1. Our team holds quite the bit of diversity as far as our values were discovered on the Discovery Wheel.(Ellis, 2011) Our common abundant categories show for Memory, Thinking, and Diversity. Past this, we seems to cover the wheel rather, well, if we are to pool our strengths as a team. We all report different weaknesses, and with good management, we would be able to combat each others lacking areas. The only section not particularly outstanding in either direction was Reading, and with a fair distribution, this would pose no problem either. From our reported and even by the way we post, each of our members have diverse amounts in the types of intelligences. We could not say if any of us match up significantly more than one another. 2. The advantages to having diversity on a team are endless. No two people are the same; everyone is from different cultures, background, and ethnicity with all different experiences. Having diversity in a group will almost always benefit the outcome of the project, because of all the different intelligence working together and learning from each other. Having different ideas is a good thing it makes other individuals expand their minds farther than their own thinking process and see things from other points of view, which will expand the individual’s understanding of the projects material. Being able to have a discussion, answer questions and get feedback from different people is not only giving the teachers prospective on our work, but gives us the ability to learn from others as well and hear what they have to say. Although diversity in a group is a positive as a whole, there are still challenges that come with it; challenges such as language barriers can definitely cause frustration in a group. Being from different ethnic backgrounds, and cultures is a great thing but it can also be the most challenging hurdle to overcome, because everyone is different, everyone has a different point of view. Knowing how to be respectful will go a long way in a diverse group. 3. When a team is put together, sometimes it goes off without a hitch, other times some building to get to team building is necessary. Members in a team can be quite diverse, and as such different viewpoints and walks of life shape the contributed ideas. These ideas towards the goal of the team's purpose are normally positive, but even so, others may feel the projections weak, unnecessary or abrasive.
Diversity can be used to our advantage since both of us are unique in our own way. We can use it to gain an understanding of one another. For example, I do not care for texting or emailing but my teammate does, and this is their most convenient way to communicate other than google docs. I do not see this as a barrier but an opportunity to broaden my writing and communication skills.
A group of people working on a team means a group of different sets of minds working together. Thus, it is inevitable that there may arise conflicts on a certain topic within the team, as certain viewpoint may seem right for the circumstances for some teammates and may different for others. However, it is not that they are not solvable.
An effective team typically develops through several stages. Tuckman and Jensen developed a model for how teams should develop that includes five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (as cited in Martin ,2006 and Fulk, Bell,& Bodie ,2011). In forming, the first stage in team development, team members are introduced to the team’s purpose and goals(Martin, 2006 ; Fulk et al. ,2011). Fulk et al. (2011) explain that members are usually motivated and excited about working together to accomplish the specific goal, but they point out that interactions among team members can be affected by uncertainty about purpose, anxiety, mistrust ,and reluctance to share ideas and opinions. Nevertheless, despite such uncertainties, team members usually avoid conflict and move on to the next stage, storming(Fulk et al.,2011). Unlike the forming stage, the storming stage is marked by conflict (Martin...
The purpose of creating teams is to solve a problem or issue through the use of diverse ideas and solutions. There are many times in life, whether at work or at school that one will encounter a diverse mix of personalities. Workplace diversity is everywhere, from the small corner business to the fortune 500 company, and is one of the most important challenges facing companies today. This mix of diverse personalities, gender, race, experience, and culture is what makes a team successful. This is an example of a heterogeneous team. On the other hand, a team with the same make-up, or homogeneous, has limitations on creativity, viewpoints and ideas. This paper will look at cultural diversity and demographic characteristics, specifically age, gender, expertise/ experience and how each plays an integral part in the construction of a high performance team.
Team Dynamics is how a group of two or more that works together for a common goal. One definition of a team is: two or more individuals associated in some joint action. (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1976). In the business & education world, these joint actions should have some mission or objective that achieves results like a research paper. My Team C has come together with a common goal: Writing a successful paper for week 5 on “What safeguards exist currently to ensure academic honesty & are they working?” For this to be possible we must learn how to work as a team.
The Pros of Diversity: It is far easier to relate with people when you treat everyone exactly the same. It also feels good when you know someone everywhere you go. A bigger group brings a larger sense of community.
The use of culturally diverse business teams is an increasingly common situation in today’s world; especially as the world continues to become a global village. Leveraging on the cultural diverse backgrounds and experiences of members of such teams can be a source of improved performance which can ultimately reflect a competitive advantage in the business market. As Symons and Stenzel (2007) aptly state, “culturally diverse teams are more likely to engage in innovative `out-of-the-box' thinking, given their different life experiences in diverse social environments.” Another pointer to suggest that multicultural teams tend to be a source of competitive advantage in business is found in the paper by Di Stefano and Maznevski (2000) where they state that “multicultural teams have an enormous wealth of material with which to create innovative approaches to complex organizational challenges.” They furthermore state that “today’s business cannot flourish without the creative value afforded by high performing global teams.”
In recent years, organisations are much more reliant on diversity teams to develop products, make decisions and also gain the business success (when and how). Therefore, diversity teams are becoming a very important element for the organisations. In USA, diversity usually refers to demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and ethnicity, however, diversity is not only refer to demographics, it also means the diversity in psychological characteristics like skills, personality, abilities, and education backgrounds (book diversity). During the decision making process, different team members can bring their different perspectives and stimulate the debates.
Similar to understanding the context of the team, to effectively manage and understand the composition of the team it is important for the team and its members to answer the following questions: “(1) to what extent do individual team members have the technical skills required to complete the task?; (2) to what extent do they have the interpersonal and communication skills required to coordinate their work with others?; (3) to what extent are individual team members committed to the team and motivated to complete the task?; and (4) is the team the right size to successfully complete the task?” (Dyer & Dyer,
A shared goal has a major impact on the success of a team. For such a common goal or vision to be understood and sustained, interdependence and mutual understanding must be developed. For this to happen, there must be support of the team must be present. Trust must be present and must be recognized (Loo & Loewen, 2003).
Working in teams provides an opportunity for individuals to come together and establish a rapport towards others within a group. Teamwork is classified as people with different strengths and skills who work together to achieve a common goal. When a team works well, specific objectives are fulfilled and satisfied. Teamwork plays a crucial role in implementing and fulfilling a common goal in a team project. Each member plays a role and takes on different responsibilities combined together. In different stages of teamwork, conflicts and arguments may occur for as members have different standpoints which need to be harmonized within the team. The key to having an effective teamwork is to explore each member's unique abilities to motivate them.
Bi-culturals are individuals who have deeply internalized two cultural schemas. A cultural schema is a set of knowledge about values, norms, and beliefs for a given culture.
In conclusion, diverse people are great to learn new ideologies and cultures. All around us we can find diversity in people. I as a person learn from them more than I learn from myself. Diversity, is a learning experience for all. And every single person has experienced diversity in pretty diverse
In a team-oriented setting, everyone contributes to how well the group succeeds overall. You work with fellow members of the group to complete the work that needs to be done. Having the right people in the correct roles is an important factor in measuring the success of a team, where you are united with the other members to complete the main goals. Every group is made up of definite strengths and weaknesses. Our team's 3-5 major strengths necessary to work accordingly consist of Informer, Summarizer, Orienter, Piggy-Backer, and Encourager. One of our strengths as a team is that we get input from everyone involved. Every member of our team is a leader in some way. Part of being a good leader is knowing how important it is to receive the best ideas from each member of their team. We attend group meetings where we discuss any challenges, issues, and problems. At these meetings, we often exchange ideas or brainstorm new ones with each other and come up with the best and most creative team solutions as potential answers to those perceived problems.
All this may seem a little overwhelming and tiresome to some or to all, but do be assured it is not as hard as it seems. Just keep in mind that you have to embrace the differences between all the demographic characteristics and the culturally diverse team members that make up your group. This with an open mind, and a willingness to cooperate, compromise, and the pleasure to collaborate will harvest many great results and have the organization reaping the many great benefits along with a great top of the line fueled to the rim high performance team.