Team Building Exercises in Project Management Report

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Metaphors

In my Project Management class, we work as a group to accomplish tasks. In a group, different dynamics play out where personalities, motivation levels, and willingness to cooperate may affect group performance. In this particular group, we have a member who is simply not cooperative. He rarely comes to meetings on time and shows no interest in the group’s work. Through the use of metaphors below, I will demonstrate to the group members the importance of working in a group.

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Ants are quite industrious. Comparisons are drawn to ants’ industrious nature when encouraging people to work hard. However, ants rarely work together until circumstances force them. There are species of ants that live along with water bodies such as oceans. They have an instinct of predicting storms and massive waves, which can kill. To avoid this annihilation by nature, they group themselves and form a pattern that allows them to float on massive waves like a floating fishing net. This enables them to survive, which would be impossible without coming together.

Bees are quite ferocious. However, they are responsible for the production of honey. Honey has many medicinal and health benefits and is popular the world over. However, the honey-making process requires a lot of teamwork from the bees. They suckle on plants for nectar and take this to a beehive where some form of hierarchy exists. The queen and king bee are the leaders. Bees do not take it kindly when a person approaches their territory and can fight even a human being to death. All this happens through collaboration.

The wildebeests that live in Kenya and Tanzania normally migrate from and to these two nations in search of green pastures. They do this every year. Guinness World Book of Records documented this event as the seventh wonder of the world recently. Wildebeests travel these dangerous and risky areas in millions for security and bonding according to scientists. Alone, a wildebeest may not complete this journey, which includes crossing huge rivers and traversing carnivore-infested areas.

The last metaphor involves a lizard that was at the risk of dying amidst a storm that had swept away a seacoast. He saw two birds flying away to safety and loudly begged them to help him. The birds asked how they were going to help and the lizard suggested they bite a stick on either end and they fly as he (the lizard) bites the middle of the stick. He said this way they would all fly to safety: so they did. On their way, they met an eagle that marveled at the creativity and asked ‘who’s the idea was that one’. The lizard could not allow a moment of self-praise pass and was about to proclaim loudly that it was his idea when he fell to dangerous waters underneath and drowned.

I will use these metaphors to help solve the problem in my project management group. Additionally, I will highlight the importance of creativity and the need to allow team credit to remain as team credit. It is not advisable to heap praise on self in a group effort.

Analysis

In practicing this exercise, I demonstrated my ability to bring together a falling team. I highlighted my abilities as a motivator and I deeply rejuvenated the team. This new energy was instrumental in regaining team momentum towards the goal. Each team member understood the need for cooperation in achieving a certain goal. The development of metaphors underscored my creativity and the results it achieved showed that I have leadership capability.

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Knowingly or unknowingly, I applied Daniel Couger’s creative problem-solving process model to this problem. First, I tried to understand the reasons behind the team member’s lack of motivation. I found out that he thought his contribution may not matter so much as long as other members were working. Second, I listed factors that may motivate the team member and make him active in the group again. Third, I told the above metaphors to all members of the group, including him, intending to gain group momentum once more.

Evaluation

In this kind of problem-solving approach, the impact that the metaphor has on the audience is what is important. Hence, for evaluation purposes, I used the effectiveness approach. In this exercise, I would consider my endeavor a huge success because, despite making an inactive group member start active participation in the group, I turned the whole group around and they started thinking about making it as a group. I also underscored the need for group members to look beyond the personal effect their misdemeanor was having and think about the effect on the group.

It is also important to note that my approach had a few weaknesses. First, it used examples of nature with little practical business examples. Although the metaphors may have had the desired effect on the group members, there was the risk of appearing redundant, monotonous, and possibly boring. Second, drawing comparisons to the one group member was a bit hard, as there was no numerical comparison of an ideal team.

Lastly, the contribution of the subjects of the metaphors may not have come out clear. This brings me to the strengths of this approach. The greatest strength is that I underscored team spirit comfortably although the contribution of individual subjects was not clear. This resulted in a better team organization.

Lessons Learned

From this exercise, I learned many things about myself. First, I am an efficient team worker. I strive to ensure that I put the interests of a team above my interests. This is the reason I could not stand a crumbling team. Additionally, the fact that I successfully brought together a team that was on the brink of collapse because of a single member to success, reiterates my leadership skills. Besides, I was happy to know that I can be able to influence human behavior through a metaphorical approach to solving a problem

From the business perspective, it highlights the need for the current management to understand the current employees. Their needs and those of prior employees (baby boomers, et al) are fundamentally diverse. Current employees need to see that they share in the success of an organization as underscored by the fact that the team members regained interest once team interests superseded the personal gains.

The role of creativity in business is also another vital lesson from this exercise. Businesses need to employ creative approaches to handling managerial problems. The use of demonstrative approaches especially when dealing with human beings is effective. As noted by Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, “While a picture might be worth a thousand words, a metaphor is worth a thousand pictures.”

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IvyPanda. (2021) 'Team Building Exercises in Project Management'. 16 January.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Team Building Exercises in Project Management." January 16, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/team-building-exercises-in-project-management/.

1. IvyPanda. "Team Building Exercises in Project Management." January 16, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/team-building-exercises-in-project-management/.


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IvyPanda. "Team Building Exercises in Project Management." January 16, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/team-building-exercises-in-project-management/.

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