To Team or Not to Team

           When examining the pro and cons for both working with another group member or by myself, I have finally decided to choose working with another group member for my final AICE project. At first looking at this project I initially thought I would be tackling this especially important project alone because my strong minded self-believed that I would not need any assistance. But after careful analysis of what exactly is expected for this project that will be graded by Cambridge AICE, I come to realize that I lack specific aspects that other team members can fulfill or vice versa.  

I have decided that I will be working with Hailey Mavrikas for my final project that will be submitted to Cambridge AICE. When looking at not only my strengths and weaknesses but also Hailey, I am missing factors such as creativeness or visionary that she is able to incorporate for our project to be successful.  

When discussing my strengths, I am strong minded, outgoing, incredibly determined and strive to be in that leadership position no matter the situation. I first realized that within the leadership position it also has many aspects that influence not only yourself but also your teammates. I first realized my final decision for working with another team member after reading the in the article. article “The effect of personality type on team performance” written by John H. Bradley and Fredric J. Herbert, they clearly demonstrated the influence and effectiveness in any workplace. The authors did this by illustrating this relationship by relating it to the highlights of a personality type composition regarding the team leaders found within the work field. Another strength that will benefit when it comes to discussing this project would be how I am strong minded and hard working. I personally feel like his will be a strength when working to with a partner because not only it will help keep my group on track but also the expectations that should be met for this project.  

When personally reflecting on my weaknesses I struggle with day to day, I noticed a huge factor would be understanding how to deal with conflicts or problems if they are present. In the article written by John H. Bradley and Fredric J. Herbert they pointed out a successful leader versus n non successful leader and this is important because multi- functional teams are important for the mission of finding workable solutions if not answering these “complex problems” we face day to day. Another weakness of mine would be working with people who have different personalities and mind sets to effectively carry out a task. In the article Team building and group dynamics: creating and fostering a culture of teamwork required trust, collaboration and accountability” written by Eli Becker clearly demonstrates the importance of working with other personalities. Within this article the authors clearly portray on the understanding of the leadership roles, working in unique environments, building not breaking, and understanding how to work with others of the different personalities so to say.  

 During class we worked on a project where we looked at our team workers for our AICE project social media and what this portrayed about who they are. After examining Hailey Mavrikas social media account such as Instagram I noticed that she is about self-confidence, loves going to the beach, creative and being around her friend group. This is important because I feel like with having her being outgoing and creative will benefit for effectively completing our AICE project. This project influenced me to want to work with another group member during this project because it helped me realize traits that I was missing that someone else could give.  

Although the social media project helped influence my choice to work with a group member, the “Lost at Sea” project did not. When completing the project, I received a 72 as my score meaning that the higher the number the more likely I am to work alone. When taking this quiz, I was prioritizing certain categories over the other and this was a major reason for the score I received. Although this did reveal a lot about who I personally am or strive is, I still choose to work with another group member for this project. Working with a group member will allow me to gain specific traits I am lacking not only as a person, an employee, a teammate but also as a group member.