Critical Reflection on Group Work and Leadership

CRITICAL REFLECTION
Various group situations have made me realize that I often take the role of a leader in
those groups or become a part of the group's leadership process. In this group activity too, I
have found myself playing the role of a leader guiding my team members and giving them
instructions. The two other members of my group were Tasman and Ricky. We were a group
of four but one of the other members left the group just three days after we were assigned the
project leaving us as a group of three. Ricky was not present when the assessment was given
out but we got his email address. Initially, I met up with only Tasman and we discussed the
topic of our presentation. We also mailed Ricky and fixed a date to meet up.
After that, I and Tasman went out one day to take a look at the assessment and divide it into
three parts. It was initially divided into four parts but with the fourth member leaving, we
knew we had to divide it into three fair parts. Both of us decided to split the work into three
equal and fair parts and ask Ricky's opinion on the matter when he came. We finally decided
the parts only after ensuring that like us, Ricky too did not have any complaints about his
part.
We decided to meet one more time to do a run up on the presentation we were
supposed to give out, but due to my inability to make time for that, the meeting was not
conducted.
According to my understanding, I think the problem we could have faced with our group
assessment was
1. There could have been confusion when the fourth member of our group left. But we
were able to handle the situation, by properly diving the task among us through group
discussions without creating any confusion
2. Ricky was not present from the beginning, he could have missed some important data
or discussion which could have affected his quality of work. I and Tasman tried our
best to fill Ricky up about the bits and pieces he missed in our meeting and calls.
3. Due to joining in late with me and Tasman, Ricky could have felt 'left out’. On the
day the three of us made, I and Tasman tried to make him feel very much like a
member of the group and that his inability to attend the previous meeting had no
effect on the group.
4. Dividing the assessment by three parts instead of four, increased the work for every
one of us. This could have resulted in time management issues or hampered the