Essay writing Assignment help on : ‘How I will lead groups to become great teams

Incidents have deep impact on the thinking and mindset of every person and even I got to know, learn and improve a lot from the two incidents which happened with me while I was the member of Large Learning Group (LLG). While studying the behaviour of groups as a whole the whole batch was divided into two batches or Large Learning Groups (LLG) A and B. The team was being divided as it usually happens in ‘here and now’ into LLG ‘A’ and LLG ‘B’ by John. I saw that when we were being allocated to the groups the whole class was scanning all their classmates including me and we retied to know who would be with me. I was sitting in the middle circle and all of us were allocated 30 minutes task without any particular topic. I felt really very nervous as well as anxious. I noticed that since there was presence of communication barrier between the group members and me which made it tougher and harder for me to get involved with the group members. I noticed that it seemed very tough for me to even interrupt the conversation or the discussion going on between the group members. While the rest of the group members were actively involved in talking with each other because of least communication barrier existence between them. Furthermore I observed that the people who were sitting in the outer circle were continuously scrutinising me and my group members. While John sitting in the centre of the entire circle made the environment more awkward. I felt much more insecure and uncomfortable to stay there. I felt very hard to breathe and my heart-beat increased manifold. I noticed that I was even avoiding eye contacts with my group members because I was really very afraid of even the thought that people might start asking questions. I observed that suddenly my actions had turned about to be more defensive.

 I simply decided to sit quietly and avoided doing any task. Many a times an idea emerged in my mind, I though of making some contribution to the tasks, but I simply withdrew from my thoughts and preferred to sit quietly and did nothing substantial. When Sam finally asked about the people who contributed nothing to the task and just sat quietly “would they like to say something?” but then too I chose to sit quietly. I felt much more nervous when asked to express my feelings related to ‘here and now’. As a result some of the non-talkers overcame the communication barriers and chose to spoke and Sam also said that if the group members do not talk then it will create hindrance in their learning curves too. I believe that according to Sam you can only improve your learning if you speak more because silence is of no use.

The second incident which happened with me was during week 10, when I was given a ‘real’ task for studying as well as for reviewing too. In this task the group had to study and review whatever I had studied in the past few weeks. According to the instructions given by John I had to choose and appoint a group leader on my own. SO the primary task of ‘here and now’ in this incident was to pick and choose an efficient leader. I saw that Will was the first person to stand and speak telling the group that the ideal leader should be the one who knows each and every detail about theory. Along with this I noticed that Will also accepted the fact that he was not competent enough to become a leader because of his lack of knowledge. But when someone said that it does not matter whether you are an expert to be leader, I noticed Will volunteered to be a leader. Suddenly I felt Will wanted to be the group leader if the whole class agreed to this thought. I saw that everyone in the class supported the decision to choose Will as the leader and start the task. However Nick had a suggestion that we should have an assistant to help the leader. When I looked around I saw people were nodding their heads in support of Nicks thought. I felt that by nodding their heads they were physically supporting Nicks though of appointing an assistant to the leader in the class.

I observed that Nick had already made positive contributions towards the task in the past so everyone carried good impression of Nick in their minds as I believe. I saw John confirming with Nick that he would like to be an assistant to Will; Nick replied in yes without showing any hesitation and further said that if all his classmates didn’t mind his becoming an assistant to the leader. I saw everyone supported the fact by nodding their heads.

 Suddenly something sprang up in mind. I had read Marion McCollum Hampton who wrote about leadership. Out of curiosity all the hesitation in me vanished and I stood up suddenly to give a suggestion that “Should we have one more woman leader?” I felt that it would help us in finding that what would be the difference in the kind of leadership depicted by man and woman in the class. I noticed that the whole class was very elated with the suggestion I gave. John asked whether I would like to be the woman leader, but I completely denied. I thought that since the other two appointed; leader and assistant were the ones who spoke and became leader and Assistant respectively and I done not wanted to be the one.

 My suggestion of appointing a woman leader was accepted and I found that no one wanted to be a woman leader in the class, since we did not have any volunteer woman leader Nick asked Jennifer. I noticed that Jennifer did not mind becoming the woman leader of the class. Thus we kicked off our primary task with three leaders: Will (Leader), Nick (Assistant to Leader) and Jennifer (Woman Leader).

I personally think that these two incidents pass through the cycles of group development as suggested by the Tuckman’s Model which is operationalised through various measures and is based on the successive-stage theory (Forsyth, 2010). However like many theorists believe that the groups keep on cycling between the stages in repetitive manner rather than just moving though  each stage just once ( Arrow1997). I believe that as per these cyclical models there are few issues which keep on dominating the group interaction as happened in Incident 1^st, while passing through various phases of group development. However I also think that these issues even if get resolved at certain stage might reoccur later in the lives of the group (Banet, 1976).

 Therefore I think that as per the Equilibrium model proposed by Robert Bale regarding group development, in every incident the group members try to strike a balance or create equilibrium between the task accomplishments and enhancing the quality of relationship amongst the interpersonal relationships which exist between the groups (Bales, 1950). Like in incident 1^st Sam asked and requested the participation of the group members which were not speaking at all. Therefore it is quite evident from 1^st incident that group’s cycle back and forth between the norming and the performing stage as suggested by Tuckman. Therefore what I believe is that a period of prolonged group effort should be eventually followed by a period of cohesion-creating interpersonal activity (Bales and Cohen, 1979).

 I think that the punctuated equilibrium model also agrees with Bales view; however they also believe that the groups also pass through periods which witness very rapid changes. AS happened in the 2^nd incident where the primary task was to appoint a group leader however during one group session only, three leaders were being appointed, which clearly indicated punctuated group equilibrium where in there rapid changes were being witnessed by the group. Firstly the leader was appointed then and assistant and lastly a woman leader was also appointed. It has been noticed that the internal crisis might precipitate the  these changes like  changes in the type of task being attempted by the group or loss of leader or need of new leader etc (Tyson, 1998). Thus according to the punctual equilibrium theory of group development  it is assumed that the groups  do change but in gradual manner over the time , but the period of rapid change is being marked as punctuations for the periods of  slow growth (Tyson, 1998).

 It has been noticed that in the 1^st incident the seating arrangement is in circular pattern where the group leader sits at one end. However it has been found that in circular arrangements the power distribution is more equal and the interactions are found to be more random as compared to the straight-line seating arrangement (Tyson, 1998). IN this group the leader tries to emphasise the age-old symbol of wholeness which is existing between the group, which emphasises unity as well as equality existing amongst the group.

 It has been found that groups help in providing a customary setting for human relations training, however these groups are rarely found to be the main focus of training approaches. I found that while Gestalt Theory just focuses on the uniqueness of every individual, the approach which is famous as “group relations”, the Tavistock or Bion Tradition concentrates or focuses on the individual till the time he/ she is manifesting something in the group so far on behalf of the whole group (Banet, 1976). According to Tavistock Tradition group is being considered to be a holistic entity which in some cases found to be greater than the totality of all the parts of the groups. Thus the Tavistock Theory lens does not create a distinction between the individuals of the groups rather it boldly brings into relief the commonness of the task, motivational and function (O’Connor, 1971). I have seen that as a consequence of this focus a group-level phenomenon which is usually invisible become much clearer and distinct through Tavistock Theory (Banet and Hayden, 1977).

From the above two incidents it is evident that when  there is an aggregate of clusters happens comprising of people it forms groups which has  interaction between its members , members develop common relationship awareness, a and a common group task emerges. This means that in both the incidents there existed a group which had a primary task of selecting a leader and in the 1^st incident the common behaviour of the group needs to be studied while in the second incident the groups needed to elect  a leader on their own as primary task. Just as suggested by Bion (1961) there might be presence of individual parts like  levers, springs, gears etc which are of no use when separate but when brought together they perform  a function as a whole to form a clock which is impossible to achieve individually (Bion, 1961).

 In both the incidents it is clearly noticed by me that when members of a group come together a collective identity emerges  and the behaviour too changes and they form a new Gestalt where the group is always in focus and the  individual members forming the group stay in the background or become secondary. According to Bion’s Theory the groups have both manifested overt aspect as well a latent covert aspect. The manifested aspect is referred to as ‘work group’ , which is the level of functioning which the  members consciously pursue  on an greed objective and work full fledge towards achievement of task (Bion, 1970).  Like in 2^nd incident where Nick and Will spoke and suggested features for leadership because they were part of work group and wanted to elect a leader. However there was a hidden agenda too that Will wanted to become leader of the group while Nick suggested an assistant because he himself wanted to be the one. Whereas I fall into the basic assumption group which has fears, defences, fantasies, impulses, unconscious wishes and projections.

 If I scan my behaviour from the 1^st incident it is quite evident that I belong to the basic  assumptions group because my body language, my wishes  of showing nervousness , anxiety and increased heart rate all indicate that I do not belong to the work group. In the second incident too I suddenly showed impulsive reaction where I proposed the appointment of a woman leader and I did not have any hidden agenda because I straight away denied holding that position when offered. The reason which I noticed was that work group to which Sam, Will and Nick belong is focussed away from itself and more words the task which in case of 2^nd incident was appointment of leader. While in my case I belong to the basic assumption group so I am focussed inwards towards more primitive reality and towards the world of fantasy.

Thus in order to be a group influencer and to exercise the authority in the group I need to be a Democratic Leader and follow  Group-centred leadership style where the control should be shared  with the members and the leaders and share the functions and the decisions as well. I will try to develop believe in other members of group and share the leadership responsibility by talking and becoming more open to them. This can be accomplished by setting away my fears and mingling with the whole group talking to them and knowing them. I will try to create a sense of belonging as well as security within the group by using reassurance and words like “I am always there for you” etc. In the Democratic style of leadership I will ensure that other members get an opportunity of leadership. Which I have already done, however if there is any suggestion n then I will defiantly share it with my team. The leadership will exist virtually, so even if the leader is not there the group will stay together and will not fall part in my absence (Blanchard and Zigarmi, n.d.). I will help the group to achieve its maximum potential through question making a tool which is being used to stimulate talk and contribution from all group members.  I will use techniques like straight questions, involvement of team, Redirecting, seeking clarifications, moving–on and finally summarising whatever has been discussed (Mallison, 1996).

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