Celebrating traditional or National Public Holidays is crucial. While celebrating such holidays, it is usually essential to realize the importance of commemorating certain holidays, how they might affect some people, and why some people celebrate various holidays. One main aim of celebrating holidays as a team of a given group, organization, and company is to bring the members together and learn the importance of working as a team. Celebrating as a team helps people to learn more about others, develop good working and living relations, and appreciate any differences which might be making people have bad attitudes towards others. To ensure that the staff in one of the organizations are working as a team towards achieving the set goals, I led the team members to establish the required relations to bring them together and appreciate some emerging differences. It involved organizing and leading people in celebrating one of the holidays as an entire team without discriminating against other people because of their differences.
Situation
In one of the high schools that I have ever taught, I suggested we celebrate the Easter Holiday in school instead of releasing the children to join their families. The main aim of thinking about this event was prompted by how some staff and students had some differences, and they could always get themselves in solving endless conflicts as guided by Humphreys & Brookfield (1989). I thought of this event. Religious differences were one of the factors that made some staff and students feel they were superior to others. I thought it was vital to organize an event which could bring all of us together and request the principal to invite one of the guests who will talk about the significance of working in harmony as a team since working together could help in realizing some set goals as pinpointed by Shannon, (2021). The continued decline in performance in this school was mainly a result of failing to work as a team towards meeting the expected goals, and I thought the best way to address this issue was to involve all students and staff to work as a team and celebrate together one of the main holidays in school. To ensure that we solve the issue in the best way possible, to solve it first with students and staff before inviting the parents to do the same.
Task
During this period, I aimed to show the significance of having different cultures, and I desired to ensure that all students and staff celebrate in the best way possible. Nevertheless, Easter Monday is usually recognized among Christians and in that school, there were about 100 students who were Muslims. The principal suggested that celebrating this holiday in school might cause some conflicts between Christians and Muslims where some Muslim parents might consider their children were influenced to join or learn about other religions. Among teaching and non-teaching staff, there were about 20 staff who were Muslims, and I considered talking to them regarding the given idea. When they accepted to be part of the team, I explained to the principal the need to celebrate this holiday with all students. The Muslim students were also delighted to learn the significance of this holiday. It was after showing the principal the importance of the event that he and other staff decided to give me the task of organizing and heading the event together with the team that was selected to help me.
In the time of celebration of the indicated holiday, I was given a task to monitor and head the entire occasion. I was to ensure that all staff and students were playing their assigned roles as best as possible. For those presenting their presentations, I was there to ensure they had practised well and had shown up correctly; for those preparing food, I was there to ensure they all had what they wanted, among other related tasks. In playing all these tasks, I aimed to ensure all participants were playing their assigned roles to fulfil their function and attain improvement in the critical areas. It is during this period that, as a team leader, I learned how to work with various people irrespective of any emerging differences. Problem To ensure we are working as a team towards establishing the required relations, it was crucial to analyze the human behaviour of each participant and work in a way that would not offend others. Adopting the relevant prevention strategies was essential since this could help in resolving any arising conflicts, and it was crucial to aim at working towards self-development on how to lead people. Concerning this, it was vital for a team leader to focus on the target human subjects and learn about their motivations, attitudes, and behaviours, which could affect the relationships in the workplace.
Action
I ensured all the participants understood the significance of this event as a way of bringing all of us together and establishing the required relationships. The established relationships were to be long-lasting to ensure that in future, all of us are working together towards attaining the set goals. The emerging differences between various students and staff arose in the process, and as a team leader, it was crucial to focus on conflict resolution. The resolution is an integral part of the general human relations role that allows for improving the social climate at work or any given setting. It makes the given settings enjoyable for involved people like employees to be part of the given organization. Aiming to lead the group towards achieving the set goal was a crucial function of human relations that could help make the participants happy. Attaining this goal requires appropriately addressing the core areas of effective human relations, including self-awareness, communication, motivation, self-acceptance, self-disclosure, trust, and conflict resolution (Summa & Herz, 2019). It is through the attainment of excellent results in the outlined areas that could help in improving the intra-organizational relationships and work environment and hence building a loyal, happy, and satisfied workforce. Nevertheless, it was also crucial to act in a way that would make each member feel appreciated and thus, in playing the role of personal fulfilment, I recognized the role which human relations could play in balancing the interests of all the involved participants and supporting positive attitudes and behaviours on all participants.
Result
Working as a team, acknowledging and celebrating holidays in school programs can bring pleasure to many staff, students, and families. It might help build relevant connections between families and schools. The program involved students and staff. Nevertheless, there were a few parents who complained about teaching their students about different doctrines without involving them. From this, I learned to develop my communication skills to incorporate all the relevant team members while performing a given task. I learned that holidays pose a wide range of challenges to ensuring all students, families, and staff feel respected and to children learning regarding the diversity of families. Assuming everyone knew the significance of this holiday made some staff perceive that there was bias. Not involving the parents in celebrating this holiday left some parents unsatisfied regarding why their children were celebrating the Easter Monday Holiday. However, it is forbidden for Muslims to celebrate festivals like Easter, and if any Muslim takes part in Easter, it could mean they are not following the teachings of Islam.
According to Rodriguez Mosquera (2022), all cultures honour historical events, beliefs, and people who are significant to the culture via special holidays and celebrations from daily tasks or work. The holidays differ, and some conflicting celebrations might have some common ground. In most instances, it is crucial to know the purpose and worldview underlying a holiday that will help an individual decide what role, if any, one wants that holiday to play in the program. Based on the given experience, the role of celebrating this holiday in school with all students was to learn how to celebrate the cultural or religious differences and how some people celebrate various holidays while others do not. I learned that Muslims usually celebrate Eid al-Fitr, but they do not celebrate the Easter Holiday. I promised the parents that we would have various events that would unite us as a team and allow us to learn from various cultures. Concerning this, I decided that the next holiday to celebrate as a team was Eid al Fitr to make Muslims feel part of the school and find a platform to teach Christians why they celebrate this holiday. It would be crucial to involve all parents in the same. However, all these holidays should aim at helping other people celebrate religious differences, not to influence people to find a platform to show how their religious beliefs are superior to others or why some people should leave their current doctrines to join another doctrine.
Learning
From this experience, I learned that teaching a given team or organization is a challenging task. Thus, one should be courageous enough to control one’s emotions and expect some disappointments. I also learned that there are many differences which emerge between different people, and conflict resolution is a crucial part of human relations, which could allow for improving the social climate at work, as suggested by Summa & Herz (2019). Concerning this, I learned that conflicts of interest infuse the relationships of the involved team members, and failure to address such conflicts in time could lead to undesired results like dissatisfaction and reduced morale to perform specific tasks as a team (Summa & Herz, 2019). At times, I could observe some unusual conflicts that could disrupt the proper functioning of the group, and from this, I learned that people could spend increased time at work if conflicts tend to arise often and remain unsolved. It could also affect colleague relationships and create an unsuitable or unhealthy work environment. In addition, I realized some team members kept quiet most of the time to avoid conflicts. From this, fear of conflicts might affect the level at which the needs of the team members are fulfilled at work. I also learned that motivation is a significant concept in human relations and human resource management. It is through motivation that enables the team members to develop feelings of fulfilment, achievement, and belonging, as guided by Sharma (2021). Such outlined feelings, in turn, help in promoting healthy relationships within a given group, team, or entire organization.
I also learned that trust is crucial in human relations since it influences the relationships between team leaders and members. Lacking trust makes team members fail to show loyalty and motivation to contribute to the set goals. At the same time, leaders might refrain from offering adequate autonomy and responsibility for the self-development of the involved team members, as guided by Shannon (2021). What I learned will affect my future practice and performance in various ways. It is through it that I aim to build trust in organizational relationships in the future practice since this will help support professional growth, desired performance, and loyalty among workmates, followers, and future leaders, as outlined by Knox (2023). In future performance, I aim to recognize the importance of self-disclosure and conflict resolution since it will help me solve emerging conflicts appropriately and promote the desired communication and trust while making people we are working with feel more involved and connected.
Applying what I learned from the experience, I will appreciate all the people we are working with in the best way possible, irrespective of any emerging differences. I learned that every approach to solving a particular problem is associated with some weaknesses and strengths. Working as a group could help address some issues, and this would be applied in future when I would encourage and participate in working as a team. In future practice and performance, I will be affected by the current experience since it will help me develop self-awareness and increase my self-acceptance while being encouraged to take on various responsibilities that could help attain the desired results. It will also help me to engage in activities that will be crucial in enhancing continuous self-development while having the courage to make some efforts that others have not thought of.
In future, I aim to rectify some issues that could have been better. For instance, I aim to incorporate all people and avoid some bias when dealing with people with differences. My follow-up plan would involve evaluating whether the event was successful in making the involved team members appreciate the emerging differences and work as a team towards meeting the set goals, as guided by Shannon (2021). The plan would also involve hearing some feedback related to the event and its significance from both staff and students. It would be crucial to keep reminding the involved people to appreciate the emerging cultural differences and direct more energy to group participation. It could help all employees and employers in future practice feel more energetic in contributing essential contributions.
Some further learning opportunities are the opportunities which teach people how to encourage those who fear conflicts to engage in teamwork actively and the ones which would subject me to play the role of being a follower instead of a leader. Some people who fear conflicts and keep quiet are the ones who have relevant ideas which could help improve the desired results or solve some issues. Additionally, fear of conflicts may affect how some needs of specific groups of people are fulfilled at work and hence end up reducing the satisfaction of others with the organization.
References
Humphreys, W. L., & Brookfield, S. D. (1989). Developing critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. Teaching Sociology, 17(1), 119. https://doi.org/10.2307/1317962
Knox, A. B. (2023). Addressing gaps between current and desired proficiencies. Improving Professional Learning, pp. 49–54. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003445265-9
Rodriguez Mosquera, P. M. (2022). Cultures of honour. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.295
Shannon, C. J. (2021). Problem-solving behaviour. Collaborative Problem Solving, 15-31. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003095057-2
Sharma, P. (2021). The importance of team morale. BDJ Team, 8(1), 22–23. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41407-021-0499-x
Summa, R., & Herz, M. (2019). Regional organization, human rights, and conflict resolution. Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, 100-122. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315409375-6
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