And I was fortunate enough to experience this. Every class was split into 3 groups and were given specific chapters to cover. Group1 having chapter 3, Group 2 having chapter 9, and Group 3 having chapter 10. Our class leader, Maria, was assigned to give the introductions and conclusions for all 3 groups. So, after we were assigned, we naturally went in order (i.e., group1, group 2, etc.). I was in the glorious group 2 where I got to meet all these lovely people. We had 9 days to present our chapters and work together as a team. I’m glad that we had 9 days for the reason that it gave us an opportunity to meet and get to know everyone. Even though we got added 2 extra people into our group later that weekend, we still managed to work out amazingly. We split each subtopic into 3 and assigned it to all of us. My topics were service group, work group, and work group team. Everyone has a different role to play. I did my individual research for each and every word. In between my research, we got to see group 1 present theirs. Group 1 had the least amount of time to do their presentation but still seemed to work together well and knock it out of the park. There was a little bit of technical difficulties but who can blame them? None of us really had experience screen sharing before. Other than the technology obstacles, they gave a very well put together presentation. They explained certain topics such as Culture, Values, intercultural communication, code switch, sex, ethnicity, gender, native language, religion, disability, chronemics, masculine & feminine cultures, and many other topics that are very important to communicate to people. Especially all the different cultures that this chapter explains. E.g., Individualistic cultures value personal rights and responsibilities, privacy, voicing one’s opinion, freedom, innovation, and self-expression. Collectivist cultures value community collaboration, shared interests, harmony, the public good and avoiding embarrassment. Low- context cultures make sure speakers use words to convey most of the meaning; verbal messages are direct, specific, and detailed. High- context cultures make sure that much of the speakers’ message is understood from the context. Overall wonderful presentation from group 1.
Now for my group, I had a family emergency and could not make it unfortunately. So, I had devised a plan that would work 100%, I was going to record myself explaining my part of the presentation. My words were service group, work group, and work group team. A Service group is composed of people who come together to perform hands-on charitable works or to raise money to help organizations that perform such work. A work group composed of three or more people formed to complete a task. Work group team is a subset of a work group where members also hold themselves mutually accountable. All of these words let me a contribution to our presentation. However, without my amazing group, none of this would’ve be possible. On the occasion where you work alone, you might be hesitant to put your neck on the line. When you work on a team, you know you have the support of the entire group to fall back on in case of failure and if your team has good energy, you encourage and inspire each other, and you have fun together, you’ll feel less stressed. A team is more likely to bring the perspectives and experiences that solve a problem than one person on their own. Teamwork creates a system to ensure that deadlines are met and that there's high quality work. And ironically, our chapter and more specifically my words, had to do with just that. Us working as a team to finish this presentation and get it completed. I, for sure, know my group did an outstanding job because everyone worked very hard on it. And when the presentation was over, our group chat was overflowing with messages congratulating everyone on how well they did. It's one thing to have a team, it's a whole other thing to have teamwork. A team that works well together has the ability to succeed together and produce great results.
Group 3 had the longest to present and they were given the opportunity to share chapter 10. Chapter 10 is about group leadership and problem solving. Their topics include, Leadership, role, agenda, criteria, brainstorming, problem definition, and decision making. Including the many different leadership roles such as formal leader: a persona designated or elected to facilitate the group process. Informal emergent leaders: members who help lead the group to achieve different leadership functions. Shared leadership functions: the sets of roles that group members perform to facilitate the work of the group and help maintain the harmonious relationships between members. In addition to the different types of roles. Task leadership roles: sets of behaviors that help a group acquire, process, or apply information that contributes directly to completing a task or goal. Maintenance leadership roles: sets of behaviors that help a group develop and maintain cohesion, commitment, and positive working relationships. Procedural leadership roles: sets of behaviors that provide logistical support, and record the groups accomplishments and decisions. They also helped describe how to run effective meetings. By saying: Most managers and employees are required to attend meetings, and most of them feel that the majority of meetings are inefficient uses of time. To make group meetings effective and efficient, both the meeting leader and meeting participants should take certain actions before, during and after the meeting. By doing so, they can ensure that the meeting is an efficient and productive use of everyone's time. They had introduced that ways to engage in the six steps of systematic problem solving. A group that faces a problem can find a resolution either through a linear set of steps or a less-structured spiral pattern. In either case, the group must accomplish six tasks in order to find an optimal solution. First, it must identify and define the problem. Second, it must analyze the problem to find out as much about it as possible. Third, it must determine the criteria for judging the merits of proposed solutions. Fourth, it must identify alternative solutions. Fifth, it must evaluate the solutions and decide which solution should be used. Finally, the group will implement the agreed-upon solution. Overall, every group had a wonderful presentation and I feel like this brought everyone closer academically and emotionally.