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Individual Report

At the beginning of the semester our class was presented with the assignment to affiliate ourselves with a non-profit organization. Once we had established a reasonable contact, we had to develop a semester long project around changes we could incorporate with these organizations. I strongly feel that our in class discussion and the book could relate to the task at hand, however there was really little insight that either could provide on how to manage the projects events. I did find assistance and guidance in outside private conversations with the professor, but do not agree that the project correlated with any real supportive material that was being taught during a session.

I believe that a major reason is because we were able to choose from so many areas of business, it would be almost impossible to create a general lesson that could fully encompass every type of project.

For instance, my project focused around the German club, which is geared really more towards high school students and the kinds of businesses that would benefit them. It would be very difficult to create a connection between that and the cancer society’s problems. So, the only real way to provide assistance would be to meet with that group outside of class and address the issue specifically.

The group members that my group primarily consisted of were very mature and determined individuals which made my job very easy. It is almost guaranteed that in every group the majority will be free-riders, but in my case there was not. The only conflict that arose was towards the end of the semester when a late addition to the group did not mesh with the style of drive and personality that had already been formed throughout the group. We had been working so well for so long that it would have taken some initiative on this member’s part to conform to the group. The conflict arose when frustration ran high and the time left was short. These two concepts can pressure anyone, but outside of the previous example there was little conflict within the group.

During the process of completing this assignment my group grew and formed a strong relationship with each other. Before this, we all lead separate lives, going to school full time and working. It was very difficult finding the inspiration to get started on this assignment and had to be motivated by strict guidelines. For example, our group would meet up in the library every two weeks to check our progress, which was very slow in the beginning. After finally agreeing on a task and beginning the hands on work, all of the members became interested and took it upon themselves to really succeed on this assignment. I began to see a real positive competition that drove the group in the right direction to get each task done.

For instance, if one member would do something outside of class and inform the others of the completion, another member would try to one up them and complete something. I believe that this form of competition is very healthy for our group and was managed well during the semester. This was a major norm that was founded primarily on the personalities of each member.

Self-motivation and satisfaction could be seen through each member and really complimented how each person worked together. Also, it was obvious that once there was a real material result, like the stickers, the group really pushed forward and knew that the assignment could be successful. The only other real norm that could be understood within our group was how apart of our routine the library meetings became. At first, it was every two weeks for only a few minutes and after a while it was every Friday for hours on end.

So for late additions, it was probably difficult to make that apart of their schedule and really understand how much work was getting done during those meetings. The only way we established these routines was through, in a way, suffering and forcing ourselves to put in the time needed. We discovered early on that the work we had to do was not really hard just time consuming, which taught us how to manage our time. This project became a part of our weekly routine and after a while it became a normalcy to organize our tasks.

The overall decision making process went through a major change after we had all understood who each person was. At the beginning, the decision reigned down through my leadership, because I was the most knowledge on the topic. But shortly after I saw how much potential the members of my group could put in, I found it easy to allow them to have authority to make decisions. Throughout the project I had remained the overall leader, but was able to maintain control while my group succeeded in accomplishing self proposed objectives. I feel that this was a huge accomplishment, because it brought them that much closer and personal with the project. They had input that was implemented and respected, which motivated all of us.

I feel that there was no member that really put in the most effort because everyone had their moments that really stood out. I was most impressed when a certain member would tell me to give them all the paperwork I had and they would combine it all and format it. Or they would tell me that they needed certain information because they were already on their way to finish an assigned task. In any other situation, it would appear that a member was trying to work behind everyone else’s backs, but in this unique circumstance it was obvious they really just wanted to help out. I was fascinated that they, the group members, really liked seeing these German Club members excited about what we were accomplishing. This really was important to me because it showed that my group respected what I was doing as a leader and assured me that my actions were benefiting them.

As for the poorest effort put forth by a member, I feel was the lack of initiative to apply themselves. I found it hard to comprehend that if a member were to join a project that had been worth so much of our overall grade and had all of the hands on work completed, that the member would not take the initiative to stand out. It was a difficult situation to work with and my group offered many opportunities to give the member full credit for a little amount of work. I think that we felt as though we were cheated because this member’s efforts would have not compared to the time that was sacrificed and this member did not care the least bit.

So regardless of how much we went out of our way to give this person credit they just would not take it upon themselves to complete even the slightest task. Although, this did motivate our group to be closer and push harder due to our frustration, it was very uncomfortable managing this unruly member.

I was extremely impressed and satisfied with how the project turned out and would only change two events that occurred: skipping the Diamond Discount Card and not adding any new members to our group. The reason for skipping the Diamond Card was because it took a huge amount of time and led us only to failure to complete. We could have taken this time to perfect or complete more tasks that could have aided the German Club. The other suggestion regarding the late addition caused much controversy between our members and towards the end became completely uncontrollable. A member of my group was directly verbally assaulted by this late addition and I felt guilty for allowing the situation to continue for so long. I would never jeopardize a member of my group and would have avoided the situation all together if possible.

In conclusion, the overall key learning’s that were addressed and taken into consideration during this project were: Planning and Organizing, Leadership, Motivation, and Contingency. I had never really applied myself to schedule and organize ahead of time, but did learn how much more efficient my project completion became. My understanding of good leadership occurred when the members of my group took it upon themselves to handle a majority of the tasks. In the beginning, most of the initiative was taken upon myself and the transfer of drive was very impressive to see. Motivation was a concept that I felt I had mastered over the years through my experiences.

But, it was very inspiring to be apart of a group and a project that was comprised of members that were as determined as I. This was by far the most impressing and ideal group that I have ever worked with. I feel that understanding the contingency theory provided the most contribution to my learning throughout the semester. I was very interested in the concept that having a back up plan is truly a life save. The perfect example took shape in our project when the first idea did not go through to plan.

It was really befitting of the objectives we needed to accomplish and encompassed everything that was being taught throughout the semester from business orientation to advertising. Fortunately, we had kept several other suggestions on hand just in case of the inevitable, which did occur. This proved to be a true grade saver and really took a lot of stress away from our project, because without this pre-planning we would have gone insane.

This report was written by an online coffee shop featuring coffee grinder reviews and opinions about current events.