Good Essay About Putting The Puzzle Together

Question 1

According to French & Vince (2011), a group comprises of people with diverse thoughts, behaviors, and functional abilities. Both the active and passive members of a group are pertinent descriptors of group composition. Because a group allows for diverse membership, it is agreeable that within any group there are different group roles. As the paper highlights below, the group roles are distinct.

Shaper role

Often, this role belongs to individuals who relish challenges with high dynamism. Notably, shapers strive to resolve challenges with a positive attitude and never quit. The shapers of a team are extroverts who use their excellent interpersonal communication skills to motivate others.

Implementer Role

Individuals who play this role are responsible for driving action in a team. Normally, such people have good organizational abilities, are practical and satisfactorily efficient. Simply, implementers translate the team’s thoughts and ideas into actual plans. Often, the implementers are conservative and rigid to embrace change in a group.

Coordinator role

Coordinators are responsible for guiding the team towards its obligations. In most cases, coordinators delegate duties. However, when it is essential to driving the team towards achieving its goals, they usually employ manipulative skills to guide team activities. Undoubtedly, this role requires great listening abilities and a high sense of maturity.

Finisher role

Finishers are responsible for detecting omissions or errors and ensure that a group adheres to set deadlines. Often, finishers are perfectionists in a team because they serve as an eye for detail. However, finishers prefer to perform their roles by themselves rather than delegating.

Resource Investigator Role

Individuals performing this role are usually inquisitive with excellent negotiating and networking abilities (In Janeway, 2013). Such individuals negotiate for the group’s resources through the external contacts that they establish in the networking process. The resource investigators are also extroverts and good at sourcing information from other people.

Specialist role

Members with expertise in a specific field perform the specialist role. The contribution of such members is limited to their field of knowledge, and they prioritize to maintain their professional standards. Because of the expertise, such individuals are indispensable in a group.

Question 2

Choosing and assigning group roles need to be done in a manner that recognizes the diverse abilities of all group members. More than one member can perform all group roles. Usually, it is important to recognize all roles in a group have a certain value and must be represented to avoid a possible dysfunction of the team. Some of the roles that require more than one person include shaper, resource investigator, and implementer and coordinator roles. Essentially, these roles are pertinent to a team and may restrict team activity. Thus, more members are required to ensure their continuous existence for the good of the team.
However, because of the size implications especially in small groups, some roles may require only one person. In other cases, one person may be serving more than one role. Often in a small team, there is limited diversity and team complexity, which makes it easier to drive the group. Some of the roles that may require only one person include specialist and finisher roles. These roles are easier to perform in small groups than big groups.

Question3

Agreeably, different roles exist in a group including skillful, personal, organizational and functional roles. Is in not of importance that each team recognizes and assigns roles depending on particular goals they want to achieve? In essence, a team needs an ideal mix of roles in order to maintain its functionality towards set targets. Poor balancing of group roles into an ideal mix compromises the entire functional ability because the group works like a system whose success is measurable by the success of individual units (In Cartwright & In Zander, 2010). For example, a group having only specialists may lose grip of the big picture just like one consisting only creative minds faces a risk of not implementing any ideas. Teams are conversant with specific roles pertinent to achieving particular goals and must strive to fulfill the roles for better overall performance.

Question 4

In groups, I prefer undertaking the implementer role. Seemingly, this role appears interesting for most people and can be a complex one as well especially if a person does not know the demands of such a position. Personally, I like serving as an implementer in most groups because I derive pleasure out of the responsibilities that come with the role. Because, I subscribe my membership to different groups and which possibly require a different level of participation, I would not admit that one could succeed as an implementer in a team just because of natural abilities. Often, I enjoy the implementer’s role in different groups because it provides me with an opportunity to drive the ideas into actions. When a team achieves its goals, I feel proud as an implementer and drive personal satisfaction out of the role. In addition, the implementer’s role differs in terms of complexity in various groups, and I always derive personal enjoyment from such dynamism.

Question 5

In my professional life, I serve many roles in the day-to-day functions of the workplace. Where my choices are not limited, I always prefer to carry out roles that lead to actualization of plans or policies. Simply, I have a great attitude to serve as an implanter wherever I work. Agreeably, my professional experiences in all the roles I have played are both interesting and educative.
While I was working with an advertising company in the United States of America, I had to serve as an implementer in the online sales department. Specifically, I was required to ensure that the advertising company had a portal for all advertisers in order to improve efficiency and prevent fraud. Initially, I thought it was a normal activity to lead a team in implementing the department’s goals. Later, I realized that some employees resisted the move because they thought the creation of the portal had ill motives. In fact, some members thought the portal was designed to allow for decreasing the number of employees and expressed reluctance for the fear of losing jobs. I had to go an extra mile to budget for a one-day trip to a similar company using the portal to show the employees that such a move had no ill intentions. As procedure dictates, I wrote a proposal to the top management of the intention of the trip, and they approved the funds for the exercise. After the trip, all employees were convinced with my explanations and supported the implementation exercise that took only two days.

Question 6

Often, lack of an ideal mix of roles in any one group is a common constraint to the efficient functioning of a group. Most of the roles may seem to be the same while they are very dissimilar. Defining the distinct roles is essential to avoid duplication or instances of conflicting roles that can frustrate the functioning of the team. Proper delineation of activities to be conducted with each role is necessary to ensure that all roles are designed in a manner that contributes to the ultimate goals.
Understanding group roles is important in boosting communication processes (In Janeway 2013). Essentially, when people understand the group role, which is a reflection of the dynamics out of that, it is likely that they will establish good relationships. The group members channel their concerns to the right role performers and in this way; they pool their experiences together for the achievement of the ultimate goals. Good communication is a product of understanding and respecting each role in a group which is pertinent to ensuring effectiveness in working together.

References

French, R., & Vince, R. (2011). Group relations, management, and organization. New York: Oxford University Press.
In Cartwright, D., & In Zander, A. F. (2010). Group dynamics: Research and theory. New York: Harper & Row.
In Janeway, E. (2013). Groups: their changing roles. New York: New York times.