Group Dynamics In EFL Classroom

Possible areas of weakness or conflict within the team

Discuss about the Group Dynamics in EFL Classroom.

Due to advance in technology, things have not remained same as in old time. Its 21^st century and according to this business has not been restricted to its domestic level. Now, any domestic company can enter in to any international business and in the same way any international company can enter in to domestic business. So, as they exchange their business level similarly they exchange their employee which created an environment of diversity in culture, way of working and even thinking. But this diversity has given full opportunity to an individual to understand the different culture, behaviour, and way of working. It has not only taught an individual to handle diversity but it has also helped an individual to explore the world through working in a team or group and how to solve conflicts which are going to occur within the team or group with the help of team or group learning activities.

As, we know that every individual has to work in a team or group. So, it becomes very important to understand the personality of individual as well as the members of the group which we want to be part of it. To understand the personality of a person, a personality test is being conducted called LPA which segregate a person on the basis of big five personality. So, as per our assignment our class is being segregate in to these five personality dimensions i,e openness to experience, agreeableness, Neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness with the combination of emotional intelligence and strength (Psyche study, 2018).

 As, I am (Team member 1) having extraversion as my personality and along with the strength of relationship building. I am assigned to team C in which we are having three more members. Team member 2 is having conscientiousness as its personality with strength of innovative thinking, Team member 3 is having openness to experience as its personality with strength of positive thinking and Team member 4 is having conscientiousness as its personality with strength of leadership. These members have scored high in their emotional intelligence (Harvey, 2017).

As we know that an effective team is a team in which all the members of the team are open to their strength and weakness with each other as well as they have a strong sense of mutual trust as well as understanding. They also share the supportive nature among each members of the team (LMA, 2018). If a particular group lacks all these necessary characteristics, then the overall performance of the team will get affected. As, we know that a team is a combination of different individual with different thinking, reacting and understanding. Because of these differences all the members will not have same opinion about a particular thing. Here, the role of effective team comes in to play. As per given team, we also have a different set of personalities and strength (Canan, Sousa-Poza & Dean, 2017). According to me all these set of different combination will surely provide us an upper hand as compared to others because we do not want those members in our team which will always node their head in yes and will not oppose in any situation. So, having the team combination of creative or innovative thinking, daring, insightful, wide variety of interest, resourceful, energetic, planner and ambitious .I am sure that we are fully capable of handling any kind of task. (APA, 2017)

Analysis and Reflection

Team is a part of group and due to globalization lot of diversity has been introduced in the corporate sector. So, in a team we can have combination of not only different individual but also individual from different countries which give rise to lot of difference in their thinking, behaviour and attitude. So, naturally conflict will come in between the members of a team. We cannot avoid these conflicts fully, but we can lower down these conflicts to some extent with the help of mutual understanding, keep team objective above the personal object as every individual has its own objective to grow because every individual final expectation is growth. (Samson, & Daft, 2015) Nobody is perfect, as every individual have some strength so they also have some weakness. Similarly, our team is having number of strengths but at the same time our team is also suffering from some weakness like difference in prioritizing task-some team member will think that we should do the particular task in innovative way and other may think that we should standard operating procedure, resistance to leadership- some team member will think that he/she deserve this leadership position and time consumption- every team member will present his opinion about some project and to convert these different opinion in to common opinion will take time (Patric , 2015)

Building an effective team in not an easy task, it requires lot of efforts and dedication to combine the different thinking, style of taking decision and understanding in to align format. So, as per Organization Development experts the best way to develop an effective team activities is using the game instead of some boring task because game not only creates a fun loving environment but a very quick mode of learning. In any training session the use of related material flow is there but one of the most important patterns is including games (Svalestuen, Froysted, Drevland, Ahmad, Lohne & Laedre, 2015). In our case we will also make use of game as our team building activities. Here we will use two games one game will be truth and lies- in this game all the members of team will sit in circle type arrangement, facing each other. Then each member of team will share its three truths and one realistic lie but in random manner and the other member facing has to find out the lie. This activity will help us in Ice breaking and will eliminate unrealistic judgement about team member. Second game will be blind drawing- in this game the team will split in two members. One member will carry paper and pencil and other member will carry picture needed to be drawn. This activity will help in developing good communication and interpretation along with mutual trust (Able trust, 2008).

Conclusion

People behave differently when they work in a team or group in respect to their role and responsibility. Group dynamics often tells about impact on team members and also on whole team (Wazzan, 2015) .The overall dynamic of team remained positive and each member of the team has completed their responsibility according to their role. One team member 1 played the role of motivator and trust builder, team member 4 played the role of giving idea out of box and Team member 3 and 4 played the role of planning the roles of each team member and executive the plan as per the requirement of the situation. All the members of the team through their roles have created an environment which is full of energy, ambitions and high motivation which on sum total not only have positive impact on all the team members but also the whole team. (Sturgess & Higson, 2012)

From the conducted activity I have learned a lot about capability and their impact on the team .I understand that if we have to work in a team, first of all we have to develop mutual understanding along with trust within the members of the team and also we have to develop such a working environment in which each member will feel that the activity in not only important to team only but it is also important on the individual level. So, for the success of this team I have to increase my inter-personal skills along with information gathering skill. (Llopis,2012)

As, I have mentioned that i have to improve my inter-personal skill along with information gathering skill. For this I can take participation in activities which can help me in improving the same so that I can be play a very important position in the team when required.

Conclusion

From this report we can understand that due to 21^st century, whether we like or dislike someone. We have to leave our egos aside for the benefit of the team as we have to work in a team, which has individuals not only of different personalities but also may be possible from different countries. So, if we have to perform better we not only have to understand the intercultural but also different working environment. Each member of the team have to act as a supportive pillar to other member in case of weakness and put his strength as a catalyst to speed the overall performance of the whole team with keeping their individual goal aside and give more importance to the team goal and keep the team goal as first priority for all team members.

References:

Able Trust. (2008). Team builder and Ice breaker. Retrieved from https://www.serviceandinclusion.org/conf/HSHT-Team-Building-Ice-Breaker-Manual-2008-09.pdf

APA.  (2017). Individual differences in characteristics pattern of thinking, feeling and behaviour. Retrieved from https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/big-five-personality-theory/

Canan, M., Sousa-Poza, A., & Dean, A. (2017). Complex Adaptive Behavior of Hybrid Teams. Procedia Computer Science, 114, 139-148.

Harvey, J. F. (2017). Cross-Boundary Teaming For Innovation: Integrating Research on Teams and Knowledge in Organization. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2017, No. 1, p. 10856). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

Llopis, G. (2012). Six ways successful teams are built to last. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/10/01/6-ways-successful-teams-are-built-to-last/#29f94fc52b55

LMA. (2018). Effective team work: key to the success. Retrieved from https://leadershipmanagement.com.au/effective-teamwork-the-key-to-success/

Patricia, O. (2015). Improving interpersonal relationship in work place. IOSR journal of research and method in education, 5(6), 115-125.

Psyche study. (2018). The big five personality traits. Retrieved from https://www.psychestudy.com/general/personality/big-five

Samson, D., & Daft, R.L. (2015). Managing in global environment. (6^th ed.).Sydney, NSW: Cenagage Learning

Sturgess, A., & Higson, P. (2012). There is no I in team. (Ist ed.).Denmark, US: Ventus 

Svalestuen, F., Froystad, K., Drevland, F., Ahmad, S., Lohne, J., & Laedre, O. (2015). Key elements to an effective building design team. Procedia Computer Science, 64, 838-843.

Wazzan, M. M. (2015). Group dynamics in the EFL classroom: The role of the cohesive group of Syrian tertiary learners. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, 184-188.