TOEFL T P O 2 - Integrated Writing Task

Essay topics:

TOEFL T P O 2 - Integrated Writing Task

Write the essay now!

Votes
Average: 7.3 (3 votes)
Essay Categories

Comments

1. Now I want to tell you about what one company found when it decided that it would turn over some of its new projects to teams of people, and make the team responsible for planning the projects and getting the work done.
2. After about six months, the company took a look at how well the teams performed.

3. On virtually every team, some members got almost a "free ride" ...they didn't contribute much at all, but if their team did a good job, they nevertheless benefited from the recognition the team got.
4. And what about group members who worked especially well and who provided a lot of insight on problems and issues?
5. Well ...the recognition for a job well done went to the group as a whole, no names were named.
6. So it won't surprise you to learn that when the real contributors were asked how they felt about the group process, their attitude was just the opposite of what the reading predicts.

7. Another finding was that some projects just didn't move very quickly.
8. Why? Because it took so long to reach consensus; it took many, many meetings to build the agreement among group members about how they would move the project along.

9. On the other hand, there were other instances where one or two people managed to become very influential over what their group did.
10. Sometimes when those influencers said "That will never work" about an idea the group was developing, the idea was quickly dropped instead of being further discussed.
11. And then there was another occasion when a couple influencers convinced the group that a plan of theirs was "highly creative."
12. And even though some members tried to warn the rest of the group that the project was moving in directions that might not work, they were basically ignored by other group members.
13. Can you guess the ending to this story?
14. When the project failed, the blame was placed on all the members of the group.

The reading claims that in many organizations assemble a group of people into a team is the best way to approach certain new projects. Moreover, it talks about many advantages of this way. However, the lecture explains that it is not nessecarly to be true through an example from one company.
First, the reading says that a group of people has a wider range of knowledge and skills. Also, because of the numbers of people involved, a group can work more quickly. In response, the lecture reveals that in many teams of the company there were a lot of people who does not really works in the project and at the end have the reward as a whole group which was disappointing for those who really did a good job in the project. In another hand, surprisingly, the work did not go as quickly as it was suppose because the members need many meetings to have an agreement about a decision.
Second, the reading says that team working can be very rewarding for members of the team. Also, the individual team member idea has a much better chance to be recognized. In contrast, the lecture talks about how things goes in the opposite direction in this company, each team has almost one or two influencer mimbers who affect the team decision. For example, when they give a wrong decision regardless of members who oppose them, their decision will be taken.