Group Dynamics and Teamwork: Exploring Roles and Reflective Analysis

This report delves into the intricacies of group dynamics and teamwork, examining the various roles adopted within a group setting. It begins by defining a group and highlighting the influence of individual personalities on team contributions. The report then provides a detailed overview of the key roles in group dynamics, including the shaper, coordinator, plant, resource investigator, monitor evaluator, specialist, team worker, implementer, and completer-finisher, outlining their core competencies and potential drawbacks. The author provides a reflective account of their own strengths and weaknesses in teamwork, focusing on their tendency to prioritize the main objective, connect with others, and be creative. Furthermore, the report explores the importance of effective communication and conflict management within a team, emphasizing the use of assertive behavior techniques. The report concludes with a bibliography of relevant sources.

GROUP DYNAMICS and working in TEAMS 1
GROUP DYNAMICS and working in TEAMS
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GROUP DYNAMICS and working in TEAMS 2
GROUP DYNAMICS and working in TEAMS
Roles Adopted within a Group and they apply in Group Dynamics
A group is an assembly of people with a shared Characteristics and goal (Sapsed,
Bessant, Partington, Tranfield & Young 2002). In group dynamics, personality influences the
contribution of other people. Working in group sometimes becomes inevitable at some point in
time (Levi 2015).
The main in roles in group dynamics includes: Shaper, Coordinator, Plant, Resource
Investigator, Monitor Evaluator, Specialist, Team Worker, Implementer and Completer Finisher
(Belbin 2012). The group allocates these resources to individuals whose personal history and life
experience lies within the field. The group member applies their skills and knowledge, vision and
goals as well as their needs to contribute in the team.
The shaper is one of the most important roles in a dynamic group. According to Dublin
2012, a shaper is someone who shapes or make thing to work simultaneously. His role is to
provide the required energy to ensure that the team maintain focus. The shaper therefore
motivates the team and maintains their momentum (Belbin 2012). The shaper exhibits strong traits
in terms of his/her personal values and principles (Eubanks, Palanski, Olabisi, Joinson, & Dove
2016). Shapers unique features help them to be competent and professional in their approach.
Shapers core competence aid in tackling challenging and dynamics tasks (Forsyth 2018). The
shaper thrives under pressure and can perform better in stressful situations (Belbin 2012). These
factors can also be hazardous to the shaper since he can offend other feelings.
The coordinator is also an important role in a dynamic group. The coordinator allocates
all his/her energy in unifying the team to focus on the objectives and delegates work (Forsyth
2018). This helps the team to coordinate together as they work on their separate segments.

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Arguably, the coordinator can delegate all his work to other members leaving him with little
work.
The plants role is to add creativity and aid in problem solving. His/her core competence
includes creativity, imaginative and free-thinker (Belbin 2012). In this case, the person generates
essential ideas as they continue on their quest (Hofstede 2012). The plant may lose focus as they
try to create and bring different ideas (Forsyth 2018). Resource investigator is also important in a
dynamic group setting. The resource investigators core competence includes enthusiasm and
outgoing. The resource investigator explores an array of opportunities and develops connections
and contacts for the group (Vivona 2014). The resource investigator may be over optimistic
leading him/her to lose focus.
Monitor-evaluator is a crucial member in a group dynamic. His/her role is to offer a
logical eye into the groups goals (Forsyth 2018). The monitor-evaluator also makes impartial
judgements and weighs up their team options (Morabito 2002). The specialist is also one of the
significant whose role is to provide in-depth knowledge and understanding of key areas (Ishkov
& Leontiev 2015). The specialist’s core competences include dedication, self-starting and single-
minded (Ishkov & Leontiev 2015). The specialist tends to focus on a specific element hence
ignoring the supplementary factors.
The team workers role in a group dynamic is to help the team to bond and identifying the
number of workers required. The team worker ensures that work is completed even without
participation of decision makers on mechanical matters. The key competence of a team worker
includes perception, cooperation, and diplomacy (Eubanks, Palanski, Olabisi, Joinson, & Dove
2016). The implementer a crucial member in a group and their role is to plan a practicable
strategy (Forsyth 2018). The implementer’s strengths include reliability, efficiency and

GROUP DYNAMICS and working in TEAMS 4
practicability. The member generates actions from ideas and organizes the work. The
implementer is sites to be inflexible and poor response to new opportunities.
Completer-finisher is considered to be among the most important member in a group.
He/she is used at the end of the project to polish and scrutinize the work (Levi 2015). In this
case, the individuals fix errors and improve the project to the highest standard of quality
(Eubanks, Palanski, Olabisi, Joinson, & Dove 2016). The completer-finisher core competence
includes conscientiousness, painstaking and anxiousness (Levi 2015). The completer-finisher
might be reluctant to delegate hence hindering productivity.
Reflective Account My Strengths and Weakness in Relation to Teamwork
Working in teams I realized that I tend to focus on the main objective of the project. In
this case, this helps me to maintain focus as I tackle the project. This however limits my focus on
the bigger picture as I focus on specific issue. I also find myself interested in connecting people
to work as one unit. This also has its limitation in terms of frustration. I always find it hard to
work with uncooperative mates hence causing me to lack interest in proceeding with the project.
I also realized that when working in a group, I tend to be as creative as possible and imagine
different designs to approach the project. I am also always determined to motivate others so that
we can reach deadlines expectations. This however becomes frustrating when the mates become
less interested with the project.
Communicating with others and Conflict Management
Communication is essential. My personal experience demonstrated that coordination and
productivity relies on a positively charged communication system. In this respect, I tend to be
specific when communicating with other. This aids to convey massage clearly and easily. In case

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of a conflict, I tend to apply negotiation as a means to delegate the issue. This works since every
person presents their own knowledge, experience and emotion.
Apply assertive Behaviour Technique
Applying assertive technique is the best means of communication. In my case, I always
analyse and learn from enquiries. When the other member praise and agree with my idea I
usually ask the reason behind their complement. For example, when I was asked “You made an
excellent presentation tonight, it was encouraging”. My response was “Thanks. It was good.
What did you like in particular?” In this way, I will have ascertained that the presentation was
good but will also understand what made it good.

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Bibliography
Belbin, R.M., 2012. Team roles at work. Routledge.
Eubanks, D.L., Palanski, M., Olabisi, J., Joinson, A. and Dove, J., 2016. Team dynamics in
virtual, partially distributed teams: Optimal role fulfillment. Computers in human
behavior, 61, pp.556-568.
Forsyth, D.R., 2018. Group dynamics. Cengage Learning.
Hofstede, G.H., 2012. The game of budget control. Routledge.
Ishkov, A. and Leontiev, M., 2015. Interactive teaching methods in small groups of bachelors
and construction specialists. Procedia Engineering, 117, pp.142-147.
Levi, D., 2015. Group dynamics for teams. Sage Publications.
Morabito, S.M., 2002. Evaluator roles and strategies for expanding evaluation process influence.
American Journal of Evaluation, 23(3), pp.321-330.
Sapsed, J., Bessant, J., Partington, D., Tranfield, D. and Young, M., 2002. Teamworking and
knowledge management: a review of converging themes. International journal of
management reviews, 4(1), pp.71-85.
Vivona, B.D., 2014. Humor functions within crime scene investigations: Group dynamics, stress,
and the negotiation of emotions. Police Quarterly, 17(2), pp.127-149.