Self-Reflection

Self reflection can be delineated as the perception of a person on something or an issue (Valsiner & Rosa, 2007). Therefore, self reflection creates an image or a representation of a situation being either negative or positive. This means that self reflection can initiate an idea or teach a person through the experience of the situation (Valsiner & Rosa, 2007). According to Scarnati, (2001), teamwork helps the members in achieving different end results. These results are the ones regarded as the self reflection on teamwork. In this case, self reflection regarding the teamwork in our project initiated several ideas both on the project itself and on the effectiveness of teamwork.  According to Scarnati, (2001), teamwork helps the members in achieving different end results. Therefore, citing from the progress of my team project, it was factual that the effectiveness of teamwork in a project is not determined by evading conflict. This is based on the fact that teamwork is based on certain goals and objectives that are only achieved through mutual and effective relationship (Harris & Harris, 1996). Precisely, the effectiveness of team work is achieved through drawing out perceptions and ideas which will be assessed and analyzed in order to obtain a constructive feedback to be used in conflict management (Fisher, Hunter & Macrosson, 1997).

It is worthwhile to state that the peaceful progress of the project is not always a reflection of its effectiveness (Morteza & Kamyar, 2009). This means that lack of conflict in a project depicts that the team members are not thinking critically and individually. This is based on the fact that in a teamwork that utilizes subjective and critical thinking, conflicts are very prevalent (Chua, Kog & Loh, 1999). Thus, in our project, we endured conflicts over several issues regarding the progress and management of the team work. The effectiveness of our project was based on conflicts settling which we did in different ways. To start with, we decided to have numerous team discussions prior to making major decisions regarding the progress of the project. Some of the issues that were being discussed included the number of conflict cases that the project has faced in the last week. Therefore, every member was informed to put the name of every team member on everything he or she does (Critchley & Case, 1986). This meant that it was unethical for one to pass in a material that have been worked on alone or not shown to other team members. This was based on Fisher, Hunter & Macrosson, (1997) assertion that effective teamwork is determined by social interdependence and collaboration instead of competitive subjective goals. This was meant to solve conflicts that arise from making subjective decisions in teamwork. The other way of solving conflicts in our project was based on utilizing relaxation technique as offered by Robinson, Segal and Smith (2011). Relaxation technique focuses on taking a deep breath in the workplace as a way of coping up with the current situation and stress (Rice et al, 2008).  This was one of the methods of managing conflicts on an individual level that was discussed in the team discussion time.

One of the things that I learned during the progress of the project is based on evaluation of teamwork components. It is factual that regardless of the presence of major tasks in a project, evaluation of individual member performance can be regarded as equivalently a major task that determines the effectiveness of the project (Smith, 1996). Therefore, it can be asserted that evaluation of team members is a major challenge although the efforts of project team are seen through the end results. Most of the project managers tend to assess the group for grading with regard to the outcomes of the efforts of every member. However, according to Falchikov (1986), this method of team members assessment might seem unfair since it might end up awarding every member the same grade.  This is the reason why we decided to utilize models of team members assessment such as collaborative peer, tutor and self evaluation (Johnson, Heimann & O'Neill, 2000). At the start of the project, we thought that there was no need for evaluation of each member’s contributions with the notion that they will be reflected by their outcomes. However, it came to our attention that this might affect the outcomes of the general project if it appeared that some of the team members were not as participatory as it was projected.

The other thing that I learnt from our project was based on planning and organization. Citing from the issue of conflict and evaluation of members contribution which are some of the major factors determine the effectiveness of a project, planning and organization played a critical role. To start with, in proposal of teamwork assessment, organization was the easiest and the most effective way that guaranteed positive results (Geraldi & Adlbrecht, 2007). Precisely, we were able to evaluate the challenges together with strengths and weaknesses exhibited by each team member. Additionally, while conducting the assessment, organization helped in assigning tasks to appropriate team members. Planning on the other hand was the foundation of effective conflict solving strategies. Without well planned team members discussions, conflict management and effective progress of the project would have not been achieved. Planning played a critical role particularly in allocation of time before holding other meetings that was meant for team discussions. For these discussions matters that were being tackled diverged from major objectives and tasks of the project. This means that effective planning was required for the allocation of sufficient time for the discussions. Generally, our effective planning can be regarded as the determinant of overall effectiveness of the project management strategies that we adopted (Forsberg et al, 1996). Achieving the projected results of our project was promoted by effective time allocation for different tasks and prioritizing the most important matters such as conflict solving. Generally, risk management, norming of the team and information gathering was effectuated by successful planning and project management (Westerveld, 2003).  

References

 

Chua D., Kog Y. & Loh P. (1999), “Critical success factors for different project objectives”, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 125(3), pp. 142-50

 

Critchley, B., & Case, D. (1986). Teambuilding – At what price and at whose cost? In A.Mumford (Ed.) Handbook of Management Development. Gower Publishing Company Limited, University Press Cambridge

Falchikov, N. (1986). Product Comparison and Process Benefits of Collaborative Peer Group and Self Assessment. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. 11, 146-166.

 

Fisher, S. G., Hunter, T. A., & Macrosson, W. D. K. (1997). Team or group? Managers' perceptions of the differences. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 12(4), 232-242.

 

Forsberg, Kevin, Hall Mooz, and Howard Cotterman. (1996). Visualizing project management. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Friedrich, D.R., J.P. Daly, and W.G. Dick. (1987). Revisions, repairs, and rework on large projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and management 113 (3): 488-500 

Geraldi, J.G. and Adlbrecht, G. (2007), “On faith, fact, and interactions in projects”, Project Management Journal, 38, pp. 32-43

 

Harris, P. R., & Harris, K. G. (1996). Managing effectively through teams. Team Performance Management:An International Journal, 2(3), 23-36.

 

Johnson, P. R., Heimann, V. L., & O'Neill, K. (2000). The wolf pack: team dynamics for the 21st century. Journal of Workplace Learning: Employee Counselling Today, 12(4), 159-164.

 

Morteza, Sh. Ch. & Kamyar, K. Ch. (2009), “Generic Project Success and Project Management Success Criteria and Factors: Literature Review and Survey”, WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, 8(6), pp. 456-468

 

Rice, M., Kang, D., Weaver, M., & Howell, C. C. (2008). Relationship of anger, stress, and coping with school connectedness in Fourth-Grade children. Journal of School Health, 78 (3).

 

Robinson, L., Segal, R., Segal, J. & Smith, M., 2011. Relaxation Techniques for Stress Relief: Finding the Relaxation Exercises That Work for You. Relaxation Techniques for Stress Relief.

 

Scarnati, J. T. (2001). On becoming a team player. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 7(1/2), 5-10.

 

Smith, K. (1996). Cooperative Learning: make groupwork work. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 67, Fall, pp. 71-82.

 

Valsiner, Jaan & Rosa, Alberto, (2007). The Cambridge handbook of sociocultural psychology. Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology. Cambridge University Press, pp. 678-691. ISBN 9780521854108

Westerveld, E. (2003), “The Project Excellence Model: Linking success criteria and critical success factors”, Int. J. Project Manage, 21, pp. 411-418