Managing Group Projects

As an MBA graduate in the workforce, you will be expected to work as an effective leader. As world businesses slowly melds into the world economy via globalization, group work is quickly becoming the norm in the American business climate.

Many countries such as Japan and Germany have mastered this concept and made it extremely effective. Even though there are major cultural differences, figuring out everyone's personality type, setting goals and delegating work are all part of innovative leadership.

The first step to group cohesiveness is to understand everyone's personality type. While this does not necessarily mean that you as the leader need to administer a personality test, you should at least be familiar with some of the basics of recognizing personality types and how to lead them in a work environment. A simple Internet search of personality tests will yield results more plentiful than you probably ever imagined. These tests are wonderful for helping you to determine whether or not a person is outgoing and good with others in social environments or perhaps the person is shy, but will perform great work in another area. The trick is to recognizing things early and implementing a plan where everyone plays a part in the group's success.

Next, as the leader of the group you need to set some time aside for a meeting where you as the leader will define the challenge ahead. Everyone in the group should then be given an opportunity to brainstorm thoughts on how to contribute and arrive at a solution. The leader, meanwhile, is responsible for guiding the group and keeping each person focused on the task at hand. Then, once each person has contributed their ideas, the leader will need to come up with some short, medium and long-term goals for everyone to achieve. Breaking down the work in this simple framework gives the worker a place to begin work and a time frame in which the work must be completed. However, the results go beyond simply meeting a deadline. You are showing that employee how to operate effectively in a business environment. That, in turn, will help create an even more professional image for you, the person and your team as a whole by providing everyone with the opportunity to learn and grow in a business environment and future leadership role.

Finally, the leader must take all of the ideas each person offered, form a game plan and then delegate work to each individual. Delegating work in this manner ensures that each person plays a crucial role in the success of the team. The ultimate job of a leader is to help people achieve their goals knowing that you are helping yourself in the end.

by Michael Chasen

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