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.