Critical Essay: Reflection on Teamwork and Project Outcomes

This essay offers a critical reflection on a teamwork experience, detailing the formation of the team, communication methods employed, and the overall impression of working in a team. The author discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the team, challenges faced during the project, and the value added to the final project through collaborative efforts. The reflection includes insights on the author's role in project management, the use of communication tools like WhatsApp, Skype, and Google Drive, and the strategies adopted to overcome challenges. The essay further explores the positive and negative aspects of teamwork, the challenges in project management, and the changes planned for future teamwork, including implementing a change management program and personal interaction with team members. The author also reflects on the overall impression of the project and the most challenging aspects of project management, offering a comprehensive analysis of the teamwork experience and the lessons learned.

Running Head: REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 0
Critical Essay

REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 1
Introduction
It is true that good team tends to fulfil the common objectives better and effective in the team
project. While working in a team, every member gives their contribution by undertaking
several responsibilities for achieving common goal. Every member in our team has played the
role that is different from other (Wise, 2016). It is obvious that while working in a team,
group members have to face the challenges due to different opinion and ideas. However, it
also provides several benefits by getting different innovative ideas due to other people
knowledge and skills. In the later section, reflection is presented on the teamwork while
working in a project.
Reflection on group project: strengths and weaknesses by working in a team
Formation of team member
Yes, I have used the introductory forums in order to find the members. It was quite helpful as
it helps in getting the information about the member. I have made the series of question that
members were required to answers. Some of the questions were who are you, where are you
from, what you do, the goal that you want to achieve or what you have tried? People were
also allowed to mention their websites as well as blogs on the profile pages. The criterion of
selection was based on the knowledge and creativity of the person to answer these questions
(Guchait, Lei and Tews, 2016).
Introduce yourself forum to find member: how it is helpful
In order to develop the better and effective team, choice of right and competent people is
necessary. I always select team member by ensuring a meeting. With the help of meeting, it
becomes easy to know the perception of each member. Based on that, I believe that group can
be formed easily and effectively. After knowing the perception and knowledge of each
member, I believe that team is formed and team members are selected (Mesa, Molenaar and
Alarcón, 2016).In addition to this, I always find out the viewpoint of the person for getting
the strong reason of joining team. It is the best way to find out the effective persons to join
the team. I also believe in providing the chance to each person by including his or her ideas

REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 2
regarding the assignment. I also listen the perspective of each person effectively and mention
the ideas on a sheet so that I do not forget.
Formation of own team
Yes, I like forming my own team because I get to know each people in better way. A
continuous process of leaning is developed that ultimately helps in accomplishing the goal. I
always consider to form the competent team that helps me in improving my leadership
qualities as well. Besides this, this also assists in knowing each member closely by ensuring
meetings, or through internet. The formation of team by my own tends to gain the advantage
in order to get their clear viewpoint. It is true that group project can be done in effective
manner if everyone makes the strong contribution to the project as attend the meeting every
time.
How working in a team added value to the final project
It is significant that working in team add value to the final project. I come across the different
innovative ideas from various team members. The number of ideas was come on the way and
we have examined them. However, several ideas were clashed. Therefore, we have sued the
voting system so that most effective idea can be chosen. This knowledge is not taken while
working as a single. We all have listened and cooperate to each other as well as allowed each
member to share their ideas freely. At the time of working a team, I have understood that
working in a team is not easy task (Rosa, Chaves, Oliveira and Pedron, 2016). The group
development stages helped me in understanding better was well as managing several
problems. During my experience from the teamwork, I found that both positive and negative
situations occur that we are required to take care of. I have also learned that working in team
is the most effective part to ensure the success of any project. We have also undertaken the
several exercises in order to encourage the team members for working effectively. I have also
improved my communication skills more by working in a team. I am so glad that I work with
the members who support each other (Cardon and Marshall, 2015).
Communication methods used during the team project
Communication plays an essential role in order to ensure the working of team members
effectively. We use several methods of communication in order to communicate with other.
Without effective communication, it is not possible to achieve the desired outcomes. By

REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 3
passing the information in effective manner, workload was also divided between the team
members. During our projects, we have used Whatsapp, Skype, and Google drive for
ensuring the communication in our group. Due to the availability of several social media
sites, it becomes easy to have the effective communication in the right manner. It also helped
me in making the effective communication throughout the project in order to reduce the
unnecessary delays and confusion. Team members are also able to freely share their thoughts,
ideas, opinion, and creativity. We also reminded each on the Whatsapp group that we have
made, shared the resources on the Google docs as well as tried our best to support each other
in case of any difficulty. At the time of group project, I have understood that communication
is also required to be done in the right medium for clarifying the objectives. Teamwork also
helped us in communication through several ways (Boyle, 2017). It enhances our employee
communication. Therefore, the sharing of ideas and information through communication
proved to be successful in the project work (Alliger, Cerasoli, Tannenbaum and Vessey,
2015).
Overall impression of working in a team
The overall impression of working in the team was the mix feeling. I have seen the positive
as well as negative aspects of working as a team. At the starting point of first meeting, four
members were agreed to use the Skype, face to face, and messaging services in order to carry
put the discussion. Afterwards, face-to-face communication was the most used method to
ensure the teamwork because feedback is provided easily. On the negative side, several
problems were faced during the teamwork. At the time of deciding the work, we have taken
too much time due to deciding the role of each member in the group (Hertel and Orlikowski,
2015). Besides this, some of the members were taking too much time in sharing their lengthy
stories. As compare to this, some of the members were speaking too less due to hesitation
might be. The best part about the group project is that some of the members were telling their
interesting stories. However, it hampered the group progress due to timeline. In the team
member, some of the person was quite arrogant that puts me in difficult situation in order to
cope up with those. I have also learned that it is significant to take those members in a team
who have the interest to work on the project (Collins, Jordan, Lawrence and Troth, 2016).

REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 4
Challenging part of working in a team
The biggest challenge during the teamwork is preparing the meeting agenda for the effective
meeting as well as reminding the teammates to come on time. It is because there are times
some of the members are free and some are busy. Besides this, after the group formation, the
biggest challenge was how to divide and organise the work in order to finish the work on
time. Besides this, even after highlighting the issues, we stuck in finding the exact and
effective solution for the problem. In addition to this, the availability of the member on the
right time was also the challenge. There were times when I have to communicate with some
member and he is busy somewhere. At that time, it was the challenge to do the work on time.
It sometimes also doing the delays in our work (Marek et al, 2016). In the future teamwork, I
will bring the various changes. Before choosing the team member, I will personally interact
with each member in order to find out his or her capabilities and skills for working in the
project work. Besides this, for avoiding the delays in work, I will clarify the objective to
every member that what we are trying to achieve exactly. We will also take the meeting
properly in order to take the suggestion of each person regarding what we can do better in
order to get the best. For sticking with the main and significant theme of the discussion, I will
try my best to summarise the discussion. Whenever the group will feel that they are not
making any progress, then I will motivate them to look upon those things that are preventing
them from the progression.
Changes adopted for the future teamwork
I will implement the change management program based on the current project work. It is
significant because it helps in correcting the mistakes that was done before. In addition to
this, I will also do the several exercises including the brain storming exercises and several
other activities. This will help the members in knowing other people more better.
Project related Question
Overall impression of working in a project
The overall impression on the project was good. I have learned so many things at the time of
working on project. I come to know that dividing the work in smaller parts helps in achieving
the better output. Several complex questions also arise that can solve by ensuring the proper

REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 5
discussion regarding the problem. Complexity in the projects also taught me that there are
several approaches that can be adopted, in order to solve the problem. It is also revealed that
team member give their best if they will have the common goal. If at a time one person like
the idea of other person, it was happening that some other person rejecting it. It was
becoming the hindrance in completing the project on time. Therefore, in the bracket of
alternatives, extensions and developments, work was not completing. The effective
controlling and monitoring also helped in several areas of concern that allows us to take the
measures where it is essential. I also took the several corrective measures at different stages
(Schippers, West and Dawson, 2015). At the time of project, I also assured the effective and
smooth transition from the one stage to other stage. Everyone was helped with the relevant
information in order to make him or her confident and responsible (Novo, Landis and Haley,
2017).
The most challenging part in the project: issue of project management
The most challenging part in the project was project management. I was having the
responsibility of leading the group members as well as delegating the task to members of the
team. However, it gave me the opportunity to explore in several fields. I also had to several
risks while working in the project. I also had to provide the better understanding of the
processes involved in project (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). In the project management, I also
have to develop the Gantt chart that includes the six milestones such as project planning,
gathering of the resource and materials, documentation of the project, testing, development,
review of quality and several other activities. I also have to give emphasis on the time at the
time of developing the project plan. Therefore, the updating of Gantt chart was also one such
challenge at the time of project. In addition to this, the proper coordination of activities was
also the major task in front of me. It is because coordination of activities helps in the success
of any project. Tasks were also required to regularly reviewed in order to make the progress.
Reason for project management issue as a challenge
Project management was specifically challenging because some of the team members were
not able to cooperate with the problems in the project. This was leading to slowing down the
progress in our project. Besides this, communication was also one such issue in the project
management. Sometimes, the lack of communication among each other was putting the huge
risk in the project. It is true that every person has different expectations in the group.

REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 6
Therefore, it was not possible for me to satisfy each person in order to reach the desired goal.
Some people do not agree on one point even if it is the best decision. It was also creating the
challenge, as people are different expectations concerning every problem.
Changes that will brought for the future project work
I will bring various changes in the future project work. Firstly, I will check the criteria of
project properly. After this, I will prepare the questions that I will ask from the team members
before taking them for the project. I will also properly organise in order to find out the
structure that perfectly fits the team as well as project. I will also use the project management
tool in order to stay organised as well as increase its accessibility to other team members. I
will also engage the team members on daily basis. Engagement can also be done by dropping
email in order to ask the update regarding work for the day. This will also increase the
collaboration of the team members. Besides this, I have also decided to conduct the lessons in
the middle of the project. This will help in knowing how the project is going and what
changes are required in a project. Therefore, the issues faced by the team members can be
solve by taking corrective actions (Matthews and McLees, 2015).
Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it can be concluded that collaboration helps in gathering
the variety of knowledge and skills among the team members. It also helps in utilising those
for getting the success in the project work. Interaction is also essential to team members in
order to achieve the goal and to work together as the team. I have also understood that in the
end of project, learning form the group experience matters. It is also true that team work is
one of the essential aspect of the team project. In addition to this, I will bring out several
changes while working as a team in future.

REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 7
References
Alliger, G.M., Cerasoli, C.P., Tannenbaum, S.I. and Vessey, W.B., 2015. Team
resilience. Organizational Dynamics, 44(3), pp.176-184.
Boyle, G., 2017. Design project management. United Kingdom: Routledge.
Cardon, P.W. and Marshall, B., 2015. The hype and reality of social media use for work
collaboration and team communication. International Journal of Business
Communication, 52(3), pp.273-293.Salas, E., 2018. Team development interventions:
Evidence-based approaches for improving teamwork. American Psychologist, 73(4), p.517.
Collins, A.L., Jordan, P.J., Lawrence, S.A. and Troth, A.C., 2016. Positive affective tone and
team performance: The moderating role of collective emotional skills. Cognition and
Emotion, 30(1), pp.167-182.
Guchait, P., Lei, P. and Tews, M.J., 2016. Making teamwork work: Team knowledge for
team effectiveness. The Journal of psychology, 150(3), pp.300-317.
Hertel, G. and Orlikowski, B., 2015. Project management in distributed virtual teams.
In Applied psychology for project managers (pp. 305-321). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Hoda, R. and Murugesan, L.K., 2016. Multi-level agile project management challenges: A
self-organizing team perspective. Journal of Systems and Software, 117, pp.245-257.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Marek, J., Benko, P., Chvála, A., Kósa, A., Pribytný, P., Stuchlikova, L. and Donoval, D.,
2016, May. The secret of successful student team project. In 2016 11th European Workshop
on Microelectronics Education (EWME) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Matthews, R. and McLees, J., 2015. Building effective projects teams and teamwork. Journal
of Information Technology and Economic Development, 6(2), p.20.

REFLECTION ON TEAMWORK 8
Meredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J. Aga, D.A., Noorderhaven, N. and Vallejo, B., 2016.
Transformational leadership and project success: The mediating role of team-
building. International Journal of Project Management, 34(5), pp.806-818.& Shafer, S. M.
(2017). Project management: a managerial approach. United States: John Wiley & Sons.
Mesa, H.A., Molenaar, K.R. and Alarcón, L.F., 2016. Exploring performance of the
integrated project delivery process on complex building projects. International Journal of
Project Management, 34(7), pp.1089-1101.
Novo, B., Landis, E.A. and Haley, M.L., 2017. Leadership and its role in the success of
project management. Journal of Leadership, Accountability, and Ethics, 14(1), pp.73-78.
Rosa, D.V., Chaves, M.S., Oliveira, M. and Pedron, C., 2016. Target: a collaborative model
based on social media to support the management of lessons learned in projects. International
Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 9(3), pp.654-681.
Schippers, M.C., West, M.A. and Dawson, J.F., 2015. Team reflexivity and innovation: The
moderating role of team context. Journal of Management, 41(3), pp.769-788.
Wise, T.P., 2016. Trust in virtual teams: organization, strategies and assurance for
successful projects. Routledge.