Group + Work = ?

At SHM I have not run into any group situation where there were any substantial challenges. I have however experienced group work in both my school life and my personal life. Group work in any setting requires the same factors; these factors are organization, a clear idea of roles, and a free flow of ideas. In my personal life organization really became important when my friends and I were planning a trip to Miami. I was in charge of collecting all of the money and making sure everybody met there deadlines. My sister was in charge of finding the hotel and booking everything while my best friend was in charge of planning the itenerary of places we wanted to visit. This is a situation where organization worked well because it made everything run a lot smoother and everyone felt like they were in charge of something.

The toughest experience I had with group work occurred when I was taking my MGMT 260 class at Drexel; we had a project that required our group to come up with a new product and write a business plan to go with it (Industry Analysis, SWOT, etc). Every member in my group had a different schedule with different commitments which made it hard to meet as a team. We ended up pulling through it by making sacrifices; we would pick a time when most group members could make it and let the others know the details through e-mail. This is definately another factor that can make or break team work. Solo work is usually easier for the majority of people but learning how to work in a group is important in the professional world.