Whilst you worked as a group, your personal experience and perspective of the project will be unique. To consolidate your learning each member must submit their own individual report which reflects on what you learnt about managing and working in diverse groups. This report should be submitted individually and is your own work.
Use the following template to structure your reflective report. A number of questions are given to prompt you in your response (but don’t leave the questions in your report - use them as a guide as to what to write). You should use credible references to support your explanations and discussion.
NOTE:
Assignment 2 - Report template
| Introduction | Write a short introduction describing the group members and the context for the report (150-200 words). Include here how you monitored the group's effectiveness. Did you draw on any particular approach? An introduction clearly articulates what is the focus of the observations for your team presentation and also explain why it is important to research and reflect on your performance in a team |
| Establishing the group | Questions to consider: How did the group form? What did the group do to build a sense of teamwork? Did the group select a ‘leader’ or did one person elect them self as ‘leader’? How did the group delegate roles and responsibilities? Did the group consider how best to use the members’ skills and knowledge? |
| Team processes | Questions to consider: How did the group communicate? What technology was used? Was the communication effective? Did the group establish rules or protocols for behaviour? How did you manage noncompliance with the group's protocols Did the team change its processes over time? Did the group seek feedback and undertake any research to test theories explored? |
| Strengths and challenges | Questions to consider: How diverse was your group? Can you identify the aspects of diversity that applied to your group? How did these aspects (e.g. culture, gender) impact how you worked together? Describe how the diversity of the group strengthened or challenged your ability to complete the assignment? |
| Equal Contribution Policy | Questions to consider: How did the group use the ‘Equal Contribution’ Policy in this assessment? Did the policy help to ensure an equitable contribution or was some other factor more responsible. |
| Conclusion | Sum up what the team did well and what they should do differently if working together again. The conclusion should bring together the overall experience of the assignment together with your critical reflections. |
Working in a diversified group always comes with different levels of learning. In terms of working in a group of 16 members, who all belong to different cultures – it was all evident that the group would be yielding exceptional results for everyone contributed accordingly in terms of efforts and innovation. In terms of being the leader as well as an active member of the group, I could observe the team’s effectiveness which was well reflected in collective as well as individual performances. In this reflective report, own accounts of reflection are being mentioned regarding the learning about managing as well as working in diverse groups. This report would be focusing upon the personal experiences and the individual perspectives regarding the project work which is bound to be unique as part of reflective study.
Establishing the group
The group was formed in terms of variety of skills and capabilities. All the 16 members (7 women and 9 men) have skills in any segments like operations management, finance management, designing and creation, quality management, customer service and others; whereas a sense of teamwork was built in terms of engaging in participatory approach. The company authorities provided me the ‘leader’ tag; and it was my duty to delegate the roles and responsibilities as per the individual skill-sets and experiences. Be it communication or assertiveness or theoretical knowledge or risk-taking or collaboration – everyone participated equally in the tasks and the responsibility of the collective outcome was shared by every group member (Koopman and Hakemulder, 2015). A sense of equity and encouragement helped in this regard in maintaining group equilibrium. The members’ skills and knowledge are being put to best usage in terms of requirement and none is left out as the company is driven by team efforts and collective performance.
Team processes
The group engaged in direct communication with both formal and informal mode. While face-to-face discussion was done, communication via emails was also prevalent and English is the dominant medium of communication. The group members followed the company decorum and no special rules or protocols for behavior were followed. Hailing from various nationalities and cultural backgrounds, the multi-cultural as well as multi-national group had had to abide by the provision of ‘respect for all cultures’ to maintain workplace environment (Milligan et al. 2014). With time, the team has undoubtedly evolved and focused on motivational approaches largely to ensure every member puts in best efforts every time and my skill-sets got brushed as well.
Moreover, human relations theory can be referred in this case where each individual employee is considered as unique in their own ways in relation to their respective contributions of different nature to the company (Kolb, 2014). The motto has always been to ensure a happy workplace environment where employees can get job satisfaction and are able to put in their best efforts in every task in cooperative work mode within the organizational framework. Better performances and higher profit for the company are the two prime requirements of any company and in a way, this diversified group led by me managed to achieve that in considerably smaller time frame.
Strengths and challenges
The group of 16 was diverse in terms of culture, gender and nationality as well. The aspects of diversity brought forth something new every time which helps the team in improving and attaining betterment. The members from foreign nations contributed to the team outcome with regard to their cultural ideologies and innovative concepts; whereas women and men members simultaneously aided to the group efforts in terms of making the team a success and leaving worthwhile experiences for each and every member (Travers et al. 2015).
The diversified work culture is definitely a strong point for the group where varied range of ideas and innovations are being met simultaneously. Task allocation becomes easier in a diversified group as different skill-sets can be found together (Fontana et al. 2015). The expectation theory of motivation can be referred to in this regard as the group members are found to be eager as well as motivated towards choosing decision on the basis of probable outcome of the decision.
Difference in culture and gender differences also add to the varied opinions which often create discord as the decision is not unanimous always. As a leader, I had to face disagreement amongst team members which to a certain extent did affect the ability of completing the assignment as well as the group outcome. My power of decision-making got disrupted as well due to the increasing differences amongst the members which later were mitigated by the intervention of my official capacity. I learnt to manage the opinion disputes and my management skills were tested effectively in terms of leading a diversified workforce team.
The ‘equal contribution policy’ was largely applicable in this group as every member contributed in his/her own way in terms of fulfilling their job responsibilities in accordance with the company’s requirements. The policy of equal contribution does not necessarily mean everyone has to do same work in same measure and in same way. The group members applied their respective knowledge and skill-sets to attain the company objectives and that altogether paved way for the team’s as well as the company’s success (Beech et al. 2017). As the members belonged to different segments of company activities, they put in their best foot forward in terms of ensuring the company performs smoothly on the business front.
It can be concluded on this note that there is no perfect management strategy for managing a company and this is applicable in this case also. Everyone needs to take part in the responsibilities and perform respective job roles accordingly in order to make the organizational activities work in success. The team did well because it had effective inter-communication and the participatory approach came handy. In case of working together again, it is to be kept in mind that difference of opinions would be natural in a diversified group but we have to cooperative and resilient in order to achieve something bigger and greater, with regard to bypassing the trivial interests. The overall experience was that there is no end of learning and every situation can be a learning moment if one knows to account for it effectively.
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