Reflective report

Name

Institution affiliation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction 3

2.0 Presentation Product and Reasons for Choice 4

2.1 Stage 1 (forming) 5

2.2 Stage 2 (storming) 6

3.0 Weaknesses and Strengths of our Presentation 8

4.0 Individual impact 9

5.0 How to Overcome Teamwork Weaknesses in Future 10

6.0 Oral Presentation and Teamwork 10

7.0 Conclusion 11

1.0 Introduction

Reflection is an essential and vital skill in business and marketing research. It relates to personal experiences encountered and is a good exercise that sharpens our skills in critical thinking. It refers to all the activities that provide an individual with the opportunity to self-examine, assess and question ones opinions, values, beliefs and make sense of their experiences. Boud et al (1985) highlighted that reflection spurs us to become conscious of our intellect which relates to our particular learning experiences. We as human beings are daily reflecting on our feelings and emotions about particular events in our lives as they happen. By reflecting, I will look back at the past events which happened in working as a team to develop and make a presentation about hand held hair dryers. This will show my learning experience throughout the whole process and my feelings and experiences.

Learning through reflection is an effective method especially if there is a clear understanding of frameworks that shows a structural process that directs and guides the whole process and act of reflection. There are various models developed to that one can choose from to suit an individual or a particular situation. It is vital that an individual chooses a framework that feels most comfortable and one which will aid them in learning from their experiences. One of the models that has proved effective is Bruce Tuckman’s model of team development.it is a straight forward model that provides a cyclical framework that aids on the reflective practices.

In this report, I will reflect on the group’s presentation that we gave a few weeks ago about design transformation of the handheld electric hair dryer.

Aims and Objectives

This report gives a detailed reflective account about my personal contribution to the presentation. I will show how my team mates and I planned the overall presentation and we all worked within the group. All these will be examined and determined by adopting Tuckmans model of team development. I will also give a detailed account of both the summative and formative presentation and the lessons learnt throughout the whole process. I will analyse my personal weaknesses and strengths in the overall group work and presentation. Moreover, I will state on what needs to be done in order to overcome some of these weaknesses and to prevent them from re-occurring in the near future. Finally, I will add on some of the key lessons learnt about working in a team and oral presentation.

2.0 Presentation Product and Reasons for Choice

When were assigned the oral presentation task, it was mandatory that we work in groups of about four or five individuals. It was vital that each individual gets to know each other first before choosing who was going to be in each group. Initially individuals wanted to form groups comprising their friends, but in the long run, whether you choose to be in a group of friends or not, the ultimate problems of effective and cohesive functioning of the group will still be encountered.

My group team mates and I researched through a wide range of research topics and electrical appliances before we narrowed it down and chose the hand held electric hair dryer. The hand held electric blower is used to blow warm and cold air into the hair in order to dry, straighten or style the hair. The main aim of our research was to come up with new features that do not exist in the already existing one and increase its efficiency. Based on the research and evidence presented, we decided to suggest new features that would make the handheld hair dryer better and efficient.

We used the Tuckman’s theory model and framework to structure the efforts of the group and group discussion in order to evaluate the development and performance of the group. The Bruce Tuckman’s theory of team development (Nelson & Quick, 2008) goes on to split the development and performance of a specified group into five distinct stages. They are;

2.1 Stage 1 (forming)

This is the stage where there is formation of the group. At this point, all members assemble and start familiarizing themselves with each other. The task is set out and each team mate gets to understand the involvement in accomplishing the task. The first interaction was marked with excitement and a little bit of excitement. The team being ad hock with no prior experiences (Alge & Klein & Wethoff 2003) we experienced some challenges.

Some team members were polite and positive while others were anxious for they had not yet fully understood what and how the team will accomplish the given assignment. I was elected the team leader and so I had to play a dominant role in giving direction to each team member because they had not clearly spelt out their roles and responsibilities within the group. This stage lasted a while as team members made efforts to know each other and start working together.

All in all everyone was excited about the task at hand and within a few minutes of meeting we chose our topic of research without much hassle. Everyone was confident with the chosen topic of interest.

2.2 Stage 2 (storming)

At this stage, group members had begun being more comfortable with one another. The storming stage is critical because this is where many teams fail (Johnson, 2009). Group members started pushing against the boundaries that were previously established in the formation stage. Storming begins when a conflict has emerged between the team members’ normal working styles. Individuals may work in various styles because of all sorts of reasons. If differing styles of working cause unforeseen problems, then working together becomes frustrating.

We as a team were well organized. We visited the library where we held our first meeting. We saw it important that everyone knows the decisions made in the meeting and the set tasks. Everything was recorded in minutes and stored for future reference. We each conducted individual research on the tasks defined. We conducted several other meetings in the library where we discussed about the plans we had on researching about the product, giving an utmost importance to the views and ideas of each individual team member. The aims of the project research were to come up with a product design, develop it then pitch it. We also had a look on how to develop a better product with greater features and the effect it will have when introduced to the market. My team mates and I prepared a strategic plan in which we analysed the design and operations of the traditional hair dryer. Within our fourth meeting we had already began constructing and structuring the layout of the presentation.

We as a group encountered some challenges at this stage when some team members tried to challenge my authority as others jockeyed for different positions. This I came to realize happened because we didn’t clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each team member of the group. Some members were also overwhelmed by the given workload and were uncomfortable with the kind of approach I was using in getting the assignment done. Since some members were overwhelmed by the workload, I knew this would bring about stress on their part because they did not have an established process, they didn’t have support and strong relations with the other members.

As the group team leader, I had to establish the required processes and structures in order to build good relations and trust within members of the group. For the members who felt that they were overwhelmed by workload, I relieved them off some tasks and provided support for them. We initially had a problem when some members questioned my authority and the style of working. I resolved this by remaining positive and strongly affirmed my leadership style to attain the teams’ goals. I explained the different stages that we would go through to the members and the expected challenges so that they would understand why the problems were cropping up and made them know that things will only get better in the near future. I used Myers Briggs team management profile to help them learn about the various strengths and work styles.

2.3 Stage 3 (Norming)

Gradually, the team started moving into the norming stage. In this stage, team members came into an agreement on the functioning of the group (Johnson, 2009). We resolved the differences that existed among us, appreciated each other’s strengths and weaknesses and they all respected my authority as their leader. Now that my team members knew each other better, we socialized together, asked each other for help and provided constructive feedback. Team members developed a stronger commitment towards achieving the set goals for the team and from then henceforth I could see some positive progress.

Everyone was confident with their roles and tasks and worked independently on the topics they were to present. We held regular meetings maybe two or three times a week. At this point, we noticed that one of the team members was missing in action and didn’t attend two consecutive meetings. This caused an unusual tension within the group. We knew that we had to come up with a comeback strategy. As the leader I had to regroup reform and re-delegate some tasks to ensure that by the end of it all we have covered all the areas of our presentation. I therefore had to combine the section I was working on (analysis of the marketing mix) with the missing members task (PESTEL analysis in justifying the opportunity). This meant that I had more topics to cover and so increased my workload.

3.0 Weaknesses and Strengths of our Presentation

After a while, we finished the norming stage and so had to move to the fourth stage which was performing. This is where we presented our research before the lecturer and fellow colleagues. A number of glitches arose that we had not foreseen; namely, the last minute changes that I made to my section of slide presentation. In my judgemental lapse, I decided to add more information to my slides. This made it particularly difficult for me to memorize all that in a short time. This generally affected our overall presentation because I had to time and time again refer to my notes. I also spoke longer than the maximum required time I had been allotted. Luckily, the next member in line to present realized this and shortened his presentation. This also disorganized the presentation because the team members did not have time to go into in depth analysis of the hand held electric dryer.

We also realized that our presentation material and slides were not professionally organised and suitable for presenting before a client (West, 2012). Some members had discordance between verbal communication and body language during the presentation. This was because we over relied on our notes and did not memorize most of the information contained in our research project.

4.0 Individual impact

I effectively contributed in utilizing the resources provided and taking up active roles in the teams activities. As far as I am concerned, my contribution to the team was a benchmark. I researched about the marketing mix of the hand held hair dryer through various sources and came up with a detailed report on marketing the product, how the product can be improved and the features to be added to make it more efficient. I also prepared a scenario about the effects the new feature additions will have on the overall product. I undertook an analysis on marketing and market mixing of the product. I collected data about the general information of the hand held hair dryer; the prices (undertaking a detailed look at the various brands that produce hair dryers) and the place they can be purchased. I am confident in the roles I played in the team as well as my contributions because I had vastly researched through personal contact with the regular users as well as from books available in the library and online. This ensured that the information I provided was true, accurate and up to date.

The areas that I think I should improve on are my communication skills and stage fright. I tend to feel anxious and nervous when in front of a large crowd of people. Generally, I was a good presenter except in instances where I encountered tough words and pronouncing them was a little bit difficult for me. I also think that I should know more on ways to effectively use the business language. I feel that I should have taken more time in reading and memorizing my section of the presentation because I over relied on my written notes which caused discordance in my verbal communication as well as body language. Another thing that I should put more emphasis and improve on is my skills and knowledge in the statistics area, how to correlate the different elements and how to utilize the various sources in order to come up with an accurate statistical mark up plan. An individual assessment is available and I will make use of it and follow it to the later every time I have a presentation in order to self-assess myself and come up with a perfect strategy to help me shine in my respective field. In addition to these, I need to practice and tune my voice in terms of pitch, clarity, volume, pronunciation and tone. It is worth pointing out that the individual performance and contribution of each member of the team significantly affects the overall performance of a team (Krizan, 2011). It was vital that we be each other’s keepers and monitor the individual performance of each team member in order to be successful.

5.0 How to Overcome Teamwork Weaknesses in Future

In order to overcome the weaknesses encountered in the group work task, it is essential that we first identify the key weaknesses, analyse them, and eventually come up with laid down strategies to overcome them. The groups’ weak points were; last minute changes, over reliance on the written notes, pitch and tone as well as lack of adequate preparation. To overcome these weaknesses in future, the team needs to strategize, plan and adequately prepare ahead of time (Juli, 2010). In addition to these, everyone should practice their material before the real oral presentation.

6.0 Oral Presentation and Teamwork

I learnt that during a teamwork oral presentation, it is vital that the team carefully considers the amount of time allotted, the number of presentation slides to be used as well as the content in the slides. It is also vital to have clearly set out goals and objectives and to stick to them till the end. Last minute amendments to the project can be critical because you’re left with little time to memorize and practice the contents of the slides. I have learnt that teamwork is a collaborative and collective effort and there are no chances for ‘I’ (Harvard Business School, 2006).

7.0 Conclusion

To conclude, I feel that the team was able to perform sufficiently and effectively despite us hitting a few rough patches. We were able to work cohesively as a team and this made a huge difference on how well the team performed. The group presentation has really helped me gain knowledge on product redesign and instilled me with skills needed to put forth a presentation before a client. I believe that all these will be useful in my future work life.

References

Boud, D, et al (1985). Turning Experience into Learning. London: Kogan Page. p7.

Alge, B. J., Wiethoff, C., &Klein, H.J, 2003, “When does the medium matter? Knowledge-building experiences and opportunities in decision-making teams.” Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes vol. 91, pp26-37

Nelson, D. L., & Quick, J. C. (2008). Understanding organizational behavior. Mason, OH, USA: Thomson/South-Western.

Chapman A. (2001-2009) Tuckman Forming Storming Norming Performing Model [WWW] Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm [Date Accessed: 2/05/14]

Johnson J.A. (2009). Stages of Team Development. Jones and Bartlett publishers, LLC. USA [Date Accessed: 2/05/14]

Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation,. (2006). Leading teams: Expert solutions to everyday challenges.

Juli T. (2010). Leadership Principles for Project Success, CRC Press.

West, M. A. (2012). Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational research. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Krizan, A. C. (2011). Business communication. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.

.