Week 3

This week we formed groups of 4 - 5  members for our major project. During the contact many ideas for the project were brainstormed by the whole contact and we had the choice of choosing something that we had an interest in. I found this an effective method of idea generation and was a benefit for not only my specific group but the contact class as a whole, as by narrowing down possible ideas early, it prevents spending lots of time trying to come up with an effective idea as a small group. We all had an interest in pursuing our main concept about mapping Australian natural disasters. My team is made up of all first year students; Ian, Liam, Anthony and Remosy.

What did you learn about your attitudes to working in a team? Which Belbin roles did you identify with?

What I learned about my attitude to working in a team is that it can be just as, if not more effective 'breaking' from your usual methods and adapting to methods that other team members use. Overall, observing these methods and opinions of others which are different to the way you would have pursued it is a learning experience and can provide new outlets and methods in the future. In teams, generally when we find an effective method of completing something or meeting a goal we tend to reuse this in the future over and over again, rather than looking into other methods which for a particular project may be much more effective in reality.

Although I am quite an introverted person and don't mind working on my own, I enjoy working in teams as they provide an element of responsibility. This keeps you motivated to actually do what you should be doing and be effective at completing things by deadlines. Out of the Belbin roles, I identify myself as a monitor evaluator, teamworker and finisher the most.

Were you surprised by either your Leadership or Team Score following the first quiz? Why/why not? You don't need to specify the scores that you received - rather was it higher/lower than you expected.

I wasn't too surprised with my leadership or team score after working in many teams in the past through years of school. My team score said I was a very effective team person. The results did offer some things to improve on such as remembering to include all members of the team in decisions, ensuring everyone's voice is heard and to keep doing what I am doing.

Did you identify with any of the causes of conflict? Is it something you have a tendency to do or something you have experienced from previous team projects? How will you manage this if it occurs in this team project?

Conflicts always have the potential to be present in all groups and I think the most effective way of managing them is trying to prevent them before they arise or putting them to rest as soon as possible if they do arise. I think one of the main causes of conflict within a group is when there is no direction towards achieving the final goal. This generally stalls a lot of work and things continue to be backdated etc as the whole process has not been methodically (to a degree) thought out and discussed as a group when the project presents itself. Designating someone as a leader can give some some initial inspiration and everyone can focus on what they should be and thus giving good team dynamic when it is required. Any teams that I have worked on in the past have worked well and we didn't really have any major conflicts. We all knew our role and performed it as required and essentially worked as a 'team'. Any small conflicts that occurred were openly discussed with all members and everyone gave their opinion on what the outcome should be, while still keeping the final goals in mind.

What is important to you when working in a team?

When working in a team, I think the most important thing is to keep the process enjoyable for everyone. If people are interested and generally enjoy what they are doing (even if the project is boring but the team dynamic is enjoyed) then they are more likely to contribute more and 'want' what is best for the team. Keeping everyone happy gives motivation and is less likely to cause people to lose interest. Once interest is lost it is very hard to pick it back up again.