This is a story about a project group in college that did not get along. Andrew, Allan, Lily, and Sophia had never met before and were assigned to the same group to work on this project. From the outset, relations were not very good.
Sophia was late to the initial meeting. Andrew, Allan, and Lily were not very pleased, but they understood that Sophia had other classes and commitments. Allan himself had many other commitments. He was just very busy; in fact, he seemed to show little interest in the project, taking little active part in it. He did what he was to do. He made suggestions. However, the others thought that it wasn’t enough – it seemed like his efforts were only half-past the mark. For Allan, however, this was the compromise he had to make for taking part in many other projects, some which he deemed more important than this shared project.
Lily was difficult to get to know and proved a challenge to work with. She had a moody temperament, and appeared stubborn to her colleagues. She got her work done, but constantly got on the other’s nerves with her terse words and mannerisms. In her view, however, she was the only one truly serious about her work. The others were not giving enough of their time and not putting in enough effort.
Everyone thought Andrew was just insufficient. He did as he was told, but that was all. He hardly had any viable ideas to call his own, but always had some critical opinion of the others’ ideas. He never seemed to have anything positive to say. For Allen and Sophia, this together with Lily’s character made working together unpleasant. For Andrew, however, being critical was essential to perfecting their project. If everyone just went along with everything, problems would not be sorted out.
Sophia, like Allan, had many commitments. She was a school representative in more than one field. The others felt that this ate up so much of Sophia’s time that she was never around when she was most needed. Sophia did her best to schedule enough time for this project. However, because this schedule clashed with Allan’s, both ended up perceiving the other as not giving their all.
In the end, Allan spoke very little to the others. Lily expressed her frustration with Allan to Andrew. Sophia expressed her frustration with Lily to Andrew. Andrew expressed his frustrations to someone outside the group. There was no confrontation between the members because no one wanted one, and wanted to get the project done with.
As the group’s advisor, how would you advise them to get them on the right track?
If it were me...I'd ask for a transfer. Hahahahah. Gosh it's so complicated >.<
ReplyDeleteWell in general, as an adviser I'd encourage the group to have the end goal in mind,to begin with the end in mind, which is to complete the task at hand well. This would at least spur and motivate them towards a common goal, encouraging them to lay aside their differences and be a little more willing to compromise with each other's quirks.
For a start, it'd be wise for the team to agree on setting aside a specific amount of time for this project, and to keep to it. This is especially important for Sophia and Allen since their timetable is super packed; they have to on the other hand agree and stick to the amount of time scheduled.
Lily(the gan chiong spider) just have to take a chill pill. Andrew have to work on being more tactful in expressing his opinions that he would not offend the others; if he could suggest solutions it would be even better.
I think being a member in a project team, one important thing to do is to focus on the project itself.This means when there is an disagreement,consider only which would be the best way to improve the project rather than one's one emotional feelings.That is being professional.That's sometimes a very difficult thing to do.
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