7. Who were the low and high participating members of the group? How did the group manage the high/low participators?

I was part of a very dynamic group which comprised of people from diverse backgrounds. It was a good mix of engineers and non-engineers which held the group in good stead during intriguing assignments. It was during these assignments that the varied diversity and cognitive abilities of the members came to the rescue. However, on one hand our group also had members who were not significantly contributing to the group and on the other there were some members who were proactive in contributing to the group assignments.

Pratik Bandishte was one of the sincerest members of our group who regularly contributed in every assignments and group discussions. During one finance assignment submission he solely solved the case and then forwarded the solution to other team members. I do not support this but the point is mentioned here to highlight the level of engagement Pratik indulged himself in. During group meeting and discussions he was one of the most actively participating members. Having prior experience in the heavy machinery domain , Pratik contributed to the case discussions with keen insights which only a highly knowledgeable person can put forward.

Akash Srivastava was one of the laggards who in my opinion did not contribute enough to the group during the semester. It was not as if he was not interested in assignments but I felt that he was not able to synchronise himself with the rest of the group. This resulted in a very indifferent kind of behaviour to group assignments and discussions. During group meetings he was the one who rarely put forward his point of views. Even when the work was equally divided among the group members he was found to be the one who did not complete his part on time.

Several steps were taken to bring all the members at par with each other so that the group functioned smoothly.

Firstly, Regular face to face meetings were conducted and tasks allocated to each and every member and every one was accountable for his/her assigned task. The low participating members were asked to put forward their views with repect to the assigned task.

Secondly, The high performing members were asked to adhere to the assigned tasks and help the other group members in solving problems, if any.

Thirdly,

9. Reflect on the different identity issues (refer to the reading ‘Identity Issues in Teams’) that you faced in your group?

Being a part of the group in which each and every member was from a different background, I was confronted with various kinds of issues such as Social, Personal and Relationship identity issues.

Social Identity issues mostly occurred when people having prior work experience made suggestions or remarks which clearly highlighted their command or superiority over the issues being discussed. Sometimes, during discussions it felt that they were anchored by the fact that no matter what they had superior knowledge.

Relationship issues were also observed in the group. Two members of the group belonged to IPM program and therefore they knew each other pretty well. It felt that right from first day, they had very strong bonding among them. On the other hand, four people (including me) had prior work experience had good bonding among ourselves . One member was initially not intermingling with the other members. Besides, there were two girls in the group who seemed to get together well. These issues were clearly visible during the initial phase of group formation but with time all the members seemed to work well with each other and there was a strong sense of belongingness in each member of the group.

Personality issues were also clearly visible during the early phase of the group. Akash and other two members from the IPM program (namely, Taru and Prastish) were introvert in the beginning. Pratik , Akansha and myself had no such personality issues. We talked with other members of the group and initiated the bonding during the early forming phase of the group. Most often we three took the initiative of starting the work and started working on assignments. Srijith was another member of the group. He was a hardworking person but was somewhat moody. He liked to work during the odd hours at night and at times it was slightly difficult to co-ordinate with him regarding various issues related to assignments. However, it was not a big problem and we were able to adjust the work schedule accordingly. With time the introvert members of the group also started to come out of their comfort zone making it easy for the group to function as a whole.

Overall, it was a nice learning curve for all to work with different kinds of people and to overcome the challenges that creep in during the functioning of the group. The biggest learning while being part of such a group is to work in cohesion to achieve a common goal, while taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the individual members of the group. I had experience of being a part of different kinds of groups during my service tenure but being part of a group at IIM Indore during the first semester was truly an enlightening experience.

10. What were the challenges you faced when working as a member of this group for this subject? How did you manage these challenges?

The group was a good mix of people having work experience in diverse areas as well as people who were just pass outs from colleges. Some people in the group even had work experience of more than three years. I had prior exposure to some of the marketing terminology and jargons during my service tenure, which helped me adapt quickly to the new marketing concepts whereas the people who did not had prior exposure to marketing terminology were slow to adapt to the new learning. Thus, during the early forming stage, the group faced difficulties in finishing the assignments on time. However, with time the group evolved and after some time all members of the group were at par with each other in terms of understanding the marketing terminology.

Also the fact that two members of the group were non-engineers, so there was clear difference in terms of the analytical abilities of those when compared to the other group members. Engineers (including me) were more focussed on the quantitative parts of the concepts whereas others mostly focussed on the qualitative concepts. However, with mutual co-operation over time the problem was diminished.

During the storming phase of group formation, there were regular ego clashes between the group members when the engineers used to contradict the point of views of non-engineers. During many marketing case analysis, there was clear group polarisation leading to a complete deadlock. At times, no solution seemed feasible. However, with time the group members became more friendly and comfortable with each other. As a result, group slowly progressed from the storming to the norming phase.

Another major problem faced was the problem of ‘free-riding’. Some people in the group had inherent tendency to escape from group meetings and present an excuse every time there was group assignment submission. As a result, some times the group meeting had to be called off due to the absence of one or two members. At times, the group meeting continued in the absence of these people but there was no substantial outcomes of the meetings as the group cannot come to a unified decision because of the absence of some of the members .To resolve this problem the group started allocating different parts of the assignment to different members and each member was asked to update about the work progress periodically.

Some of the group members had prior engagements due to PORs in various clubs and committees. As a result, some members of the group were not able to to contribute fully to group assignments. To resolve this issue, the group allocated work according to division of labor. In such a case, the members who did not contribute fully to earlier group assignments were asked to share a greater work load during the next assignment and the other members were given somewhat relaxation in that aspect.

Overall, the group went through the various stages of group formation viz , forming, storming, norming, performing and there were inherent challenges in each stage of the group.

11. Describe your interest in the subject and if there was any change in the interest levels over the term.

Having prior work experience in the telecommunication domain and also having first-hand knowledge of the various aspects of telecom marketing I was sure to benefit from the Marketing course taught in first term. Having handled various marketing orders right from order processing to delivery I developed keen interest in marketing during my service tenure .The only difference was that I was yet to study a formal course in marketing which would brush up my concepts thereby, allowing me to relate the practical knowledge with theory.

The case based teaching methodology intrigued me to the core. Besides, the instructor facilitating various class discussions was a very new and innovative way to understand the various points of view and also allowing one to approach the same problem across various dimensions. This method of teaching instilled a new vigour in me to learn marketing from a new perspective. Besides, the group studies during various quiz and exams also helped a lot.

The group assignments also helped me to learn marketing concepts in somewhat informal manner. Other members of the group having work experience in diverse areas brought relevant industry experience whereas the people having no prior experience keyed in new ideas to facilitate the group discussion. Nevertheless, the brainstorming during the group discussions were equally helpful in analysing the real marketing problems and helping me strengthen my marketing concepts. Peer to Peer learning as it is called is a wonderful way to learn new and difficult concepts with ease.

After a rigorous semester in which I handled more than ten marketing cases, contributed innumerable number of times in the class discussion, brainstormed a hundred times during group discussions and appeared for two written exams I feel that a number of things have changed in due course of time.

The interest in the marketing subject has increased many folds. To go with it, there is immense increase in knowledge as well.

Before studying marketing I had a decent knowledge of how things are executed at the corporate level. Truly speaking, it is quite a turnaround for me. After studying the marketing course during the first semester, I am able to connect the theoretical concepts with the practical aspects .Things have started to fall in place. It’s as if I am able to find the answers to almost all the prior unanswered questions. The amount of hard work I have put in understanding the core marketing concepts and applying them in solving real case study problems has put me in good stead to pursue this interest even further and solve more and more challenging problems corporations and entrepreneurs face today.