Everything just so happens to be going on at the same time. Recently, just after wrapping up on the Fantasy Project, I started to focus on my marketing project for Comm 296. As everyone knows, there are certain fears you feel about before getting into a team like “are we going to work cohesively?”, “are we going to get along?”, “is she/he going to put in the effort?”, or questions like “I hope there aren’t any freeloaders”. I like how I’m able to look at the two teams I’m in and compare what’s effective and working out and what could be improved to help us succeed.
I noticed that the clear distinction between my two teams is that in Comm 292, we’re able to become good friends through a project meanwhile my Comm 296 is purely a temporary group that rarely talks regarding matters other than our common goal: the marketing project. This meant that a took a way longer time for us to become productive because no one was willing to start the conversation.
The punctuated-equilibrium model in Chapter 6 (1) was constantly in my mind because it is essentially a time-line for a team’s performance. I think it’s a really important aspect to look at during team evaluation because it allows each team member to see individually what they could do in their part to shorten phase 1 and contribute in ways to help the team be move to a more productive phase.
My Comm 292 team members are definitely more cooperrative and our phase 1 was rather short. We were able to transition quickly because of how well we understood each other. Up until this point, I cannot think of any negative comments to say about each individual member or my team as a whole. The success I can identify in my Comm 292 group is that we have a trusting relationship, in which was formed through the fantasy project. In comparison to Comm 296, I had to take on a leader role, or else there would’ve been no progress and no contact for a whole week.
Since each of my projects are split into several parts, it will be more effective to continuously come back to the model evaluation.
- Langton, Robbins, Judge, Organizational Behaviour, 7th edition, p. 216.