Team communication and behavior during the BP oil spill response project

¶ … team is a small collaborated group of people working actively together and combining their complementary skills to achieve common goals. The researcher of this study has participated in a team project, and the study discusses description of the team, and number of people in the team.

Description of the Team

The researcher of the study has participated in several team projects, and one of important team projects that the researcher has participated is a team formulated to prepare a proposal to find a solution to the cleaning of British Petroleum (BP) oil spill of 2010 in the United States. In 2010, there was an oil spill in the United States and the spill caused damages to some states in the United States. Researcher's organization is a Management Consultancy, and the organization formed a team to prepare a proposal on the cost-effective effective method for the cleaning of BP oil spill. The member of the team consisted of five people with different educational background. Two members of the team have Masters Degree in mechanical engineering. There was one person in the group with a Master in Geology. The leader of the team has a Master in Industrial Chemistry and as a member of the team; the researcher also has a Master degree in a relevant discipline.

The team member started to test their ideas by implementing fair amount of discussion. During the discussion, there was a health opposition that manifested; however, the team interacted independently to resolve the conflicts that manifested. However, there were behaviors manifested with the team during the storming stage. (Sans Institute 2009).

Team Behavior

During the storming stage, there were team behaviors manifested, and some of the team behavior was constructive in nature. A report by University of Wisconsin-Madison (2007) reveals that team behaviour could affect the team development and performances. Meanwhile, the team leader made all the efforts to ensure that the team reached the target goals. Some of the team behaviors manifested were as follows:

Cooperative: Member of the team manifested the cooperative behaviour. Each member of the team was interested in the perspective and the view of the others. Typically, the behavior of the team was natural because they were trying to analyze the competence of the others in achieving the team objectives. (Quick 1992),

Clarifying: Part of the team behaviour was that each member of the team tried to clearly define the issues, and the group member tried to listen to the other and focused on the discussion.

Inspiring: Member of the grouped also encouraged the other to participate in the progress of the group.

Harmonizing: There was also an encouragement of group cohesion and teamwork from the team leader to ensure that all member of the team participate effectively.

Process Checking: Part of the team behavior was the process issues where the team member discussed topics and make decisions about the issues relating to the team agenda. (University of Wisconsin-Madison 2007).

Despite the constructive behaviors that the team manifested, there was a problem that the group encountered.

Description of the a problem encountered

One of the problems manifested in the team was a group conflict. The group conflict arisen because one member of the team was trying to dominate the opinion of the group. This member was trying to express self view and believed that his view was more superior to the view of the other member of the group. Dominating view of one of the member of the group generated conflict within the group and it was the team leader who eventually resolved the conflict. The team leader was able to counsel a member who was trying to dominate the group that all the views of the other should be evaluated to achieve the team goals. With the intervention of the team leader, the team was able to arrive at a successful solution revealing that the influence of a leader is very important.

Effectiveness of the Team

Our team was very effective because everybody within the group was able to contribute effectively to achieve the team objectives. For example, all the engineers within the group were able to design the effective oil spill cleaning apparatus to clean the oil spills, and a Geologist within the group was able to use his knowledge to advise the group on the best method to design cost effective oil cleaning machine without causing environmental hazard. In the end, everybody in the team was assigned a role based on the individual experience and educational qualification. With effective communication, problem was erased in the team and the team was able to accomplish its purpose.

Contribution of Communication to Cohesiveness

Communication has been able to enhance cohesiveness within the group, and the team leader ensured that there were multiple interactions to enhance cohesion. Typically, there was no break of communication in the group and technology affected the communication effectiveness. To enhance effective communication, the team used the technology systems such as email, phone, face-to-face conversation and instant messaging to communicate. An effective method that the team used to communicate was through instant messaging, and the entire team member met twice in a week to discuss the solution. With effectiveness of communication, the team was able to reach a solution.

Reflection

Goals, roles, ground rules and norms are very effective to accomplish a solution and solve a problem in a team. By defining a team goal, every member of the team will work towards the team goal, and will not divert from the team goals. Typically, norms are very important within the team. With laid down norm, team will follow laid down rules to accomplish the team goals. Assigning roles to each member of the team is also very important. This will make every member of the team to understand his or her role and this will make the team arrive at a solution.