mgts2961 assignment 2

ASSIGNMENT 2MGTS2961 WORKING WITH GROUPS ANDTEAMS UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

Thien Vu, Le (43608476) | Bachelor in BusinessManagement

Due date: 24 Jan 2015

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THIEN VU, LE (43608476) | BACHELOR IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT 2

CONTENT PAGE

1. INTRODUCTION

2. GROUP DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

General Description

Structure of Group

Leadership

Group Technique and Process

Stages of Development

Task and Maintenance Behaviours

Role of Group Members

Dysfunctional Behaviours and

Conflicts Arise

Effectiveness of Group

3. Personal Learning

4. Conclusions & Recommendations 1


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5. Reference List

Introduction (267 words)

In this assignment, the group I selected to analyse is an

informal group and it is my family. Raising up in my family

for over 21 years, I have observed and been a part of the

growing process of my family, not only as an individual but

also as a whole. We have done numerous things together; from

the smallest things like preparing a meal for the family to

significant and important event such as organizing parties and

weddings or even travel overseas with each other.

As a family we prefer to organize things on our own terms

because we find it more enjoyable and are able to cater to

individual’s schedules and needs better. It is also more

expensive if we hire people or companies to assist us during

the preparation itself. Hence, I would like to share the

experience of planning and organizing events with my family

throughout the past few years.

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Like Alan Lakein once said, “Failing to plan is planning to

fail”. We learn and appreciate the necessity of planning under

any circumstances, especially when preparing for big events

like weddings or important dinner parties. In this assignment,

I will be sharing as well as analysing the course of planning,

the techniques applied, how each member of the family

contributed and the difficulties we face and overcome

throughout the journey.

Out of all the discussion and many plans we had, particularly

the one I am about the mention, went perfectly well. There

were minimal conflicts happened among the members. It also has

enable me to learn a lot from and about my family.

General Description (96 Words)

My family is consisting of four members that includes my

parents, my older brother and myself. Annually, especially

during the end and beginning of each year, we would organize

very huge parties to celebrate either Thanksgivings,

Christmas, New Year Eve, or weddings. We invite the entire

family, close friends and love ones which could easily add up

to 80 to 100 people per party. Before carrying out anything, 3


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we often have multiple meetings, researching and discussing

full plans for the events themselves. This procedure has been

the same for the past 21 years of my life.

Structure of Group (336 Words)

During last February of 2014, we finally received a great news

that my older brother is getting married. Our entire family

was filled with astonishment and happiness. My sister-in-law,

however, is from another city in Vietnam (Hue City), unlike us

which are all from Hanoi City, the capital. The plan was to

arrange and organize two main weddings, one is in Hanoi and

another is in Hue within the span of two weeks. However, as we

discussed with our in-laws, we would be only preparing for one

wedding in our respective city. Our goal was to be able to

create the best weddings for my brother and sister-in-law.

Thus, it was required to create a well-prepared and structured

planning before any official arrangement is made. Furthermore,

any steps of the preparation would require to be followed

strictly on a fixed schedule for the weddings to carry out

smoothly.

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During this event, all of the family members had very explicit

responsibilities. My mother will be in-charge of all financial

needs. My day was to handle the guess lists of both my

mother’s side and his as well as friends of our family. My

brother, on the other hand, managed any arrangements which

consisted of signing contracts, wedding locations plus

transportation and gifts. Finally, as I previously worked for

wedding company, I was the on-sight manager, host, MC and

bride’s assistance for the preparation and wedding itself.

Throughout the entire course, we worked and collaborated

effectively and harmoniously due to our common goal of

bringing the best wedding together. Henceforth, this drives

enabled the members to ensure we were giving our best

contributions to plan a successful wedding (Hossain et al.

2010). Moreover, each of us respected one’s another point of

views and decisions as well as understood that preparing for

such a big event would easily lead to quarrels and

disagreements. We all aimed to do our job in accommodating,

listening and cooperating with each other to prevent affecting

anyone’s feelings or even disrupt the wedding’s process.

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Leadership (126 Words)

Throughout the entire preparation period, my mother was

elected the role of the team leader. Her roles were to

instruct, guide us over planning and keep us on track of time

as timing here was a crucial aspect. During the decision

making procedure, all conclusions were finalized fairly in a

democratic manner. We often laid out our best ideas and

elected for the best choice that the majority of members opted

for.

However, during the day of the wedding, my brother and I were

the two main leaders as my brother, being one of the main

character of the events and my ability and experience, as an

on-sight event manager. We both role-reversed our

responsibilities whenever it was required, often between

backstage coordinator and MC of the event.

Group Technique and Process (443 Words)

There was no necessary requirement of member choosing due to

the fact that we are an informal group. As a family, we

together were required to attend any meetings arranged in a

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compulsory manner. It was better operative as group techniques

assisted the team to work efficiently and effectively (Hossain

et al. 2010). Therefore, during group discussions, we often

used the techniques of brainstorming and mind mapping.

The first couple of discussions revolved around brainstorming

ideas. Every member of the family was expected to contribute

suggestions on multiple things we need to arrange beforehand

(Hossain et al. 2010; Wilson 2013) such as choices of

transports, choices of locations, drinks, flowers, etc. Most

of the information and research were from multi-media

platforms and recommendations by relatives and friends. The

discussions, thus, met its expectations and require no further

arrangements as countless ideas were given out throughout the

meetings (Hossain et al. 2010). My father was one of the most

enthusiastic contributor during these discussions. He was more

than happy to share his knowledge and experience since he

previously had attended multiple similar occasions. The rest

of us also spontaneously suggested their ideas and all

suggestions were respected and listened by others. According

to Hossain et al. 2010 and Wilson 2013, this had stimulated

the participation of all the members in the group to further 7


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uplift the productivity and quality of each meeting. My

mother, on the other, as a leader, advised us to take into

consideration anything that was contributed and appreciated

them well.

After categorizing our brainstorming ideas into particular

groups, we decided to mind map them according to the planning

process, pin point all the necessary steps that needed to be

carefully examine on. This enabled us to eliminate any

redundant or unimportant mini-steps that can either be ignored

or done later. Thus, we were able to better focus on the vital

factors that needed to be settled first and foremost (Hossain

et al. 2010). Examples (refer to Appendix 1) can be deciding

on date, location, theme, invitation card, etc. We then sub-

categorized the main factors into more explicit options and

choices and elaborate its favourability as well as

disadvantages. Last but not least, we finalized our choice of

each pinpoint after subdividing them (Rustler 2012) and

proceeded on official booking and arrangements. An example

would be: we picked Hilton Hotel as they provided excellent

wedding packages, central location and received stunning

reviews from our friends and online. 8


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Pursuing a common goal and maintaining our determination and

hard works, the group techniques assisted us to be more

productive and efficient, enabled us to perform well as the

back bones of the wedding.

Stages of Development (770 Words)

1. Forming

During this period, members of the group were unable to

identify their roles and tasks (Hossain et al. 2010) for the

wedding preparation process. We were very much clueless on

what, where and when to start. Thus, many tasks were left

incomplete during this stage of norming (Mackey 1999).

Our family group was formed long before I was born, but count

me in as a member, then it has been a strong and well-

maintained group for more than 21 years. Hence, for this

event, we did not start off as clueless as we expected due to

the fact that we have years-full of experience in event

planning. Since my mother is the head of financial for the

wedding and an excellent accountant herself, we figured it

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would be the right thing to put her in charge as a leader.

Thus, picking a leader was definitely easy task.

Everything was well-planned and well-distributed to each of us

so we could carry out, maintain and monitor activities or any

problems that occurred.

2. Storming

The second stage of group development is storming. This is

often the stage where problems and difficulties started

occurring more, hence, most members would voice out their

opinion (Tuckman 2011). Also, according to Hossain et al. 2010

and Mackey 1999, this stage is also when the members are

rather reluctant to seek for helps with the rest of the group.

During the storming period, particularly when we need to

decide on location-wise and themes for the wedding, many

conflicts occurred due to difference perspectives and likings.

My father preferred somewhere near to his hometown so his side

of family would not face any difficulty attending the wedding

and so did my mother. On the other hand, my brother wanted to

accommodate to his wife’s preference on themes and also had

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his own opinion on location itself. Parents blamed on my

brother that he did not give the required respect to them and

expect him to follow their instructions rather than my sister-

in-law. It was definitely not a happy period as everyone was

unhappy that they were not getting their way. However, we

still proceed on resolving and organizing further discussions

and arrangements to ensure the pace of the wedding

preparation.

3. Norming

Entering the “norming” stage, all members finally came

together and started to create certain ground regulations to

guarantee all were contented to work as a team (Hossain et al.

2010). At the same time, like Tuckman 2001 stated, we all

wanted the wedding to go smoothly and hence, there were good

aspiration to keep the group going.

Learning from the previous arguments, we realized that we

ought to better respect and accommodate to each other ideas,

yet not forgetting that it is crucial to ensure my brother and

sister-in-law’s happiness on their important day. Though my

parents are very stubborn at their way of thinking, they 11


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learned to be more flexible and allowed my brother and I

researched and picked the appropriate choice that can satisfy

everyone. However, my mother did suggested both of us siblings

to take on more tasks as she was feeling rather stressful

handling both her work and the wedding.

Nearer to the date by one more month, we went through multiple

discussions and group meetings to ensure the pace and process

of the event were going as expected. We cancelled out the

unimportant considerations and work with each other’s

preference and needs. Lesser arguments arose as we appeared to

achieve better assurance and solidity in the team.

4. Performing

At the peak of our productivity and coherence, we became the

High-performance Group. The goal were easily achieved when

each member are cohesive and respected by the others (Mackey

1999).

Since there were a lot of group works putting into this

weddings, the next few steps like flower arrangement,

invitation cards and dressings were achieved in no time and

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with success. There were high level of trust in the team. We

understood and took into consideration each point of view

being made and were not afraid to voice out any disagreements.

Slowly, we enjoyed each other company and planning together as

a family became not only a tradition but also a hobby.

Moreover, we recognized each other strengths and weaknesses

and hence, developed to work in harmonization.

From the stages of our team development, I learnt to be

patient when it comes to team-building, as it cannot be done

without commitment and faith. The process also enables me to

understand more about each member of my family and further

appreciate them. Also, as the more we work together, the more

tighten our relationships is.

Task and Maintenance Behaviours (836

Words)

According to Hossain et al. 2010, task behaviour is a process

where goals are achieved by team work while maintenance

behaviour is the method in which the team required to apply in

order to achieve that goal.

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As my family have previous experience working with each other

as a team, we concentrated more on improving our maintenance

behaviours. On another hand, we must note that during each

stage of group development, a different task and behaviour

were required (Hossain et al. 2010).

Forming the group was a smooth-sailed stage. We searched for

the appropriate person who can take the lead and guide us

along the way. Being accustomed to my mother’s team leading

style and her excellent ability in organizing events, we voted

for her to be the leader. However, we failed to realize that

each of us are leaders of our own sub-tasks. Hence, confusion

did rose along the process.

In the second stage, storming, fortunately with the experience

of previous works together, we expressed our opinions and

disagreements freely and were certain that the issues would be

taken into consideration. Thus, it further uplift our

communication skills with each other (Hossain et al. 2010).

Moreover, this also enabled us to set up the appropriate

ground rules during the wedding period.

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Group cohesiveness and cooperative were making their ways to

the peak during the norming stage. Here, we could easily

observe the excellent changes in working attitude and

behaviour of the members (Hossain et al. 2010). Information

was updated constantly and our progress quickly picked up its

pace. Less disagreements but more productive contributions

backing up decision-makings process made it less complicated

to pin down any final decisions. As member’s ideas were

valued, feeling more respect, they could focus better in

planning the wedding well (Hossain et al. 2010). We also

understood the purpose of each roles we were assigned to and

the expectation given to ensure the plan carry out smoothly.

It only took us very little time (roughly around two to three

weeks) to perform like a High-Performance Team as there were

common goal and mutual understanding (Hossain et al. 2010).

Member’s needs and wants were better complied and more

flexible while our trust, during the planning, was improved

massively. As a family working in a group, it is absolute that

problems can be solve as long as we work as a team. However,

as Hossain et al. 2010 stated, it is crucial to achieve both

maintenance and task behaviour functions at the same time. 15


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Roles of Group Members (552 Words)

From assignment 1 of the course, I realized that every

individual possesses a different type of characteristics and

those character traits are a match with specific team roles.

Belbin 1990 and also Mathieu et al. 2008 find the

effectiveness and efficiency of a team rely heavily on

personal knowledge, experience as well as the cohesiveness and

understanding among teammates. It is critical for any member

to improve their task and maintenance behaviour so the group

can perform at its Excellency. Hence, the Belbin’s team role

questionnaires can support in the process of determining which

members has the most suitable traits for each development

stage of teambuilding (Hossain et al. 2010).

According to the questionnaire result, I am both a Driver

(Shaper) and a Monitor-Evaluator. Drivers show guidance by

directing and managing other members in the team while

Monitor-Evaluators often do a lot of idea critiques and

problem-spotting (Belbin 1990). However, in this wedding, I

took jobs that majorly requires skills and knowledge of a

Monitor-Evaluators. My roles often revolved around the

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preparation process of the wedding venue as I am the most

experienced and resourceful person out of the entire group.

Often I evaluated suggestions of members and assist the team

on making the right decisions. I also used lots of my critical

thinking skills to problem-spot and find an appropriate

solutions quickly.

For the course of this assignment, I let my family took part

in the questionnaire and without a doubt, my mother’s result

came out to be the Coordinator. This role would run the team

with its leadership ability via “co-ordinating the efforts and

contributions of team member” (Belbin 1990, pp. 6). My mother

often supervised our working progress during the wedding and

allocated members to tasks according to our strengths and

weaknesses. She is always patient while directing us yet

forthright if any mistakes occurred. Our family members always

have trust in her ability to make the decisions and hence, she

is the person who will pick the final choice.

The result my father got is Driver (Shaper) and Resource

Investigator. As he had multiple ideas and visions for the

wedding, he had high level of interest in taking part in

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researching for options the group can consider. Most of his

time were dedicated to exploring and seeking for location

choices as well as reputable florists, transport companies as

well as invitation card design, printing and distribution

process (the main role which he was in-charged of). He often

came up with many alternative options and most of them were

often qualified and reliable (Belbin 1990).

My brother, on the other hand, is an Implementer (Company

Worker). He is the pillar of the team in, his roles focus on

implementing any plan into practical product (Belbin 1990).

Henceforth, direct contacts and contracts signing were done by

him. Most of them were venue’s contract, wedding package’s

agreement, etc. He also works very diligently, especially for

this wedding and he is also a well-organized and highly

intellectual person. However, we siblings often collaborated

and exchanged information with each other in order to be

updated and support one another better.

We all played our part, cooperated with each other and gave

assistance to other tasks if helps were needed. The wedding,

thus, was a success and happy day for every one of us.

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Dysfunctional Behaviours and Conflicts

(168 Words)

Hossain et al. 2010 and Cole et al. 2008 believes functional

behaviours are adversative behaviours in terms of task and

maintenance functions. Dysfunctional behaviours are also found

to affect up to 24% of a project outcomes (Cole et al. 2008).

Hence, these behaviours should be observed and cancel out if

there are negative impact be made.

A good example would be my father. Apart from being good at

researching, he, however, can be quite a dictator in the

family. He prefers certain things to go according to his wills

and hence, this causes multiple arguments during the beginning

of the planning process. It causes distress among the family.

Luckily, after a good discussions, he realized the needs of

being flexible in this crucial event and decided to put more

attention and respect in other’s suggestions and onions.

Other than this issues, we faced not much of problems or any

other dysfunctional behaviour that hindered our planning

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process. Most of the conflicts were rather productive and easy

to resolve.

Effectiveness of Group (252 Words)

Hossain et al. 2010 states that in order for a team to reach

its effectiveness, it must acquire five fundamental aspects of

a team, which are positive interdependency, individual

accountability, promotion interaction, social skills and group

processing. Moreover, how a group handle their projects or

tasks impacts heavily on performance and hence, the guarantee

of success (Shelton et al. 2010).

‘Group effectiveness may increase with increasing levels of

interdependence’ (Wageman 1995, pp. 148). The wedding was one

of the happiest day not only for my brother but also everyone

in the family. Hence, the level effort we wanted to put in was

high.

With a joint reward (the wedding) and no social loafing, we

shared our work load and helped one another to achieve the

common goal. We contributed our best ability to ensure the

wedding carried out smoothly.

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Many direct interactions were made so as to affirm on our

family’s final decisions. Moreover, we divided into smaller

groups to assist, update and help each other. Hence, promotion

interaction is achieved, where face-to-face interaction

happened (Hossain et al. 2010).

‘An individual needs to be able to communicate with others,

listen to others, influence others, and so forth’ (Morgeson et

al. 2005, pp. 585). Hence, as social skill is essential, we

learnt to be better listener and communicator.

As one of the leaders in the family, my mother portrays her

ability in group processing the most. She often directs our

team and reinforces our performance to achieve any goals

(Hossain et al. 2010).

Learning Lessons (88 Words)

Throughout this analysis, I achieved further understanding and

knowledge about each of my family. At first, I was not certain

work group techniques can be applied to an informal group like

my family. However, I now realize that it is possible and can

even help tighten the relationship of my family.

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Via the Belbin’s team role questionnaires, I learnt about the

strength and weaknesses of each member of my family and which

roles they play in the family. It also give me an opportunity

to appreciate them better.

Conclusion and Recommendations (86 Words)

Overall, the wedding plan was indeed a success. Every one of

us enjoyed ourselves and got closer to each other. Moreover, I

was able to have an experience to study and analyse how a

group works and functions.

This also allowed me to make changes and recommendations that

contribute to our family group. One of it is that we ought to

do more event planning together; not only that, we should be

more open towards other members of the family and further

uplift our family spirit. (END: WORDS)

Appendix

1. Example of Mind-Mapping and Brain-storming

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2. Belbin’s Team Role

(Source: TrainingGearAsia -

http://www.traininggearasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/screen-shot-2012-10-04-at-

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10-33-08.png)

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Organization Management, QDPI Staff Development Group,

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Cole, MS, Walter, F, Brunch, H 2008, ‘Affective mechanisms

linking dysfunctional behaviour to performance in work

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Rustler, F 2012, ‘Introducing Mind Mapping’, Mind Mapping

for Dummies, Wiley, pp. 9-20.

Shelton, PM, Waite, AM & Makela, CJ 2010, ‘Highly Effective

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mgts2961 assignment 2

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