Spring Break.....Not Really A Break

What

This past Spring Break my friends and I thought we’d take a fun, relaxing vacation to Florida to get away from problems and conflicts at school.  With a group of 8 girls, this was anything but relaxing.  Although, many were my best friends there were conflicts amongst us that we had to creatively resolve so that everyone was satisfied.  

So What

Understand conflict was a sign of a healthy team, helped me cope with the disagreements we were having.  For example one evening some of us wanted to go out to eat, however the other half wanted to stay in the hotel for the night.  We had agreed that we would all stick together while in Florida, therefore we had to use our negotiation skills in order to improve our social relations.  Collaborating everyone’s ideas, we divided up the week so that half the time we went out, while other other half we stayed in.  To understand why team conflict occurs and how it can be managed effectively go to http://conflict911.com/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=11682.  

While this seemed like a great idea, some of the girls used their persuasive power to influence others to change their decisions about the week.  As Levi says, “Power tends to corrupt its users.”  It’s difficult to stand up for yourself when the majority are pushing you to do something you don’t want to do.  In this situation, assertiveness was the best solution because it encourages clear, direct communication.  Because she was assertive she was able to stand up for what she wanted even though she was a "low-status" person (non talkative), which has shown that people are more reluctant to state their opinions when they are less talkative.  

Now What

After this experience, I feel that I can handle conflicts in a group with more rational decision-making.  The Consensus Decision Making technique seems to best develop higher dynamics within a team.  Having a facilitator provides structure to a group and a final say while making a decision.  For a more in depth understanding of Consensus Decision Making go to http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/Consensus.html.  Understanding the Models of Leadership definitely helped me when dealing with why conflict was occurring.  Being a behavioral and situational leader, allows me to make decisions based on someone’s behaviors in a certain environment.  To learn more about situational leadership as well as other styles go to http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/situational_leadership.htm.

It's the Process

What

After completing one semester previously on team-based learning I felt that working in my new group this semester would be a breeze.  Little did I realize that working with new group members completely changes the socialization, norms, and processes of the team as a whole.  For the Service Learning Project, my team has good communication skills and cooperates with each other for the most part.  As far as team beginnings, we have come to understand it truly is a slow start.  With the many phone calls, emails, and ideas we are having trouble landing on one solid idea for our Service Learning Project.  As Levi explains, understanding the stage theories helps explain why groups do most of their productive work during the later stages of projects.  I am hoping one we get over this hill, as all groups face conflict, we will become much more efficient.  After getting out of the storming stages, I believe my group has the ability to perform the assignment successful with our improving group dynamics.   For help on improving group cohesiveness and team building go to http://www.mascsa.psu.edu/dave/Group-Cohesion-and-Team-Building.pdf.    

 

So What

Because we are a new group, it is hard to get away from social loafing.  For more information about social loafing go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_loafing.   We try to please each other and support other’s ideas, however in order to be most efficient it is essential to have open communication.  We are all motivated individuals, therefore like to all have input on decisions for our group.  This may be causing a part of the issue we are having being indecisive.  I think once we buckle down on an idea, we are going to do great because of our commitment and hard work. 

 

Now What

Completing task behaviors, while maintaining social behaviors, and gaining individual benefit is our goal.  As a strong-willed team, I feel that our competition is against ourselves to do the best we can do.  After the struggles to come up with a project idea, we are now settling down and finalizing our ideas through stronger leadership in our group process.  For more information on strong leaders in the group process go to  http://www.clarityconceptsinc.com/leadershipgroupproc.pdf. 

The Ins and Outs of Teams

What?

This past week I’ve been working on a graphic design project with two other people in my class.  The professor told us to get into groups, and so we did.  However are we really just a “group”(http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/team_vs_group.html) -provides more information on the differences of groups and teams.  A group is a number of individuals working to complete some sort of task.  I believe we are more than a group, but instead a team.  A team is a special type of group in which people work interdependently to accomplish a goal.  We are completing a task, while maintaining social relations, and gaining individual benefit.   We are all very goal oriented and motivated, while still using each other to bounce ideas from one another to make an event better project. 

So What?

Because our team is a small collection of people we organized specific roles to each other first, and then brought our own ideas together to collaborate.  As a team, we all are accountable for our own parts and doing the work we should.  Luckily, we had the right group of people and were suitable for the tasks given to us.  With our creative minds, we enjoyed working on this project together, and kept great relations with each other as well.  With just a little conflict of ideas, we were able to have a strong group dynamic because we came over our issue with a better solution together. (http://wilderdom.com/games/InitiativeGames.html)- Provides helpful Team building activities to improve group dynamics.  

Now what?

Our group accomplished our task project, however are still waiting on the feedback and grade from the professor.  As far as determining the success, according to Hackman, we completed the task and are proud of our work. (http://www.ou.edu/faculty/M/Jorge.L.Mendoza-1/Teams.pdf)- Provides information on team development and obtaining goals.  We also maintained good social relations by using each other’s strengths to greater benefit the team and did not get in any bad conflicts we weren’t able to over come.  Lastly, we all benefitted individually because we all learned something new from each other about design, which furthered our education and knowledge of the subject.   As a team we knew we could rely on each other and worked together to accomplish a common goal.