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Introduction
Effective consultancy, In term 2 the class was introduced to the Apprentice Challenge to undertake. The essence of this assignment is to join several learning objectives from Term 1 into practice. Groups were allocated to plan and raise money for a charity event of the group’s choice. This assignment will give a detailed overview from the planning process to the event on the actual day including the challenges encountered and experienced as the day of the event reached closer. This article will cover what I have experienced while conducting the activity. It is a demonstration and appraisal towards oneself.
The Methods we used for this activity are explained in detail in subsequent paragraphs following which an example will be given for each. To keep in view the workings of each method such as the key elements, the theories of team working, creativity planning and most importantly the execution process, it is very important to analyse your self-reflection and assessment to be able to make the most of the situation.
A self-appraisal and demonstration are individually evocative functions which result in learning from the work we have done; however the resulting achievements and causes for each action are different. For the sake of this assignment, and what you will find underneath, is a model example of the art of reflection which essentially portrays the way we intuitively completed this activity.
The beginning of the event and planning
Theories of working in teams:
When groups were revealed during the seminar we had a mini brainstorming session where we were giving ideas that we had in mind, however we acknowledged that we would need to go and individually do more research into the event and charity we would like to use to be able to see if we were able to do so as a group.
On our official first meeting, we all had ideas however after sometime the ideas that were brought forward were not realistic to achieve bearing in mind the £50 budget that was given by the university. Through this experience at the planning process it was easy and clear to identify Belbin (1981) theory and distinguish the category we belong into, surprisingly each of us fell into one of the category “Action, Thinking , Effective consultancy People” and sometimes in the middle of all three which was great as we were four members each having their specialist area which made it easier to share the workload and the individual that fell in the middle of all three was able to help and clear the tinted view of each other that had that particular skill. Belbin (1981) explains that not a single individual may have all the qualities to accomplish the overall group work totally right. Team members were assigned role of their own choice which helped them to steer clear of responsibilities they may not be able to fulfil.
Reflecting back on the group performance, we succeeded based on the combination of different roles we had as individuals and the fact that we succeeded in them individually contributed to us succeeding as a group. The roles identified by Belbin are not great and to some extent, shape the individual roles in a team. From which I agree that the nine roles explained by Belbin; all the nine roles are not necessary to achieve success.
Referring this to the group tasks, I’m of the view that five roles are sufficient for success to be achieved as some roles are doubled up such as the Specialist Role was also capable of performing the Role of Plant. Therefore Belbin theory allows individual role to play a secondary role in a team.
Strategic Plan
We worked well together as we all had individual strengths and skills, which meant everyone knew their task and responsibility, however, there was a time at the beginning of the process where some skills conflicted with one anther which resulted in two different views. For instance, Effective consultancy sometimes I found it hard to express myself whereas one of my group members has a strong talent in expressing themselves; which overpowered my ability to try and express myself. To remedy this, I used body language to make them understand what I wanted to say.
The body language plays a role of colossal importance while communicating with others. As Lurnsden (2000) stated, communication is a very important action and an equally important skill which translates to the action of exchanging messages between two individuals. It can either be verbal or non-verbal but in my case it was verbal as English is not my first language, Effective consultancy which meant that sometimes when I was trying to express my views or ideas it wasn’t as clear to the others especially when I was clarifying complex situations. Dwyer (2005:79) emphasises that strong communication is key for all members of the team to ensure that they can interact and work together to achieve the goal of the organisation.
Nonetheless it was sometimes difficult for some of the members to understand the auxiliary concepts and assumed that if the individual was not able to express themselves properly then it was not really necessary to take it into account as they were unable to interpret it in a way for them to understand. I Learnt to express myself properly as not everyone understand the body language and come to common ground of understanding were I am able to share and make sure my knowledge or expression are understood.
Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle is used to in this article rather effectively. The use of this cycle affirms the tool to be used by me. Gibbs (1988) covers a variety of six parts to finish the function which improves my personal skills as long as I want it to and learn from it as well. As Gibbs sequence advances, the first step depicts the situation when colleagues cooperate, next step takes a gander at the sentiments of the work we put in, and the third step envisages the feelings and sentiments of every person.
The fourth step is exploring the experience from the view point of participants involved, fifth step looks into the final results of collaboration and the last step takes into account the arrangement of different activities for the events if it somehow managed to emerge once more. Such type of manifestations generated the wisdom which supported me and my fellow group members to work together and adapt to different situations during the work task experience. Our collaboration urged me to gain from my missteps and conduct and take a gander at the points of view of different individuals in the group. It was imperative to construct the colleague association with one another so as to create a shared comprehension and trust.
Challenges:-
Nonetheless as stated before, we encountered challenges while working within the team. Watson (1995) says that teamwork is never a smooth way of individualistic conduct. Aggression, Effective consultancy identity awkward nature and social, philosophical, sex contrasts are all dangers that influence the teamwork atmosphere.
This occurred when some workload was shared and there were times when one of the group members would like to take responsibilities such as doing the effort and research to find the data so we knew who to speak to and what he can do but then there were individuals who had connection or knew people already and take on the task on top of their task which from my point shows sometimes a reluctant trust that the other member may have which made the individual feel unvalued as we may not require their effort when someone already knows how to get in contact and take the lead. The sense of control and knowing things better does cause conflicts even if it wasn’t intentional, Effective consultancy which clearly shows me that when working with others
I must give others the opportunity to do their task and maybe offer tips or information that could assist them but not overtake their role as if they are not capable of doing the role themselves. This shows some sort of respect to the individual doing the task or role.
The positive purposes of teamwork were tremendous similar to a colleague I have imparted the assets, saw eminence and troubled disappointment. Toward the beginning of the venture, Effective consultancy group members settled upon the group targets and empowered us to make accord on the points, and minimized diversion from different issues.
Planning and creativity:-
We came up with the idea of having a Red Nose Day event. The Aston University RAG team always had the 24 hour walk around the lake and we believed as a group that it was a fantastic idea as people would like to make memories while taking part in the event and providing such services was to allow friends to come together and take pictures. We arranged the meeting with RAG to discuss our idea as we wanted to implement it. They seemed pleased and we made the arrangements that when they buy the Red Nose, give us a fraction of the makings so we could collaborate and sell them while we take pictures of them.
We weren’t able to buy the noses ourselves due to the funds given by the university. We tried to spilt work equally but more or less in regards to their strengths. For example when we had to do the risk assessment we each took one task to execute as it sped up the process and therefore would not put a lot of pressure on any one of us because we all had other modules to study for. After this was completed, Effective consultancy we individually did research on the costs associated with the products but it didn’t turn out to be as effective as we thought it would be.
By doing individual research we ended up looking at products that were not really necessary but would be nice to have and other did not have the time. So 3 of the members met up and went into each store that was comparatively cheaper and see what they had, however by just entering the stores without having specific things in mind, our focus was diverted. So after visiting various stores we sat down and realised that we need to write down all the things we would like and after that prioritize the list of the things based on their importance. By doing so, we made it much easier to check for the specific things and negotiate like when we went to the market to look at the wigs, we managed to negotiate with the store owner that if we bought more than 5 items we could get a discount as we were raising money for charity which was very good to know as she accepted it. This was more of our back up plan in case we went to the charity shops and couldn’t find anything, after having an overview of the things we would need and how much it costs. We still decided to go to different charity shops in Birmingham from where we met a lady who was willing to provide us with free two wigs as she found our idea very unique and interesting. While returning back to meet our other members of the group we came across Claire store where they had very interesting products for the Red Nose day. From there, we came up with the idea that instead of spending money we could create those arrows and face masks ourselves and use barbeque sticks to hold them. Soon after we made the lists and shared it, it was easier for each member to see if they could get some fancy dresses or even get them for friends. We made a lot of stuff ourselves to make it personal and fun, making memories in the process.
Methodology
Checkland (2010) methodology is very useful tool and we made sure that we create one to gather an in-depth understanding and threats that we need to be aware of so that we plan for the unexpected. It proposes the representation to be used at the beginning of any process. Rich pictures are generally…
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