This is my third month in an IIM, I knew before coming here that I would need to work in groups here, but I never knew working in a group would be such a difficult and a full-of-enjoyment task. This has been the most important learning for me in my stay here. One important fact that I should mention here is that I am one of those guys whom nobody wants in their teams (I am yet to figure out the reason for this), so my experiences may not match with other b-school students. In this write-up I have tried to explain the importance of group dynamics and other factors in the successful working of a group based on my little experience of working in groups.
In the movie “A Beautiful Mind”( a must watch for everyone),Russell Crowe, portraying the character of the great John Nash says that Adam Smith was wrong, Adam Smith said that the best results for the group would come if everyone in the group does what is best for himself(competition), Russell Crowe says the best results would come if everyone does what is best for himself and the group(collaboration+competition).A third way for the efficient working may be that everyone does what is best only for the group and leaves his individual goals outside the room(only collaboration)this was probably the dream of the great Karl Marx.
Now the question is that every individual would differ in his perspective of what is best for the group? In fact, sometimes their views may be contradictory to other members of the group. The fact is that what is really best for the group and what is best for the group according to a member of the group may differ and from my experiences I have seen that it often does. This does not mean that John Nash put forth a theory which was not pragmatic; he simply put forth a theory for the most effective and efficient working of a group.
My first group here comprised two members including me, the other guy was from Bangalore; we had a very small task. What I observed there was that if you have a small team the decisions are made very fast and implementation is also quite quick.
In my next two projects, I had a larger group with 5-6 members. The difference amongst these two projects was that one of the projects, in addition to group marks had individual marks also. With the advent of individual success comes the problem of group conflicts, when the individual goals of the members is not in-line with the group's goals arises the menace of competition (for the time-being let it be a menace). We put in quite an effort on that project but our final results were very disappointing, now when i retrospect I think may be without thinking about our individual benefits we could have achieved more. For the second project, there were no individual marks, so there was a lack of competition (the menace turns into a necessity now) which led to complacency on part of many members; they were relying on the other members to finish off the job. Again our performance was disappointing, now the lack of collaboration did us in. According to me, a blend of competition with collaboration is what is required for the efficient and effective working of any group. Whenever any one of these two would be missing, there ought to be some problems.
Now let me share with you my observations about group composition with you. In an IIM two ways are followed by the professors for forming a group; either they ask us to form the groups ourselves or they form the groups. Now when you form a group (I have never had the luxury of forming a group, I am generally the second-last guy left and some or other group has to take me in), you know the members, you know their capabilities and weaknesses, you know about their tempers, so you get a group you already know and you find it easier to work with them. Now let us come to the real life thing; you get a group in whose formation you had no part (this has been the case for me till now). Boy, luckily if you have a girl in your group you are safe but if you have a total guys group, you are doomed. (This is one more reason in support of the women’s reservation bill, may be the increased number of women in our parliament would make our parliament an effective body) .When a guy sends a mail just asking for all the group members to meet, the probability of everyone coming there is almost nil, but just ask your female teammate and see the difference. I can give an explanation for this phenomenon but don’t think I really need to. Now for the variation in a group, by variation I mean the variation in the team members i.e. their educational backgrounds, their native places, their job experiences etc. What I have experienced till now is that higher variation is better; it makes your job more enjoyable and increases the creativity level of your team.
The final factor in my opinion should be the potential or the inherent talent of the individual team members. They say that if even a weak team performs at its best, it is capable of beating the best team around, I agree but the inherent assumption in this statement is that the best team would not give its best. I mean how many times have you seen a Bangladesh or a Kenya beat the mighty Aussies? It does not mean that whenever a team loses it did not give its best; there are situations where you give your best but still lose and success comes only to those people who are ready to accept these losses and move on. I am not trying to be preachy or philosophical; but in an IIM disappointments are more frequent except for a few.
IIMs teach you Time-Management, fortunately I have not learnt it till now, the toppers knew it before coming here, they are wasting their money.
