My group is
called Learning Team B and consists of five members: Thomas Bugg, Emily
Clifton, Shawn Fogarty, Annamarie Garcia and myself. Originally we were not all
placed together as some of us dropped the class and some of were added during
the add/drop period; however we have all settled in well together now that we
have finalized who will remain in the group. As a team our first assignment was
to create a Team Charter, which I was Team Leader on. Overall I feel that we
successfully completed this assignment with ease. A Team Charter in my opinion
is a way for us to formally get to know each other’s expectations and needs
from the group. The Charter also provides us with a starting place to organize
our goals, direction of how we will accomplish them, and basically get us all
on the same page as to what we need to do. Once we began working on the Charter
I noticed that we all have similar goals and expectations, which is nice
because I knew right away we would be able to resolve any issues that presented
themselves with cooperation among all members. Some of our expectations
included “open lines of communication, respect on all sides and an
understanding that we need to work as a team, timeliness and support for one
another.” Some of our goals include “use
this as a positive learning experience, efficient task orientation, and
encourage each other”. We laid out some ground rules that consisted of a “strong
emphasis on communication and time management of individual’s tasks as well as
the team’s”. (Learning Team B)
The way I
approached this team was an understanding that we are all going to be
responsible for our own tasks; however we also have interdependence on one
another in order to get the job done which could lead to conflicts. So far
everyone on the team has been very diligent in completing his or her portions
of the task this week. In addition to an adherence to timeliness everyone maintained
a positive attitude as each of us completed our portion of the Team Charter.
One issues we ran into was that one team member accidently left one of his
portions blank, and although I am the designated Team Lead another teammate
stepped in to email him politely before I had a chance of reminding him to log
back into the charter and complete his portion. Since it’s an individual
portion no one could answer the designated questions so we needed our teammate
to answer the question in order for us to meet our deadline. Thanks to the one
teammate stepping up and shooting him an email we were able to get the
questions answered and submit the Charter with no delays. The teammate’s effort
shows that within this group no matter if you are designated as team lead we
support each other as we said we would within the Charter. Every member of this
team is a leader whether or not they are designated for the week. Some positive
behaviors our team experienced this week were enthusiasm, positivity, and
empowerment that led to our successful completion of the task.
Overall I do not
feel we had any factors that inhibited our decision-making or problem solving because
we all really worked well together on our first assignment. If I had to
determine the amount of time spent on decision-making it would be at least a
couple hours each day regarding how we could go about future assignments as
well as the submission of our first Team Charter. The amount of information
shared among team members was abundant and from the looks of it we are all
highly motivated and show signs of over achievers! Each of us are prepared to
be fully committed to the group, show a mutual trust for one another, make good
decisions, clearly define each other’s roles within the week’s assignments,
keep a positive environment and share information openly so that we can all
benefit from this group. There does not seem to be an issue with power at this
time because from the one instance of having to email a teammate for more
information no one had to be assigned this task by another because showed
voluntary behavior. which shows no signs power imbalances at this time.
Reflecting back
on this weeks Team Charter as well as Charters from the past I can detect
forming, storming, norming and performing in every single group project which
has led every group I have participated in to exceed our own expectations.
Through healthy collaboration this week we have all successfully submitted the
Team Charter a day earlier than the actual due date. I have a great feeling
that our group will continue to resolve time management issues and
communications barrios that could surface through our virtual team because we
received the following comment upon submission of the Charter.
Good. I think
your group recognizes the need to have open lines of communication and have a
commitment to each team member. It is important to make sure that you are able
to overcome different schedules, etc. and stay committed to the task at hand.
One thing that helps me in group work is to think that my actions impact a
bunch of different people. I see that your group recognizes that and is working
well together! Excellent stuff and I look forward to seeing more from your team
over the remaining 7 weeks.
(Dr Matthew
Earnhardt)
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