Reflective Essay: Teamwork, Technology, and Organizational Behavior

This essay offers a reflective analysis of the author's experiences with teamwork and the integration of technology in the workplace. The essay begins with an introduction outlining the objectives, which include evaluating teamwork dynamics and the utilization of technology. It delves into the author's undergraduate group project, highlighting the challenges encountered and the role of technology in data collection and analysis, such as the use of Google Forms and MS Excel. The essay then explores the benefits of group assignments in universities, emphasizing effective communication and the development of innovative problem-solving strategies. It reflects on both positive and negative team interactions, including instances of conflict and resolution, drawing on personal experiences. The essay further examines team development theories, specifically Tuckman's stages of Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing, to analyze the team's progression and dynamics. The author concludes with recommendations for managers to foster efficient teamwork and prevent potential issues, emphasizing the importance of communication and understanding different perspectives.

Running head: Organization and People 1
Organization and People
Individual Reflective Essay: Theories of team working and technology at
work

Organization and People 2
Introduction
The aim of this essay is to evaluate two aspects of my previous experience(s) team work and
technology at work. I have chosen different approaches to team working and using technology at
work.
The team work has been focused by this essay initially which objective is to explain and justify
my performance in the time of activity (Burke and Noumair, 2015). The positive and negative
aspects will be identified from my experience in this assignment. The theories of team
development for improving the productivity of the team member will be used to analyze the
situation; I have chosen my identity and role as a team member. Team working is the effective
strategy to accomplish the common goal within time frame with effective skills of different
people. Technology revolution is reached at peak and every activity is done with the help of
latest technology that reduce the time and save the cost of the production. It is vital to have the
entire understanding about the latest technology that has adapted by organization; otherwise, it
will increase the conflicts. Training is necessary for the team worker as it increases the potential
growth and make theme satisfied towards accomplish the task (Guay, Choi, Oh, Mitchell, Mount
and Shin, 2016).
The four separate but interconnected sections are mentioned in the essay. The first section
considered the involvement of technology during my team working. Next defines the
encouragement of group assignments in universities. The third section is concerned about the
theories of team working and its use at work. It is helpful to detect the error to work effectively
in the group assignment. The role of technology is explained in the section four which shows the
capabilities of the managers to ensure things to work well in future to prevent issues. In the

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above topics, I will initially discuss about my college experience regarding submission of project
and the role of technology in accomplishing the task. Furthermore, I will describe the reason
behind encouraging the group assignments in the universities. There are various theories of team
working, I will reflect my experience and adopt relevant theories to support and describe what
have happened. I will provide the recommendations in terms to how could a manager make sure
to things constant to work efficiently in the future of prevent such issues.
The involvement of technology during my team working
The involvement of technology during my team working was effective as it reduced the hard
work and developed the smart work. At the time of my undergraduate degree, there was
submission of group project which comprised number of details and responsibilities was
distinguished in the team members. I had 5 members in my team who had different expertise and
skills in different field. It was decided by lecturer to provide the task beyond the expertise which
was a challenge for me. I was being chosen to gather the information about the selected topic by
using various kinds of technologies. I had no knowledge about the latest technology and how to
gather the data because my expertise was in creative activity. Submission date was about to come
and me and one of my team members was left to accomplish the task. I got demotivate at that
time when I felt that I am unable to accomplish the task which could have been impacted to the
entire team. I went to my group and ask about help and I found that my entire team suggested me
a lot of ideas which encouraged me. There were 4 members apart from me so I got 4 different
ideas from them which helped me to initiate my task at least. I learned that team work can reduce
the stress and bring the various ideas from beyond thinking. I found that working in the team can
increase the efficiency of the every team member. It helped to focus on one problem with
different minds and thinking style which eliminate the issues from the group. Good team work is

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able to build synergy (Zeng, Phan and Matsui, 2015). The role of team working is vital to
develop the problem solving strategy to provide better outcomes. Along with that I have learned
not to self reference criterion and instead allow myself to think rationally without considering the
discrimination.
The role of technology was huge in motivating my work as I got to know about the technology
for gathering the information regarding the topic. I conducted a survey through Google forum by
putting 10 questions by which I got huge response from people. It is the new technology by
Google which help us to evaluate the thinking of the people regarding particular topic. My team
fetched the information and made the graph by using the MS Office’s application Ms excel.
These graphs were facilitated to accomplish my project with depth details. I found that there
were various sites from which I could conduct the survey such as survey monkey. It has been
shown that the technology played a major role in making my assignment.

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The reason behind encouraging the group assignments in the universities
I had been found the role of the team work in accomplishing the task. There are various reasons
behind to encourage the group assignments in the universities. I believe that many of us have
gone through in dealing with both organization and people which is an experience. It is not
limited up to the universities where student meet with different people from different culture in
order to complete the group assignment. I had experienced that team work is amplified to
accomplish the task in easy manner.
Good experience with team development
In my past experience, I had good experience with my team mates as they were much cooperated
to help each other. I was stuck to determine from where I could initiate to accomplish my task
and got discouraged. My team mates help me a lot to fetch out from the stress of how I could
accomplish my responsibility and provided me good guidance which helped me a lot. It
enhanced my courage and increases my faith towards group working. I had been found that
communication with others in effective manner can enhance the better understanding about the
particular topic. The role of communication is importance to make the good relationship with
team members where each member of the team is working towards the attainment of described
or shared aims and objectives (Peterson, 2016). My interactions with my team member were
good as there were 2 members with whom I was familiar earlier. It made me feel good because I
have analyzed that people from different cultures and though could make conflicts if we unable
to understand them but in my case luckily I had two members with whom I interacted openly.
Along with that I have learned that group work is helpful to bring the innovative things as I got
to know about the new technology of data collection which has been suggested my team mate.

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Issues with the reason and solution
It is not necessary that everything goes in perfect way; every coin has some positive as well as
negative impact which may influence the entire activity. Same thing I experienced while doing
the project with my team member. As it has discussed that at school, university or workplace
people come from different cultures and place where it is not required that tendency of each
person will meet. However, individual differences like the attitude and personality of person
often come into play while developing the bond among group members, majorly in the time of
first semester in university, when people are unaware about each other (Clegg, Kornberger and
Pitsis, 2015). For instance, I was being discouraged by one of my team member at the time when
I was not aware about how to conduct the survey for data collection. I went to him for help but
he refused me to provide it because of his ego and fear of leaking of information. It discouraged
me and I stuck with my project for a long time. He spread the wrong information that I was not
able to accomplish the task and they should have communicated to the super authority for
removing me from the team. I was disappointed and after hearing this information rest of my
team member came to me and asked about my issues (Hacker, 2017). I communicated rest of my
team member; I found that everyone is not same. We should never stop us to communicate
others by getting one bad experience. I would do neglect those person who deny me to give help
and after learning from my experience, I would give help to others so that they do not get stuck
as I was before.

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Theories or concept of team working and technology
The variety of sources have been drawn by me and mentioned in my personal diary and
conversations. I have found that there are some stages in the formation of the group. Dr Bruce
Tuckman introduced his model that comprised four factors of Forming, Storming, Norming
Performing. The theory of Forming, Storming, Norming Performing theory is facilitated to
explain the team development and behaviour (Hall, 2015).
Forming
We all are belong to different cultures and never met with each other ever. We had less
understanding between us which was being the cause of misunderstanding. During our initial
discussion it seems that lines were drawn between skills and unskilled as we initiated into a
discussion of the group assignment. Initially we discussed about expertise area in different filed
by which out lecturer decided to give the project beyond the expertise which being the major
cause of misunderstanding. It was done by lecturer for enhancing the team cooperation (Muchiri,
Kinyanjui and Assumpta, 2017). The purpose was unclear and lack of guidance and acquaintance
made us confused. The rest of my team members were also confused about the given project
instead of one. I found that he was over confident and ignored everyone due to over smartness.
Storming
As we endeavoured to initiate the project, we start to work out what we had to do and how to do
it. It was the second stage of our project where our ideas were exchanged but the structure of the
project was little. Competition had developed between team members to prove themselves and it
increased the situation of conflicts as everyone was engaged in its own work which being the

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reason of ignoring others. 9 weeks were given to submit the project which was too long. It
seemed that team member did not want to work in earlier and lack of gathering of team member
developed the grudges. We should have appointed the leader to define the description about the
project (Salmon, Stanton and Jenkins, 2017).
Norming
I started to understand the perception of understanding of each of my team member. The meeting
was conducted between us where we all were invited to share our views and ideas regarding the
assignment. The technology was being used in the meeting such as smart projector which used
for the purpose of describing the entire project with clear understanding. I operated the smart
class projector to describe the given topic and inserted the query of them so that resolution could
be found out. Everyone was confused regarding completion of project but little understanding
has been made between us regarding project, so I shared my issues regarding data collection and
I got great support from my team members except one. I had realized that the roles and
responsibilities of everyone were made which facilitated us to do progress in the project. The
good feature I had found during discussion that everyone was listening each other which showed
the respect of conversation (Couchman, 2015).
Performing
I believe that good bonding between group members about specific task can accomplish the task
in effective manner. After communicating each other in the meeting, the mission regarding
project had cleared in the mind of every team members. I got huge response from them and I

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gave possible support to them for initiating the research on given topic. I could see that good
performance had taken place in the group regarding assignment. I involved myself completely in
the project and looked that everyone except one involve in the task deeply without thinking that
what part was given to whom. I had realized that the role of smart class projector was major to
understand the issues of each other regarding the assignment.

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The role of technology in learning
Management educator need to understand that conflict or issues in the group does not mean that
group is destined to failure. If the manager has the right and techniques to resolve the issues in a
manner that assist group members satisfied with the results of how the conflict was being
managed, it might actually help the group to perform better. I have observed that the role of
technology was the major cause of understanding each other as everyone was ready to hear each
other (Susskind and Susskind, 2015). I believe that manager should apply the conflict resolution
technique in case of conflicts within the organization or group discussion because it assists not
only group member but also entire organization or university to maintain the togetherness
between group members.
At first, I analyze my approach to conflict resolution; I had found that there was effective
approach of Thomas of conflict resolution which comprised five approaches. The five
approaches are competing, avoiding, compromising, accommodating and collaborating. These
five approaches have different objectives, rationale and results. By considering the Thomas
theory and my reactions to issues within the group due to one member, I started to ignore him as
I can because rest of my team members were very supportive and kind hearted. As per Thomas,
the first approach of conflict resolution is attain own objectives which learnt me that focus on the
goal and ignore those who had other perceptions. The objective of second approach of avoiding
is avoiding dealing with the situation and conflict (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). I have learned that
the interpersonal issues would never finish, it was better avoiding. Compromising is the third
approach from which I observed that prolonged conflicts were able to distract people from their
work and being the reason of bitter feelings (Akhilesh, 2014). The fourth approach of Thomas’s

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conflict resolution technique is accommodating which objective is to do not upset to other
person. As I noticed that when I shared my issue regarding project, one of my team member took
advantage of it and spread wrong information about my skills which being upset me. The fifth
approach of conflict resolution is collaborating which objective is to solve the problems together.
I approached rest of my team member and shared my views reading project in the group
discussion and I got that collaboration had huge importance in group working (Ferguson, 2017).
Use of technology at workplace
I had been observed that smart work is more success than hard work. Technology made enable
us to think differently and my leader delegated the responsibility as per knowledge and expertise
in latest technology which help use to accomplish the task (Galegher, Kraut and Egido, 2014). At
my workplace, I was forced to follow the instructions and work with new employee. After some
time my boss realized that new employee was not suitable for the provided job profile and he got
fired. My boss and I had an evaluation of the situation and communicated each other in calm
manner to analyze that what went wrong at the time of interviewing. In such conversation, I have
learned that mutual respect and understanding is required to listen and understand the position of
conflict of each individual in the group.
In case of conflicts, it is vital for the management educators to understand the issue of others
without reacting on them. Furthermore, they can use various kinds of rewards practices to
motivate the group team members to walk towards the goal together (Stanton and Baber, 2017).
The use of technology in encouraging the group member is effective as it enhance their curiosity
to know more about latest technology. Lack of respect of the team members and management
educators often leads them to rebellious behaviour (Latham, 2014). It is necessary for the team

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members to co-operate each other and by taking help of technology accomplish the task within
time frame.
It has been recommended to the leaders or managers to keep focus on increasing the productivity
of the team members by applying various theories and concepts. Three are various style
approaches of leadership have become popular but transformational and transactional leadership
are most effective leadership to organize the cooperation among team members (Saeed, Almas,
Anis-ul-Haq and Niazi, 2014). Management educator should have conducted the training session
for the student before providing them direct project; it would have been beneficial for them to
understand the university project.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there have been two aspects which discussed in the essay. The scenario of school
regarding submission of project and discussion about technology at work has been mentioned in
the assignment. Dr Bruce’s theory of Forming, Storming, Norming Performing has been
described in the context of showing the importance of team working. Conflicts can be done
anywhere whether it is school, college or work place; it is required from the manager to manage
the issues by applying the conflict theory. The theory of conflict resolution has been discussed in
the assignment.

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