Reflection Paper
While doing this quiz, I realized that these are my values now but they will most likely change later in life. I am only 22 so I am guessing everything will change when I get older. The first half I found easy to complete but as the numbers got higher it got harder for me to figure out what was more important to me. The most important value to me was having good health, because if you don't have good health then what do you have? If you have good health then you are not limited to what you can do and accomplish in life. The least important value to me is following a sports team, athlete, music groups, or another entertainer. I find this to be time consuming. While I do enjoy watching some hockey and listening to music, I don't tend to follow particular groups or people because I want to live my life as an individual. I find that some people tend to get carried away with the latest gossip or their favorite celebrities that it takes over their life and they don't really have much of their own. I know it's Sunday, but if anybody is online I would love to hear your feedback :)
In this post, I learned quite a bit about myself; I was able to give myself a new sense of direction, and figure out exactly what kind of person I am. I feel pretty good about my ability to behave as an individual and forge my own path. Health is incredibly important to me, as it was when I wrote this; this post helps me to understand my true priorities.
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Initial Post - Week 4 (Team Roles)
My score on the quiz is 22. I mostly consider myself a team worker because I am always concerned with others feelings and often put theirs before mine. I am always the group member who tries to be diplomatic and make sure everyone's opinion is heard. The part I do not agree with is where the book says that a potential weakness is being indecisive in a crisis. That is why I also consider myself a shaper, as I work extremely well under pressure.
Whenever you have a 'social loafer' on your team, I believe it is best to elect one person from your team who is a team worker to have a conversation with the loafer so that they are aware of the issue. The reason I would only elect one person to talk to them at first is that I wouldn't want the loafer to feel ganged up on by everyone. Maybe there is something going on in their personal life that the group is not aware of. If that does not work I would have a group meeting to discuss how we should proceed and try talking to the loafer again, but always trying to be objective. If that doesn't work then the group needs to have a conversation about possibly cutting ties with the loafer. At the end of the day, the group can only try to help the loafer as much as they can, but it is ultimately up to the loafer to decide on whether or not to be a part of the group.
I learned the values of empathy and cooperation in this particular post. By examining how I would react as a leader, I figured out that I would be very aware of what is going on with my team, even outside of the project. By making myself available to help individuals, I help the team as a whole. In this respect, I am very happy to be reminded that I would attempt to be as selfless as I could be as a leader.
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Initial Post - Week 5 (Group Decision Making)
When I first read the discussion board instructions for this week, it reminded me a lot of last week's in that it focused on teamwork. I agree that group decisions lead to more commitment then those made by a manager. During the process of group decision making a sense of unity develops because the groups members are all working together to achieve a common goal. When this goal is achieved, there is a sense of satisfaction among the group members. On the other hand, when a manager makes a decision there may be some commitment, it wont be as obvious as when decisions are made by the group because the decisions were not made by the group but by the manager instead. Because of the fact that the group has not worked together for the greater goal, the commitment will not be as great.
When going through this issue of group decision making, I came to the conclusion that a consensus is not necessary for a decision to be pushed forward. If one person does not agree, it can create a rift in the group regarding the right decision to make. This results in a less dedicated and committed movement forward. The best thing that can be done is find a solution that everyone is happy with, or appropriately convince the minority that the majority's ruling is the right decision.
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Initial Post - Week 6 (Leadership)
I scored 16 on the assessment which makes me a parcipitative leader. I believe that in order to make decisions the whole group needs to be involved, not just the leader. Most of my previos experiences have been with parcipitative learders and it usually works out well. My manager at work is an authoratative leader. She makes decisions without talking to the workers. We all act cordial with each other at work, but there is not a lor of respect for her and how she treats everybody. We feel as if she thinks that our opinions are not important or warranted.
In this post, I really realized the value of a participative leader in a team setting. As a collaborator and partner, people in a team will more likely support a leader who makes their concerns heard. As opposed to an authoritative leader (someone I would never wish to be), a participative leader is a much more preferred leadership style for me.
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Reply (Week 8 Group 1)
Initial Post - If I were to be experience cultural boundaries with a client or employer, employee I would try to ask as many questions as possible to learn about what it deemed to be correct in their view and how I can work with their calues ,ideas to make sure we are having the best communication we can.
My Reply - I agree with you and I think it is very good that you are so open to learn about different cultures. I also think it is good to do some of your own reasearch on certain cultures of those you work with.
I was very impressed by the initial poster's ability to connect with someone else with different values and ideas; it made me realize that learning as much about each other permits us to have the best possible level of communication. This breeds great progress.
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Reply (Week 10 - Personal Productivity)
Initial Post - Stress can hinder personal productivity in the workplace, while eating right, having a healthy lifestyle, and making time for fun and relaxation can contribute to enhancing personal productivity. Being happy and feeling good about yourself plays a big part in personal productivity. It is important for you to take care of yourself, and with that you can do well in the workplace.
My Reply - I agree with you but I also believe that the workplace plays a part in your personal productivity as well. When your employer gives you all of the propper tools and training in order to do your job, you feel my empowered and motivated to do a better job.
In this reply, I came to the conclusion that I really needed to make sure that my own personal productivity comes from others as well. If I am not given support, training or resources, it does not matter how committed I am. This makes it more important than ever that good group communication is reached. I felt very good about this posting and the realizations I made from it, which is why I included it in my reflections.
In conclusion, I learned a great many things in my course about my own thinking and my ability to work with others. I developed greater communication skills by learning empathy toward others. I learned the value of participatory leadership and collaboration; people cannot work together if one opinion is the only one considered. By proving myself to be very empathetic, I saw my ability to work well with others and keep their concerns in mind, something that may work well for me as a participative leader.
