School of Management and

Languages
Business Skills: C17BS
Coursework 2: Group Presentation

Group Presentation: Overview

Balancing working and thinking alone with working and thinking effectively together
with other people is one of the biggest skills in study, research and management.
Team working can be both rewarding and frustrating within the university and
professional workplace settings. Regardless of their benefits and limitations, team
working has become one of the most fundamental ingredients in the workplace. This
group task is aimed at students gaining a deeper and critical understanding of the
main facets of team working. Its all about working effectively. Effectively means
here: producing together a piece of coursework that earns marks, while at the same
time learning and reflecting on the experience so that future collaboration projects can
be done even more effectively.

The Task
In your tutorials you will be placed in teams. In your teams you will be given a specific
challenge which requires you to work together. This will be given three weeks in
advance of your presentation slot. In addressing this task, the team must plan and
organise effectively as to how they will address the challenge they face. In completing
this challenge students should consider the following issues:

Does everyone know the purpose of the task?

How did you come up with a strategy?
What skills does everyone have?
Is there a sense collective responsibility?
Where there ground rules?
Who is doing what and why?
How did the team develop for example, stages?
How did you communicate?
Are there team roles you identified with?
What were the benefits and challenges of working in a team?
How did you manage disagreements and conflict?
What did you learn?

Students will be required to give a 10 minute presentation on how they addressed

their challenge. The presentation should reflect some of the points (or others of
their choosing). References and acknowledgment to academic literature must be
incorporated into the presentation. Remember some of the business skills we have
covered in this class will be relevant and influence your presentation. Quality will
be assessed not simply content but also on factors such as; time-management,
creativity, communication, organisation, ability to research, and relationship

School of Management and

Languages

management. Teams will also be required submit a short reflective analysis

(around 200 words each) on their experience within the team at the end
of the presentation. All students should contribute to this reflective analysis. A
hard copy of the presentation and reflective analysis should be submitted
to the tutor on the day of their presentation.
Tutorial attendance is vital in completing this task. Tutorials are compulsory so
attendance should not be a problem. In your tutorials you will be:
1. Split into teams
2. The team task will be performed in an allocated tutorial
3. The presentation will also be performed in an allocated tutorial
Students should be aware that non-attendance at tutorials will lead to the loss
of 50% of their coursework grade.

References
Belbin, R.M. (2011) Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail,
Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford
Boddy, D. (2014) Management: An Introduction. Essex: Pearson Education
Limited
Caproni, P.J. (2014) Creating High Performance Teams. In Hoogma, J.P. (Ed.),
Business Skills: The Practical Coach (pp. 307-350). Essex: Pearson Education
Limited
Caproni, P.J. (2014)Diverse Teams and Virtual Teams: Managing Differences
and Distances. In Hoogma, J.P. (Ed.), Business Skills: The Practical Coach (pp.
351-394). Essex: Pearson Education Limited
Senior, B. (1998). An empiricallybased assessment of Belbin's team
roles.Human Resource Management Journal, 8(3), 54-60.
Sheard, A. G., & Kakabadse, A. P. (2002). From loose groups to effective
teams: The nine key factors of the team landscape. Journal of Management
Development, 21(2), 133-151.
Somech, A., Desivilya, H. S., & Lidogoster, H. (2009). Team conflict
management and team effectiveness: The effects of task interdependence
and team identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(3), 359-378.
Tekleab, A. G., Quigley, N. R., & Tesluk, P. E. (2009). A longitudinal study of
team conflict, conflict management, cohesion, and team effectiveness.Group
& Organization Management, 34(2), 170-205.