COVENTRY UNIVERSITY LONDON CAMPUS

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS (APS) UNIT 6

PRODUCE A RFLECTIVE REPORT THAT DSCUSSES WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF AS A TEAM MEMBER DURING YOUR TIME ON CAMPUS

BY

MUMBOH EPERETUKDIYAGHA ROBERTSON STUDENT ID: 4538723

OIL & GAS MANAGEMENT MAY, 2012

Introduction The purpose of this reflective report is to look introspectively my role within a team. In it, I will identify a significant experience; vividly describe the experience and my take of the experience. I will also discuss what I have learnt about myself and my roles in an Ideal team. Lastly, I made some assumptions and decisions, then explain working with models and theories. Significant Experience For me the most significant experience when working within a team is the time when my contribution moved the team goal closer to us. This happened when I was added to a team that was formed before my first day in my Master of Business Administration course at Coventry University, London Campus. Almost all the team members are persons I am just meeting for the first time in my life. What Happened During This Experience For me, the most significant thing I understand and will not forget is that there are benefits working as a group or team of strategic professionals on Whitbread Plc. I understood that, the key to success of the teamwork is in cooperation of the members and the management of time and scarce resources. Many studies have demonstrated that cooperative learning experience encourage higher achievement (Maugham and Webb, 2001). Cooperative learning also helps students understand concepts and ideas better as they can ask fellow students to explain with informal languages. How did you feel about the experience? However, for me, it was exciting being a coordinator for my group. At a time, all members were looking up to me to draw strength to continue, especially towards the day of the presentation proper. On the day of the presentation, we gave it all our best and became the best group. Although, it requires of me as team member with maturity and decision making ability to intervene to bring the situation under control. Belbin describes this to be playing the role of a coordinator (1993); and the weakness of the role according to the same author is that, I can be seen to be a manipulator. Assumptions And Decisions Made Previously, I assumed that my team members had a better chance than I do, because they started the term before me and left the leadership role of the team to be flux. When the different assignments on Whitbread Plc were given, I was afraid because I really did not understand what I am to do and where to get the companys information. My decision was that, I will improve on being a Coordinator and Plant; will work on my weaknesses as a plant and coordinator as identified by Belbin.

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Applying Models and Theories However, I have not sufficiently developed my skills in the area of application of theories and models. When theories and models are reduced to mere bullet points, they lose their in-depth meanings and practitioners only understand the bullet points (Lombardozzi 2009). I learned that, the application of theories in the classroom is different from practice. In the case of theories in the classroom, some variable may be held constant for the purpose of explanation and understanding, while in practice, none of the variables can be held constant. The real life situation is like a simultaneous equation. What I learnt and How to use it in studies, and in business Most importantly, as a team member, I have learned that, I have much of my strength on the coordinating and leading sphere. According to Belbin (1993), I am on the side of a plant. I am creative, imaginative, and unorthodox. I solve difficult problems as my strength and do ignore details. I am too preoccupied and to communicate effectively is a weakness I have identified in me. This means that in the future, I will be able to use these different roles by organising fellow students with my weaknesses being their strengths to be friends for cooperative learning or collaborative learning Johnson and Johnson (1993); Roschelle and Teasley (1995). In business, this knowledge could be useful to me as a practitioner because cooperation or collaboration to solve difficult business problems is important and coordinate well, by applying the same theories in practice. I will look for those with like minds that are having my abilities as their weakness for us to complement one another in the business world. In order to achieve successful outcome, but to improve the process, I will always suggest that a chairperson is needed to help encourage cooperation and possible collaboration when task are allocated. I will suggest this in future course and group work. To develop performance As a next step, I need to develop theory and model application in order to improve my performance. Similarly, I also need to improve on the weaknesses of being a coordinator and Plant by improving my communication skills. For the weaknesses as Coordinator, I will reduce the delegation of personal tasks to improve on my abilities. I will also need to set up ground rules. Conclusion Team work is challenging yet interesting due to the different opinions. Cooperation and team building skills are very important parts for team success. This was demonstrated by me on the presentation of Whitbread Analyses. It is time for self discovery and the learning of team dynamics, as it applies in the work environment. Finally, I will strive to improve my communication and relationship with team members and beyond the team level.

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References: Belbin R (1993) Management teams: why they succeed or fail [online] available from < http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=5> [online] [29 May 2012] Johnson D and Johnson R (1993) What we know about cooperative learning at the college level Cooperative Learning 13(3) Lombardozzi, C (2009). Applying t theory to Practice: Thought on Learning in organisation Learning Journal [online] available from<http://learningjournal.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/applying-theory-to-practice/> [29 May 2012] Maughan, C and Webb, J (2001). Small group learning and assessment. [Online] available from < www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/temp/assessment.html> [29 May 2012] Roschelle J and Teasley S (1995) The construction of shared knowledge in collaborative problem solving in C OMalley (ed) Computer supported collaborative learning Berlin: Springer Verlag

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