Effective Team Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Effective Team - Assignment Example During the course of project, many problems and conflicts surfaced as the team progressed through its four development stages as described by Tuckman’s model (Beyerlein and Johnson 2000), which were not beyond expectations. However, these were dealt along as the team developed more cohesion and understanding of the common goal but still the opinion is that these problems could have been avoided and effectively managed as highlighted by (Kayes 2004). Throughout the task, group remained engaged in number of activities that played vital role is team development and are discussed throughout the report. This project report is an aim to comprehensively elaborate significance of reflection in learning and evaluates how experiences are transformed into genuine learning (Kolbs 1984). Secondly, this report narrates process of building a group of individuals into a team and difficulties faced during this progression. It also encompasses the significance and critical role of different con cepts and theory elements that influence this process. Problem and Context After the group was formed, I was much skeptical group future as to what form would it take, how we are going to interact and what would be the course of action towards desired goals. A good explanation for this could be that team was in its initial stage of forming as described by Bruce Tuckman in his model of team development (Beyerlein and Johnson 2000) since members were trying to get know each other and develop relationships. McManus (2000) distinguished group from a team in that team has a strong commitment, high degree of cohesiveness and accomplishment to each other and towards common goal than in a group because teamwork promotes creativity, problem solving, effective decision making and improved communication (Chaney and Lyden 2000). During initial sessions, I found that there were member who were not concerned deeply with purpose and goal of the team as they were often found busy in dealing with pe rsonal social issues which they thought were of more importance to them. Even at times, they were not prepared for what meeting were all about and had no agenda to talk about. At early stages, team did not seem much organized and interactive as members were shy and reluctant in sharing experiences and knowledge. I was of the view that these issues would induce many problems during the course of task completion and would make it difficult for team building and cohesion. Although team project went much better but often task-based conflicts arose when one member’s job depended on other member’s input or cooperation which (Bartos and Wehr 2002) stated as interdependence conflict. However, main cause of interdependence conflict was being unable to effectively communicate one’s part to another member which (Shapiro 2004) called communication breakdown conflict. Competitive conflict was exhibited by one of team members who always tried to prove himself better than othe r team member and tried to find his own way through the process if not agreed upon (Rahim 2011). However, overall the project was a huge success and a great effort to understand the team development process in practical scenario and

Crime Rates Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Crime Rates - Research Paper Example An in-depth analysis of counties in Texas that focus on these issues indicate that Texas’s crimes’ drop rate was due to an increase in the jail and prison populace. A rise in wealth and improved income led to the decrease of property crimes (Nachmias & Nachmias, 2004). Increased prison construction would not be cost-effective in Texas. This is due to the declining marginal returns of investing in prison construction, but direct interventions in improving the economy sectors and enhancing police operations would be more proactive. Ideally, most of the discussions in the article are based on assumptions rather than facts. The researcher gives possible reasons as to why crime rate is dropping but he does not answer how these attributes are connected to the crimes. He mentions variables such as demography, unemployment, prison expansion and the economy. It is hard to establish a relationship between the variables and the crimes due to lack of concrete proof to his suggestions. Hypothetically, unemployment is a particular clear case, but the principle can be expected to apply to several other explanations. A blend in heterogeneity of most local areas in social class, household structure, race and income among others can be causational to each other (Nachmias & Nachmias, 2004). The assurance of civil rights is grounded on inclusion; yet the massive difference imprisonment rates between Latinos, blacks and whites still stands as the ugliest reminder of nation’s history of segregation based on race. In the article, the researcher argues that the best way of understanding law and race in this twenty-first century is by understanding and appreciating the American federal system. Some of the things that need appreciation include, the system structures, political mobilization, legal authority and solutions to policy loop holes. In addition, the federal system serves as a vital and disregarded obstacle to more persistent and