Team Performance Assessment for Engineering Communication and Leadership Course

This report describes the methods and procedures adopted for the completion of assignment 1 for Engineering Communication and Leadership Course. It outlines leader-follower correspondence, problem-solving behaviour, communication and planning skills of the team. The report concludes on the fact that a leader’s democratic behaviour can improve team participation, trust, team-spirit and confidence of the team members.

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Please complete all sections below
Course Code: 7002 ENG
Course Name: Engineering Communication and Leadership
Due Date: 04/10/2018 Assessment Item #: 2
Course Tutor/Convenor: Prof. Ljubo Vlacic
Group Assignment Participants:
Student Number: S5119424 Student Name: Harris Ahmad
Student Number: S5129415 Student Name: Saiprasad Reddy Puli
Student Number: S5146489 Student Name: Rohit Chandra Kurapati
Student Number: S5152959 Student Name: Ravi Kumar Chintakuntla
Student Number: Student Name:
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GROUP ASSESSMENT
COVER SHEET
DATE RECEIVED:

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Acknowledged by: Harris Ahmad , Saiprasad Reddy Puli, Rohit Chandra Kurapati, Ravi Kumar Chintakuntla Date: 22/09/2018
(insert name here)
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Griffith University collects, stores and uses personal information for administrative purposes only. The information collected is confidential and will not be disclosed to third
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Acknowledged by: Harris Ahmad , Saiprasad Reddy Puli, Rohit Chandra Kurapati, Ravi Kumar Chintakuntla Date: 22/09/2018
(insert name here)
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7002ENG
Engineering Communication and Leadership
Course Convener: Prof. Ljubo Vlacic
Assignment # 2
Team Performance Assessment
Team Details: Team No. 47 (Online)
Group Leader: Harris Ahmad (S5119424)
Team Members: Saiprasad Reddy Puli (S5129415)
Rohit Chandra Kurapati (S5146489)
Ravi Kumar Chintakuntla (S5152959)

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................ 1
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................ 2
Ease of Formation ............................................................................................................................... 2
Comprehensiveness of Team Competencies ...................................................................................... 2
Leader and Follower Effectiveness ..................................................................................................... 3
Quality of Collaboration ....................................................................................................................... 3
Team Planning and Productivity .......................................................................................................... 3
Problem Solving .................................................................................................................................. 6
Usefulness of the Leadership Theories and Course Guidance ............................................................ 6

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Executive Summary
This report describes the methods and procedures adopted for the completion of assignment 1. A path
was made in order to achieve the desired objective. In this path, each member was assigned a
specific portion, at the end which, compilation of final document was done in the team meeting with
mutual suggestions and proposals keeping in view the course content and leanings. This report mainly
outlines leader-follower correspondence, problem-solving behaviour, communication and planning
skills of the team. The outcomes of this team work resulted in improving skills and unity consequently
achieving the objective. The report concludes on the fact that a leader’s democratic behaviour can
improve team participation, trust, team-spirit and confidence of the team members. It has been
observed during the course of assignment 1 that supportive behaviour of the team leader and
compliant behaviour of team members is very necessary to increase the morale and confidence within
a working group.
Ease of Formation
A team which has right mix of skills and expertise is more likely to achieve its objective in comparison
with a team which has disorderly plans and irregular schedules. We found that we had right abilities,
composing skills, communication and critical thinking which were required to accomplish assignment
1. Our first team meeting held on Wednesday 1 st August 2018 at Griffith University, Nathan Campus. It
was our first stage, in which we had discussion about our responsibilities in the group and the target
we needed to achieve to finish the assignment 1. In this meeting we also selected leader depending
upon previous leadership experience, traits, communication and problem-solving techniques.
Mr Harris Ahmad was selected as group leader because he had previous led his bachelor’s final year
design thesis group. The selection of the leader was contested keeping in view the Big Five Model. He
has good communication skills, knows how to do effective literature review and tackle problems. Other
members had a little leadership interest, so they opted to be the followers. Ratan Tata was the leader
that was assigned to the group for assignment 1. Finally, tasks were assigned with a philosophy of
best person for the best job in a democratic way.
Comprehensiveness of Team Competencies
Planning and organizing the literature is the most important part while writing a report, therefore, all
the parts of the assignment were divided into the team members. However, parts like leadership traits,
styles and theories were to be of high importance with respect to learning point of view were decided
to discuss jointly in the team meeting. Once every member completed its respective part, we decided
to hold a meeting for a joint discussion, the purpose was to observe management and leadership style
of the assigned leader, and we found Ratan Tata to be a highly capable leader, good planner and an
excellent organizer. We tried to follow the footsteps of our assigned leader while doing assignment 1.
A speaker that has good communication qualities lets his/her audience to fully understand the
message of the conversation. We observed that Ratan Tata has some exceptional communication

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qualities and he knew how to instruct his sub-ordinates in the most comprehensive way. Big five
model was chosen for the study of leadership traits and management styles acted upon by Ratan
Tata. The purpose of choosing big five model was the reason of it being covering most of the qualities
a good leader has to offer. All the five factors of big five model was discussed mutually with in the
team and were written in assignment.
The discussion sessions were epitome of togetherness of the team, as we discussed the contingency
leadership theories and how could these theories be utilized while comparing the leadership of Ratan
Tata.
Leader and Follower Effectiveness
For achieving high end results and quality in the assignment, Robert House’s Path-Goal leadership
model was acted upon to study the behavioural theory traits which focuses on what a leader does and
says. However, Max Weber’s conceptualization of charisma was decided to be included in the
assignment because all the members agreeing on the fact that Ratan Tata possesses a very
charismatic personality. Warren Bennis and Bert Nanus Transformational leadership model was also
used which focuses on four I’s (Idealized Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation
and Individual Consideration). In the due course of assignment 1, Lussier and Achua’s book
“Leadership-Theory, Application, & Skill Development” was consulted. Apart from the book we also
consulted leadership models from the “Leaders: The strategies for taking charge”, by Warren Bennis
and Burt Nanus. Leaders overpowered members in some matters during the assignment but most of
the matters were discussed mutually in a democratic way. Use of democratic style and mutual
discussion boosted the morale of team members and we all became highly motivated for studying and
having mutual conversation on the leadership theories and models.
Quality of Collaboration
We as a team opted for a participative style for assignment 1, before the start of the task, a minute
meeting was scheduled in the university and a timeline was decided to complete the task.
Implementation of Behavioral theory on Ratan Tata’s leadership style, Big Five model, Max Weber’s
leadership model and Bennis & Nanus transformational leadership model were the main focus of the
assignment, so prior to attempting these parts we had a discussion about it. While doing assignment 1
as a team, we tried to avoid conflict and on one or two occasions a conflict arose, we resolved it with
discussion on its merits and demerits. Every member’s opinion was welcomed in the group.
Team Planning and Productivity
In our first meeting, all the parts as per described in the assignment 1 guidelines were divided and
assigned to the team members. In our second meeting the parts were more refined, and some
additions were made. While attempting the assigned part, every member received and sent feedback
from the leader and other team members for betterment. After the completion of each part, we held a

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meeting and group leader was assigned to compile the final document. However, strengths and
weaknesses of the assigned leader and lessons that we learned while doing assignment 1 were
attempted after a mutual discussion session. This king of participative style surely increased the
quality of report and transformed it into a more refined form. The following table shows the parts
assigned to each member and date of the objective achieved.
Following is the timeline of meetings held during the course of assignment 1.
Meeting Topic of
Discussion Venue Time Date
Minute Meeting # 1
Team Dynamics
and Introduction.
Discussion over
team
competencies
and design of
assignment.
Task distribution.
Library, Nathan
Campus, Griffith
University.
4:00 PM-7:00 PM 1st August 2018.
Minute Meeting # 2 Discussion over Library, Nathan 4:30 PM-6:00 PM 8th August 2018.
Task Assigned Team Member Date Accomplished
Executive Summary
Saiprasad 12th August 2018.
Introduction
Why Ratan Tata?
Background
Earlier Development
Major Achievements
Leadership Qualities and Approaches
Ravi, Saiprasad, Harris 16th August 2018.Five Factor Model (Big Five)
Behavior Theory
Max Weber’s Leadership Model
Rohit, Ravi, Saiprasad 19th August 2018.Bennis and Nanus Transformational Leadership
Model
Ratan Tata as Leader and Manager Harris 21st August 2018.
Strengths and Weaknesses Saiprasad, Ravi, Rohit,
Harris 25th August 2018.Lesson Learned
Conclusion
Compilation and Formatting of the Final
Document Harris 1st September 2018.
Submission of Assignment 1 Harris 12th September
2018.

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difficulties and
problems in
literature review
for the
assignment and
possible
solutions
Campus, Griffith
University.
Minute Meeting # 3
Discussion over
difficulties and
problems in
literature review
for the
assignment and
possible
solutions
Library, Nathan
Campus, Griffith
University.
5:00 PM-7:00 PM 15th August 2018.
Minute Meeting # 3
Task
accomplished by
each team
member. Files
Exchanged for
individual study
to meet the
assignment 1
requirement in
line with course
content.
N.76, Campus
Heart, Nathan
Campus, Griffith
University.
22nd August 2018.
Minute Meeting # 4
Discussion for
improvement.
Points raised by
team members
for enhancing the
quality and
refinement of the
report. Points
taken regarding
strengths and
weaknesses and
lesson learned
Library, Nathan
Campus, Griffith
University.
25th August 2018.
Minute Meeting # 5 Finalizing the
assignment 1
Library, Nathan
Campus, Griffith
3rd September
2018.

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University.
Minute Meeting # 5 Presentation
At the home of Mr.
Saiprasad Reddy
Puli
13th September
2018.
Problem Solving
After completing the individual task, the first difficulty was faced while discussion sessions, relating the
course content to the literature of the assignment. Group leader kept all the team leaders motivated
during this time and instructed to study leadership styles and behaviours from the course content and
try to integrate it with the assignment’s literature. After certain discussion and readings we were able
to overcome this problem grabbing the keen essence of the course content. Afterwards, during the
refining process of parts like introduction and leadership qualities & approaches, we applied same
solving technique. The other problem was about Harvard style referencing faced by group leader
during formatting and compilation as he was having his first trimester of studies at Griffith University,
so all the team members joined and GU referencing tool was sought after to tackle this problem in a
learning environment.
Usefulness of the Leadership Theories and Course Guidance
With the individual studies and mutual discussion on the key points of leadership theories, we became
aware of skills and abilities that an engineering leader is required to have in engineering profession.
Among the group, we acted upon the participative leadership style which enhanced our
communication abilities and ability to work in a team together. Problem-solving through different
proposed ideas in a team is also a learning that we learned. On many occasions a situation arose
when one person is unable to find a solution for a problem and another person from the team came up
with a viable solution. With the course content of Engineering Communication and Leadership, we are
able to observe different behaviours and leadership styles of leaders and managers. Moreover, the
course content and leadership theories have enabled us to observe the key points and qualities of a
good leader. The leadership theories and models describe the key elements of a successful leader.
The explanation of every attribute of a good manager or a successful leader were key learning
outcomes of this course. As far as a follower is concerned, letting go the egoistic and self-centred
behaviour is really helpful. A follower must follow and a leader must lead bravely and democratically.
Thought of working for the betterment of the organization as their life depend on it, makes followers
work at their fullest and follow orders.