WHAT WOULD BE YOUR THOUGHTS OR OPINION ON THIS POST!! The first group that came
ID: 329028 • Letter: W
Question
WHAT WOULD BE YOUR THOUGHTS OR OPINION ON THIS POST!!
The first group that came to mind when reading these traits was a group I was a member of at a past internship. We were tasked with a project that would be presented in front of people outside of our organization, who would then pick, fund, and mentor their favorite group and idea so that it became a reality. The project was focused on deradicalization of youth. Some teams decided to tackle a more global issue related to terrorist radicalization methods, while others focused on more local issues such as gang recruitment.
Paiement stated that group size has been hypothesized to work most efficiently when kept small (between five and ten people). We did not get to pick how many people were in each group, but got to pick who. Based on Paiement's statement, I would consider us lucky for six members being the requirement for the project. It was large enough to have an effective unit working on separate tasks, but small enough to still be able to communicate, review, and reassign tasks quickly.
The author also mentioned heterogeneity or homogeneity of the team can have a positive or negative effect depending on certain circumstances. To an extent, our group was both. We had four people from similar neighborhoods and schools and two who weren't, but were similar to each other themselves. With this mix, we were able to share certain experiences and also learn from the experiences of the other two. Additionally, we were able to relate and support each other's perspectives due to everyone having a team member from a similar background. Each perspective and experience was critical as we tried to accomplish the same goal from different viewpoints.
As previously stated, the best presentation would be picked to be extended and brought beyond the walls of our internship. This gave us a sense of competition, which undoubtedly bolstered the work ethic the team was putting into the project. Tying into that, thinking about the success became attractive as well.
Exclusivity played a role in our work because we were the only ones to be working on our localized idea. The feeling was mutual for other groups in the internship too because of the same factors. The focus of the project that we chose created a sense of identity to our team, as it did with every other team as well.
I believe these factors contributed to what happened because of the effort and easiness of working and communicating with other members of the team. It was the biggest project of the internship so we knew how much weight it carried related to the rest of the work assigned. Though our project was not chosen in the end, I still consider these factors to have contributed to a successful project based on the fluidity and amount of work we produced, along with the feedback we received from the panel involved.
Explanation / Answer
The posts that has been presented brings out nicely the various facets of group work and how six members got together to work on a project and the primary drivers which motivated them.
As mentioned, the size of the group was an optimal one wherein it facilitated to divide work and work on sub-parts independently. At the same time the size was not big enough to hamper intra group communication and sharing of ideas. Thus the group size played a critical role in effective group work.
Also the fact that the group had good amount of diversity while maintaining several common factors helped in bringing different ideas to the forefront as well as gelling together to deliver on the project.
Also the fact there was an external motivation of being recognised as the best project and being selected to further pursue the project was good enough motivation for everyone to give their best and work toward achieving the team’s objectives.
Thus the post was able to bring out the salient features of working in a group and the various enablers which helped them to forge together a team and work on the project constructively.
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