Difficulties of Group Work

Reflecting on my days in Japan, I was not necessarily good at taking a leadership role and facilitating discussions in group work. In college studying urban engineering, and as a graduate school student studying technology management, I encountered many students who wanted to take a leadership role and lead discussions. When I found people who wanted to run the show, I always stepped back and took the role of stating supplementary opinions or taking notes of the discussions. I did not dare push people out of taking a leadership role. The most uncomfortable group work I experienced was the group work which was assigned as one of the evaluation processes in job hunting. I didn't like those group works because every student strove to lead the discussions unnaturally in order to pass the selection under the scrutiny of graders.

In group work in the Kennedy School, I have a tough time contributing to discussions due to my inclination to stepp back and also my English barriers. In Japan, I could contribute to the group discussions by actively taking the role of taking notes. However, in the U.S.,  due to my deficiency in English skills, I often hesitate even to take the role of taking notes. Although I feel my English is getting better, I sometimes still do not understand the group members' English, especially that of Indian classmates. If I gain more confidence in my English listening skills, I feel I will be able to better contribute to group projects in the Kennedy School. 

In addition, students in the Kennedy School are highly confident and assertive. I feel that they tend not to change their opinions easily because they are proud to be Harvard students and seem to think that they are excellent. In particular, I feel that mid-career students, who have at least seven years of work experience and whose average ages are in the late 30s, are especially self-assertive. They are already politicians, military men, or entrepreneurs in their own countries. They have had a lot of successful experiences and are highly confident. I feel that this presence of mid-career students is the distinguishing characteristic of the Kennedy School compared to other professional schools. My classmate, who is a dual-degree student at Wharton Business School at Pennsylvania University, also agrees that self-assertive mid-career students contribute to the aggressive classroom style of the Kennedy School, where every student strongly asserts his/her personal opinion. In Japan, students receive education passively. Sometimes the popcorn nature of the classrooms, where everyone wants to share his or her opinion, can seem self-indulgent. Sometimes, I just want to hear the professor’s perspective and research. Unlike in Japan where I could manage to deal with tasks without difficulties, I sometimes feel frustrated in the U.S. because I have a lot of things I can't do easily here in  the U.S. However, I also feel that I am developing myself day by day, imagining for myself a future where I actively lead groups in which many diverse, self-assertive students share opinions and collaborate.