Saying Goodbye

This is usually the hardest part of the program--the saying so long or goodbye to those who have made an impact on the lives of others. I have been fortunate enough to meet some great people online and I look forward to meeting many more. I hope that each and every last one of you have enjoyed working with me as I have enjoyed working with you. Take care and I hope to see you all in future classes. If there is by chance anything that is needed, please let me know. After all, we are in this together. Online classes are hard when you are not skilled in the area, but I am glad that I had the luxury of working with a great team of individuals. Again, it has truly been an honor.

Five Stages Of Team Development

Are high-performing groups hardest to leave? I don't think that high-performing groups are the highest to leave because it doesn't necessarily matter the rating of the group's performance because the close relationship that one feels when working along side of people can't be measured. Even in a low performing group, there are people within these groups who might not bring much in the area of job performance but they bring a lot to the table in other areas such as mediation between group members, an open-mindedness, a willingness to work, and a level of respect for group members. Which of the groups that you participated in was hardest to leave? The groups that I have participated in that was the hardest to leave were the ones where the people were responsive to my needs, and allowed me a chance to express myself. In a group, in my opinion, there has to be a give and take of information and ideas presented, otherwise, group members will become a little discontented. Everyone wants to feel valued and they also want to feel as if what they have to say matters. What sorts of closing rituals have you experienced or wish you had experienced? Th rituals that I have participated in were ones that involved a potluck. Everyone would get together over a dish/meal and just interact with the people that they have worked with. There was once a time where we had an assembly where we got a chance to express or give well wishes to those that we were leaving. As far as class is concerned, we usually just choose a few class members to express our gratitude to and let them know how much we enjoyed working with them. How do you imagine that you will adjourn from the group of colleagues you have formed while working on your master’s degree in this program? I think that we will do what we normally do and just let them know how much we enjoyed working with them and why. Why is adjourning an essential stage of teamwork? Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because just as something begins, it also has to end. Adjourning allows each individual to evaluate the effectiveness of the group and group members. Within this stage, the members can have a moment to reflect on what worked and what didn't work and what could be done differently the next time.

Conflict Resolution Strategies

In the past, I have had countless problems with co-workers who weren't able or didn't want to carry their workload. I am not the type of person who prefers to work in groups because I tend to be the one doing all of the work anyway so I just prefer working alone. I was in a situation where I had to team teach. I was under the impression that team teaching required two people who worked as a team. I was wrong. The lady stayed on her phone the whole time; she never wanted to teach; she never made any copies nor did she want to take the students to their bathroom breaks or to lunch when it was time. I kept getting mad at first but then I tried to put myself in her shoes and I decided to change my tone. Some of the conflict resolution strategies that I have learned are as follows: 1. Listen to the person as they are talking so that you can try to understand their point of view. You might not agree with their view points, but we can always listen. 2. Attack the problem or the conflict and not the person. I found this to be beneficial because I have a tendency of talking about the person and not the problem which causes more of a conflict. 3. When the confrontation is over, don't dwell on it. Move past it. It is counterproductive to keep dwelling on a problem once it has been resolved because you could quite possibly open past wounds. Although I am not an expert on this topic, I have tried these strategies and they have worked for me. They have worked for that particular co-worker as well because now we are able to get along and get the job done.