HACCP Assignment
ADVICE ON GROUP WORK
1. Have proper meetings, not disorganised chats
Getting some work done by your team is not same as having a seminar or a chat.
You need to learn how to handle business meetings where work gets done. You will need to
be more structured, more organised and more self-disciplined than normal.
Formal meetings have an agenda, listing topics to be discussed, and notes are kept
of decisions made. There is normally a chairperson to take the meeting through the agenda,
opening and closing each item, summarising, clarifying and helping the meeting to reach
decisions, and watching the time spent on each item so that everything gets done in the time
available. There is also normally a secretary to record attendance, record decisions, record
the outcomes of discussions, and to produce a summary afterwards for everybody – the
minutes of the meeting.
Agendas help the team to make sure that important points don’t get missed and that
the time is divided appropriately between items.
Example agenda
1. Minutes of the last meeting
To remind everybody what was discussed and action points that were agreed
To allow everybody to check that they are correct
The secretary should sign that the minutes are a correct record.
2. Matters arising from the last meeting
What happened as a result of action points
3. Items for discussion
Further action points should be agreed with person responsible noted
4. Any other business (AOB)
Additional items which were not on the agenda but need to be discussed
5. Date, time and place for next meeting
Example minutes
1. Date of meeting
2. Attendance
Names of persons present and their roles (i.e. chairperson, secretary)
3. Matters arising from the previous meeting
4,5,6…etc. Items discussed, including those under AOB
Record all decisions made.
It is not generally profitable to record details of the discussion (i.e. who said what
etc.)
7. Date, time and place for next meeting
It is good practice to send everybody a copy of the minutes as soon as possible after the
meeting, so that they are in doubt about what they have agreed to do!
2. Divide the project up and share it out
A project can seem dauntingly large and it can be difficult to co-ordinate how you will
get it all done between you. It can also be easy to suspect that you are doing more than your
fair share or others less than their share. It is important to divide the project up so that you
can see exactly what needs doing, who is doing what and whether jobs are divided up fairly.
List all the jobs that need doing. Be as specific as possible. Instead of writing down
‘Do background reading’ specify the question(s) that need to be answered. For example,
rather than writing ‘ Environment offered by the food’ write ‘What is the nutrient content,
water activity, pH value etc.?’ Try to focus on the outcome of the job (e.g. an explanation to
the team, a written handout or whatever) so as to make its purpose clear. Then estimate
how long each job might take. Finally, decide who does what and write this down so that
everyone can see who is doing what and that the division is fair.
What needs doing? How long will it take? Who will do it?
Modified from Learning in Teams – a Student Guide by G. Gibbs.
