Teamwork Processes

What?

Last year, I volunteered with my peers around campus in a program put on by the YMCA. In order to fully understand the program, I attended an orientation session in Squires. Tuckman would best describe this as the forming stage of group development. I began to meet some of the other students that would be participating in the same program. At first, we mostly kept to ourselves but we were all excited to go out and help through service in the community. With common interests, we eventually warmed up to each other and were ready to work as a team.

So What?

In order to help the community, we were broken up into small groups to coordinate with each other to perform different services. As with any group, the members each took on a different role. Benne's study on groups can be applied to my own experience. To organize everyone together, an initiator proposed new ideas for service projects in emails. For example, I worked with three other students to visit a local apartment complex to spend time with the children of the residents. We helped the children with their homework, played games with them, and had snack time. Having our team there helped keep everyone motivated. The kids really enjoyed us being there, and it is a good feeling to know that we helped.

Now What?

Service projects are a great way to help the community. And as an added bonus, it makes me feel good knowing that I can make a difference. Working in teams gives everyone a common goal and keeps the members of the team focused and motivated. Looking to the future, I can't wait to work on more projects with others to bring smiles to people's faces through service. As long as my teams can effectively avoid social loafing, the group will accomplish much more than I can alone.

Characteristics of Teams

What?

In the Spring of 2010 I joined the sorority Pi Beta Phi. After being a member for almost a year, I was starting to see better how the organization worked as a team. I watched my big sister Kelly run the social chairman position, and I saw how it impacted the rest of the sorority. I wanted to make a difference the first opportunity I could, so I ran for social chairman for 2011 to follow in Kelly's footsteps.

So What?

As social chairman, I plan events to interact with other organizations here at Virginia Tech. I can't do it alone, though. According to Levi, people that work interdependently to accomplish a goal make up a team. In my team, the goal of planning social events can only be accomplished together. My main job is to directly contact the important members of the other organizations to set the dates for the events. My co-chairman Sara helps me with this task because there are too many events for me to plan by myself. In order for us to contact these important members, we must use our other sisters who can provide contact information for people they know. With my contribution and the rest of the team's effort, we have a full schedule planned for this Spring semester.

In discussing teams, Martin goes deeper into the idea of the team leader. He talks about the skills necessary to be a successful team leader. After a qualitative coding and analysis process, Martin determined that management and interpersonal skills are the most important. I know that one of the reasons our team works so well is that I can organize the team to each perform certain tasks by effectively communicating how it will lead to our final goal.

Now What?

Even though I have not held my position for very long at this point, we have already accomplished so much in establishing positive relationships with other organizations in the community through social events. Looking ahead, however, there is still room for improvement. One of the biggest obstacles to planning lies with communication. If a team cannot relate their ideas to each other, the goal is rarely met. Although my team communicates well enough to get the job done, the majority of contact is made through e-mails and texts, which sometimes go unanswered for days. If we plan more meetings in person, we will be more efficient and productive because our ideas will have instant feedback.