Steven Smith Professor Dunn Group Dynamics & Team Building March 20th, 2011 Groupwork Logs 4.

One Word Scavenger Hunt In this group activity, our goal was to gather as many objects as we could that most closely match the adjectives provided to us (i.e. green, feminine, masculine, old, expensive, etc.) We could only speak to each other with one word at a time, and each team member couldn t say more than one consecutive word. As a learning experience, the purpose of this activity seemed to be both using non-verbal communication (with very limited verbals), and how to overcome conflict in order to make group conclusions. For once, my group didn t end up winning this scavenger hunt. I think we actually came in second to last. So in terms of winning, our group didn t meet its goal. However, I feel like in terms of group dynamics we did a pretty awesome job. Michelle was once again in my group. She s extremely competitive, and always seems to feel comfortable immediately jumping into a leadership role and taking initiative. For some reason or another, Hayworth students always seem to feel less comfortable being vocal leaders of the group. Not that they don t contribute, because they always do, but I have yet to be in a group in which an adult student took the leadership role. This could be because they don t know others as well as the day students might know each other, or perhaps they re simply less familiar with campus and where things are (when we do outdoor activities around campus). So Lori and Mitch took less vocal roles, making contributions/suggestions, but not

necessarily being the driving forces. I fell somewhere in between to two spectrums. I m very familiar with campus, so I always feel comfortable pushing the group in a certain direction, just not to the level of Michelle. The forming stage was over very quickly, we all pretty much already knew each other s names, and like I said, Michelle took the leadership role right off the bat. I had already worked with each member of the group previously at some point, so nothing was really done to build cohesion. We pretty much got right into it. The communication climate was limited, simply because our verbal communicating was also limited. In terms of norms, it almost automatically seemed to be acceptable to break the rules of one word at a time if we weren t directly talking about our next prospective object. If we got off topic, and were talking about our weekends, we didn t bother with the one word at a time rule. However, as soon as the topic of conversation turned back to the task at hand, we reverted back to the rules and only spoke with one word at a time (at first at least). Once we started to run low on time, the rules kind of fell to the wayside as we began to scramble to find our remaining objects. We tried our best to abide by the rules, but our competitive nature got the best of us, and we cheated at times. From this activity, I learned how to use non-verbals more effectively and how to choose which word I was going to use wisely. Often times, the wrong word would slip out of my mouth and it wouldn t make sense to anyone. After a while I figured out how to choose single words that more effectively communicated what I was trying to suggest.

5. Minefield

In this activity, the team s goal was to get as many balls into our designated corner while blindfolded and tied together. There were four of us, and we were each assigned different roles to play within the group (some were task roles, some were maintenance roles, and some were self-centered). We were competing against another group in the same situation. As a learning experience, this activity showed how groups function when the group motives differ for each member, and how easily a group goal can be completely ruined by one self-centered group member. I was assigned to be the blocker (self-centered role), Kelvin was a follower (maintenance role), Lori was the supporter/encourager (maintenance role), and Ari was the harmonizer (maintenance role). Our group s goal, to get more balls in our corner, wasn t accomplished whatsoever. I think in the end, the other groups corner far out numbered the ball count in our corner. As the blocker, I was pretty much fully responsible for the group s failures. It was my job to prevent progress towards the group goals, so instead of pushing balls in the direction of my corner, I was picking them up and throwing them all over the place (often times directly towards the other teams corner). The group developed and agreed upon a strategy before the activity started; I made it a point to do the exact opposite of what the strategy laid out. As the follower, Kelvin pretty much just agreed with/went along with whatever the other group mates said or did. Lori fulfilled her role was the supporter

by praising other groups members ideas, and encouraging the group in a positive manner. Ari got stuck with the hardest job of trying to be the harmonizer of this group, as she tried to manage conflict and reduce tension of which I was the culprit. When the group wanted to get on the ground, I stood up. When the group wanted to stand, I sat. When the group said they wanted to move in one direction, I tried to move the opposite way. With a blocker in the group, it seemed almost impossible for the group make any progress at all. Ari and Lori were constantly trying to bargain with me to work towards the group goals. But in this type of activity, where each member wholly depends on the other to accomplish goals, it was impossible to make progress when one member is completely uncooperative. I would discount other group members ideas as stupid, develop strategies contrary to those of the group, and made it physically impossible to move as a team. I think that this type of blocking is probably an extreme; rarely does a group member actually make it their goal to prevent progress. Dealing with a blocker and accomplishing the goal can both be accomplished. If this had been a real life group, I probably would have been literally or figuratively kicked out of the group for my counterproductive ways. From this activity, I learned how easily it is for a small group s progress to be completely halted by a deviant. The roles within the group and how well they are carried out can make or break the group. I think everyone in my group did a great job performing their roles, even though it seemed everyone carried out their role to an extreme. I feel like in most groups, and individual could perform multiple roles,

and it wouldn t be so obvious who was performing each role. But within the confines of this particular activity, I think everyone did a great job.

6. Hold Your Tongue and Listen

For this group activity, each member of the group chose three subjects of which they felt highly skilled/knowledgeable about. We went from person to person, and the group would choose one of each group member s three subjects to talk about. The group would proceed to speak on the chosen topic, but the person who chose the topic had to remain silent until the group was done talking. Once the group finished discussing, the expert on the topic got to speak on it, and correct any errors that the group made in its discussion on the topic. In terms of a learning experience, this activity helped us to see how hard it can be to not speak up when someone is talking about something you re familiar with. It also helped us to see the value of simply listening to others, rather than only listening to enough to interrupt or chime in with your own opinion. We got the see the four types of listening in action. It was extremely difficult for me to listen to the other group members discuss my topic (which was ACC College Basketball) without chiming in. I have pretty strong feelings on this topic, and I so badly wanted to correct them when what they said was totally wrong. Some of them had no idea what the ACC even was, and it was challenging for me not to jump in and correct them.

On the other hand, when it wasn t my turn, and the expert rejoined the group discussion to talk about their topic, I was surprised every time about how little I actually knew about the topic. Ari s topic was the Spanish language, which I actually consider myself to be relatively well versed in. But when she rejoined the group and corrected our errors, I was surprised at how little I knew and interested to hear what she had to say. In almost every case, the expert was truly an expert in that field, and brought up interesting points that I had never thought of before. In terms of emotions, I felt a pretty wide variety. I felt extremely frustrated about not being able to talk when it was my turn, but was also relieved and excited to have my chance to speak. A couple times, when the expert began to talk I would start to feel like they were acting like know-it-alls and would slightly disengage. From this activity, I learned to listen analytically and comprehensively both when I was the expert listening to the group, and when I was listening to the expert discuss their topic of expertise.

7. My Personal Groupwork Experience

Unfortunately, I missed class when we did Win as Much as you can , so I chose to write about a group I m in for another one of my classes. This is a group of three, and we are currently working on doing a research project, and conducting a survey in order to test a theory. The group consists of a junior student, an adult student, and myself (I m also a junior). We are still currently working on the project, but I thought this would be a good example because we ve already had to meet

several deadlines, and accomplish numerous goals. We have to collaborate on papers and work together to make sure that we all agree on the content of what we turn in. To be honest, I am not very satisfied with the way this group has functioned so far. I feel like I m the only group member who is willing to put serious time and effort into the research project, and as a result I have been carrying the majority of the workload. The adult student has contributed some, and genuinely tries to do her part, but she has a very busy work schedule and can only do so much. The other student has barely done anything; she is never on time to group meetings, and has done probably five percent of the total work we ve done so far (we ve been working together since the beginning of the semester). I ve taken the initiative and tried to be the vocal leader of the group when we meet. But it always seems like no one is on the same page, and each person wants to take the project in a different direction. None of us knew each other prior to being in this group, but all we did to build cohesion was brief introductions. Also, we were assigned a topic/theory to examine, and none of us are very interested in the topic. As a result, our communication climate is painfully unenthusiastic and boring. The quality of the work done by some of the group members has also been sub par. So far, we have broken the papers up into sections, and designated each person with a section of the paper. We ve gotten poor grades on some of the papers because some of the sections don t meet the quality of the rest of the paper. One group mate in particular has notoriously brought the group s grade down. I ve tried to give constructive criticism and suggestions for revisions of the papers, but this

person tends to not be very receptive to feedback, which makes things difficult and awkward. Ever since we learned about roles within groups, I ve caught myself being a bit of a dominator at times, and trying to take too much control over the group. I ve been doing my best to correct this whenever I notice myself doing it, but I think one of the group members is starting to think I m a jerk. I wouldn t have to be a jerk if she would stop being such a blocker, and at least pretend to care about our grade on the project. However, I have changed my approach to dealing with this person, as I ve realized being bossy just makes the situation worse. While this hasn t been the most pleasant experience so far, I think it has been a good learning experience. I ve learned how to handle conflict the right way (and wrong way) through trial and error. Prior to a couple weeks ago, my frustration came out in defensive behavior, as Jack Gibb would describe it, which would only make things worse. Lately, I ve been trying Anne Donnellon s team talk suggestions and always doing my best to use supportive behaviors. While the group is still not where I would hope it would be by the time we have to do our final presentation, it has definitely improved. Hopefully it will continue to get better as we continue to learn how to work in an effective group.