To Team or Not To Team

When working with a team you need communication and collaboration is needed for success. As it states in the article Effect of Personality Type on Team Performance, “three characteristics of productive teams that are strongly related to individual differences seem to dominate: effective leadership, intra-team communication, and group cohesion.” Since I am a virtual learner, these characteristics will be difficult for me to accomplish with a team, which is why I am deciding to work individually. Yes, teamwork establishes bonds, let us other get to know each other and may get work done faster but, being online and trying to get on the same page with people I have yet to see or conversate with makes the portfolio a more challenging task on me versus doing it myself. I am not fond of social media so the “Social media Peer Account” was not too much of an attention grabber for myself. It was nice to see what my classmates enjoy doing on spare time and how they act on the media but, working independently can speed time and can hold accountability on myself. Working in a group means you must depend on multiple people doing their part for the group to meet their cohesive goal. Effect of Personality Type on Team Performance discusses a study where 2 teams were asked to complete a project, team 2 finished quicker than team 1 due to “members of Team 1 did not communicate well (misunderstandings as well as failure to communicate) and seemed to have great difficulty getting organized”. This is a new year, new class, new circumstances, and pressures that I must undergo to finish my senior year. I want to complete the year strong and passing all my classes hoping to receive the AICE (Advanced International Certificate of Education) diploma, the distance between my classmates and me is too big for me to be able to rely on them to complete their work. I usually would be able to form a connection and trust with my personal assignments, task and class in general is simple but, being in the conditions we are right now it is just too much for me to be able to have to rely on individuals I barely know. The “lost at sea” teambuilding exercise made me realize yes, it is important to have a team in any situation. Take example during the exercise a participant could have a lifesaving item you do not, or a participant and you may have items that go well together all of which show collaboration is essential to productivity. Yet, individual work allows me to go at my own pace and keep myself productive. While reading the article A comparison of individual and team written billboard hits in the USA it makes clear, "Social loafing is the likelihood of individuals contributing less when working on a task as part of a group than when working on a task alone”. This example is essential because some individuals will slack off knowing there are others to help them out. I doubt my peers are like this but, I cannot take a risk to trust that they are not when I am not there to evaluate. Thus, leading to me making the decision to do my portfolio independently.