Individual Report: Personal Reflection on Teamwork Experience

This individual report will assess my reflection on teamwork experience in working for the group assignment. A proper definition of teamwork is 'The combined action of a group, especially when effective and efficient'. The following report will discuss the difficulties and benefits of forming and effectively using teamwork in a company and how it can be managed. In addition, I will be analysing my experience and what I have learned from my group assignment team to the Tackman and Jensen's model, also how teamwork affected the assignment positively, negatively and how we could have been more efficient throughout our meetings and at communicating. The essay will be structured to best show the 5 stages of Tackman and Jensen's model.

Personal Reflection on Teamwork Experience

To begin with, a great way of defining team work is 'the combine actions of a group of people working together effectively'. 'Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much' Helen Keller. 

So, in order to attain effectiveness and performance, group work requires teamwork. Furthermore, everyone on a team is unique, which can be an advantage because it allows for more ideas to be developed when people think differently. Additionally, when the task is divided correctly according to each person's talent or everyone is working on something about which they have a stronger understanding and interest, each member should focus on their own part and, with good results, combine their labour to produce one great outcome. Furthermore, team members must appreciate and assist one another while remaining professional, as well as try to build friendships. If this is not done properly, for example, by having too many arguments or not being able to cooperate with one another, it could result in a disaster, with the teamwork that is supposed to be achieved not being achieved. The second stage of Tuckman and Jensen's model, 'storming,' is a fantastic example of this because storming in a team is not unusual considering excellent arguments require team members to have differences at times. In that situation, the team must demonstrate how they manage problems and overcome challenges, such as when there are conflicts, members must accept each other's perspective despite their differences. Moreover, in order for a team to function well, there must always be a team leader. The leader can be elected by all members of the team, or someone with the same attributes might be chosen without voting, because there is always a need for a leader in a team. Teamwork is being used everywhere. In a company, the whole staff and workers involved within that company must follow rules to ensure teamwork functions properly. A great example is 'Mintzberg's Roles'. Each group member's behaviour can be identified by one of ten roles. This is a wonderful technique to figure out which role best reflects everyone throughout the team's formation stage, because if all members are accurately classified by the manager or leader in this situation, the work can be allocated according to each person's abilities. Additionally, in order to achieve its objectives, the group must have good communication skills; for example, meetings are an important means for members to communicate. Meetings are essential because a team must set aside time to meet with all members of the team to discuss their issues and progress on the project. As a result, the group can help each other solve problems and then communicate their new ideas and what they've learned since the previous meeting. In order to produce efficient results, a meeting must also be carefully organised, usually by the leader. Meetings without a purpose or objective, on the other hand, can easily descend into social gatherings. Furthermore, if meetings aren't well-organized and controlled, it's possible for conversations to devolve into more questions and digressions than solutions and activity. This can add to the complexity of the project at hand and discourage development. A disadvantage of teamwork could be the leader. Disorganised leaders could lead the team to failure. Bad leadership can lead to a stressful and unproductive workplace for team members. As a result, there will be poor communication, disorganised meetings, and perhaps even more arguments among the team. As previously said, a team's leader is critical. Because they, too, manage a group, a leader is closely related to a manager. Secondly, project leaders could manipulate the project and take full responsibility for work they did not do or present, resulting in one or more members' contributions to the work being unfairly overlooked.

Explanation of the Fundamental 5 Stages

According to Gersick, Tuckman's contribution was to combine the literature into 'a model of group development as a unified sequence that is often referenced today'. Tuckman's model consists of four main stages: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Also, there is a fifth stage which was contacted by Tackman and Jensen which is called 'Adjourning'. This stage represented a group life cycle model in which separation is a major concern throughout the group's duration.

Forming the Team

We had some time to choose our members and which group we wanted to be in before forming a group. I was fortunate to know my group members before the assignment because we met through our nations' societies and chose to establish a group together. We started by creating a WhatsApp group conversation to connect and setting a date for our first meeting. We looked over the brief and the questions at the first meeting and then voted on which question we should focus on.

Storming in the Group

We began to form some opinions regarding the question, as did all other groups. When the second meeting took place, I didn't consider myself a team member yet, and I believe the other members of the group felt the same way, because while knowing each other as friends, we were hesitant to work professionally on a project together. This resulted in two outcomes. To begin with, there were numerous debates regarding who should do what in the presentation since, as is customary, some people wanted to do the same task while others were lost and unsure of what they were doing. Hence, in order to resolve the matter, we sat down and determined who is more capable of performing each responsibility and devised a plan to make everyone satisfied. Another issue we encountered was that we sometimes struggled to stay on topic. The issue was that while we were all friends, the conversation frequently drifted away from the presentation and into topics such as football, food, and other non-work-related topics.

Norming

We were accustomed to working as a team and realising that we had a purpose and a set of objectives to meet as we developed additional ideas and resolved the majority of our problems. There were still disagreements, but this time we dealt with them properly by having all members discuss the issue in order to find a solution. Furthermore, because everyone felt much more at ease working together, we were able to move considerably more quickly through the development of the presentation than before.

Performing

We had completed our assignments and were practising the presentation after a few meetings and a lot of digital communication. However, if someone was having problems, they could ask through WhatsApp or Microsoft Teams at any time, and everyone would try to assist them in any way they could. As time with each other passes, this demonstrates a higher level of trust. Eventually, we had a good presentation that we were all pleased with; all that was left was to give it in front of the class with sufficient points. I was one of the group members who had a stuttering problem, but with the support of my colleagues I was able to deliver a strong performance on the day of the presentation. We gave up a lot of our meeting time to prepare an excellent presentation, and each trusted the other members to help us improve.

Adjourning

We were pleased with our accomplishments after the presentation and praised each other's contributions to the project. We were all relieved that it was over, but we were also sad since we would no longer be a team. Finally, I gained a great deal from them, and I am grateful that we remained friends throughout the process.

Conclusion

To summarise, collaboration is critical in a group since it can improve performance in every situation. Each group member will have a common aim to strive towards if they work together. Furthermore, if a group's primary goal is teamwork, and its members are loyal and trustworthy of one another, the group will be more likely to succeed. If, on the other hand, a group lacks individual trust, loyalty, and cooperation, and collaboration is not a fundamental component, the group is likely to fail. Moreover, by cooperating, I gained a lot more knowledge. My team is the reason I gained more confidence in presenting in front of a class; they assisted me in growing and overcoming my concerns and stress of presenting in front of others. Aside from that, I learned to trust my colleagues. As a result, we were able to rely on one another even more, and I learned not to disappoint my colleagues, which motivated me to work even harder to make them proud. Finally, one of the most important lessons I learned from this experience is that when a group is experiencing disagreements and arguments, it is critical to bring more ideas and solutions to the problem. Overall, it was an unforgettable experience, and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from it.