Thanks to the course, I have learnt
many things through the course.
During
the whole semester, we have completed 2 group assignments which solve my purpose
of attending the course. My purposes are 2 major questions: How to solve conflicts
with others in a team, how to create a high efficiency team. I want share my
experience in the final report.
No
one can avoid conflicts happening. Conflicts are everywhere. But conflicts don’t
equal fight; anything one has done cannot satisfy others are also conflict. If
conflict cannot be solved properly and timely, tiny conflicts will become big
fights. I think in a team may have 2 kinds of conflicts.
1.
Real
professional differences –
Conflict can arise from very real differences in professional opinions. In many
cases, th
ese differences don't develop into open conflict. But conflict is more likely when the outcome is extremely important, when the decision being made is irreversible, or when the impact of making the wrong decision will reflect badly on those involved. When this type of conflict is left unresolved, it can rapidly spoil relationships.
2.
Power
struggles and personality issues –
Conflict can arise when individuals or groups dislike one-another, or feel that
their positions are being threatened. This type of conflict tends to be more
about people's personalities than about "facts" or decisions being
made.
And
what is the major conflict among our team? Time schedule. For that we have different
majors and our own life, it is hard to keep the same pace. Especially we have
different understanding about bonus and dead line. To different people, the
priority of their schedule is different. That is obviously the first one which is
called personal differences. Luckily our team has a same purpose on the course
to get a good score and learn more from it. Then we used the most useful tool
communication to solve it. But the communication is not easy there are many
skills.
To work together
successfully, group members must demonstrate a sense of cohesion. Cohesion
emerges as group members exhibit the following skills:
1.
Openness: Group members are willing to get
to know one another, particularly those with different interests and
backgrounds. They are open to new ideas, diverse viewpoints, and the variety of
individuals present within the group. They listen to others and elicit their
ideas. They know how to balance the need for cohesion within a group with the
need for individual expression.
2.
Trust
and self-disclosure:
Group members trust one another enough to share their own ideas and feelings. A
sense of mutual trust develops only to the extent that everyone is willing to
self-disclose and be honest yet respectful. Trust also grows as group members
demonstrate personal accountability for the tasks they have been assigned.
3.
Support: Group members demonstrate support
for one another as they accomplish their goals. They exemplify a sense of team
loyalty and both cheer on the group as a whole and help members who are
experiencing difficulties. They view one another not as competitors (which is
common within a typically individualistic educational system) but as
collaborators.
As
reported most of conflicts happened dues to the bad communication, so the
communication played an important role in team conflicts solved. In our team
the first communication is respect. Everyone have patient in listening to
others opinion before they announce their own views. There is another tip that
we wouldn’t do group discussion without face to face talk. We use wechat to
decide when we will have time to have next discussion. Also we will give some information
about frames of ideas or topics, so that we can make it better on discussion which
saved much of time. When we started discussion we shared our opinions without
remaining. After our sharing our opinions, we openly discuss different
situations with different tools. The most regular tool is brain storm, which
can create a harmonic atmosphere and high efficiency so that we can finish our
discussion in short time with fewer times.
And
the members
agree on what needs to be done and by whom. Each member then determines what he or she needs to do and takes
responsibility to complete the task(s). They can be held accountable for their
tasks, and they hold others accountable for theirs. So we can try our best to finish the task.
Meantime, we pay attention to the feedback after group discussion or homework.
Especially in some aspects Vincent and I didn’t understand the knowledge well
about management. When we feel confused we can ask Linda to get an answer or work
together to check internet to find what we need.
Conclusion
This
semester end means my study experience of Hongkong finished. Though we came
across many troubles during this semester, I had to say that is my best
experience and unforgettable memory. From the course, I’ve learnt how to behave
better in group, how to write a complaint letter to boss and how to control temper
and mange a team. Thank Frank and Joey for your effort and excellent class.
Reference
Clark, H. H., & Brennan, S. E. (1991).
Grounding in communication. In L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine & S. D. Teasley
(Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition .
Krauss, R. M., & Fussell, S. R. (1996).
Social psychological models of interpersonal communication. In E. T. Higgins,
& A. Kruglanski (Ed.), Social psychology: A handbook of basic principles
(pp. 655-701). New York: Guilford
