Essay: Reflective essay: group presentation for ‘build a business’

In this composition, I have thoroughly reflected on our Group presentation for ‘Build a Business’. Personally, I believe that the final delivery went remarkably smoothly and all in all it was a great success!
In the present scenario, teamwork is considered to be an effective approach for the achievement of the goals and objectives in an adequate manner. Teamwork is useful for: enhancing the performance, cohesiveness in the group and to maintain a proper culture. Proper delegation of responsibility and the development of proper plan for the completion of goal is the major objective of a team (Hughes, & Jones, 2013).
The way of this reflective essay writing is to follow ‘Gibbs Reflective Cycle’ to focus on the description of the issues Description: What happened > Feelings: what were you thinking and feeling > Evaluation: what was good and bad about the experience > Analysis: what sense can you make of the situation > Conclusion: what else could you have done > Action plan: If it arose again what would you do ? This reflective essay also focuses on linking my personal experience while working in the group with the review of presentation. In addition to this, analysis of interpersonal dynamics in the group, analysis of performance of the individuals in the group has been done.
In reality, the situation during our group presentation was horrible, terrible and a little bit awkward. In our 06 members presentation group ( A,B,C,D,E & F) were from different cultures with different views and we prepared our presentation speech individually. However, we discussed on our chosen topic and the rehearsal and performed for our review which was developed by our group members. Though there was a great diversity among the members in the group. This diversity has also resulted in the difference in the ethical values related to the work, effective communication, sense of responsibility and many more. Our group faced all these challenges and because of these differences two of our group members did not show any responsibility on the day of first meeting with the tutor.
Our two members (B and C) did not present themselves on the day of the first meeting as they were busy in other jobs or other personal engagements. So, my role was to make everybody get together and make our preparation well. As our topic was very vast and it was not possible to cover all the topics in one presentation, so it was important to discuss with the tutor. After the discussion, all three of us started working on the presentation. However, next week, B and C approached us and we informed to them, all the things that were discussed with the tutor. After the discussion with the tutor, four of us started to work on the presentation without consulting with B and C and this made them aggressive.
At the beginning of our group faced challenges related to the ineffectiveness in communication or miscommunication and diversity among all the group members. The review of the presentation also supports that the diversity and misunderstanding in the group creates problems which need to be overcome for the accomplishment of the objective of the group in an effective manner (Shore, et al, 2011).
In the same manner, according to the research, communication needs to be very effective among all the members of the team otherwise there will be deviation from the objective that is needed to be achieved. In addition to this, proper communication in the team is effective for enhancing the productivity (Waller, Gupta & Giambatista, 2004).
There was no proper communication among all the group members as B and C did not present on the first day of meeting and did not try to make contact with the other four team members regarding the discussion with the tutor. In support of this issue, the review of presentation also explains that the proper communication helps in explaining the objectives to be achieved in effective manner and it shows the leadership quality of an individual. Similarly, effective communication motivates the members of the team to work effectively for the attainment of the goal (Brewer and Holmes, 2009). Proper communication helps in the management of the team and also ensures the excellent quality in the work which is done by the team members (Garbee, et al, 2013).
During the opening stage of initiating the presentation, all group members faced various challenges related to the inefficiency in communication among us as diversity in the group was formed randomly and all the members were from different cultures. My team was the first to present the presentation, so we had to focus on the proper management of time to successfully complete our lengthy reception.
We had to submit the slides of our presentation on week 9 and there was much more to do for preparing an effective and knowledgeable presentation. Both B and C were not contributing in the presentation and continued to make excuses at every meeting. The other three members and I (A and D) have distributed the work and started focusing on preparing the slides.
At the end of the eighth week, C started to show interest in the presentation and was present in all the discussions although throughout the last weeks, B did not appear and did not contribute to anything in the preparation of the presentation. We all decided not to include the name of B in the presentation and submitted the presentation without including his name. After the submission of the presentation, B came to the class and complained to the tutor that he was not included in any meeting and the work was not done according to the decided plan. C also started to support B and this created conflict in among our group members.
Our course tutor has assisted us in resolving our conflict by providing good suggestions. The review of presentation also supports that the resolution of conflict in the group is important for gaining the co-operation from all the group members.
My group had faced various challenges from the initial stage but at the end of the presentation, we had succeeded in delivering the presentation in an effective manner. According to my experience, we were all successful in giving our best because the contribution from everyone in our team. The team faced some difficulties because we all were lacking in the skills for the management of a team.
According to the presentation review, conflict is a situation which cannot be separated from the nature of the individuals. Along with this, proper management of the conflict results in the attainment of the objective of the group.
It is therefore, very important and crucial for a team to manage the diversity in the team for avoiding the situation of any kind of conflict (Lee, 2008). The author has also explained that while working in a team, conflict is a situation that should be avoided in any case. The presentation has also supported that there is a difference between the efficiency of the work when it is performed by an individual and by a team. There is a great efficiency when is work is accomplished in a team.
In this group presentation, the members of the team were supposed to work for 3 to 4 weeks together for preparing the presentation, so, there is a need of developing the trust among all the group members and all the team members should do justification with their assigned duties otherwise the work cannot be done successfully (DeChurch & Mesmer-Magnus, 2010).
Conclusion
I learnt that I can deliver a presentation such as this and engage people to contribute when necessary. Nevertheless, I must be more confident when approaching such tasks in future. Regarding teamwork, I believe that my knowledge was somewhat limited by the fact that our group functioned more as a family or group of friends than as a work team. However, I gained the initial stages of teamwork is vital for building future success, as our team suffered greatly from a lack of fundamental cohesion and from some missed meetings. Finally, I learnt that, although I can produce great work independently, this does not always equate to team success. Indeed, whilst I believe I have performed extremely well on this module, a fact which is borne out by my final mark, I feel I have not served my team as much as I expected. By completing so much research at the start, I may have inadvertently demoralised my team mates and made them feel like they could not make a worthwhile contribution. As such, in the future, I may need to give greater consideration to how my actions may affect the others in the team, even when I am doing something which is likely to help produce a high quality piece of work.
Now that I have had an experience that involves working as a team, I am likely to be more successful in the future. Hence, if this type of scenario arose again I would be able to tackle the situation more efficiently.
For overcoming the issue related to diversity, all the individuals in the group should accept everyone as an important part of the group. This will create a calmer environment for the team, where everyone is able to express their ideas freely.
As such, in the future, I may need to give greater consideration to how my actions may affect the others in the team, even when I am doing something which is likely to help produce a high quality piece of work.