Blog blog…

My bold button does work. I mean I can’t find it. And I like to bold things.

I would just like to say this:

My group didn’t suck… I know that most groups this semester have had alot of tension because Anne deliberately put everyone into groups with people who are not friends which was very mean of her and I thought I would hate my group and it would be hell, but it’s not.

I liked my group. Thanks guys. Eveyone worked well, did their part, the project went smoothly and I am happy.

Thanks!

What week is it?

It is the last week of uni ever and I am still writing posts from week 9…. why? Because I always do things in the last minute. And I always beat myself up about it. But lately I have realised this:

Every bit of uni work I have done, had been done in the last minute, and I have a distinction average. So I think last minute work is OK, and even better than OK because I can spend the rest of the time doing something interesting.

Heres week 9: (and there will be no week 10, or 11, or 12, I’m just going to write everything here)

What have I learned about my role in a team?

I have learnt this:
- I don’t like teams
- I always end up being the person who puts the final project together and edits and makes sure everything is where it’s supposed to be
- I get excited at the beginning of the project, then I get bored, restless and distracted, and then I focus again at the last minute
- Arrogant, bossy or lazy people are all better than stupid people
- Working with stupid people is inevitable in the real world so you better get used to it
- I think I can get a little bossy and like things to be done my way
- I am quite detailed and thorough when I work but also need to see the big picture, that is why i am good at editing the final product

How do I function?

I think I just answered this above…

What have I learned that will have implications for my future roles in teams?

Not just in this project, but overall in group assignments throughout my degree I have learnt strategies for dealing most effectively with different type of people. Everyone has buttons which can be pushed in the right way and everyone is manageable to a degree and its about doing the best with what you have and not stressing that the team is not perfect.

In this particular team, I was much more laid back than in previous group work (because its the last assignment in the last semester and I didn’t care so much), but I didn’t redo things if other people didn’t do a good job, and I was happy just letting people do their own thing and doing my bit well but not taking on any extra work. And it seemed to work well, there was no tension, no stress, perhaps we will not get as good a mark as I would like but that doesn’t bother me at all to be quite honest

What strategies can I use to enable me to work more effectively?

As above, learning how different group members function and how they can best be managed as well an controlling my bossiness and stepping back a little bit. People who do not prodce good work, sometimes just need a bit of direction. People who are bossy need to be shut down a little, its not rocket science. Deal with it.

Someone changed my weblog theme to the default one and it scared me when I came to write some posts. But now I’ve made it red which makes me feel happy and warm. Other things which make me happy:

- being by myself

- not going to uni

- the colour red

- daydreaming about going to China

- moving in with Alex

- reading books which make me think

- being in love

Things which make me unhappy:

- Bachelor of Arts in Organisational Learning

- Stupid people

- Egocentric people who take alot of drugs and don’t eat chocolate

- Shopping malls

- Small screaming chilren

- Santa Mike

I think in the past three years, I have become insane

The Americam Department of Labor has officially added 5 new job titles to their database according to Inc.com

Apart from Chief Risk Officer, Chief Ethics Officer, Corporate Delevopment Officer and Chief Diversity Officer, the newest job title is… wait for it….

CHIEF BLOGGING OFFICER!!!!!

What are the differences? From a personal perspective?

What do you gain when you work with a team?

You gain support when you are unsure about what you should be doing or if you are not confident about your ideas. If you are in a good, efficient team, then the workload is much lower and the task is easier to complete. You also gain motivation as you do not want to let your team down so you are less likely to leave things to the last minute.

What do you gain when you work alone?

When you work alone, you can work at your own pace and time manage your tasks the way that suit you best. You can utilize all of your ideas without having to consult anyone and you do not have to utilize anyone elses bad ideas if you don’t like them.  I feel more ownership of my work when I am working alone and am more likely to produce work of a higher standard, also I feel my work is not compromised my other people half hearted contributions. Sometimes group work can turn out to be a HUGE amount of work if other people don’t contribute as much as they should and you have to do their work for them, in this care working alone results in a much smaller workload.

What have you learned about the process of working in a team so far?

I am not sure if this particular assignment has taught me much about group work. Certainly tackling different group assignment, and different group members throughout this degree has taught me a great deal about group work, but in this particular team, I don’t think I have learnt anything new. During my studies overall, I have learn that 1) team assignments suck, 2) there will always be people who care a lot and work hard, there will always be people who don’t care and don’t work AND there will be people who care too much and work too hard 3)either type of persona can be deals with and worked with efficiently as long as you are tolerant and smart about your approach 4) nothing can be done about dumb people, just leave then alone and 5) You need to be flexible, you need to be committed and you need to be open minded.

Can you define the difference between team work & group work?

I guess a group is some people who are working on the same task while a team is a group of people working TOGETHER in order to achieve a particular goal. A group can be anything, a group of aliens sitting around a table talking alien language, that is a group.

What have you learned about workloads?

Make a judgment about how much work is involved and to what standard you want to complete it early in the assignment. Based on that judgement, you can make a decision about how to spread out your work. You don’t want to finish things too early, because you might miss out on some valuable information about the assignment from your lecturer, but you also don’t want to leave it too late if the workload is high and you really work to perform well.

Team roles and contributions – what’s happening? How do you deal with disparate contributions?

Everyone is contributing to the assignment. I have no problems.

Review Tuckmann’s 5 stage model – you will have studied this in other subjects – forming, storming, norming etc – reflect upon the model and your team’s progress.

I am not sure if this model applies so well when the group members already know each other and have all worked together before. I guess the forming stage was when we all completed the Team Roles Test and when we wrote up our team agreement. At this stage we were able to discuss what each others strengths and weaknesses were and set standards for what we expected of one another. We got to know each other and each others roles in the team and form some sort of agreement for how we would work together.

The storming stage was probably the initial group task that we completed where we saw how we all worked and adjusted our own behaviours to suit the team. By this I mean recognizing who contributed where and who didn’t and what needed to be done to deal with this. Perhaps some people were a bit annoyed or confused at this stage. I personally was a bit worried about the wiki because I was trying to set it up and utilize it and other people were not using it. However, we then established that the wiki would be where we preset our final product instead of using it as a collaborative communication tool, which I was fine with. There was no major problems.

We then got more comfortable with the was our team functioned and with the modes of communication we decided to use, we were more clear on who is doing what and delegated more, without worrying that work wouldn’t get done. I think we are still at this stage. I think we are comfortable but not yet at the performing stage.

I am naughty this semester.  I haven’t been doing any work… and I haven’t cared… and I’m sorry.

But this semester feels funny. I feel like I have finished uni. Probably because we are only at uni one day a week and the other days I work (including weekends!!). Uni holidays didn’t feel like holidays because of work placement and all I want is a break. Also I have now been at uni for FOUR YEARS AND I AM OVER IT!!! I don’t want to study anymore. I want to TRAVEL, and i want to see the my friends more that once a month, and I want to sleep in on the weekends, and I don’t want to live at home anymore and I want to have time for my boyfriend and all other wonderful thing.

That is the reason I haven’t been working hard. I just hope I get through these last few weeks. We’ll see eh!

At this stage in the project, what is your team role

At this stage I am looking after the Wiki. Well as much as I can because it is the end of the month and my internet is VERY slow. Jenee seems to be the person who is putting other peoples work together and editing, which is what I thought I would be doing. But I like this role; I enjoy fiddling with the Wiki

Depending upon team roles, it may appear that some team members are currently working more than others – how do you feel about this?

I don’t care. I am used to it so it doesn’t bother me anymore.

Reflect on your own role – can you be more effective?

Yes, I can be more effective. I have not been working as hard as I would like to. I have found this semester a bit hard to get back into. But I feel I have been more productive this week and will be more productive as the assignment progresses. That is how I usually work. I start out a little unenthusiastic and then get more involved.

Are your team strengths being adequately utilized by the team?

If not, what can you do about this?

As above, I need to put a little more time and effort into the Wiki and into my part of the assignment.

You have received your 1^st assignments back by now – how did the team go?

I was happy with how we went with Assignment One. We got it done quickly and efficiently and received good feedback. The only issue was with how we would let each other know when changes have been made to the Wiki or Discussion board. However, we have decided that if some major adjustment has been made, we will email the group – but otherwise it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that they are keeping track of what’s going on with the websites.

What are the current issues facing you – as team member?

My biggest issue personally has been the Wiki. It seems as if no one is really using it and I was confused about weather we supposed to be using it as a communication tool or not and if not then what is the purpose of wasting time and putting things on it if we are to hand in a hard copy of our assignment anyway. However, the other group members have said that they are not comfortable using the Wiki because they don’t fully understand how it works. Also, Anne has clarified that we are able to place the assignment on the Wiki as we go along and use that as the final product and just hand in a URL, in which case I am more than happy to spend time posting and editing on behalf of the group.

How is the team working together? Are people following the agreements

The team is working well. We are following the agreements mostly; the only issue is online communication while we are not in class. People are not posting on UTS Online or emailing much but it’s OK, the work seems to be getting done anyway.

How do you feel about the team process now – review some of your earlier comments – has anything changed?

If anyway, I am quite happy with the team work. Considering it is a team of randomly selected people who do not usually work together, it’s all working out quite well.