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Team-Working at NUI Galway

Team-working at Univerisity of Galway

It is highly likely that at some stage in your time here as a student, you will be required to work with other students on an assignment, project, or presentation. This is good preparation for the world of work, where most people have to collaborate with others to get their work done. The ability to work as part of a team is an attribute that is highly valued by employers. It’s really important, then, that you learn to work productively with others while you are a student at NUI Galway.

The point of team-working is that through cooperation and collaboration, a team becomes more than the sum of its parts, and can achieve far more than its individual members would by working alone. Even if you don’t have many group or team assignments, it’s a good idea to try to connect with your classmates (or ‘peers’) around your course content – for example, by forming or joining a study group, or participating in voluntary peer learning initiatives such as CÉIM.

The Library offers group study spaces that you can book in advance for teamwork.

Advantages of working in a team can include: sharing ideas, knowledge and information; playing to the strengths of different team members; seeing other points of view; learning from others’ experiences; clarifying your thinking through discussion and debate; learning to deal with challenge, criticism and disagreement; staying motivated and ‘on task’; forming lasting friendships and working relationships.

Disadvantages of working in a team can include: co-ordination difficulties (for example, getting everyone together at the same time in the same place); being reliant on others to get the job done; some members of a team not doing their fair share of work; some members of a team ‘taking over’; no clear allocation of roles and responsibilities; conflict and disagreement.

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