Introduction

 

Throughout the semester I have gained a lot of feedback from my colleagues such as I have been told that I have improved my contribution from last semester to this semester. During this semester I have learned more about myself, such as my strengths and weaknesses and I’ve learnt a lot about the people around me, making me more culturally aware. I’m lucky to be culturally diverse by having two different cultures in my life, giving me the ability to see the perspectives from both British and foreign sides. We also looked at the differences between a manager and leader, which are essential because it’s important to have the ability to adapt of what type of leadership style you should take when working in groups.

 

Feedback from colleagues

 

I created a survey in SurveyMonkey and the topic was about how much I contributed in this semester, what were my strengths and what I could improve for next semester. The answers that I got back from the first question were, “Improved from last semester and contributed a lot more” and “Overall though I think there has been a step up on contribution and confidence which is fantastic and needs to be kept up!”. This is encouraging for me because it shows that I have improved on my contribution which people have noticed. For example in the YOT (Youth Offending Team) project, they said that I have contributed a lot in “running a workshop activity for YOT that went very well” and “greatly helped during one of the workshop events during the YOT project by organizing it”. My colleagues described my strengths as “very enthusiastic once a task is set” and “Usually you complete tasks on time and are organised”. The feedback shows that once we are given a task, they notice that I put a lot of effort into completing the task on time and in an organised manner. However like last semester, many people said that I lacked “self-confidence and taking initiative” and “it would be good to see you lead an idea”. I believe the main reason that they say this is because sometimes I’m afraid if my ideas aren’t relevant. That is one of the problem that I need to overcome in order for people to take my opinions or ideas more seriously.

 

Understanding Cultural Differences

 

Each one of us created our own culture tree consisting of the types of culture that we are from and by looking at other people’s culture tree; we developed our understandings of other cultures. I decided to create a UK culture because even though my parents are from Bangladesh, I still believe I have many core British values that I believe in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carrying out this exercise, has allowed me to developed more insight and understanding of my own culture and other people’s cultures. Looking at how differences in culture play a big role when working in groups such as subtle differences in behaviour and communication. Having done further research into other cultures regarding of how different ethnic groups work for example looking at the differences between Western and Eastern culture. Fundamental research in this area was conducted by Wong, Park and Kim, they looked at the cultural background of Eastern and Western students. They claim that Eastern students are more likely to show more collectivistic behaviour than the western students (Soong, Lee & John, 2012).  This shows that Eastern students are likely to be more collective and work as a group rather than being individualistic.  Also when it comes to disagreements, it’s claimed by Kim and Markman that East Asian cultures likely to be dialectical in their thinking. This means that they focus on the relations among individuals and will seek a middle-way in the conflict (Kim & Markman, 2013). Understanding this type of behaviour shows that when working with people from the Eastern culture, that they’re likely to compromise a solution when involved in a conflict.

 

Leadership and Management

 

In this semester, I’ve learnt of how to lead and manage a group of people and making sure that we get the work done before the deadline. In the YOT project, I had to make sure that the workshops activities were running correctly and ensuring that we obtained as much information as possible from the YOT staff members. This was new to me considering I have very little experience of managing groups, which helped me to learn about myself. Also I had to lead a group of people and ensure that we come up with an engaging exercise so that we will be able to receive vital information from the staff members at the youth offending team. In one task, I had to take the initiative by making sure that we created an engaging exercise for one of the workshops in the YOT project. I believed I took a management approach when creating the exercise for the workshop because David Brookmire claims that a manger when working in a group would collaborate with people, make decisions, organizing, controlling, planning and delegating (Brookemire, 2014). I agree with that statement because on the day of the workshop it consisted of me of directing a group of people, creating a list of instructions so that the staff members from YOT and my group members would understand our exercise and what was needed to be completed. One of my goals in my action plan is to become a leader when working in groups for example Abbott and Ellis suggests that leaders allow the room for others to grow, be more open-minded and challenge the status quo (Abbott & Ellis, 2015). I believe that when I lead a group; I need to challenge the topic that we’re tackling however also listening and allowing my group members to participate too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

In this semester, I have learnt more about myself as an individual however I’m still learning. The general feedback that I received from my colleagues is that my voice is now being heard.  I believe that there has been many times where I would question myself if I’m too quiet and afraid of being wrong. However throughout the semester I’ve learnt to be more courageous, dedicate my time into producing good quality work and making sure that my contribution matters to the group. In the leadership style questionnaire, I have noticed that I take a democratic leadership approach when it comes to group work and I personally agree to this description however I still believe I need to improve myself as individual and make sure my voice is being heard. I created an action plan so I can reach the goals that would improve me professionally.