Reflective Essay - Working in Groups

This reflective essay analyzes two incidents that arose during group activity and the author's role as facilitator in them using the Gibb’s cycle of reflective thinking. The essay provides insights on group dynamics, leadership styles, and the importance of collaborative effort to achieve common goals.

Running Head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
Reflective Essay – Working in Groups
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
Working in a group is a constructive and positive thing to do when there are common
goals to be achieved. I was recently part of a group activity, where, in class, we were divided into
small units and entrusted with the responsibility of familiarizing ourselves with the topic of
Australian politics as well as policy are connected with social work.. In this essay I analyze two
incidents that arose during group activity and my role as facilitator in them using the Gibb’s
cycle of reflective thinking (Gibbs, 1988). By utilizing the Gibbs cycle, I will analyze what
exactly happened, how I felt about it, my evaluation and analysis of the incident, after which I
conclude with my views on the incident and state what I would do should the concerned incident
ever arose again in the future.
Incident 1
At a time when group dynamics were at an all time low, which I discovered using the Tuckman
model of group development. I took on the role of group facilitator in the circumstances and
managed to lead my group out of the conflict zone using a number of strategies.
Gibbs Cycle Stage 1: What Happened
At the start of the semester, our class was divided into groups and we were told to work
with our group members on the study of the correlation between social work and Australian
public policy. The group that I was a part of comprised of members who were not familiar with
each other. To break the ice, one person in the group appointed himself as facilitator and decided
that he was going to ask us all to introduce ourselves one by one. Once the round of introduction
was over, we were asked by the person who had appointed himself as facilitator whether we had
any problems with him expressing his personal views on how to go about the group activity.
None of us wanted to contradict him at that moment so we went along with what he said.

2REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
Gibbs Cycle Stage 2: How I Felt About It
There was a distinct feeling of discomfort that prevailed within the group and within my
own self after the facilitator self appointment himself to take charge of the group activity. Soon
after, the person who had appointed himself as facilitator began to decide each and every text
that we would read to understand the relationship between Australian politics and policy with
social work. Several of these texts were quite difficult to comprehend and some in the group
including myself started feeling so exasperated that we stopped reading.
Gibbs Cycle Stage 3: Evaluation of the Incident
Bruce Tuckman (1965) says that team formation and group activity are characterized by
four important stages. These are forming, storming, norming and performing. The norming stage
in particular is the stage when according to Tuckman (1965), “Ingroup feeling and cohesiveness
develop, new standards evolve, and new roles are adopted. In the task realm, intimate, personal
opinions are expressed”(Tuckman, 1965). This was the stage when things became autocratic as a
person appointed himself as facilitator and started deciding for himself what was going to be
read and what was not going to be read in order to arrive at an understanding of the relation
between social work and Australian public policy. What was good about this was that all of us
were made to engage in some serious scholarly reading for the coursework. What was bad was
that himself took it upon himself to decide what was going to be read and what was not, not
allowing others I the group to express their opinions as to what they would want to read.
Gibbs Cycle Stage 4: Analysis of the Incident

3REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
In my view, because of such autocratic behavior on the part of the facilitator, the
performance of the group was something that suffered quite severely (Folger et al., 2017). We
were not able to get our group assessment tasks completed in a timely manner. So I decided to
take a stand. As argued by Becker (2014), intervention assists in developing a, “just, democratic
and cohesive society”. Keeping this in mind, at the start of a group reading session one day, I
raised my hand and let the facilitator know that the texts he had selected for our reading were far
too difficult for the standards of many in the group and that many of them were not too relevant
to the topic either. As soon as I did so, several others put up their hands and expressed their
discontentment too. Once everyone had finished saying what they had to say, I suggested
arriving at a consensus on exactly which texts we ought to be reading and how quickly. A final
reading list as decided upon after taking in suggestions from other group members. During the
next group reading, everyone was able to take part in the group discussions. We were able to
execute an excellent group presentation for the final assessment and wrote good individual
research papers as well, all because of the collaborative effort that we put in to decide on relevant
and necessary texts and constructive group discussions (Kurtz, 2015).
Gibbs Cycle Stage 5: Conclusion
Thus, what I learnt from this group experience is that the democratic leadership style is
on that works the best. Group members must be encouraged to give their views and thoughts on
the group activity, their opinions need to be considered and work needs to be organized and
executed accordingly so that there is harmony in the group and the performance, an excellent
one.
Gibbs Cycle Stage 6: What I Would Do If the Situation Ever Arose Again

4REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
Given the opportunity again, in a similar situation, I would oppose autocratic leadership
like I did in this instance and fight for a democratic way of working. I truly believe that you
cannot get things done by imposing your views and opinions on others. As argued by Napoleon
Hill (2017), “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to
succeed” (Hill & Stone, 2017).
Incident 2
Another incident arose as a part of the same group activity when I realized that group
members were not on the same page regarding the relevance of social work organizations and
charities in influencing public policy. Here too, I facilitated the group discussion and activity in a
way that we decided on a common and final analysis and were able to present this analysis in
front of the entire class
Gibbs Cycle Stage 1: What Happened
A minor group dispute had arisen as a part of the same group activity, where, after
deciding on relevant texts for study and analyzing them thoroughly, there was a lack of
consensus as to whether social work organizations in Australian cities really were able to impact
public policy or not. With reference to the Tuckman Model (1965), the problem could now be
witnessed at the performing stage of the group activity. Some group members thought that
NGO’s had a strong influence on public policy while others were not convinced.
Gibbs Cycle Stage 2: How I Felt about the Incident
According to Corey et al. (2013), task facilitation group activity is useful as it helps in
achieving identified or common goals within a quick period of time, and in an efficient manner.

5REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
They argue that when group processes, principles and dynamics are applied to achieve identified
goals, these are accomplished in a quicker time frame. As specifically stated by Marianne Corey
(2013), “One of the great gifts of our profession is that the process of doing what we do allows
us to become better human beings” (Corey et al., 2015). So upon this incident taking place,
my immediate feeling was that I should help get the matter resolved through
collaborative effort, instead of allowing the dispute to continue.
Gibbs Cycle Stage 3: Evaluation of the Incident
What was good about the lack of consensus was that it created a climate of debate which
is always necessary if proper rigorous research work is to be carried out on a subject matter.
What was problematic about this lack of consensus was that it was keeping us group members
from taking the group activity in forward direction (Willis, 2017).
Gibbs Cycle Stage 4: Analysis
At the time this lack of consensus became evident during the group discussions, I knew
for myself what my view on the matter was. I could see from my readings and through other
secondary research done by me that NGO’s were indeed influencing public policy. Without
imposing my views, I decided to ask those who did not believe in a connection between
Australian public policy and the work of social organizations, why they thought so. Their
answers were not very convincing and in response to their answers, I gently made them refer to
many government reports on public policy where the objectives, aims and outcomes underlined
were those that were similar to the recommendations made by social service organizations in
Australia for the same (Lount Jr et al., 2014). Since the reports that I referred to were produced
by the government, their content could not be denied or questioned by other group members as it

6REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
was primary data that I was referring to. I carried out a small power point presentation for the
benefit of my group to make them understand this co-relation between Australian public policy
and the work of social service organizations. I referred to primary data like government reports
throughout the presentation and compared these to NGO recommendations, making them
understand fully that there was indeed such a correlation (Minahan, 2014).
Gibbs Cycle Stage 5: Conclusion
What I learnt from this particular group experience is that gathering evidence to support
your views in front of group members is very important (Corey et al., 2013). If you need to get
your point across to take group work forward, you should back up your point with data so that
group members are convinced of what you have to say and the goals and objectives of the group
work are accomplished without dispute.
Gibbs Cycle Stage 6: What Would I Do if the Situation Arises Again in Future
Matt Minahan (2013) says, “the needs of the one or few must be balanced against the
needs of the many, which might drive us to focus on group dynamics and process observation to
achieve the goals of the group and organization, without fixating on creating space for “onlys”
and other small groups at the expense of the needs of the whole” (Minahan, 2013). Similarly,
Brown (2017) states that, “the unique peer relationships aspect of the group setting creates a
whole range of potential benefits” (Brown, 2017). Hence, given the opportunity, I would repeat
this behavior in a similar situation. I strongly believe that views cannot be imposed and that if
something is to be said or suggested, it should be done so using concrete evidence to justify what
is being said or suggested. This will help in creating and sustaining a democratic working culture
in a group.

7REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
Thus, both the group work experiences that I went through reveal that working
democratically in a group by putting forward suggestions and recommendations instead of
imposing views and dictating to others, backing important arguments with evidence to convince
others of the same, are essential if group goals and aims are to be achieved successful and within
a stipulated time frame.

8REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
References
Becker, L. (2014). Working with groups. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 43(2).
Brown, A. (2017). Groupwork. Routledge
Corey, M. S., Corey, G., & Corey, C. (2013). Groups: Process and practice. Cengage Learning.
Folger, J., Poole, M. S., & Stutman, R. K. (2017). Working through conflict: Strategies for
relationships, groups, and organizations. Routledge
Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford. :
Further Education Unit - Oxford Polytechnic.
Hill, N., & Stone, W. C. (2017). Believe and Achieve. Jaico Publishing House.
Kurtz, L. F. (2015). Recovery groups: A guide to creating, leading, and working with groups for
addictions and mental health conditions. OUP Us.
Lount Jr, R. B., & Wilk, S. L. (2014). Working harder or hardly working? Posting performance
eliminates social loafing and promotes social laboring in workgroups. Management
Science, 60(5), 1098-1106.
Minahan, M. (2014). Working with groups in organizations. The NTL handbook of organization
development and change, 385-406.
Minahan, M., & Norlin, P. (2013). Edging Toward the Center. OD PRACTITIONER, 45(4)
Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological bulletin, 63(6),
384.

9REFLECTIVE ESSAY – WORKING IN GROUPS
Willis, P. (2017). Learning to labour: How working class kids get working class jobs. Routledge