In the start of the second semester, we were assigned a group project called SHIPS. The whole class was divided into groups of four and five. We were a group of four and were assigned the same task. In order to do well on the project, the group was meant to work as a team and unless and until it did so, achieving the goal would have become a farfetched idea. Our group had the common goal of discussing the implications of migration of transport system on the UK energy sector. I would like to refer to the psychotherapeutic writers to describe in steps how my group approached the task .
After forming as a group, the first task that we did was brainstorming which in the psychotherapeutic terms would be called ‘Storming’1. We discussed the ideas and possible solution to the problem. Based on the storming session, we divided the problem into little smaller tasks divided the tasks to be done amongst the group which I would like to refer to as ‘Norming’1. We decided to meet once every two weeks, to discuss the progress and hence make changes if required.
It was hard to form a culture for the group initially as the differences found were immense e.g. when we used to call for a meeting, most of the times, they used to be late and would not appear before making me wait for 15 minutes. We also could not meet late at night, and we could not have frequent meetings since the other group members who happened to be all Chinese had other commitments which they valued more.
We started off with the task but suffered badly due to the cultural differences. As discussed by Geert Hofstede individualism is the run for the individual ambitions and goals, and that is what we suffered from greatly. Since the day they realised that the work was assessed on the individual performance level, everyone started acting selfishly. We came to a point where the group had to change the whole structure plan for approaching the problem in order to accommodate the wishes of certain individuals....