Cases of Conflicts
Conflicts arose when other group members did not fully participate in the discussion. This happened when one would simply participate in the group partially while waiting for others to answer the questions for them. Others would absent themselves knowingly simply because they were the ones to be taking the group through the discussion. At some point, a group member would miss the discussion just because he or she felt tired without informing the group leader. Consequently, the individuals who absented themselves would be taken to the master on duty for corrective measures. They would be dealt with and even a punishment would be awarded if one absented him or herself from the group without the permission of the group leader. In some cases, the leader only considered the first learners in the group. People have different levels of intelligence quotient hence the leader ought to have considered the slow learners.
Additionally, conflicts would come up when group members became lazy. One person would take the group through the topic assigned to him or her very well in such a way that when the discussion for that day ends, everybody goes home smiling. The lazy members would not even bother to go through the units in advance. This would then lead to instances where others just come to read the notes without even explaining and when asked to explain the content, they would feel aggrieved and even walk out telling members to mind their business (Nohria, & Khurana, 2010).
Role of the Team Leader
Team management was very poor in this group. The group leader ought to have considered a number of factors that caused conflicts amongst group members. For instance, he ought to have known that in every academic group, there must be a combination of fast and slow learners. If this were considered, the leader would have taken the group through the discussion depending on the levels of understanding. As a group leader, he ought not to have taken the students who never attended groups to the master on duty, but instead, he should have talked to each individual to find out why an individual would miss the discussion. Maybe, the person was generally undergoing stress, depression or he or she was feeling sick (George, 2000). Moreover, the group would also be effective and hence successful when urged to get involved actively. This would have been done by letting individuals be aware that they would be explaining the concept to be learned and not just reading the tutor’s notes to members, leading to boredom.
The best thing is that group members came to notice their leader’s weaknesses and took control of them. His closest friends were asked to talk to him to be polite and avoid a dictatorial leadership style. As time went by, some changes were noted in him, even though people were joining and leaving the group at a high rate (Northouse, 2010).
References
George, J.M. (2000). Emotions and leadership: the role of emotional intelligence. Human Relations, 53(2), 1027–1055.
Nohria, N., & Khurana, R. (2010). Handbook of leadership theory and practice: An HBS centennial colloquium on advancing leadership. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Press.
Northouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.