Friday, December 5, 2014

Week 6: Adjourning



Adjourning is a sad occasion for some and happy for others, while participating in groups. If you experience lazy members on your team, then you cannot wait to get the project over but on the other hand, if your teammates are giving it all they got like you are, it will be hard to see the project in because you will not be able to see those individuals as much as usual. It really all depends on the experience I think but is strictly my opinion. O’Hair and Weimann (2012) states, “During the adjourning stage, they reflect on their accomplishments and failures and determine whether the group will disassemble or take on another project” (pp. 257-258). They say that most will host a party, give out awards or something special to commemorate that the project is ending and each member will remember. “The adjourning stage is when the team is completing the current project. They will be joining other teams and moving on to other work in the near future. 
For a high performing team, the end of a project brings on feelings of sadness as the team members have 
effectively become as one” (Abudi, 2010, para. 1). Despite whenever the project is complete, everyone 
will always, hopefully, keep in touch with their previous project members because you all may end up working 
with one another again.

In my opinion, all group projects are hard for me to see end. Most of the projects I have been a part of always 
had members, who we became friends in the end and chose to keep in contact so it was good to see them 
every day. We made sure we progressed each day and got the job done because we all had the same
 intentions in mind –so it never was a huge problem. It was hard to see the project end but we still keep
 in contact to this day. We may not speak every day because we are all busy but we check on one
 another constantly. I made sure that I keep my doors open. Whenever we ended, some of the projects 
would throw a little get together with appetizers and juice and some would just end on a good note. 
Nevertheless, we all made sure we never ended on sour terms for any reason –as most should strive 
to do always.

References
Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. 
Retrieved November 04, 2014, from

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: 
Bedford/St. Martin's. Retrieved December 04, 2014.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Nakita
    I agree with you that you can meet upon some real challenging people in groups, sometimes you feel that you should just do what needs to be done and cover those people's roles, I know the feeling well. However, we have to work with them, and we benefit from the experience. As Dr Wolfe(Laureate Education Inc.,2011) puts it..." we have this vision and we're agreed to it, but now once you start the work, there's all kinds of bumps along the road”.Some of the bumps are the lazy ones but we have to respect and value everyone in our groups.The great thing about it though is that you had the same vision and goals and therefore, you completed the task and no one left with discrepancies, and that was a great success.

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  2. Nakita,
    I agree with you in that sometimes there are group members that don’t contribute as much as the others and are what I call, “along for the ride.” O’Hair and Wiemann (2012) suggest that “failing to invest the same level of effort in the group that they’d put in if they were working alone or with one other person” is social loafing.
    I like your perspective on the relationships that you develop never really end. Many times groups will continue relationships in one respect or another after a project is completed, even if it is bumping into one another at another meeting, having a former group member’s name come up in conversation, or running into someone in the store. When the group is strong and there is positive outcomes with many successes, there is potential for long-time partnerships and friendships, along with opportunities to work together again, with even higher group successes and outcomes.
    Reference
    O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

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  3. you definitely bring up a good point when you say it depends on the group of people you are parting with. i cannot count the number of times I have worked with someone that just sat back and let the others do the work and then have the nerve to take pride in the work that they didn't do.

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