Teamwork Dear Client, While You Specified Two

Teamwork

Dear Client, while you specified two sources for use in this assignment, I was only able to access the attached article from Claims Education Magazine. I could not access the sources located at: http://find.galegroup.com/gps/infomark.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&docType=IAC&action=interpret&type=retrieve&searchType=BasicSearchForm&tabID=T003&docId=A151842639&prodId=IPS&source=gale&userGroupName=apollo&version=1.0 and, http://find.galegroup.com/gps/infomark.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&docType=IAC&action=interpret&type=retrieve&searchType=BasicSearchForm&tabID=T003&docId=A167305700&prodId=IPS&source=gale&userGroupName=apollo&version=1.0 due to password issues.

Collaborating with others in team settings is beneficial to the fulfillment of objectives as well as building interpersonal skills. While working individually minimizes issues over responsibility and dependability, there are significant aspects of daily life that require individuals to work together in order to achieve common goals. Learning to cope with both settings is necessary in obtaining success as well as increasing personal development. The academic world provides early exposure to team work as students are routinely asked to work with partners and small groups to complete classroom assignments and compete in sports. The notion of having to get along with others while managing individual strengths, weaknesses and schedules provides grooming for more aggressive situations in adulthood such as higher education and employment.

The most positive experiences I've had working with teams came when I was able to gain new insight and points-of-view from those that I worked with. It isn't always conducive to interact with people who share similar opinions as mine, and I've experienced the most growth accepting input from those who hold points-of-view that I hadn't previously considered. By the same token, I've also grown a lot in learning how to deal with team members who do not contribute equally to achieving the team's goal. In situations such as these I was most often required to compensate somehow by completing extra work or overseeing additional tasks for the sake of making sure that the team's success was not jeopardized. While the work load was unfair at times, the experience was also an appropriate preview to the unfortunate downside working in teams settings has. Working in team settings where work load shared evenly as well as those where responsibilities were assumed by those most willing and able has taught me to always be prepared to assume the accountability necessary in order to ensure success.

Outside of academics, team settings can be found in sports, clubs, music, and most prevalently, in the workplace. One advantage of non-academic team settings is that while the team's success is based on how well the members are able to work together, it is more apparent to identify team members who do not contribute at the same levels as their peers, thus motivating members to work harder. A bass player has no desire to play poorly to a crowd just as a wide receiver would rather be benched than be known for fumbling a team's chances at victory. Because of this increased accountability, teams are also able to more readily identify strengths and weaknesses and adjust accordingly.