Self-Analysis Essay Example

Completing a task can be achieved individually or as a team. Teamwork has a number of advantages than working as an individual. Besides the possibility of delivering a perfect job, teamwork also helps members to learn more about others and the principles of an effective and efficient team. Some of the tasks we were assigned like projects requires that we work as a team. Working as a team offered me a great opportunity to learn about myself and others. Being an effective team player requires a good understanding of myself and my attitude towards others. I also realized being a team member requires that I understand others’ attitudes towards me. An understanding of the Self-concept Model helped me a lot if coping with my fellow team members. For example, I came to appreciate that not all team members are the same. People have different personalities, multiple self-views and reacts to situations differently. According Schwartz model, people exhibit different values. Some members display values of self-transcendence while others are in pursuit of self-enhancement. Still, some are conservative while others are open to change. When we had a task to do, we usually met as team and share responsibilities. My motivation to perform to the best was inspired by our team leader who kept encouraging members to do better. The team leader was also caring and wanted all members to be treated equally and with a lot of respect. All members were expected to discuss on issues and agree on what needed to be done to succeed in our project. There was freedom to pick assignments. No member was forced. Work was divided into parts and a member was supposed to pick only an area he/she feel comfortable to work with. For me, I picked only tasks based on my ability because I knew areas where I was competent in. For example, I knew from past experience that I am good in taking notes during meetings, compiling minutes, distributing them to members, communicating, and providing effective feedback. I am also good in keeping records such as filing information in a project. However, I also knew I am not good in speaking a lot and persuading members to do things. Therefore, I avoided tasks that required frequent talking, persuasion, and speeches.
Each member was expected to perform his or her part to the best. The first assignment I picked when we formed our first team was to take notes during meetings. Although I did the job with a lot of enthusiasm and delivered my work in time, I had difficulty coping with the other team members at the beginning. Personally, I am not a person who speaks a lot because I am not extraverted individual. In a Five-Factor Personality Model, I can best describe myself as an agreeable person I am very trustworthy, tolerant to others beliefs and culture, and also helpful. Furthermore, I am well-suited to tasks or assignments that require somebody who is organized and dependable. My contributions during the initial meetings were view. When I was asked to make a comment or suggest an idea, I only talked briefly. But in subsequent meetings I improved a lot. This was after I had learned the personalities, attitudes, values, perceptions, and emotions of other team members.
Project work required that we stick to certain behaviors. I avoided any counterproductive behaviors that was going to go against our aims and objectives as a team. For example, I made sure I attended all meetings and made my contributions. Attitude towards other members is also important for a group member. Bad attitudes such as arrogance and lack of respect towards other members destroy a team. For me I had a deep feeling towards my fellow team members by showing them a feeling of empathy and care when they wanted my assistance or when they were in trouble. For example, some members had stresses due to the difficulty in meeting deadlines or performing work as to the expected standards. Instead of blaming them or undermining them, I find it better to offer them the support I could afford and the encouragement they deserved so that they could feel motivated to do better and also feel like important members of our team. This is also part of my support of the concept of collectivism and high nurturing orientation among our team members.
As I pointed out earlier, people have different personalities and values. I am such a person who is open to change and motivated to pursue anything that is aimed at promoting the welfare of others in the group. However, during our project assignments, I discovered some members are conservative while others are very much interested in pursuit of self-interests as advanced by Schwartz model. In this regard, I found it valuable to know more about others so that I develop an appropriate behavior that was in consistent with the ethical principles of an effective team. In a team like ours, issues such as moral sensitivity, ethical sensitivity, and mindfulness play a key role in sustaining good conduct among team members. I think I practice the concept of utilitarianism because I believe in doing good things to as many people as possible and reducing the chances of making others feel hurt due to my actions. Therefore, before I did anything or suggested an idea in the meetings, I first of all thought about how it will affect other team members. If it was going to result in people feeling hurt, I withdrew such bad ideas. Even in small group like our team, I felt limiting others chances to express themselves is not good. That is why I always obeyed individual rights of every member.
In a situation like our team, sometimes it happens that not all group members are from the same community and Johari Model come handy in such a setting. People who comes from different regions in the same country or from other part of the world do not have the same way of viewing and interpreting situations, events, and circumstances because they come from different cultures. While some people have fixed mindset in the way they perceive other people from other parts, me I believe it is good to understand others and avoid things like stereotypes such as the notion that people coming from some parts are very incompetent to do some things or people coming from certain regions must always behave in a certain way. I believe in the need to appreciate diversity and cultural differences among people so that when people of different backgrounds form a group, they shall work in harmony with each other while embracing reach other’s diversity. I have always appreciated the importance of being aware of any perpetual biasness, development of a global mindset and also improving of self-awareness so that I can sustain meaningful interaction with others.
When we were working as a team, I could observe that there was difference in the way members express their emotions. Certain situations cause people to show different emotions. For example when some people are reminded about their lateness in completing assignment, they feel unhappy. But when the same member is rewarded another time because they did a good job, they feel very happy. During meetings, some feel aroused and contribute good ideas while some choose to remain quiet. Being aware that emotions influence attitudes, I always tried to learn and control emotions and also manage other’s emotions during my relations with other team members. Once in a while, I felt stressed especially when tasks need to be delivered urgently and when the workload was very big and I had so many things to do. To minimize stress, I had to use coping strategies like positive thoughts, seeking help from concerned members, taking breaks and exercises.
Overall the team project was a great opportunity to apply knowledge gained in class in practice. It was chance to translate theory into practice. This included an appreciation of importance of models developed by various scholars. The benefits knowledge I gained will be very useful in my future professional endeavors.