Assignment Two

Last year I took an entrepreneurship class where a business idea and plan was required as a deliverable at the end of the semester. The business plan was a drop shipping method of selling audio equipment for a third party over the internet. I worked in a team of four individuals. Two of us were AEM majors, one was engineering, and the fourth was a premed major. This diverse background of individuals helped us bring together our unique business and quantitative abilities into one synergetic unit. The actual task was creating the business idea and plan. This task with regards to the McGrath model was cooperative and behavioral and fell in the planning area. This is because we had an open ended problem solving task requiring problem solving abilities. Lastly, our technologies consisted of email, video chats with certain entrepreneurs and just overall face to face communication.

The interaction process consisted of a variety of FtF communication, email, as well as phone and video chatting communication. There was a great deal of interdependence because each member of the group had various assets needed to complete the final task. I brought business ideas and skills, the engineer knew a lot about supply chain management and had good quantitative skills, and the premed had an out of the box thinking. Because of this diversity we did not feel the need to conform to one quick idea. This made the process somewhat slower but produced a better outcome. Our main strategy was to meet ftf with large needs and use email for smaller less important tasks.

The outcome was a final business plan submitted for the class. We had other deliverables throughout the semester such as an outline, rough draft, works cited page etc. Member needs consisted mainly of recognition of hard work translating into a good grade on the project. We maintained our group through positive reinforcement of good work and through development of social bonds as well.

Face to face communication and being in close proximity was imperative for our larger tasks such as formulating our overall strategy and business idea. This allowed us to develop a unique culture and group norms (Kiesler 64). I did not feel that email hindered our performance or social facilitation either. At the same time email did make communication more time consuming as we had to write and read all the different emails being sent. Overall the project was a success for our group.