Video material
It is difficult for a team to perform well when there is discord among the members. A team needs to be well managed if they hope to be successful in what they intend to do. While back in high school, our school organized sports events that would see students compete against each other. In senior high, most of us were divided into groups based on the type of sport that you played. As part of the tennis team, I was in a group alongside 7 other people. The group performed very poorly, and we ended up losing to our opponents. Discord amongst us began right from the very start as the various members came with different opinions about themselves and others.
Marie, one of my team members, was regarded as a star athlete, and most group members considered her to be the leader even before we decided who would lead us. She projected her attributes towards the members of the group, making some feel inadequate and inferior before. This led to feelings of inability and low self-esteem. On the other hand, some of the members worshipped her words and would not hear anything against her. John was the best player in the group, but he was a pushover and found it challenging to make decisions. His ability to play caused a halo effect, which led people to believe he was superior. The group was divided between Marie’s people and john’s people, creating conflict due to lack of leadership.
The biggest challenge we faced as a group was the lack of proper leadership, which would have helped us have a sense of direction and communicate more effectively. The division caused a rift with each group aligning themselves to their preferred leader. I believe that if I was to go back and do things over, I would use different communication types to bring the people together. The use of negotiation or arbitration would have helped bring members together through the use of a third party. It would have also helped if we have used the goal-setting theory to guide us on the group’s goals. We were eight members put together with no guiding factor to lead us, and due to the differences amongst the various individuals and lack of understanding and communication, we failed. Through applying these concepts learnt in class, I realize that we would have had a chance of working in unity and hence winning the competition.