Teamwork

|Individual Report | |0836647 | | | |SM3035- Discovering Entrepreneurship | | | | | |Word Count:1071 Turn It In Id: | | | Introduction “Team members learn from each other during team working” (West, 2004) Working effectively and efficiently in a team played a vital role to the success of this project and we were able to learn new skills and improve existing ones from the other members; this was visible as I showed the members how to improve on referencing and how to find the best journals for the work. Throughout the duration of this module we were in the same team; the task was to create a business plan for a new project (The London Food Hub). To get the most out of all the members we decided to split the research up into categories which we would put together and discuss ideas in the following meetings. After taking into account the strengths of each member of the team we allocated areas for research as we had shared objectives (Nurmi, 1996) and efficiency was vital which is defined as how well resources were utilized (Ingram et al, 1997). I prompted to research the potential customers for our project as I and the team agree I had strong interpersonal and communication skills. One of the members in our team was also a Manager as an occupation, as we were trying to utilise everyone’s strengths we decided to make him team leader. Although we appointed a leader members were urged to make their own decisions as teamwork tends to slow down with retrospect to decision making (Nurmi, 1996). This report will analyse my role within the team and how well we worked together and the importance of this. My Role Within The Team After taking on the task of customer research I made up questionnaires and interview layouts as realised this would be the most effective form of research. The questionnaires were aimed at the general public within the east London area were we had planned to set up our business. The interviews were laid out for businesses that would become our main customer base as they would be regular purchasers of bulk produce if we were to become their supplier. At first it was very difficult to get interviews with people in decision making positions and were turned away before they had heard our proposals; this led to my form of contact changing from the telephone to e-mails. I also had many friends the food industry which played a great role in securing excellent opportunities to get potentially huge purchasers to listen to our project proposal. One of these was a restaurant owned by my friend but they did not sell the type of fish we were proposing and thus there was no point in taking that particular interview any further. I then contacted a friend from university who was a supervisor in ASDA and was able to organise a meet with the fresh food manager at that particular store. This turned out to be a great interview and we were to make further contact discussing our prices and other variables as it was clear to see ASDA were keen to come on board our project. My research showed that the general public would not be willing to travel too far for our environmentally and ethically sourced fish although the response was much more positive from the local area of the proposed location. Secondary research also showed this to be the case, as many researchers came to the conclusion that accessibility and environmental factors played a greater role in purchasing decision for the general public when compared to taste and texture (Kinnucan et al., 1993; Marshall, 1993; Nauman et al., 1995; Meiselman et al. 1988). After getting all our research together we were then further able to progress our ideas which resulted in us targeting a niche and gap in the market. We created a unique idea whereby we would employ the fishermen who would have targets and give them a cut of the profits we made. Another vital role I played in the team was editing all the work, we decided I held the strongest English and presentation skills and found my editing made the work sound and look more academic. This meant all the work other members wrote I proof read and made adjustments were necessary in order to get the best mark possible and keep the whole project consistent. Teamwork Our teamwork proved to be effective which is described as “how quickly or efficiently goal progress is occurring” (Schein, 1988). This effectiveness of teamwork can be seen in highly successful businesses such as Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Google and Nokia. A Co-Head of Goldman Sachs says “It’s about what we do as a team, not about Ego. There is no question that two, three or four heads are better than one” (Times, 2008), this shows the importance teamwork and the advantages this brings to their highly successful organisation. Fortunately our group members had a similar mentality but on rare occasions did lead to slower decision making. However the advantages of teamwork outweighed the disadvantages and could be seen with the innovative ideas which were coming through the team; Gratton a professor at London Business School states that “teamwork is where innovation happens, the idea of innovation coming from a lone genius is a fallacy” (Times, 2008). This statement was particularly visible in our project as an idea developed as each member put in their suggestions; an example of this was with the idea to employ the fishermen instead of buying the fish from them. This was initially suggested by on member but developed into all members refining the proposal and thus coming to the conclusion that we would pay the fishermen but they would have to meet our requirements of the number of fish provided, we also agreed to give the fishermen 20% of the profits to be split amongst them depending on the quantity the provided as an incentive. Figure 1.1 below shows the different forms of teams available according to West, (2004). It was clear to see our team was TYPE A; we were both high in social and task reflexivity, West (2004) also suggests this being the reason behind our efficiency and effectiveness. This theory also suggests we would want to continue to work together, this was again true. We as a team were able to go out and socialize while having a meal during our free time, at the same time discussing new ways to improve our project which did not feel like work. The relaxed atmosphere and the assurance of the ability of my team members was a great bonus as when members could not attend meetings the rest just got on with it and briefed the non attending member at the next meeting. Having this assurance was a bonus and which none of the members took advantage of. The only main weakness I feel we possessed was punctuality, as most members were late on different occasions, fortunately all members understood and thus conflicts regarding this were easily resolved. We were also initially slow in getting the work done. We had a tendency to slack without realising time was against us; this meant in the latter weeks our work had to be more intense thus making it more difficult. [pic] Conclusion This was one of the most enjoyable projects thus far in my University life, as I wish to be an entrepreneur myself one day and luckily had an excellent team around me who worked effectively and efficiently, while at the same time being sociable and had a good sense of humour. I believe this teamwork will also help me in my career as most jobs require being within a team or group which most certainly improves effectiveness. I have also worked in teams for other projects at University which lacked in communication and interaction and the final marks did reflect this, this was why I was dedicated on improving communication and social reflexivity within the team this time round with great success. References Ingram, H. et al (1997) “A Systems Model For Effective Team work”, The TQM magazine, Vol. 9 Issue. 2 pp. 118-127 Kinnucan, H.W., Nelson, R.G. and Hiariey, J. (1993), ``US preferences for fish and seafood. An evoked set analysis'', Marine Resource Economics, Vol. 8, pp. 273-91. Marshall, D. (1993) ``Appropriate meal occasions: understanding conventions and exploring situational influences on food choice'', International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Vol. 3, pp. 279-301. Meiselman, H.L., Hirsch, E.S. and Popper, R.D. (1988), ``Sensory, hedonic and situational factors in food acceptance and consumption'', in Thomson, D. (Ed.), Food Acceptability, Elsevier, London. Nauman, F.A., Gempesaw, R., Bacon, J.R. and Manalo, A. (1995), ``Consumer choice for fresh fish: factors affecting purchase decisions'', Marine Resource Economics, Vol. 10, pp. 117-42. Nurmi, R (1996) “Teamwork and team leadership”, Team Performance Management: An International Journal Vol. 2 Issue. 1 1996 pp. 9-13 Schein, E.H. (1988), “Organizational Psychology”, Prentice-Hall; New Hersey. West, A.W. (2004) “Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons From Organizational Research”, The British Psychological society and Blackwell Publishing Ltd; United Kingdom Bridge, S. The Times (2008) http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article3771427.ece Accessed on [02/12/2010]