Muhammad Omair Shahzad

SELF REFLECTION

I got admission in the MBA program at UCO in the spring 2018 semester but was unable to

arrive in time to be a part of the Base Camp and the Building Effective Teams course. After

taking the classes on this Friday and Saturday, I can say that it was a good experience especially

from the learning point of view and I enjoyed the sessions as well. The teams were formed on

Friday by the director of the MBA program after careful consideration of every student’s

educational and professional background. Since I am part of a team from the Spring 2018 cohort,

I was made a temporary team member of a team from the Fall 2018 cohort. This team is a mix of

students from different backgrounds; there are two students from finance background, one has

marketing experience, one has the IT background and I am an Electrical Engineer.

The first team experience that I had in this class was the formation of teams based on the

students’ MBTI results. It was a very interesting activity as it demonstrated the personality traits

of students with different personalities as per the MBTI test results. Though there were some

traits that were there in my MBTI test results but I slightly disagree with those results. Rest were

close to reality. Teams worked well together and every team member actively participated in the

activity and displayed good teamwork. Though these teams were not the actual teams but every

team member participated in all the tasks assigned by the teacher.

The next task that was assigned to each team was interesting and was a test of teamwork for each

team. My team did not win but my team was close. As mentioned in the course book that new

teams take time to gel and perform, the same was the case with my team as well. By the time we

were assigned the task, we all knew each other’s background and the team members

unanimously chose me to design the pillar using balloons and tape. I guided them and showed

them by involving myself into building this balloon pillar. I participated in every sub-activity of
 Muhammad Omair Shahzad

this balloon pillar activity. Same was the case in other group activities as well, like discussion

among the group regarding the Building teams paper, team contract discussion and the escape

room activity.

The positives of the team building were that every team member actively participated in all the

activities, aimed for high achievements, like everybody agreed to maintain a GPA of 4.0 for this

MBA program, and played its part. Also, the background of the team is diverse. Everyone

complimented every other team member and tried to help the other teammate where ever needed.

The negative thing that I noticed about the team was the less team cohesiveness. As mentioned

earlier, this is the start and everyone in the team is not fully aware of the capabilities of other

team members. This is what is effecting the team right now, but with time everyone will be

aware of each other’s capabilities and strengths and I am sure the performance is going to get

better.

All the members of this team agree to work hard in addressing the weaknesses, support each

other in the team and strive to achieve the best results. A lot things were sorted out in the class

and the roles were clearly defined while discussing the team contracts but the team will work

hard to make things better. I am also working towards knowing other team members better along

with their individual strengths and weaknesses. We have created a group for group discussion

and communication on the Group Me application and everyone is active in that group. I am

participating actively in any kind of discussion that is going on in the group and sharing my

experiences. I volunteered for roles in accomplishing tasks that we had so far in this course.

So far, I have been the critical thinker and problem solver for this team and Ashton being the

observer and analyzer is a good notes- taker as well. I hope to have positive experience with this

team of professionals in the future, as I have had in the past.