To Team or Not to Team

    I have arrived at a decision about whether I want to work with a team for my AICE Media Studies portfolio. I participated in the "Social Media Peer Account" and the "Lost at Sea" activity in class, which are both activities that involve teamwork. After doing these activities, I realized that working alone may be the best decision for me. But before I tell you my final decision, I'd like to give you some background on why I've chosen this. 

    Last week in class, we did many activities in class involving teamwork. The first activity we did was the "Social Media Peer Account". I analyzed one of my peers Instagram page. The other social media she uses is Snapchat and Tik Tok. Right away, I started to look at her profile to see the type of vibe she gave off on her page. All her images are with many friends at different events like school dances and other school graduations. I think her purpose in sharing these photos is to give her followers a look into her life as a high school student and what she is doing. However, she is not very consistent in her posting on her Instagram page because she only has four posts, and the most recent one dates to almost a year ago, but she is more active on her other socials. In her Instagram bio, she says, "Life is a journey," and right away, I get the idea that she is a positive girl tackling the world one day at a time. Her overall story she's telling is that she is just loving life and taking it as it comes. All I can tell from her posts are that she loves being with friends. After looking at her page, I could already tell some differences between my social media to hers. Another activity I participated in was the "Lost at Sea" activity. We were a given chart with several different items you would need if you were hence the title lost at sea. We had to individually rank the least important to most important and then do the same ranking with a group. Then, in the end, we had to tally up our scores to see if we did better alone or better with a team. My final score independently was better than my teamwork score. 

    After participating in both activities, I started to come up with a decision. Looking at another peer's Instagram account, I began to see some character differences that may clash when working on a project this big. My Instagram page is mostly pictures of me, a few with friends and sisters, and some aesthetically pleasing photos. Her page is more laid back, and she seems to be more of an extrovert than me, which could clash when trying to work together. In the article, “The effect of personality type on team performance” it states that "Intrateam communication will be more natural for the extrovert than the introvert, the sensing than the intuitive, and the thinking than the feeling personality types." I feel that I have a particular personality that can clash with a team because I am more of a shy person, and as I said before, I have more of an introvert personality type. I keep to myself, and when it comes to groups and communicating, it can become a challenge for me because I tend to stay quiet and not voice my opinion. That's another reason why I'm leaning towards working alone. 

    In my opinion, a cohesive team needs to have similar group dynamics and personality types that can work cohesively together to create the best possible product. In the article, “Team building and group dynamics: creating and fostering a culture of teamwork requires trust, collaboration, and accountability” it discusses a team training session that many colleagues participated in together. They were able to have open discussions, talk about their backgrounds and perspectives, and relate to others beyond work. Then finally they discussed their team's core values and visions for their future product. This created a foundation for a successful group dynamic and creation. Since I do not know many people very well in my class, I feel like it would be hard to create a productive group and relate to one another. This article also discusses Darci Kleindl's perspective on teamwork. She is the general manager of sales excellence and sales enablement for the Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) group; she talks about her stance on teamwork by stating "that you can have great products, you can have phenomenal software, you can have the smartest people, but if they're not playing together, it's never going to get you ahead." Playing together as a team is an essential part of creating a successful product, but if you don't have a similar group dynamic, that product will never be completed. I feel no one matches my personality and work ethic. However, the article “The effect of personality type on team performance” discusses how individuals can adopt a new personality type to fit their peers' personality type better to create a successful group. Yes, this is very amenable, but I don't know any of my peers in this class well enough to do this and create a well-done portfolio together. 

    After debating what I should do, I have come to a final decision. I have decided that I will be working on my AICE Media Studies portfolio individually. I confidently feel this decision is the best for me. I have read all the articles and done the team work-related activities, which have helped support my decision even more. Working alone will be more of a challenge and more work, but I am prepared and willing to take it on because I know I can create the best portfolio individually.