4R's Reflection: Analysis of Group Work and Leadership Skills

This report provides a 4R's reflection, analyzing the student's experience with group work and leadership within the context of an academic assignment. The reflection employs the 4R's model (Reporting, Relating, Reasoning, and Reconstructing) to evaluate the student's performance, individual contributions, and the dynamics of teamwork. The assignment involved designing a governance structure and capability map for an organization, requiring collaboration, task distribution, and individual accountability. The report discusses leadership strategies, group dynamics, and the benefits of dividing tasks, along with the use of SWOT analysis for self-assessment. It highlights the importance of clear goals, effective communication, and adapting to group dynamics for successful teamwork and learning. The report also draws on relevant academic literature to support its analysis and conclusions.

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4R’s Reflection
Student’s Name
University
Date
Instructor

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4R’s Reflection
The 4R’s model of reflection is a way of reflecting and analyzing one’s experience in
academic work. This entails reporting, relating, reasoning and reconstructing which form the
elements of future practice (Carrington & G. Selva 2010, p. 46). Through reflection, the student
can analyze performance as a way of appraising personal skills and proposing solutions under
reconstruction that can be used to form learning outcomes.
Reporting
Group work entails working together with other students to perform different tasks with
the help of other students. The focus of assignment one was to design a governance structure of
the organization by creating a capability map at two levels that reflects all the functions of Blue
Parcel. This task required students to use their enterprise architecture to develop a business
architecture of the organization. The tasks in this group entailed working as a team and as an
individual. Teamwork entails putting heads together to assess the nature of the tasks that are to
be done to determine how this will be distributed among others. This means that tasks are
supposed to be carried out by involving all group members while at the same time ensuring that
each student works on individual tasks. The tasks were broken down in small chunks with each
member being given the responsibility to work on a single task and then present to the group
members. This process allowed members to work individually and use the input of others to
refine the final task that was to be used in the presentation.
Group success is based on the ability of the team to have a leader who is in charge of the
whole group and coordinates the activities to ensure that the required objectives are achieved.
Like any other activity, the group must have a structure of leadership that defines the way tasks
are distributed to group members. The leader has to ensure that there is equal distribution of

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tasks to group members, indicators of assessment are set and the timeline for the delivery of the
task are defined (Zoltan & Vancea 2015, p. 96). This allows other group members to work well
with others and group dynamics are reduced. Tasks were done at the individual level and
presented to the members in a focused group discussion who added their input before the task
was accepted as part of the group presentation. Through the focused group discussion,
contentious issues were identified and discussed in detailed to reach consensus.
Relating
The meaning of group work is to bring members together and build on the power of
teamwork which is achieved through sharing and distribution of tasks within group members. To
survive well in group work, (Kocak, Bozan, & Iúık (2019, p. 2364) suggests leadership is an
important part of the group since it entails coordination the group members and putting measures
in place to increase group participation. I was charged with the responsibility of leading the
group through ensuring that the group members work well with others. Salas, Shuffler, Thayer,
& BEDWELL (2014, p. 5) suggests that the role of a leader in group situations is to coordinate
the members and ensure that the objectives of the task at hand are achieved. As a leader, I was
charged with the role of coordinating the team and ensuring that each member actively
participates in the task. Good leadership also develops group bonds through increased cohesion
between members and sharing of tasks which enhances learning. Leaders have to also develop
strategies for dealing with group hostility and group contagion which arise when there is
increased dynamics and the inability of the team members to work together.
Manzoor, HafizUllah, & Ahmad (2011) suggests that the distribution of tasks within
group members is used to build personal and group abilities. This is seen as a process of
nurturing individual and group attributes through learning from others when carrying out tasks.

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When tasks are distributed within group members, the benefit of division of labor and
specialization is achieved in this process due to increase time, concentration and effort that each
of the group members puts in the group. This means that the individual strives to achieve the best
quality which improves personal research and presentation skills, while the focused group
discussion is used to bring members together and allow them to listen to the presentation of the
members and appraise the content that has been presented. This builds the group work skills
especially in listening and note-taking since the members have to listen to the presentation of
others and make inferences which the members have to criticize or add comments on the
presentation before it can be accepted as a final submission for the group.
Reasoning
The success of the group exercise was based on the ability for the members to work
together in accomplishing the task and creating an environment that allows the team members to
learn from each other. Teamwork and group work entails developing individual capabilities and
utilizing the efficiency of working with groups. Sanyal & Hisam (2018, p. 17) argue that
teamwork and group work increase functioning through sharing of tasks which reduces the
strength and effort required on an individual. This, in turn, increases efficiency within group
members by assigning manageable tasks to other members. As a leader, I was charged with the
responsibility of leading the group and at the same time working on the organizational map to
develop the roles and responsibilities of each member and ensure that there is adequate learning
of the members from each other.
The strength of group work in the classroom is the ability to break down difficult tasks
into smaller tasks that can be easily done by students. The nature of the task that was being
handled was difficult, complex and detailed which could have taken more time for a single

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student to work on the whole task. This implies that group work increases efficiency by allowing
students to specialize in specific tasks where they feel that their strength lies. Easy tasks were
distributed among each group member while difficult tasks were approached through
brainstorming and focused group discussions. For example, the capability map was the most
difficult task and the only way that we could have dealt with this task is to brainstorm through
focused group discussions to determine the best way for approaching the task.
In normal settings, group dynamics exists since the members must go through all the
group stages before they can effectively work together. This was also seen in this case which
required the team members to accommodate the differences and the challenges that others possed
in the course of the group work. Group dynamics are important since they create an environment
for the students to learn and understand the issues that revolve within the group when working
with other members. Toseland, Jones, & Gellis (2014, p. 18) adds that group dynamics define the
way members are attracted to the group and how they relate with the rest of the members.
Reconstructing
The success of group work depends on the ability of the members to work together
allowing the members to actively participate in the group and to develop their competencies as
they share with others. One way to address the issue of group work is to define clear group goals
based on the task at hand. This means that when a task is larger than an individual and requires
the effort of other group members, then the goals of the task have to be set out ensuring that each
member understands the requirements of the task and the role that each of them plays. Goals are
set out with objectives and small activities that form the components of the whole task. This
means that each person within the group must be assigned a single task that relates to the whole

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task. This is related to the systems approach that sees group members as part of a system where
each of the members plays a role that relates to the larger task.
Further, assessing the abilities of each member as a way of creating accountability to
them can be used to increase group participation. The Mind Tools provides a framework for
SWOT analysis that allows the students to assess their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats (Mind Tools, 2019). When assessment tools are used, individual capabilities of each of
the students within the group are appraised creating an avenue for the student to learn the areas
that they need to improve on. Group work is not about dynamics but rather allowing the students
to learn from a collective approach to tasks. This means that as an individual, it is important to
work on the SWOT tool to assess personal abilities for improvement.

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References
Carrington, S. & G. Selva, 2010. Critical social theory and transformative learning: evidence in
pre-service teachers' service-learning reflection lo. Higher Education Research & Development,
29(1), pp. 45-57.
Kocak, Z. F., Bozan, R. & Iúık, O., 2019. The importance of group work in mathematics. s.l.,
s.n., pp. 2363-2365.
Manzoor, S., HafizUllah, H. & Z.M. Ahmad, 2011. Effect of Teamwork on Employee
Performance. International Journal of Learning and Development,, 1(1), p. 110 –126.
MindTools, 2019. Personal SWOT Analysis. [Online]
Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05_1.htm
Salas, E., ShuffleR, M. L., Thayer, A. L. & Wendy L. Bedwell, A. E. H. L., 2014. Understanding
and Improving Teamwork in Organizations: A Scientifically Based Practical Guide.. Human
Resource Management2014, 5(3), pp. 1-24.
Sanyal, S. & Hisam, M. W., 2018. The Impact of Teamwork on Work Performance of
Employees: A Study of Faculty Members in Dhofar University. Journal of Business and
Manageme, 20(3), pp. 15-22.
Toseland, R., Jones, L. & Gellis, Z. D., 2014. Chapter 1: Group Dynamics. In: Handbook of
Social Work with Groups. s.l.:s.n., pp. 13-31.
Zoltan, R. & Vancea, R., 2015. Organizational Work Groups and Work Teams –Approaches and
Differences. Ecoforum,, 4(1), pp. 94-98.
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