Activity

1. Edward TaylorWilsonGonzález
A01451122
Leadership and Organizational Behavior: Individual practice with peer evaluation
Topic: An attempt to challenge yourself as a leader or implement a unique strength. This can be
an event or situation that happened during the class or recently. Ideally, use the concepts from
class to challenge yourself in some way, and then write about the outcome.
What happened? (Background, brief description of events, specific leadership
actions)
One year ago, I was in my last semester of my bachelor’s degree in
communication at the University of Monterrey. In order to graduate it was obligatory to
elaborate a thesis. The problem was that it was mandatory to do the thesis in groups.
The graduating class contained people I knew I didn’t want to work with. I was placed in
a group with two peers who I knew were either lazy or simply quite slow. I knew right
away that if I wanted to successfully graduate it was going to be up to me to constantly
organize and pressure my group members.
What were the results? (Real or potential. Try to include both positive and
negative possibilities. Even if the event seemed clearly good or bad, consider
unintended consequences.)
From this situation there were both negative and positive results. Two negative
results that arose from this are that our final theses grade wasn’t as good as I was
hoping to achieve, and my relationship with both peers was slightly damaged. The
positives of this situation are that we successfully passed the thesis and obtained a
decent grade, although not as high as I’d hope for. The second positive result of this
experience was that I developed my patience and tolerance. Before this experience
these two traits weren’t very developed in me, but I had no choice but to employ these
two traits in order of making the team function and not go crazy.
Why did this happen? (Consider all possible factors, including the people and the
situation)
The main factor for this happening is that three people with very different learning
styles were placed together to elaborate an extensive and vigorous task. Only one of
the people involved had a solid and concrete idea and vision for the project, while the
other two either didn’t understand well or simply didn’t care. I did the mistake of pairing
up with people who I got along with during the years of university without considering
their work ethic and habits.
What class concepts are relevant to this situation? (Mention at least one concept
from class and how they can be used to interpret the situation.)
A concept from class that I can apply to this experienced I lived would be the
concept of task-oriented behavior. In the process of taking the role as the group’s
leader I constantly was involved in structuring tasks, giving instructions and directly

2. Edward TaylorWilsonGonzález
A01451122
leading performance. Doing these tasks, I was able to get a higher productivity out of
my group members but got a higher burnout as a result.
What did you learn from this? (Broader lessons that might apply to other
situations or problems.)
What I learned from this experience is that sometimes there are situations that
require a leader to employ a task-oriented behavior. Without this the situation I was in
would have been a complete mediocre failure. Realizing that you must be the leader in
a situation for the task to be completed successfully is definitely stressful, but it’s an
experience which only makes you grow and improve as a person. Being a good leader
requires a lot of tolerance and patience.