Team Analysis

History of Team 2
It all started from a forum post made by Connor, looking for other students in Palmerston North. It didn't take long for a group of five to be formed. A facebook page was setup and before long we had organized a meeting of the minds at the library.

The Leader - Connor
 As the person who started the group, organized contact details and got the ball rolling, Connor was the clear leader (although Christina also filled this role occasionally with her co-ordinator abilities). His organizational skills, strategy and decisiveness really helped to rally the troops. When we we're exactly sure who was doing what, Connor stepped in and helped clarify things and often assisted with tasks such as helping me edit. The notes he made throughout the report showed me how many points I completely missed, great attention to detail and his work on the survey was excellent.

The Co-Ordinator - Christina
Christina was extremely helpful when it came to organizing the group. She set up some of the meetings and ensured everyone knew their roles. Apparently one of the "weaknesses" of this Belbin role is that co-ordinators may over-delegate all the responsibilities until they don't have to do any work - This didn't apply to Christina at all, she made a great contribution with her section of the report as well as getting the extra bits and pieces done (ex. the team's contributions sheet and cover memo).

The Specialist - Tayla
Tayla was our team's expert in the ethical side of things. She had prior experience with different ethical stances and helped to clarify some of the points early on in the report writing process when we were deciding which ethical approach to take. She also went beyond her "specialization" at times when she took up the job of writing the introduction to the report.

The Team Worker - Josh
Although Josh didn't take an organizational role in the group, his contributions were great. He wrote the section on the treatment of the marine environment which was detailed with plenty of references. I am thankful to Josh for his fast help when I needed information about the formatting of the report while I was editing. I was way off the mark at first, but his information about the paragraphs, titles and sections helped a lot.

The Finisher - Wil
I mostly took up this role as the editor, however I couldn't of done it without the help of the entire team, there were plenty of points in the last few days when I needed additional information and clarification from the group.

Who would have know that a group that started based on location would have been this hassle free and effective! Thank you everyone and I'd be lucky to have a group like you again if I ever need to do another team work based assignment.

A Public Speaker I Admire

Out of all the suggested topics for this week, I immediately knew I wanted to talk about a public speaker I admire. I didn't know who I wanted to talk about but Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln came to mind. Each of them has had at least one famous speech which have all made their own impact on history, however I felt most people already know a fair bit about them. I was also pretty close to choosing to talk about Socrates and his "Apology" as I really admire his resolve to stick with his beliefs despite facing execution for them. In the end I chose someone who might seem out of place when mentioned in the same sentence as the previous speakers however he has in his own way also made an impact on society:

Chris Rock

Yes, the comedian. He has worked extremely hard to reach where he is today by constantly improving himself and stepping out of his comfort zone. These are talents I see as being quite rare in a society where most people will avoid doing anything which might shine a spotlight on them and bring potential judgement from their peers.

To prepare for a big show, Chris will visit many many small comedy clubs and practice new material. A lot of the time this ends with no laughs or the audience laughing at him for his failures. For the majority of the population, being laughed at by our peers can seem like a nightmare. After all, public speaking is one of the top phobias in the world. However these failures are actually part of the way which he develops his act. He takes small risks which may result in an uncomfortable situation but instead of being discouraged, he pays attention to the audience to see what works and what he can improve on the next time he performs.

Another interesting part of his writing process is that after a big tour, he will refrain from writing jokes and instead go out and just focus on experiencing life. This approach allows him to find new material without worrying about finding humour in it until months later when he wants to write a new act. I think a lot of writers try to go out and find a story or a joke and by looking for it, they'll end up missing it when it finally shows up as they'll distracted by the search.

To me, the way that Chris Rock approaches his act is interesting and shows a great ability to brush off criticism, find positive aspects of a situation and use these to create something brilliant. He is a public speaker I admire greatly and a person who everyone could learn a thing or two from.

Identifying our Conclusions and Recommendations

With one day to go until the report is due in, summarizing our team's work seems like an enjoyable topic to write about.

Our writing process for the environmental ethics report involved three of us covering topics we had previously used for the first assignment as well as two of us investigating public opinion and ethics. The topics of the treatment of the marine environment, quality of our waterways and pollution by plastics were investigated by Josh, Christina and myself (respectively). With each of us coming up with a discussion, conclusions and recommendations regarding our chosen environmental topics.

Finding our conclusions
We researched the issues related to our topics, and chose the larger and more serious problems to talk about. Some of the conclusions we found were:

• The treatment of the marine environment involved issues related to the illegal dumping of fish and the use of deep sea trawling techniques, both of which lead to the over-fishing of many marine species.
• The water quality of our waterways involved issues related to pollution caused by agricultural nutrients and the effects this had on fish which spend parts of their life cycles in fresh water sources.
• The pollution caused by plastics involved issues caused by the growing amount of pollution and the effect this has on marine life and people who consume contaminated seafood.

Finding our recommendations
Public opinion played a large part in finding ways to improve these issues, most people seemed to have similar ideas on how the problems could be reduced. Our research also helped us to find solutions which other countries have tried or solutions presented by other studies. Some of these suggestions were:

• Lowering quotas for fishermen, tighter controls on fishing practices and grants/subsidies for alternative fishing methods. With each of these solutions leading to less over fishing.
• Implementation of less intensive farming practices, stricter farming regulations, restricting access to areas where contamination could occur and the rebuilding of wetlands. With each of these helping to improve the quality of our freshwater areas.
• Improvement of current recycling infrastructure, fines for companies and individuals who contribute to pollution, packaging restrictions and government funding for alternative forms of packaging. With each of these contributing to less pollution and reduced health problems for marine life and fans of seafood.

Thoughts on our conclusions and recommendations
Through our research done in this assignment and sharing our topics with each other, I've discovered how many environmental issues there currently are and how little is being done about them. They are largely being ignored under the assumption that something is being done about them however after reading about the amount of pollution, we know how bad things are. Our recommendations wouldn't be too difficult to implement and I hope that soon similar solutions are implemented to being the recovery of our environment.

The Role of a Leader

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. —Warren Bennis (an author and expert on leadership).

If someone can organise group members to get the job done, I would consider them a good leader. However if they can get the job done while making sure that each group member is happy with their role and the end result, I would consider them a great leader.

The type of leader I prefer to work for is a person who listens to all the members of a group to find a shared vision for a project and then knows how to delegate the workload fairly and efficiently to get the job done. The kind of leader I prefer to work for is the type of leader I aim to be.

The qualities of a great leader:

• A visionary mind which is capable of planning out a project and seeing each individuals place.
•  The focus and commitment to keep the group on task and moving in the right direction.
• The ability to inspire others in to action and keep them organized.
• Knowing how to approach different people and communicate an idea effectively.

Belbin roles which don't (usually) work for leadership roles:

• Plants and Resource investigators are great in the beginning stages of a project as they can generate ideas and contacts however they are usually bad at organising ideas and others to get a job done.
• Monitor Evaluators and Team Workers can communicate well or see the bigger picture (respectively) however they lack the ability to inspire a group.
• Specialists could be good leaders if they were experts in leadership however when they're working outside of their specialization, they lack motivation and passion so they usually won't make a good leader.
• Completers are accurate and focused however they focus on every detail and are usually too intense to organize others well.

Belbin roles which make excellent leaders:

• Co-ordinators are focused and good at delegating/organising the members of a team and this makes them a good candidate for a leader.
• Shapers are great visionaries who can see what needs to be accomplished within a project, they are also good at inspiring action in a group.
• Implementers are very efficient and focused on getting the job done, they know what needs to be done and how to get it done.

Note: I don't believe that a personality test can sum up a person effectively especially when different situations arise – because people are capable of learning and changing as different problems present themselves. If a leader role is needed, yet no one in the group is a leader on paper, someone will rise to the occasion and fill the role. For me, Belbin roles are just a list of possible group roles which a person could take, not which roles a person is “made” for.