Job Report from a Human Relations Psychologist

Introduction

Accomplishing a particular task as a group can be very complicated, mostly because each individual in the group brings their own individuality to the unit. A group takes on the sum total of the relationship issues facing the individual members, becoming an organism with advanced behavioral characteristics of its own. In the case study of a group of specialists enlisted by the mayor of New York to rebuild Central Park, several behavioral problems could be responsible for the delayed progress in getting the project done. As specialists in the field of landscaping, every member of the group tasked with redesigning the park is likely to come up with their own ideas of what Central Park should be restructured to look like. In this essay, we shall evaluate the behavior problems that would cause a three-month delay in getting the project off the ground.

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The most likely reason for the delay is lack of a proper leadership structure in the group. For a group with a particular mission to function properly, it is important to assign duties and responsibilities to all or several members. Failure to assign group leadership responsibilities to one member risks exposing it to such challenges as interpersonal conflicts, lack of a coherent common strategy to get things done, and inefficiency in accomplishing the objectives of a group. In assessing the group appointed by the mayor, the leader will be the most important member of the group to consult with on the activities of the group. If the group surely hasn't made progress in the past three months, it would be prudent to perform a responsibility assessment on the leader and determine if he/she is well suited to the leadership position.

Downtime is the period between deciding to do something or being assigned a particular job and the start of that job or activity. Too much downtime is tantamount to procrastination, a harmful human behavior that delays action on activities we know we should be doing. In the creative world, procrastination is often considered an important tool for the development of design ideas, with some creative consciously assigning time for procrastination to give their ideas the time to 'mature'. In the case of the specialist landscapers with the task of designing Central Park, it is possible that they unanimously agreed to think on some ideas for a while before moving ahead. A human relations psychologist assessing the New York mayor's case would investigate downtime as the foremost most likely factor causing the delay.

Distractions in our day-to-day life come from many areas. Work, family commitments, and personal obligations are some of the distractions that are likely to sidetrack us from a chosen course of action. While investigating the group of specialists, it would be prudent to consider their commitments to other tasks and courses, including any possible side projects that could be distracting them from the Central park assignment. Although the chances of distraction from such a conspicuous project are low, a thorough evaluation will consider the possibility.

A poor transition from one task to another affects the ability of the individual to partake in multiple tasks. A group is also a self-sufficient entity that contains numerous constituent parts (the people in it) and is capable of experiencing similar problems of inability to effect a smooth transition from one task to another. Actually, a group may suffer from this challenge more because each individual member could be a victim of this challenge and none could help the others in overcoming the challenge. As creative discussing a reconstruction of perhaps the world's most popular park, it would be understandable why progress might be difficult, especially if the specialists intend to do an outstanding job and disagree on how best to do it.

In a group, as with a person, it is important to set boundaries and limit a set of activities within these boundaries. For the Central Park redesign group, they could simply be burdened under their own ambition in trying to execute dramatic, wide-reaching changes in the park while the mayor simply wanted a facelift. Without limitations or a clearly defined mission statement and objectives, it is highly likely that the team got carried away and is yet to finish the sketching process for a new-age Central Park in New York, complete with futuristic floating pools and glistening pathways. To assess their progress, it would be advisable to check on their understanding of the mission statement to ensure that the mayor's expectations were fully understood by the group.

A group that lacks a clear set of rules is likely to experience teething problems dealing with common issues. For example, the Central Park redesign group would need to agree to a neutral meeting place when working on the project, consultation, and feedback channels in exchanging design ideas amongst them. Conflicts could arise when these structures and rules are not clearly demarcated, adversely affecting the progress of the group in accomplishing their set tasks. To appraise the group and their functioning properly, assessing their communication and conflict resolution structures would be critical. Along with conflict resolution mechanisms, the presence or absence of conflict in the group greatly affects its effectiveness. In this case, conflict assessment would include a deep and thorough investigation to detect latent conflict areas and in the event that they exist, help the group to move past them.

Conclusion

To conclude, working in a group requires that people establish a structure of leadership and assign roles based on each member's abilities. The best way to get a job done is to start immediately, without leaving room for downtime, acclimatization, or procrastination. The transition between tasks in accomplishing a particular project should be smooth, allowing no room for time wastage. Lack of a proper mission statement creates confusion in a project and is likely to bring about ambiguity, conflict, and dissatisfaction. These are most relevant human relations problems to focus on in assessing the delay of landscaping specialists tasked with rebuilding Central Park.