Our group went through the Planning Process, but only briefly. Due to time limits, we simply skipped parts of the steps that required in-depth specifics. Before I go into the formal evaluation, here is a point in response to what Professor Kurpis addressed in class.
- Everyone in our group participated; no one sat back. I believe that this was because of the 10 point incentive that was set. Yet, I have experienced the occasional person that sits back without a care in past group work. It seems to me that in the real world, the incentives may not be as apparent or as impacting – leading to less motivated team members. This is where the role of team leader(s) comes in. Helping team members see goals and impacts is one of the challenges that team leaders must take on.
Here are the parts that we accomplished, organized in steps:
Step 1: We knew what we needed to do: to develop a contraption that would keep an egg intact after a ten foot drop. We understood that we had both time and material constraints. Our group was also aware of the strict deadlines. A sheet of paper with our group member names and group design had to be at the front of the room at the end of the 25 minute time limit.
Step 2: Even before the time limit began, our group went to work thinking about the resources. We decided that our design must not rely on the shared pair of scissors too much, or else it may bottleneck our efforts.
Step 3: We began with three outstanding designs. The creators of two of the competing designs (I was one of them) eventually stepped down because of the pressure of the 10 points at stake. Isn’t it funny how an incentive can become an opposing driving force? Based on the class debriefing, this sense of responsibility for failure was not isolated to our group. We were left with a ‘default’ design.
Step 4: The design was chosen by step 3. By this time, our group was solely focused on constructing the design. It was a simple design, so skipped the allocation of jobs and roles.
Step 5: We took the 10 foot challenge, and failed. Our hypothesis was wrong. As this activity was a one-shot deal, we didn’t have another opportunity to try. However, we did realize our mistakes. In the midst of the hectic planning, we forgot to take into account the center of gravity of our device; it was too top-heavy. Perhaps later in the semester we can try again?
Were you satisfied with your group dynamic?
Interstingly, I would be satisfied with my group dynamic if my team was successful. I find it difficult, perhaps because I am so competive, to take into consideration any mistakes I may have made - even though I must do so in order to remain teachable. Excellent Post!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on the impact of incentives. In many group projects i feel like there are people that just rely on others to get their grade for them. Especially when it involves a simple task or where time is not a factor. In projects such as these however everybody tried their best to work together to finish the project on time. Well at least in my group and it seems like your group as well everybody was eager to get their idea across and try and help the team and themselves get those extra 10 points. This project is a great example for how the use of incentives motivates people to preform to the best of their abilities
ReplyDeleteIt is always good to see where you make your mistakes and can admit to them so you can fix them in the future. You said your group did indeed skip over some steps because of the time limit which definitely happened in other groups as well. it was a great learning experience and made us see that each and every one of the planning processing steps are very crucial for success.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, for the alotted time that we were given, I did think our group did do a great job and we definitely get an "A" for effort. You are absolutely right about the incentive, in psychology we learn that incentives can be the driving force for many different people to come together for one cause. As you stated, that one cause is that 10 points that we sadly didn't receive. I also believe that our design was proper in many ways, lol yes yours was one of them, and if we had a second chance to do it, I definitely believe we can make it work. Like you said, the only problem was that it was too top heavy. If you remember our initial drawing actually had the egg suspended in the middle of our contraption. I feel that if we would've just stuck to the design as we had down on the drawing, we would'v accomplished the task. All in all though, I think we did a pretty good job given the circumstances.
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