Every assignment, task, or duty given is never sent out without a due date. Without due dates, situations become unorganized and work becomes worthless. Time management is a skill that an individual must work on in order to become successful. But when it comes to working in a group, time management is more difficult to achieve. Some problems that can possibly occur when working in a group are: 1. Nobody takes initiative; whereas everyone in the group is afraid to take charge or step over each other and the never-ending waiting begins. 2. Time is wasted; the group can become uncontrollable because there is no organization or understanding.
Leadership establishment is a must when working in groups. In "The Essential Guide to Group Communication" book, three ways are presented to teach and guide students in groups towards working against time pressures: 1. A group may begin a discussion by taking a nonabiding poll. 2. The leader may impose time limits on certain components of a discussion. 3. The group may not make any decision at all. With these guidelines, groups are working together in a structured manner and will successfully meet their quotas.
These guidelines were very helpful when it came to our class group work. One of the members of our group quickly emailed all of the members and asked us what we thought was the best idea on how to meet, contact each other, etc. Somebody took the initiative to get things started.
You are right about there must be leadership establishment when working in groups because without them the group will not go anywhere. This type of leadership without any proper leadership is called laissez faire. It is when everyone has the power of authority. I think this type of leadership creates the weakest style of management, since there is barely any planning involve. That will result in more frustration and time consuming.
ReplyDeleteI realized in society there are leaderships everywhere in our daily life. An example would be teacher / student, manager / employee, captain / soldier, parents / children, and so much more. It is pretty cool how in our life is structure that way with hierarchy.
I have to agree that time management is a very important to use during groups as it creates organization and stabilty. A great way to manage time is to have a schedule or an agenda because these tools are useful when one manages to forget an important date. They can easily use look at their agenda or schedule in order to be on top of things. I use my iPhone as my agenda and organizer as it sends me alerts of important dates and times so I don't forget anything.
ReplyDeleteTime management is the key to life: personal life, business life, social life, military life, etc. Human beings should seriously be given a handbook about how to manage your time once they hit high school. There is just simply too much things to do in one day! In groups, time management is the key to effective communication. Meet too often or too long and time could be wasted. Meet too little or too short and everyone will be lost as in what work needs to be done. I think that when working in groups is really leaving aside time to meet up, especially in college. Everyone's schedule is different. People are working, studying, in class, volunteering, or maybe there are some issues at home. It really is too hectic and needs effective time management to get everyone to gather together and work on group projects.
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