Individual Team Members example essay topic

Teams are the ultimate learning tool. Collaborative work efforts provide each team member with the opportunity to grow both by contribution and by absorption. Team work provides an arena where people are put together, by chance or by design, to work towards a common goal. Teams are often made up of diverse groups of people, each one bringing to the table a plethora of ideas, viewpoints, skills, work ethics, stresses and backgrounds. Diversity can enhance or impair the decision-making process and the outcome of a project depending on the adaptability and willingness of the group. The University of Phoenix has provided each one of its students with the undeniable benefit of working in Learning Teams.

A key distinction that significantly impacts learning teams is that no formal leader is assigned or given authority by the school. While teams frequently rely on individual team members to lead specific tasks and projects there is rarely one single individual who has formal leadership or authority over the team and the other members. Teams are thus managed unilaterally as opposed to the traditional method of top to bottom. At first the idea of having to meet with a team seems like quite a challenge. A challenge that groups two to five strangers together to work on various assignments, which involve setting a time to meet, discussions, agreements and assignment of individual parts of the task to be completed under a six day time constraint. Talk about stressful.

Each team is asked to fill out a team charter, which outlines the strengths and weaknesses of each member, the duties for the week, addresses, phone numbers and deadlines for all assignments. The team charter is certainly a tool that opens up communication from the very beginning. It allows each member to address issues that could possibly affect the productivity of the team assignments as well as a forum for each member to choose to contribute based on areas of strengths or weaknesses. It also provides the team with guidelines that have been established by the group and for the group and as with any other guidelines, are expected to be adhered to or challenged. Age Age seems like a pretty insignificant issue, however, it certainly can influence how people in teams interact and work together. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn.

Organizational Behavior, 2002) For instance, a twenty year old woman thinks much differently than a sixty year old woman does in regard to various issues. An older person has lived a life filled with responsibility, work, whether in the home or outside of the home, to name only a few things. Obtaining a degree for an older woman may be a much more serious task, demanding more study time, while a woman of twenty, who certainly understands the importance of a degree, may spend less time on assignments and may not have to work as hard. Age also influences opinions, beliefs and viewpoints. It influences how we comport ourselves in a multitude of situations. The beauty of putting people together of different ages is that they can and will learn from one another, as has been our team's experience.

Occupation Varying occupations have allowed our past and present learning teams to draw from the diverse occupations we each have. (Schermerhorn et al, 2002) Each class it seems has called for skills across the board, such as knowledge in the fields of, e-procurement, computer technology, employment law, writing, and math. The diverse members of our team have contributed significantly and even picked up the slack for those who were not knowledgeable in certain fields. This has definitely been a bonus when it came to team assignments. On a few occasions a certain team member who was not able to contribute equally to certain assignments felt as if his share was not equal to the rest of the team, he needed constant reassurance that his contribution was suitable often times causing frustration within the team. Personality Traits Personality traits are probably the hardest thing to deal with in a group setting.

Our personality traits define each of us as individuals, they outline our communication preferences, recognition needs, work style and management approach. (Schermerhorn et al, 2002) Personality traits can and should be recognized in ourselves first so that we can better understand our own needs in order to better understand the needs of those on our team. Secondly recognizing traits as opposed to behavior allows for acceptance of individual task choices which will lead to a better outcome of the assigned project. Differences in skills and abilities At this stage of the game, each one of us has probably been in the working world for some time, lending to a differing set of skills and abilities. Our teams have been comprised of a teacher, an e-procurement manager, secretary, a memorial counselor, a temporary employee, an IT specialist, loan consultant and an auto mechanic, each one able to contribute to each and every assignment in his or her own way. Within our team we have been able to learn from one another, and to form relationships that have often called for advice or even services from one member or another.

This vast difference in skills has called up patience, understanding and at times a much needed paradigm shift for each one of us. All of us at some point or another, depending on the assignment have stepped up to fill the role of leader based on our skills or abilities. Not only have we maximized our existing strengths, but we have been allowed the opportunity to strengthen our weaker skills. This has certainly had a positive affect on our learning team. Conclusion Learning, as a discipline, is a way of approaching problems and projects that improves both the process and the outcome. Learning teams allow us to take a more holistic approach to a new situation.

It is an approach that applies a diversity of knowledge and experience gained from each member. Learning teams allow for developing remarkable capacities for organized action, for producing better results and for developing individual members faster than would have occurred if they had been on their own. (Schermerhorn et al, 2002)

Bibliography

Schermerhorn, J., Jr., Hunt, J. & Osborn, R. (2002) Organizational Behavior 7th Edition Page 39-40, 42, 44-51, 63, 69, 80. United States of America. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.