals. There are many reasons why people join groups and some of them include the following: our need for security, status, self esteem, affiliation, power and goal achievement (Robbins, 1993). There is more strength in working in a group than working as an individual. The main strength I witnessed for working with my group is that we shared our ideas and these ideas helped us to generate knowledge. Learning is promoted when people work as a group. Through learning, knowledge is created and decisions made are focused and meaningful. However, the only weakness I witnessed in working as a group is that it is time consuming. Most of the time is lost while people disagree over trivial issues that can be easily ignored. However, I have benefited a lot from working in a group. I have realised that it is quite easy to achieve the desired goals when you work as a group than as individuals. Communication is essential when working as a group. I think in future we must improve on interpersonal communication skills in order to be effective in our groups. The effectiveness of a group can be achieved when the members share their ideas and this can be attained through effective communication. I think we also need to be careful when we allocate tasks to different members in the group. There should be mutual understanding among all members. The table below outlines our meeting schedules Location\Day Feb 5th Feb 10th Feb 13th Feb 24th Feb 26th Feb 27th Robinson Library Combine individual views and suggestion References finding Evidence finding, summaries first draft Into building Background reading Student Union PPT final draft Final check, practice Online meeting PPT first draft References Carol, A 1982, Basic research methods, McGraw-Hill, INC: New York. Kleynhans, R et al 2007, Human Resource Management: fresh perspectives, Prentice Hall: CT. Robbins, SP 1993, Organisational behaviour: Concepts, controversies and application, 6th Edition, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall: NJ. Schultz, H 2003, Organisational behaviour, Van Schaik Publishers: Pretoria. Read More