Critical Reflection on Team Dynamics in MANM4000 Management Course

This report provides a critical reflection on team dynamics, individual roles, and performance improvement strategies within the context of a team PechaKucha presentation for the MANM4000 Introduction to Management course. The reflection covers the team's dynamics, drawing parallels to the Optimal Distinctiveness Theory, and discusses the intra-team dynamics, including communication, trust, and empowerment. It identifies the role of the author as a 'Completer-Finisher' and evaluates its impact on the team's performance, acknowledging both strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the report suggests strategies for enhancing team performance in future projects, such as conducting a Team Performance Diagnostic, leveraging individual strengths, promoting parallel decision-making, setting communication expectations, and establishing a feedback process. The analysis is supported by academic literature, referencing various studies on team dynamics, leadership, and performance management.

Student’s Last Name 1
Introduction to Management
By (Name)
Course
Professor
University
Date

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Introduction
Technology, as well as other effects associated with globalization, has made the society
more complex. As such, there has been an increase in the need of working in teams with the
focus being to solve issues and concerns at the workplace, and at school equally. In the past
weeks, my team members and I have been working on team PechaKucha presentation. Teams are
generally formed to achieve specific purposes. Generally, a team is formed to achieve a goal. It
is worth noting that working in teams alters productively every member’s performance towards
the attainment of the common goal. When my class was assigned the task to prepare the
PechaKucha presentation, the tutor advised us to get into teams made of members from different
backgrounds. Over the course of this reflection, I will demonstrate my team dynamic, the role I
played as well as how performance could be improved in my team.
Team Dynamic
My team’s dynamic was pretty simple. The role of each team member was selected from
the first day the team was formed. With one of us being the team leader, we voted and fairly
agreed on our roles, and specifically planned what our priorities were both as a team and to
personally become successful in our class. With this understanding, it was easy to divide tasks
and reduce conflict. As we progressed with our course, I observed that my team could be
associated with the Optimal Distinctiveness Theory which is of the opinion that people tend to
have a desire of being like others (Zhao, Fisher, Lounsbury and Miller, 2017, pp.197). I associate
my team to this theory due to the fact that my class had one primary goal which was to excel and
attain grade A. To ensure that process was smoother, we used WhatsApp as a tool that would
enhance our cohesion.

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My team was composed of inter-team and intra-team dynamics. My team’s intra-team
dynamics comprised of several elements such as full participation, open communication,
empowerment, support, feedback, and trust (Warner, Bowers and Dixon, 2012, pp.55). However,
in the beginning, during the formation stage, trust was low since the team members had not
interacted and got to know each other. Also, the team members had never worked together
before, making the interdependency and dependency levels to be very low. In spite of this
strange atmosphere, my team was open to learning, willing to fully participate, and had an
interest in doing anything possible to ensure the project was a success (Georgiadis, 2014,
pp.192). As my team members began trusting each other, we began authorizing ourselves to take
responsibility to accomplish our tasks. As such, this empowerment resulted in increased
interdependency and an enhanced sense of team identity along with accomplishment.
However, I did not seem to recognize a high-degree of inter-dynamics in my team. Some
of my team members kept reporting about how other teams were tackling their projects. Because
our project was quite dissimilar from what other teams were doing, this resulted in hesitancy in
our team. In spite, we were able to continue with the plan that we had earlier formulated of
preparing our presentation (Baggetta, Han and Andrews, 2013, pp.560). There was also no
noticeable over competition or negative attitude towards other groups. Although there was no
evidence of explicit competition, the mere presence of other teams in our class was an underlying
motivation for my team to enhance its efforts to get better grades.
The Role I Played
Every team member had a different role to play in making sure that our project was a
success. Belbin’s team role notes that a high-performing team ensures that there are clear

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responsibilities assigned to every team member (Batenburg, van Walbeek and in der Maur, 2013,
pp.907). Belbin’s team role theory identifies nine roles linked to teams. The ‘Shaper’ challenges
the team to enhance its performance. A person assigned this role is dynamic and extroverted
enjoys stimulating the team members, identifying the best-fit approaches to solve an issue and
questions norms. The ‘Implementer’ makes sure that things are done by turning the team’s ideas
into actionable plans. ‘Completer-Finishers’ make sure that projects are completely finished.
Other team roles include coordinator, plant, resource investigator, monitor-evaluator, team
worker and specialist.
My role was very critical to the success of our project. I was the completer-finisher and I
was entitled to ensure that the project was completed as per the schedule and make sure that the
team’s performance was improved to attain quality (Senaratne and Gunawardane, 2015, pp.16).
Completer finishers are described to be orderly, detail, painstaking, and conscientious
individuals. This groups of people have got increased capacity for following through tasks and
they do not start things they believe they cannot finish. The primary role of a completer-finisher
is to make sure that the team efforts are almost as perfect as possible and makes sure that there is
nothing which is overlooked (Ruch, Gander, Platt and Hofmann, 2018, pp.194). Owing to these
characteristics, I would always remain attentive and closely monitor what my team members
were doing to make sure that the project was completed as per the scheduled timetable and
ensure that all requirements were met. Demonstrating efficiency in my role, I was able to ensure
that my team’s objectives were accomplished and standardized. However, I have to admit that I
am easily irritable and unduly and this in a way brought tension among the team members
because it affected their emotions, thus derailing work efficiency. For example, one of the team
members did not accomplish her task on time and I considered it an irresponsible act that made

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me fussed. At this instance, I acknowledged that it was not easy working in a team because you
have to deal with all team members who come from different backgrounds and with varying
opinions.
How to Improve Performance
The first step is to know the baseline. Perform a Team Performance Diagnostic that will
identify the team strengths and weaknesses. Then, with the help of a team coach, build a
comprehensive action plan that will help the team grow and improve. It is also important to make
sure that the team coach is engaged for regular coaching sessions after the start of the progress to
help the team adopt the change and internalize new behaviors (Santos, Caetano and Tavares,
2015, pp.472). I will strongly suggest that members take up Clifton's Strengths Finder test to
help make this exercise even more fruitful. It is a good investment to make. By understanding
each member's strengths, we are able to delegate tasks more efficiently. This will also be
beneficial in finding out the real underlying cause of the team’s problems. Focusing on strengths
doubles productivity as it makes members happy and satisfied by doing what seems most natural
to them. Parallel decision-making provides an excellent way to improve team performance.
Parallel decision-making significantly increases the quality of team critical thinking and decision
accuracy. Parallel decision levels are easy to use and easy to understand (Cox and Bobrowski,
2016, pp.789). They come with relevant identified skills for each level.
The other strategy that can be used to improve my team performance is setting
communication expectations. Communication is among the many factors which affect the
performance of a team. Lack of effective communication results in failure. Communication is
important because it would assist my team members to understand the responsibilities assigned

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to them. If a communication gap does exist in my team, it is likely to result in multiple
confusions, which basically affects the team’s overall performance. Also, ensuring that my team
operates in a conducive work environment is effective in enhancing performance. The
environment adversely affects the productivity of a team because it impacts on how the team
members feel, thinks as well as perform. Giving each other feedback would also enhance the
performance of my team (Sunindijo, 2015, pp.69). There exists no hope of increasing the
efficiency of the team if the team members are not made aware that they are inefficient in the
first place. Hence, establishing a feedback process in the team would be the very first step in
boosting the team’s performance. Performance reviews and constructive feedback are some of
the tools applied in most organizations to boost productivity but they could also be used in the
case of my team to improve performance.
Conclusion
The increase in the need for teamwork has been necessitated by technology and
globalization with the focus being to solve issues and concerns at the workplaces and even in
schools to carry out projects. My team intra-team dynamics comprised of several elements such
as full participation, open communication, empowerment, support, feedback, and trust. An
effective team makes sure that there are clear responsibilities assigned to every team member.
Belbin’s Team Role identifies nine basic roles of a group. I played the role of a completer
finisher and it was my duty to make sure that the project was completed as per the schedule and
ensure that the team’s performance was improved to attain quality. Improving my team’s
performance for future projects would require identifying the team strengths and weaknesses,
setting communication expectations, along with establishing a feedback process.

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Bibliography
Baggetta, M., Han, H. and Andrews, K.T., 2013. Leading associations: How individual
characteristics and team dynamics generate committed leaders. American Sociological
Review, 78(4), pp.544-573.
Batenburg, R., van Walbeek, W. and in der Maur, W., 2013. Belbin role diversity and team
performance: is there a relationship?. Journal of Management Development, 32(8), pp.901-913.
Cox, P.L. and Bobrowski, P.E., 2016. The team charter assignment: Improving the effectiveness
of classroom teams. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 1(2), p.789.
Georgiadis, G., 2014. Projects and team dynamics. The Review of Economic Studies, 82(1),
pp.187-218.
Ruch, W., Gander, F., Platt, T. and Hofmann, J., 2018. Team roles: Their relationships to
character strengths and job satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(2), pp.190-199.
Santos, J.P., Caetano, A. and Tavares, S.M., 2015. Is training leaders in functional leadership a
useful tool for improving the performance of leadership functions and team effectiveness?. The
Leadership Quarterly, 26(3), pp.470-484.
Senaratne, S. and Gunawardane, S., 2015. Application of team role theory to construction design
teams. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 11(1), pp.1-20.
Sunindijo, R.Y., 2015. Project manager skills for improving project performance. International
Journal of Business Performance Management, 16(1), pp.67-83.

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Warner, S., Bowers, M.T. and Dixon, M.A., 2012. Team dynamics: A social network
perspective. Journal of Sport Management, 26(1), pp.53-66.
Zhao, E.Y., Fisher, G., Lounsbury, M. and Miller, D., 2017. Optimal distinctiveness: Broadening
the interface between institutional theory and strategic management. Strategic Management
Journal, 38(1), pp.93-113.