Experience of Working in a Group

Over the past two years as a university student I have been completing assignments, presenting work and collaborating in several different groups.

From reflecting on the learning I gained from working in a group; my most recent Digital Marketing assignment has been hard work with hurdles to come over along the way, but overall was a benefiting experience.

Group work can be defined as working as a team of individuals with different professionals working collaboratively with a shared understanding of goals, tasks and responsibilities (Martin and Rogers, 2004).

The planning involved choosing a new or emerging business, after a discussion and research between the group of 4 of us, we decided to choose Disney+, in which everyone agreed simultaneously. After this, we had to prepare slides on google docs and segment the power point presentation to choose who had to do what, with aiming to weight the responsibilities evenly.

Organisation in group work is always a challenge, as each member has different time keeping and management than others, I’m sure a lot of people agree with this, right?

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However, by having to deal with the issue of difference within the group means that I had to adapt to this and use my professionalism to address my concerns to other members when I needed to. As we also had another assignment due at the same time, this meant that these skills were essential in order to complete work on time and to a high standard.

Throughout the process of working in the group, I felt as though two of us had better time keeping more than the other two as we didn’t leave it last minute; this caused a bit of stress and lead to consistent messaging with other members to ensure the work was being done.

So, how can a group develop to be better?…

The video explains the kind of process my group experienced and some bits we should have done during the process of completing our assignment. It gives a good framework to consider for future reference in a group work situation.

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I felt as though I was very integrated within the group and involved hugely in the collation of the power point, taking on a leader role while constantly ensuring work was being completed so that it was handed in before the submission deadline.

Skills learned to enhance my employability opportunities:

  • Team Working.

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  • The “Glass is half full not half empty” attitude. (Optimistic)
  • Time Managing.
  • Organisation.
  • Professionalism in working with people you may not like or know. (Adaptability)
  • Problem Solving.
  • Technology Knowledge Advancement.
  • Delegation.

All these skills enhance my employability opportunities and will be useful and crucial when applying for a job role.

 

REFERENCES:

Four Stages of Group Development. (2015). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4DBJ47ZlD4 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2020].

Pinterest (2020). Discover Ideas about glasses tattoo. [image] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/282178732886544128/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2020].

The McGill Tribune (2018). Collaborative work develops valuable skills. [image] Available at: https://www.mcgilltribune.com/opinion/collaborative-work-develops-valuable-skills-02202018/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2020].

Twitter, (2017), Time [ONLINE]. Available at: https://twitter.com/timemange [Accessed 28 January 2020].

Webpage Design of Topshop

Topshop is a well known retail company which has a chic sense of style of clothing and provides for a wide range of the market especially a more edgy audience, as well as being able to design their clothing for most people.

I am going to write a Webpage Design analysis of Topshop’s website and how they could potentially improve it to be more useful and helpful to customers.

The site is plain and quite simple with clear navigation; the colours used are white and black which makes it easy to read and therefore enhances the ability for customers to find information easily. The page layout is consistent throughout with each page, whether it be the home page or the page where they sell their tops, the colours and layout continue to be consistent within the whole website.

As the background is white and the writing is black, it makes it more clear for consumers to read the website, with the text links such as “New In”, “Clothing” and “Sale” etc clearly shown on the link tab at the top; they are not underlined but can be clearly seen. The navigational elements such as the bars, menus and tabs are all consistent with the theme and provide a clear layout for users of the website to navigate themselves through the web page. Just like most other websites such as Top shop, they have the breadcrumb trail which is where the back button doesn’t have to be used, but where there is a clear navigation as to where a consumer can go back to where they wanted to from what they clicked on.

The website is extremely navigational and easy to use for the target audience. There is a table of contents which can be clicked on and more than 4 top of page links to source customer to certain areas of the website.

The homepage and pages where clothes are displayed on models in the pictures are on a fixed screen unless if the user zooms in more on the screen; if not, the screen is fixed so that there is no extra margin space or horizontal scrolling.

The pages where the clothes are shown in the pictures have a continuous scrolling element, where when the user gets to the bottom of the page more images are automatically loaded, instead of the customer having to click to the next page.

The writing of descriptions next to images, and the words on the side bar tabs are clear and easy to read. The text is black and the background is white, so it is continues with the shops theme colours and is also extremely easy to read. The target audience would most likely expect Top shop to use only black and white as those colours are what help people to remember them and what they are known and recognised for, as their clothes are quite quirky and stylish, but their theme colours are really plain; in a sense, this allows their clothing and items to stand out. Additionally to this, the font size of the writing is small in some sections, but in the main sections such as describing an item the name of the item is in bold and a bit bigger than the rest which is useful.

In conclusion, Top shop has a clear, navigational, useful website with clear tabs and bars to direct customers in particular directions.