Reflecting on Teamwork Assignment: An Analysis of Organisational Behaviour Theory

This research essay reflects on the author's personal experience of working in a team for an assignment and critically analyses it using organisational behaviour theory. The essay discusses the challenges faced, communication gaps, and the importance of effective team building and leadership. The essay draws upon various OB theory perspectives that were applicable in the author's case.

Student Name
Institutional Affiliation(S)
Working with others
Research Essay

P a g e | 1
Research essay reflecting on my teamwork assignment
An organisation can be defined as group of individuals who work combinedly to
achieve a common desired goal. Organisational behaviour refers to the set of attitude and
action of individuals in the group. According to Dailey (2012), the grounds of organisational
behaviour (OB) covers knowledge derived from actions and attitudes that helps managers
understand complexity within organisations to determine best ways that could rectify the
issue and establish necessary changes that can make imperative transformation. Team
building is another popular concept of OD technique that attempts to unite individuals to
work together and make plans regarding how the desired objective can be accomplished in
effective way (Kumar, et al., 2014). This research essay will critically analyse my team
working experience while drawing upon OB theory to analyse effectiveness shown in my
team work while working on a group assignment.
The group that was formed to complete an assignment comprised of four members
including myself. On very initial stages of team formation, I divided our work equally among
four members where they readily agreed upon this idea. I found myself adapting towards
leadership style while contributing various skills required for the assignment. I was able to
amend my directive leadership style to accommodate myself as well as others into the group
work and lead more supportive rather than directive leadership like situational leadership
model in OB theory (McCleskey, 2014). According to Prabhakar (2008), it is significant to
adjust our leadership style depending upon skills displayed by every individual present in the
group or teams. Efficient leader will always bring teams together to accomplish desired goals
by implementing process of skills and OB application to create a compact group relationship
for a team work.

P a g e | 2
During the entire journey of group assignment, we faced several challenges not only
due to diversity in ideas and resolutions but majorly because one of our group members
didn’t responded to my emails and failed in providing required efforts for the assignment.
One of the prime characteristics of OB theory is that it encompasses interrelationships among
people (Kondalkar, 2007). Similarly, communication is very important aspect that determines
effectiveness in a group work where each member of the group needs to be connected with
each other via formal or informal communication. Failing to adhere the same, deviation from
the primary objective can even bring a halt to work (Akindele, 2012). Since, no proper
communication standards were followed by our fourth member, the effective communication
within our group faced issues for which we decided to work further while discontinuing to
work with him.
Attribution theory in OB was introduced by Fritz Heider in the year 1950 that
explains how we critic on people diversely according to the meaning we point to a given
behaviour (Dailey, 2012). In other words, this theory suggests that during the times we
observe individual behaviour, we try and determine its internal and external reasons.
Internally caused behavioural attitude are believed to be under self-control of individuals
whereas externally caused behaviour are forced in the individual due to situation.
Nevertheless, both the causes can further depend upon three factors; consensus,
distinctiveness and consistency. If any member or any individual makes mistake in their
attribution or perception, they are judged by others due to their own mistakes (Kondalkar,
2007). Since, our fourth member did not justify with any of the three factors, he can be
judged due to his own mistake for not fulfilling his commitment.
According to Ghosh & Swamy (2014), “The term commitment means engagement or
involvement that restricts freedom of action” (p. 04). Organisational commitment (OC) of OB
theory has outstanding dimension in studies related to OB theory as its findings endorses

P a g e | 3
relationship among OB between people. Recent study to OC shows three-dimensional style
that categorises commitment to three different levels; normative, affective and continuance
commitment. OC research have contributed immensely while developing OB theory where it
has evolved several concepts categorised into theories by researchers. For example, Porter’s
Affective Dependence theory, Cohen’s Two Dimension theory and Somer’s Combined
theory. Every theory explained the concept of OB on strong basis that presented OC status
(Ghosh & Swamy, 2014).
Organisational commitment, therefore, demands presence of three components among
individual members in groups namely participation, strong acceptance and loyalty. During
the initial stages of group assignment, our fourth member agreed to take equal responsibility
in our group assignment and thus showed strong acceptance in his character. However,
participation and loyalty factors remained missing in him as he showed no efforts from his
side even in replying to my sent emails. According to Fapohunda (2013), commitment proves
an alternative to construct and predict work intentions. It is also considered an instrument that
makes other believe about one’s strong acceptance for following team objectives and
responsibility along with showing willingness to exert considerable effort for task fulfilment
with loyalty. However, only three of us showed OC towards our group assignment and were
able to complete the work without fourth member.
My group did not face much challenge in its initial stages as we all agreed upon a
common decision made by me to split our work among four members including me.
According to my experience, I played my best while delegating the work equally and made
way in which all the group members could participate equally in group assignment work. My
group could have worked more efficiently if our fourth member have supported from the
beginning till the end of the assignment. According to present literature, group conflicts
brings upon a situation that cannot be separated from individual’s nature. Therefore, it is very

P a g e | 4
significant for the group members to respond and communicate effectively so that conflicts of
any kind are avoided ( Kaifi & Noori , 2011). It can also be said that group efficiency while
performing a work in group shows more as compared to work performed by a single person.
Greater number of people increases work efficiency as the task is distributed among greater
number of people.
An effective team work proves significant for task completion in effective manner
along with enhancing overall performance of group members. In my group, every member
performed in effective way, except one member, however, we were able to complete our
work by giving our best. Challenges related to OB and communicational gaps along with
showing unresponsive attitude and lesser attribution in one of our members helped me in
gaining profound knowledge of OB and its importance in a group work. The above essay
reflects on my personal evaluation while working with others in a group assignment that have
been presented in the form of a research essay showing various OB theory perspectives that
were applicable in my case.

P a g e | 5
References
Akindele, D. O., 2012. Enhancing Teamwork and Communication Skills Among First Year
Students at the University of Botswana. TESOL Journal, 06(01), pp. 2-15.
Dailey, R., 2012. Organisational Behaviour. s.l.:Edinburgh Business School .
Fapohunda, T. M., 2013. Towards Effective Team Building in the Workplace. International
Journal of Education and Research , pp. 1-12.
Ghosh, S. & Swamy, D. R., 2014. A Literature Review on Organizational Commitment – A
Comprehensive Summary. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, 04(12),
pp. 01-14.
Kaifi , B. A. & Noori , S. A., 2011. Organizational Behavior: A Study on Managers,
Employees, and Teams. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 12(01), pp. 88-97.
Kondalkar, V., 2007. Organizational Behaviour. s.l.:New Age International.
Kumar, S., Deshmukh, V. & Adish, V. S., 2014. Building and Leading Teams. Indian
Journal of Community Medicine, 39(04), pp. 208-213.
McCleskey, J. A., 2014. Situational, Transformational, and Transactional Leadership and
Leadership Development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 05(04), pp. 117-130.
Prabhakar, G. P., 2008. Teams and Projects: A Literature Review. International Journal of
Business and Management, 03(10), pp. 3-7.