Group and You..

Here's another interesting article that i have found in Toastmaster Magazine; March 2006 on managing your teams. Well, in almost every courses available in foundation, there are at least one group assignment per subject, right? Sometimes you are lucky to be given a priority to choose your group partners, but sometimes you are not. That's where everyone thinks so. However, sometimes, even when you are 'lucky' to choose your own groups, when you are facing conflicts within the group, you couldn't complain to your lecturers, because this is what they(most of them) will say: "I have given you this priority to choose your own groups. You choose your own group members, you deal with your own members yourself." On the other hand, don't really think you can blame the lecturers when they assigned you to different members you don't know. Because this is what they will say "This is life. Deal with it." Strange, but true. So, in short, either way, you couldn't complain. (well, you could, but lecturer don't really bother to help you, unless it is a serious case) You will sail smoothly in your foundation year if you met and teamed up with really, seriously, nice and hardworking members. But if you are not, then, deal with it one way or another. However, the whole group is entitled to one project. Either we work together or we work separately together, it's still a group in the end. It's a dependent situation which we have to bear, not just in your foundation, but later on in your degree and your postgraduates, works, and basically; life. But what causes that really bring your team down?

1. There is no trust in anyone in the group.
You don't trust that guy to do his work, you don't let him DO it. That girl may be dissatisfied with your work, then she changed your work (which you do it with your blood, sweat and tears) without your permission. That is when conflicts arise. There's no trust element in your groups. To bring up the trust element, you must first be open and be honest. If there's something not right in their work (or maybe them), voice it out in proper way (apply the chapter 7 in maintaining relationship). When people are truly comfortable being exposed to one other, they will begin to do their parts eventually.

2. Hate conflicts to happen in the group.
Everyone hates conflicts. It is a group assignment, you have your best friend in it. You don't wan to create arguments (what more a conflict) with him/her, thus in the end the team will be ended up with the same problems again and again. Therefore, when problems arise, deal with it quickly before the problems turn into a major barrier for your group assignments. This way, your group members and you will not be bothered by the problems.

3. Lack of commitment.
This always, and most fearful one (i guess) by any members especially when you are assigned to a strange bunch of members. However, the real cause of lacking commitments can be solved when each members are given opportunity to voice out and to be heard of. Other ways to make the member committed, well; make sure they understand that cooperation must be done in order to achieve a satisfactory results. (e.g. to pass/credit/distinction/high distinction in the subject)When everyone in the group is committed, it is pretty difficult for the team to have bad results. At least, if you din't get the results expected, you know you are great team members, because you are IN the team.

4. Avoiding accountability
You are trying to be nice here. You are afraid to call your friend to do extra work because you scared that your friend will be unhappy and everything suddenly falls apart. Patrick Lecioni (a management consultant and author of the bestselling book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, A Leadership Fable) said "Ironically, this only causes the relationship to deteriorate, as team members begin to resent one another for not living up to expectations and for allowing standards to erode". Which means that, if you have everything to be done by youself, others might think that you think that they are not capable of doing the work.

5. Inattention to results
Which means, "I don't care how the end product of this assignment will be" and some sort examples that are align with the sentence. In contrast, some members may place their individual needs above your team's true goal. Unfortunately, when this element appears in your group, the other 4 elements come about.


Liew Hui Qing (Jaime)