To Team or Not to Team

     After careful consideration and evaluation, I have decided to work in a group for the portfolio project this year. In the past I have always worked in groups because of the benefits it provides such as various perspectives and opinions of the other group members. Teamwork can also be beneficial because it takes the workload off one single person, and instead the work is divided between the group members. As long as you choose responsible and reliable group members to work with, being in a group is often less stressful then working individually. I was positive that working in a group in this particular instance would be best decision due to the results of the “Lost at Sea Ranking Chart”. When working individually my score for the activity was relatively high, but when I switched to the group my score improved significantly. The collaboration and conversation went smoothly when we worked together and was super insightful and helpful, the perspective of others is a major plus to working in a team. No one person was overpowering, and everyone had an opportunity to share their opinion and input. This is an especially important part of team work according Becker and the Five Personalities group experiment, The Five Behaviors is a reliable tool that helped lay the foundation for further development. But a large reason why it was successful was because people felt heard.”, (Becker, "Team building and group dynamics: creating and fostering a culture of teamwork requires trust, collaboration, and accountability."). The “Social Media Peer Account” was an activity that provided a more personal look into one of my group members, Olivia Swanson. I looked at Olivia's Instagram account and it let me know a lot about her everyday activities and interests. I concluded that she was definitely someone I would like to work with because of the various group photos on her account, this told me that she is used to being in groups and has a good dynamic with people and works well with others.  

I have chosen my group members specifically based on what they can bring to the portfolio project. For example, I personally can get overwhelmed easily and can “slip into inaction” at times. One of my two group members Makayla Tackman is more motivated by a challenge of an unsolved problem and does not get so stressed out by small inconveniences. This dynamic can be helpful to both sides, “Certain types are motivated by the challenge of an unsolved problem, while others are easily overwhelmed and slip into inaction.”. (Bradley and Herbert, “The effect of personality type on team performance”). Out of my two group members (Makayla Tackman and Olivia Swanson), Olivia is the most artistic and enjoys painting and can navigate through Premier Pro easily; I learned this through the “Social Media Peer Account” activity. I believe that my group and I have the perfect balance of different traits to complete this project successfully, “Each personality type, however, has a positive contribution to make to the overall effectiveness of the team, therefore a balance of personality types should be sought.”, (Bradley and Herbert, “The effect of personality type on team performance”). I am looking forward to starting on this project especially because I am confident in the group I am in.