In this week's blog assessment I will be discussing a recent discouraging experience I had while working with a group. I will going through the questions asked in our textbook section 10, Pg 332 Management for You: Diagnosing Group Failures
1. What type of group was this?
An incident where I was face with a problematic group was in a second year business management course at SAIT. This group was made up of five randomly selected students by the professor. This was his way of giving the students a real world work force environment. The problem was that once in a group it was either you stayed with them the whole semester or you would have to do all the assignments individually, a difficult task to do since the majority of the course material was meant to be done in a group. There was an assignment every week of the semester, which was to be presented each week in front of the classroom. Each assignment was meant to be completed evenly as a team.
2. We’re group members motivated to achieve group goals? Why, or why not?
The issue within this group was that three of members including myself were seen as the hard working students aiming for a good grade. Meanwhile the other two members were looking for an easy grade without having to do as much work. The central problem was that our group leader was one of the members who did not one to pull their weight. The two group members defended their loafing with the excuse that their workload was too overwhelming even though all of members were in the same class with the same workload and being able to manage alright.
3. What were the group’s norms? How much conformity and deviance existed in the group?
The norms of the group were to try to meet at least once a week to work on the assignments for that week by booking a meeting room in the library and splitting the workload amongst each member. The conformity within the group was good because we completed each assignment on time and received good grades for each.
4. How cohesive was the group? Why do you think the group’s cohesiveness was at this level? What consequences did this level of cohesiveness have for the group and its members?
The group’s cohesiveness was fairly poor as I stated early, this was mainly because our group leader was motivated to stay on top of their own priorities in the class and this left three of the group members to take initiative and complete the assignments ourselves without their guidance. The consequence of this was that the other two members were unprepared when presenting and in turn made the rest of the group look bad. Our group leader was also very defensive when we tried to give them feedback or any sort of criticism and would just ignored the problem.
5. Was social loafing a problem in this group? Why, or why not?
Social loafing was an issue with two members in the group who did not have their priorities in order. This was especially evident during the group meetings where there was always someone absent because there was something that came up. This was frustrating for all group members who attended these meeting because they would have to catch them up on what they missed on a time convenient to them. During class time there were few lectures but relevant and helpful information was provided each class. Half the group shows up and paid attention by taking notes for the group, while the other half was either absent or playing with their cell phones.
6. What could the group’s leader or manager have done differently to increase group effectiveness?
For the group leader to increase group effectiveness they could have made a better example to follow by being open to what the other members had to say and take the criticism as a way to improve instead of becoming defensive and not making any changes at all. The leader should be the one taking initiative on what the next step for the group and encourage members to voice their opinion on any issues or concerns within the group and try to resolve them.
7. What could group members have done differently to increase group effectiveness?
A way the group members could have increased group effectiveness was to be more strict on members that were consistently absent from meetings by giving them deadlines and warnings.
I would have to say i have been in the sam situation numerous times and I would have to describe it as very frusterating, the professors always have the best interest in setting up groups like this but i often find you get stuck with a coulpe people that try to float through the class and do minimal work.
ReplyDeleteBryan
I agreen with Bryan. There are always going to be the people who want to strive for the "A" and don't want to accept anything less that tha. Then there are the ones who either aren't capable of the work necessary to get an "A" or just don't care enough to excel. It is very frustrating to have to rely on others. I prefer individual work but I do understand the need to learn how to work with others.
ReplyDelete