Working Together: a Reflection on The Benefits and Challenges

Good teamwork plays an important role in applying and achieving a common goal more quickly and faster in a team project. I believe that the existence of teamwork enhances the likelihood of achieving a greater degree of work quality and effectiveness. I also think that this leads to better results because the weaknesses of a specific team member may well be composed of another's strength. In my essay about working together, I will explore the benefits and challenges of collaboration in various settings and its impact on achieving common goals.In our small groups of three, we were asked to investigate an accounting scandal and reflect on how we did and address other members role within the team.

Personal Reflection About Experience of Working Together 

At first, we were asked to research the most recent accounting scandals within our chosen groups. After looking at few scandals, a group member decided to narrow it down to two interesting cases Bernie Madoff and Dell. Then finally, we decided to investigate further into a rather interesting scandal case of Bernie Madoff 2008. There were three main areas; introduction, analysis, and conclusion. As a group of three, we decided to play it fair and run a game of pool of entries and only one to be selected by each member. The workload was split up fairly and everyone was pleased with their chosen areas.

As a dedicated team, we all contributed well in-depth with our own chosen areas, although we did try our best to help each other out when necessary. We all committed to the targets of the project and good knowledge in managing projects as we all have worked in groups before and adapted skills of contribution along with strong skills in organisation. As an individual, my contribution to the project was rather equal in comparison to my fellow team members. My engagement to ensure the success of the team in most tasks and challenges as well as a desire to support a member of the team and involvement to ensure that group members are aware of any project changes.

We have communicated by the means of social media, where we created a group chat allowing us to pass on brief information. Our main method of communication was through email and WhatsApp. Besides, we arranged out of class sessions to put together our ideas and advise each other on further progress. we also asked questions to each other during class times.

I enjoy working with one another, and I know how to interact well, listen respectfully to the views of my teammates, and try to resolve any disagreements that may occur. I'm very motivated and enthusiastic about teamwork as I see the improvement, we are making towards our targets. I believe teamwork is a critical part of any project, as the team can fall apart without individuals working together to overcome problems, and goals are likely not to be accomplished. As a group of individuals, we worked well together to achieve our common goal by building on the skills of each other.

The project overall went very well. We regularly discussed problems to address them. We've worked out a workflow to see how well we can work together and who is better at what area. The contribution of group members to the project is very beneficial and fortunately, that was the case within our group. The progress that has been made has shown the best possible group relationship.

Summary Thoughts

In effective teamwork, interaction is one of the most important key factors. Team meetings were not the only way we encouraged effective communication although as a group preferably, we could have done better by remaining open to express each other’s ideas or concerns more often to avoid confusion because we ended up gathering similar information within our chosen areas. We could have possibly set clearer standards to be accomplished by everyone involved in the team. This may have ensured the team to be more aware and competent.

We were asked to provide marks for the contribution of our team members out of 10. In my opinion both team members; Morven and Louise, contributed well. Therefore, I would provide them with full marks of 10 out of 10. Morven provided us with an excellent introduction, and it was completed on time. Louise finished her part of research on time and provided us with enough information which allowed us to decide which scandal to go ahead with.

Personally, from this teamwork experience, I strongly feel the value of working together and the recognition it can bring to the success of completion. Participating in a group was a good way to develop my skills in leadership. Some of the skills I have improved on are communication, preparation, problem solving and time management. Building on these skills has boosted my confidence and truly enhanced my teamwork skills! Even though I feel more confident working within a team with improved skills I believe there is always room for improvement and this reflection method has had a great impact on strengthening my overall performance.