ASSIGNMENT 2 FRONT SHEET

Qualification BTEC Level 5 HND Diploma in Business

Unit number and title Unit 12: Organizational Behavior

Submission date 28/12/2020 Date Received 1st submission

Re-submission Date Date Received 2nd submission

Student Name Nguyen Duc Anh Student ID GBH190058

Class GBH0901 Assessor name Hoang Thi Lan Anh

Student declaration

I certify that the assignment submission is entirely my own work and I fully understand the consequences of plagiarism. I understand that
making a false declaration is a form of malpractice.

Student’s signature Anh

Grading grid

P3 P4 M3 M4 D2
 Summative Feedback:  Resubmission Feedback:

Grade: Assessor Signature: Date:

Internal Verifier’s Comments:

Signature & Date:

Table of Contents
A. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 4

B. The Group Work Report ..................................................................................................................................... 4

I. Introduction of Team Activities....................................................................................................................... 4

II. Facilitators and Obstacles that Affect the Groupwork ................................................................................... 4

1. Facilitators................................................................................................................................................ 4

2. Obstacles .................................................................................................................................................. 7

III. Theories and Concepts of Team Dynamics and Organizational Behaviors ................................................. 8

IV. The Relevance of Team Development Theories.......................................................................................... 9

C. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 9

References................................................................................................................................................................ 10
 A. Introduction
This report is written for the purpose of studying the factors that influence and limit the group's activities and
apply theory to analyzing group activities through a project.

This report consists of 3 main parts, the first part introduces the group's activities and projects. The second part
is to identify the factors that promote the development of the team, and also outlines the obstacles that the team
faces when implementing the project. The third part applies group development model theories to analyzing
group activities.

B. The Group Work Report

I. Introduction of Team Activities
Recently, our team has undergone a group activity which is holding a CEO Talk in front of the whole class with the
topic "The effects of Covid-19 epidemic on businesses and how they overcome difficulties ".

This activity lasted for a week, including smaller tasks to prepare for the CEO Talk as well as group formation
activities.

The results of this activity have not satisfied us yet, but we have learned many lessons from this activity. Our team
has been assessed as qualifying, but we still made a few mistakes.

II. Facilitators and Obstacles that Affect the Groupwork

1. Facilitators
a) Personality
In the process of doing group activities, there are various factors that affect our work performance, there are
factors that bring efficiency, on the contrary, there are factors that bring difficulties during the course of our
operations. There are even factors that can be both effective and ineffective.

First, one of the biggest influences on us is the personality of each member. Based on the results of the MBTI
personality test (Myers, 1998), group members have diverse personalities.

There are three members who are introverted. However, they still have some differences. The first man, Thang,
who is also an introverted person. His personality belongs to ISFP He is a person who enjoys the present moments
and what is going on around him. He is someone who always prefers his own space and time frame. He is dislike
of disagreement, conflict, and he never forces his views on others. Therefore, when there are problems in the
group, he is rarely the one to speak up, because he thinks his views cannot be imposed on others. Having his own
timeframe and his own workspace partly affects our work schedule because everyone’s schedules are quite
different. Everyone had to set asides their own time to the groupwork, but he hardly has the same timeframe
with us, which delayed us in some deadlines.
The author, another introverted person, belongs to the people of ISTP. He is quite flexible and tolerant. He is also
a rather quiet person until any problem in the group occurs. When a problem arises, this person will act quickly
to find an effective solution. This is also a man of logic and an emphasis on cause and effect. Unlike the first
member, this person appreciated efficiency. Although they have similar personalities, the two also have
opposites, which are reflected in the things these two highly value. The first person appreciates tradition and
loyalty, that is, he will probably follow one method, whether it is effective or not, but the second person values
efficiency, that means he will always find the shorter, but more beneficial way.

Another introverted person in our group, Huan, who belongs the INFP group, is a person who is an idealist. Like
the third person, he is loyal to his values, and to those important to him. Although there is a difference with the
personality of the introvert, it is that he always wants to have an external life that is congruent with his values. As
a curious person, he always reacts quickly to possibilities, he can also be a catalyst for the execution of tasks. This
is also a people-oriented person, he always tries to understand people and helps them to maximize their potential.
In particular, he is a flexible and adaptable person who can adapt quickly with new working environment.

As the only female member of the group, and the only member who is an extrovert, Ha, who is a person of ESFJ
personality, is an enthusiastic, conscious, and cooperative person. She is also the person who desires harmony in
the working environment and always works with high determination. Besides, Ha is also a person who likes to
work with others to get work done on schedule. She is also a loyal and compliant person even on small tasks.
Since she always wants to be appreciated for her contributions and values, she cares about others for what they
need and strives to provide it.

The fact is that each member of our group has a different personality, so when problems arise, arguing is
inevitable because there are members of the group who want their opinions to be recognized. Some members
prefer to work on their own time frames. However, in such times, some of the brightest points in each person's
personality have been revealed, such as someone who can reconcile all opinions, someone who can offer the
most reasonable option with short time. And most importantly, everyone is aware of the shared goal of the group,
which is to complete the team's work in the best way. As a result, the barrier to personality difference has been
partially resolved by lowering one's ego.

b) Soft Skills
The second factor that affects the effectiveness of our group is the soft skills. Soft skills are especially important,
not only in study but also in work. The first thing that needs to be mentioned is what soft skills are. Soft skills, as
the name implies, are not a visible skill like the content of the domain subject, but they help to develop the
individual's personality. We can differentiate hard skills from soft skills. Hard skills refer to technological and
academic skills, whereas soft skills refer to personal and interpersonal abilities that are wide-ranging. It is easy to
describe, quantify and observe hard skills, while measuring soft skills is challenging as these are intangible. It
includes communication skills, interpersonal skills, group dynamics, teamwork, body language, etiquettes, selling
skills, presentation skills, confidence building etc. Each individual in the institutions of higher learning must
acquire the soft skills without which the student is regarded as incompetent in the above skills. The soft skills can
be described as the student's additional generic skills and a bonus. If the learners develop these skills along with
the soft skills. If, along with grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary lessons, soft skills are inculcated in the
curriculum, it will definitely improve the confidence level of students in the work interview selection processes
and get them a successful job (Sharma & Sharma, 2010).

Employers, as well as educators, have also complained of a lack of soft skills among graduates of tertiary education
institutions for decades. Communication skills are primarily missed, but additional business or project
management experience is also highly rated on the list of missing skills desirable for graduates entering the
business world. The definition of soft skills depends very much on the context and the personal understanding of
the individual. There is, however, one property that when soft skills are listed, automatically comes to the mind
of most people: these are communication skills. And, indeed, it is the talent for communication skills that is often
missing among college and university graduates. Communication skills, however, are not only important for the
professional career of an individual, but contribute much more to one's so-called social competence, a point that
also applies to many other soft skills. It has two main components which are a “soft” and a “hard” part. Good
social skills are also demonstrated in the workplace and hence the career advances recursively. In addition,
adequate communication skills are a requirement for a variety of other soft skills, such as moderating
conversations or handling disputes. (Schulz, 2008). For our team, communication skill is an especially important
facilitator in our operations. It is difficult to solve problems if people do not have good communication skills.
However, with everyone's efforts, in a short time, people recognized the shortcomings in their communication
skills and promptly improved to improve their communication skills and complete their tasks. (…)

One last soft skill that needs to be highlighted here is creativity. This skill is often misinterpreted as useful only to
artists, while in science or business, structured logical thinking should be applied only. However, this perception
is wrong. Applying creativity leads to "thinking out of the box," which means that the rules and restrictions often
put in place are put aside to find creative approaches to problem solving. This is a skill that team members are
quite good at, because from the scanty data and from a broad topic we were able to connect useful information
in other areas, helping Discussion section is more diverse.

c) Team formation
Another factor that became the facilitators that helped us overcome these challenges was team formation. The
first is in terms of size and composition, our group has a fairly reasonable number of members, including 4 people,
three guys, and 1 girl. Having a female member and also being outgoing has helped us to be more flexible and not
stereotyped. Secondly, in terms of diversity, our group is also the group that has diversity in the personalities of
the members, the strengths of each person, and also especially our group is diverse in age. Having an older person
in the group helps test opinions made in the group better thanks to their experience. The fact that having younger
people enables the team to come up with new and breakthrough ideas.
The next factor is that we have a well-defined goal, thanks to that everyone can imagine for themselves the path
that they must go, the way they approach and achieve their goals can be expanded. We have set a goal that our
group's CEO Talk activity will be qualified and also show the other members the effort, experience, and knowledge
we have invested in this activity. To do that, people need to follow the instructors' instructions, conduct research,
learn, and submit research results on time. At the same time, everyone also needs to discuss to find out strengths,
weaknesses, and to conclude issues under common topics.

Finally, there is a special facilitator that everyone has revealed throughout the project implementation, which is
a positive attitude and a spirit of cooperation, at the same time, everyone is also very respectful of each other
and responsibility. This is reflected in the research results that the members have done, all of that show the spirit
of learning and cooperation. In addition, everyone has had mutual respect, as demonstrated through the
constructive and peaceful discussion. Being punctual is also one way that people show mutual respect and
responsibility.

2. Obstacles
a) Leadership
One of our obstacles is not having a real leader. After forming a team, we realized the importance of equality, and
everyone can contribute ideas to develop a project. So, we came to the decision not to elect a leader to decide
everything. All will be decided if everyone feels reasonable. However, in times of emergency, we realize that the
absence of a leader is a major weakness because then, there is no time for people to discuss or consider any
opinion. This leads to sketchy and negligent decisions, resulting in ineffective outcomes for our team.

b) Constructive conflict
Having little conflict is also a weakness of our team. Conflict here is not argument with a negative dimension, but
constructive conflict. The fact that everyone has argued with each other helps the team to discover the gaps in
the project, which can be promptly fixed and improved. However, our team had too little debate to be able to
develop our project. Almost every opinion given, everyone only considered its feasibility, its effectiveness when
put into operation. No one has made a critical viewpoint that the given is impossible in some ways. The lack of
those constructive opinions also leads to the sketchy of decisions made by our team and to the under expected
results in general.

c) Soft skills
There is a pair of soft skills often lacking in higher education which, according to Schulz (2008), are critical and
structured thinking skill. Both go hand in hand with problem-solving capabilities. Especially in today's information
society, it is extremely important to seriously filter the endless stream of data, analyze it and make informed
decisions based on it. Analysis skills are also the basis for developing solutions to any kind of problem. And in this
case, soft skills are equally useful in one's professional and private life. This is really a weakness of our team as
almost every member is quite weak in this critical and structured thinking skill. This lack of skills caused us to have
a lot of problems giving the general topic of the CEO Talk and information that was really useful for the discussion.
We have failed to filter the information, have no proper arrangement and organization, this results in undervalued
content and information from the lecturer.

III. Theories and Concepts of Team Dynamics and Organizational Behaviors

After completing the project, the author analyzed the group's activities based on Belbin's model theory (2004).
Specifically, based on the action-oriented role, the person who acts as the fixer is Thang. He is the person who
contacted everyone in the group and created the group and is also the person who directs the activities for the
project. He was also the one who planned and urged everyone to do it. Thanks to his role, our team's project
progress has been ensured. He is also the most motivated person in the group, motivated to prove himself,
motivated to surpass himself, and especially he knows how to pass this momentum to the rest of the members.
In addition, he is also someone who can overcome the pressure. However, being the first to give an opinion is
often subject to suggestions, and those comments can leave him provoked. That is the shaper's weakness.

Next, two people in the group act as implementer, which is Huan and Ha. They are disciplined, disciplined, and
trustworthy people. They are also cautious when they are both checking and making sure that all the tasks they
are doing are on the right track. In particular, they are the ones who can turn ideas into practical actions, proving
that at our CEO Talk, all the ideas raised previously have been applied, making the discussion should be smoother,
clearer, and more valuable. However, their weakness is that sometimes they are inflexible, as shown by their
inability to discover new ideas to add to the discussion, sometimes causing the expansion of new ideas is limited.

Finally, the completer and finisher are the author. He is a painstaking, conscientious, anxious and dedicated
person. He is also a meticulous person to check for errors and gaps in our project. More than that, punctuality is
always his top priority, so he rarely falls behind. He is the one with such a personality and attitude is well-suited
to the role of a finisher in our team. However, because of his caution, he tends to be overly anxious and is often
reluctant to delegate tasks to someone else, because he is afraid that they will not take on the task well. Having
too much to handle sometimes overloaded him, which slowed us down some of the missions, and we had less
time on later assignments.

The reason that the author does not apply Tuckman model theory to analyze group activities is that the Tuckman
model divides group activities into phases, from formation to delay. However, the reality is that our team skipped
some stages. During the storming period, for example, we chose a topic for CEO Talk and all members agreed to
that topic right away without any conflict. Because of that, the storming phase did not really exist during my
group's activities, but we jumped to norming. In addition, the Belbin model is also an extended model and applies
to us more appropriately because it can be analyzed in three different directions, action-oriented roles, people-
oriented roles and cerebral oriented roles.
IV. The Relevance of Team Development Theories
The problem is that the absence of conflicts is our biggest weakness. Because constructive conflicts are an
essential of any development. When constructive conflict was built into the decision- making process, groups
produced assumptions of greater validity and of more importance (Schweiger et al., 1989) and made
recommendations that more often integrated the ideas and concerns of multiple parties (Tjosvold & Deemer,
1980) and that were superior in quality (Schweiger et a1., 1989) than when harmony or conflict avoidance
prevailed. Furthermore, it was the presence of constructive conflict practices, that is, searching out a variety of
perspectives, openly discussing differences, and carefully critiquing assumptions and alternatives, rather than the
specific format of debate, that led to higher quality decision making (Schweiger et at., 1986).

In addition, leadership is about making choices. Like any theory, leadership theory has to answer three key
questions: What, why, and how. A leader faces a challenge at the strategic level as well. It is not enough to pursue
a goal and a leader has to follow it strictly according to his worldview while respecting the other's worldview.
Moreover, the leader’s role is to facilitate the exploration of these barriers and identify conflicts that exist, then
work collaboratively to the resolution of them. The analysis has demonstrated that change theory has been
integral within the development of the integrated team. Leadership can be considered a source of beliefs and
values that has the ability to motivate people and get them to cooperate in order to achieve their goal. The team’s
perception is that there is evidence to suggest that at the team level effective partnerships are being established
however, a conflict exists at a more strategic level. Nocon (1994) and Ovretveit’s (1996) collaboration
classification as a continuum may be used to help the exploration of individuals with various integration
experiences and to recognize the existing obstacles to the change process. Organizations without strong
leadership are likely to fail to maintain requirements for success.

Because of our weaknesses of lack of constructive conflicts and leadership, our team has encountered obstacles
and failed in some of the criteria of the group activities. So, in the next group work, we will have to improve on
these shortcomings while maintaining our current strengths.

C. Conclusion
In conclusion, the report pointed out the factors that affect the effectiveness of the group, and clarified the
challenges faced by the group when implementing the assigned project. Besides, the author also applied Belbin
model theory to analyze group activities. In addition, experience has been drawn to make the next group work
more efficient.
References
Belbin, M., 2004. Belbin team roles. Book Belbin Team Roles.

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. 2003. The Leadership Challenge, 3rd ed., Wiley, San Francisco, CA.

Myers Briggs, I. and Kirby, L.K., 1998. An Introduction to Types: A Guide to Understanding Your Results on the
Myers-Briggs Types Indicator. CPP, Palo Alto, CA, Revised from the.

Nocon, A. 1994. Collaboration in Community Care in the 1990s. Business Education Publishers, Sunderland.

Ovretveit, J. 1996. Five ways to describe a multi-disciplinary team. Interprofessional Care 10 (2),163–171.

Schulz, B., 2008. The importance of soft skills: Education beyond academic knowledge.

Schweiger, D. M., Sandberg, W. R., & Ragan, J. W. 1986. Group approaches for improving strategic decision
making. Academy of3'fanngemenf Journal, 29, 51-71.

Schweiger, D. M., Sandberg, W. R., & Rechner, P. L. 1989. Experiential effects of dialectical inquiry, devil’s
advocacy, and consensus approaches to strategic decision making. Acodezny o/ñfanngementJoiirnoI, 32, 745-
772.

Sharma, G. and Sharma, P., 2010. Importance of Soft skills development in 21st century Curriculum.
International Journal of Education & Allied Sciences, 2(2).

Tjosvold, D., & Deemer, D. K. (1980). Effects of controversy within cooperative or competitive context on
organizational decision making. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63, 590595.