Last week!! Discussion #3

Probably my favorite concept was from Chapter 7 on Listening. I found this concept to be very interesting when we first touched on it in my public speaking class. Most people just assume that listening is listening. Sure, we figure that people may or may not be paying attention. However I think it's cool that people have come up with theories and concepts that actually divide how we listen into subgroups, and they explain why we may or may not actually be listening and more importantly interpreting and understanding the message. I also really like reading about active listening, and the barriers to active listening. I know it sounds kind of odd but sometimes if I am not paying attention to a speech or lecture sometimes I try to figure out why I don't want to pay attention - is there noise in the room, is it lack of interest or is the person giving a distracting delivery, is my response going to be pre-programmed anyway (this happens so many times when people tell me their personal stories after I ask them a simple question, like 'how was your weekend' and they want to respond with a ridiculous sob story that was all their fault anyway).

On the flip side I also like to evaluate people's response to my lectures or presentations and decide whether or not they were actively listening. p 134-135 talks about keys to active listening response methods - paraphrasing, asking questions, expressing understanding. Recently I gave a class presentation on something and I noticed during my presentation people were on their laptops and on their cellphones.. Which is normal during that class anyway.. But either way I knew that people weren't paying attention. After I was done I asked if anyone had any questions and there were none. This is how I know people were not paying attention and I felt like I had wasted my time.

Last week!! Discussion #1

For my group project I observed executive and sales meetings at an office in Sunnyvale. It was a good exercise in observing groups in business and how leadership works, and how conflict arises and how its solved, and how culture, gender, age, etc all play roles in how the group functions.

I learned a lot about roles of leadership and how one must watch what they say in the boardroom, but how it is also important to speak your mind and not be too shy. I also learned that honesty goes a long way, and that it is important to be motivating in a friendly yet serious way. If you go too far reprimanding or threatening actions if people do not meet or exceed goals, then they will be scared off and not motivated to work. If you are too easy on them they could take advantage of you.

Some good aspects of the project were that I was able to apply a lot of concepts from the book easily. There were so many theories and concepts that were easily visible just ten or twenty minutes into the meetings.

As far as improvement goes, I would like to have more access to better articles - I'm not a COMM major and I found it hard to find research articles about the concepts, and applying them into the project was tough.

Last week!! Discussion #2

Wow, this 16 weeks has passed by quickly! In this class I feel like I have learned a lot about how and why groups act the way they do. I enjoyed learning everything about leadership, roles, context, culture, and how to make ideas into reality. Since group work is pretty much inevitable in any career path you choose, it is important to know these things and be able to recognize when people are not contributing as much, when you are being controlling, and how your group can reorganize or reposition itself in order to become more streamlined and more successful.

One of my favorite things about this class was the textbook. I don't say that very often, but quite frankly I found this textbook to be very well laid out and easy to read and comprehend. Aside from that, I enjoyed the class format. Posting on a blog and reading other blogs seemed like an easy way to communicate different ideas and theories. I enjoyed learning not just from the textbook or from instructor wrap-ups, but also from stories on other blogs and reading other people's experiences.

My least favorite thing about the class was probably the group observation assignment. I have a tight schedule and it was tough for me to find time to go observe a group I'm not a part of (it would have been much easier to observe and write about my group at work). It was also tough finding research articles, I thought.

As for improving this class..I think it's pretty good the way it is. I don't say that about a lot of classes.. In fact I think I can only say that about two other professors I've had my entire time here at SJSU. But as with my experience last year in another class with Professor Perez, I think she is definitely onto something with her class formats for online teaching.

Buzz sessions

I thought the idea of "buzz sessions" (chapter 11 - p 210-11) was pretty interesting. Essentially it is like a large brainstorming session, or an interactive version of an idea web graphic. If you have a large group with a lot of different ideas, you break off into smaller groups, and all the groups give a small presentation on their ideas of solving the problem. I thought this was interesting because, first and foremost, it seems like this is what we do in school a lot. With a group of 30 or so students, this is a great way to present topics that do not need in-depth lecturing, or topics that deserve more discussion. I think this is a great way to cover a lot of topics and ideas, but it's also a great way to keep things fresh and moving, as well as to present different views and facilitate new ways of learning. Another great benefit of buzz sessions is that it offers us insight into how group interaction is facilitated in different forms and how we choose roles of leadership, etc (basically, everything we have been learning about in this course!).

Competitive & Collaborative conflict resolution

Last year I had a COMM class and had to do a group project. When we were given the assignment, I quickly jumped on an idea that came to me that I felt was brilliant. When we were given our groups, I quickly shared my idea and the group loved it. I had planned out the entire presentation based on my idea. However, that is not very ideal for group projects, and it did not really facilitate group interaction, so when we began discussing ideas on how to add to and improve my presentation idea, I had to compromise a lot. I gave up a lot of ideas I had, including specific segments of the presentation that I really liked, but in order for everyone to participate, we had to compromise and collaboratively settle what would be included and what would be dropped. To contrast with competitive conflict resolution, I could have held firm and told the group that my project absolutely needed to be the way I thought up or else we had to choose another way to present our topic.

Public presentation formats

Forums, panels, colloquiums, and symposiums are all different means of group presenting a topic and offering their solutions. They all end with audience interaction, which as we already have learned, is valuable feedback as it can offer alternative views and solutions to the problem at hand, and it also lets the senders know how well their message was interpreted by the receivers.

Forums provide the most open means of problem solving, allowing multiple participants speak in an orderly fashion. Forums can be thought of as large, orderly brainstorming sessions.

Panels are mostly informative, where a group of experts pose different answers and alternative solutions to the same questions. While audience interaction is often limited, forums are often better for audience members who want to learn more about a subject, as opposed to audience members who think they already know the answer.

Colloquiums are generally a discussion between experts with little audience interaction. Similar to a panel, these are often informative in nature.

Symposiums are the most informative of the four, and are essentially technical speeches given by an expert with only questions and audience discussion at the end.

As for which format I would prefer for giving a public presentation, symposium is definitely the most speaker-friendly, that is if the person is a good public speaker. I feel that I am good when I have a prepared speech, and if I am knowledgeable on the topic. If I had a group presentation to do, however, I think I want want a little more relaxed atmosphere, possibly the forum or panel format, where audience interaction was welcome, and I was given more of a chance to explain our ideas and have different views expressed.

Something I found interesting - Gibb's Comm Climate Comparisons

I really enjoyed the section on Gibb's Communication Climate Comparisons. It is so true that depending on how you word things, people will react and respond differently. This is very clear at my workplace since we have only 4 managers, but they are all very very different. Our GM is demanding and very bold and blunt. The one opposite her (more or less) is a young guy who is also a bartender and therefore has to deal with a lot of the same problems we do. He is like the "friendly" manager. When people have problems, I often try to resolve them with him instead of the GM because I know he will do better at sparking creative solutions to the problems rather than handing down orders. More or less, because of his open mindedness, we are able to be more creative and our workflow is much smoother. It is good to have description of the problems rather than evaluation, have a "we" orientation against a problem, be spontaneous, and empathetic as well. Similarly, the sense of equality is the biggest factor in why we try to go him instead of the GM.

Five barriers to creativity

There are a lot of cultural barriers to creativity. Some of the ones I can think of:

1) Race. Sometimes when we are in a mixed race group, we expect certain races to say or do things a certain way. When they do something different, we might discredit them because we think they don't have the experience or cultural background to have proper insight on the subject.

2) Gender. This one is similar to race and probably occurs a lot more than gender. If you are in a group with only one woman, you probably look to her for the "female point of view." Similarly, if you are trying to brainstorm about something geared towards males, there is a probable chance that her ideas won't get as much attention because the rest of the guys will think she doesn't know what she is talking about.

3) Age. Similar to race and gender, age gets a lot of stereotypes and therefore has a lot of cultural boundaries. A lot of older people in classes I'm in seem to back off when we talk about technology or something that has to do with Internet or computers. While they probably have good ideas, they always back off and let the younger people brainstorm and talk more.

4) Pop culture. If you are in a group and a few people are able to bond over music or movie, you probably notice that they are going to come up with their own ideas and act as a mini-group.

5) Being embarrassed / fear of rejection. A lot of times, people don't speak their mind because they are afraid people will laugh or perceive their idea as ridiculous. When it comes to creativity, there is really no right or wrong at the brainstorming stage. Sure some things sound better than others, and in the physical stages of trying out an idea you can see what works and what doesn't, but when you are brainstorming, any reasonable idea is a good one.

Creativity - Youtube as a scholarly source

The book discusses creativity as thinking outside the box. Essentially, it is building on something that is already established and coming up with a new form of doing things. I always look at the iPod and the iPhone as a great example of creativity. A portable music player was not a new idea – cassette players (walkmans) and CD players (discmans) were very popular, and as the digital age grew, it was bound to happen. Then of course the iPhone just combined and iPod and a cell phone. Of course a lot of the selling points in it are the sleek designs and interfaces with touch screen, but the idea of it is very creative – combining old ideas with new technology.

Personally, I applied that concept a few years ago, my first semester of junior college. We were doing an ENGLISH 1A paper and the professor told us to think outside the box for sources on our topic. I went to Youtube which was a brand new website at the time. Back then there was a lot less users online, and it was more informative than what it is now.. Or at least, there was less silly stuff. I got video clips of a documentary on electric cars and used that as source material. My professor was very impressed and I can remember him writing down the URL of the site for everyone to check out for their topics as well.

I always remember this because Youtube has grown into a phenomena but at the time I got creative and used it as a new resource to write a paper. Now plenty of scholars use it for source material and it’s a very well-known website.

Audio and Video conferencing

I think audio and video conferencing is an interesting topic in communication these days. It seems like we are finally getting it right. The accessibility of high-speed internet and webcams coupled with free software like Skype and Facebook video chat are making things a lot easier. Also of course there is FaceTime with Apple's iPhone, which is like a direct acknowledgment that sometimes just hearing a voice is not enough. In group comm, these factors are very important because when dealing with multiple people, especially strangers, responses are important and feedback, even if very minimal, can help or hinder a speaker. The book discusses video delays and audio clipping which can hurt the speaker but also limit and muffle feedback, which can cause the speaker to think he is not going over well. These are some of the downsides of group comm over CMC, especially in audio/video format.

On the plus side of course is that audio and video conferencing is the closest thing we have to F2F comm, and it is the most promising in terms of expanding the reach of who we communicate with. If a team of doctors can be formed using video conferencing and it can include bright minds from all corners of the globe, we are more likely to make advancements in medical technology and cure diseases than we would if we had to communicate via text only, or had to stick with physical F2F comm.

Anonymity, group size, and proximity

Anonymity, group size, and proximity are all major factors in CMC and can often have both positive and negative influences on group decision making and group success.

Some positive effects of anonymity are that stereotypes and body language and expressions are generally dismissed. If you don't know the person you are communicating with, while you may make some assumptions, there is a good chance you won't make any stereotypes based on race, gender, age, or looks. Similarly, group size can be good if it is small because that way a couple people can limit ideas, and if it is large, many ideas can be bounced around. Finally, proximity is important because if people respond quickly, they are more likely to be heard and the group is likely to utilize some of the earlier ideas rather than jump on late-comers.

There can be some downsides to these as well. Anonymity can be a bad thing because it can limit the connection the group feels and how well it communicates. Some people may figure that since it is anonymous they don't have to try as hard, and they may feel like they are less important, or that others are less important than them. Group size can be tough as well because a small group online can leave too much for the group members to handle, and large groups of course can cause confusion and too much information flow. Finally, proximity can be a problem because everyone could be speaking (or trying to communicate) all at once and some messages will get lost. Similarly, if everyone is further away from each other, the culture and thought climate could be different. Someone in Japan is likely having different experiences and has different feelings and ideas than I do.

CMC vs F2F

By now it should be no secret to any of us that communicating over the internet is way different than face to face interaction. We can all relate to the differences of this online class versus a traditional classroom. The book points out some notable differences and one section that stood out to me states, "CMC group members focus more on the task and instrumental aspects of the process than on the personal and social aspects of the group. Thus, they tend to be more content oriented..." (297). I thought this was a great observation and although obvious, the important part is that they tend to be more content oriented. It is so easy to get off task in a face to face situation – whether it’s over social or emotional aspects of the group, or whether everyone is distracted, or if everyone is putting in their two cents. While there may be a lot of distractions on the internet (how many of us have Facebook open while we work on this class??) it is also easier (in my opinion) to focus on a set of information if you have all the text in front of you and numerous tools on a computer in order to help you. If I don’t understand a concept, I can just google it.

Another big difference, as the book states, is lack of eye contact, body language, and facial expressions, especially for feedback. The book calls this “richness” and while it doesn’t exist in a lot of text based CMC mediums, it can be found in videoconferencing and audio communications. But that is not to say that CMC is completely free of emotion – many of us put emotion and personality into our posts every week.

The last concept that I liked from the book was the idea that CMC often times takes longer. I suppose there is the physical aspect of waiting for replies and such, but also I think we move slower and are more precise when we are using computers. Every group project I’ve done moves very slow and is very detail oriented when we communicate only by computer. Whenever we are all face to face, things move much quicker.

Week 8, post 3 - Active Listening

One component I enjoyed from this chapter is the section on active listening. This is a concept I remember from Public Speaking, and theories such as these really caught my eye and got me interested in the field of communication. As we have learned from the section of the four phases of listening, listening is not so much as simply being present, and hearing a message. Instead the message must be interpreted and absorbed in an active, engaging manner. The book discusses the eight barriers to active listening, including noise, lack of interest, distracting delivery, faking attention, thought speed (thinking ahead), and listening for facts (a common one, especially in school). I find all these barriers very well thought out and true to real life. How many times have you been in class and found many of these to prevent yourself from truly interpreting the message?

Similarly, the four responses to active listening are interesting to me because as a prospective teacher and as someone who enjoys tutoring small groups and giving group presentations, I am learning to look for these responses to see how engaged my audience is. The four responses are paraphrasing (in school this can be seen as taking good notes), asking questions, using nonverbal communication (good eye contact, sitting up straight, nodding head), and expressing understanding (rephrasing the information, adding original thoughts).

Finally, the best parts about active listening is that you can measure how well you are understanding the message and how well you are listening by using these tools. Are you asking questions, able to paraphrase, using good nonverbal comm., and are you able to express understanding? If not, and if you find yourself hitting some of the barriers, you need to adjust in order to be a better part of the group.

Week 8, post 2 - selective attention

I find myself suffering from the downsides of selective attention a lot in school and in my outside reading. In school, I always do well in classes I am interested in, or that I find easy. For instance, I had a lot of US History courses that I got A’s in. This semester I have a nutrition course and so far I have an A+. But classes that do not interest me as much, and especially ones that I find more difficult, I find myself struggling in because I find it hard to pay attention. The classes are not necessarily harder, but for instance in my Western Civilization and Ancient History classes, I find myself completely lost and so my mind often wanders. This is similar when I do reading – whether it’s for school or not, if the material is interesting or the book is more interesting, I read it faster and absorb the content better.

To overcome selective attention I try to apply the concepts that I’m learning about to concepts that I find more interesting. Like in my ancient history class I try to find similarities between that era and the US history eras that I like more. I also try to eliminate noise and focus on the task at hand instead of thinking about other things. I try to focus on the class, or the book, that I need to focus on, and spend extra time on things that I would rather spend time on later. Essentially my thinking is, while I’m here I may as well submerse myself in the information being given.

Week 8, post 1 - Difficulty in listening

For me I find that listening is often most difficult for me because of the first phase of listening, or Sensing (Hearing the Message). The two components of this phase, selective attention and noise, often play the biggest roles in me having trouble listening. Since selective attention us the subject of our second post this week I’ll focus on the noise aspect. For me, noise often distracts me and causes me to “space out”. Internal and external noises both present themselves. In one of my history classes in DMH I sit by the window and get distracted by a lot of external noise. People walking down the street, people jogging/running around campus, cars, sirens. Some of these I voluntarily look at while others (like sirens) I cannot avoid. Luckily they do not distract me too much, and since the class is relatively easy and not necessarily interesting to me, they provide a nice little escape. In other more interesting classes in that building though I have sat more inside the room and away from the window to purposely limit the external noise which may distract me. Internal noise plays a factor as well. Often times I think about what I need to do later, or what my week is going to look like, or what I want to do this weekend.

While both types of noise can be distracting from interpreting the message, it is important to know how to silence these noises, or what kinds of external noises set you off. Similarly, you have to be very careful not to focus on the noise and instead focus on the sender and the message.

Week 7 - Humor

One topic that I enjoyed reading about that we did not discuss was humor. I agree wholeheartedly that humor is an important aspect of group communication. Being able to laugh at yourselves or at a joke someone within the group makes helps relieve tension and stress in the group process. It can bring group members together, and create a shared bond over something that the whole group can relate to (laughter, feeling good) even if it is a serious issue the group is dealing with.

All that being said, humor is definitely a fine art. If you've ever been in a group with someone and all they want to do is laugh and joke around, you find that you don't get very much accomplished. In fact, it gets to the point where they're annoying. Instead, humor must be used sparingly, and at the right time - not during serious discussion, or when there is a positive amount of work being accomplished. Instead it is best to break the ice in the beginning, or to break a bit of a dry spell or lull the group may be experiencing.

I know at my work, the best times are when it is very slow or people are stressed and someone cracks a good joke or tells a funny story. However, it's not funny when people are super super busy and trying to do things and running around busily, and someone tries to be funny, it ends up being annoying.

Week 7 - Proxemics and Chronemics

I found the theories of proxemics and chronemics to be interesting. In short, proxemics is associated with proximity, or space, while chronemics is associated with time. In American culture, I think our personal space is something we guard dearly, and punctuation is important in most things, whether its work or school or due dates. I think in other cultures, space especially is different. I know that I have worked with a lot of people who seem to invade my personal space, and they do it as if it brings me closer to them on a mental level as well, like if they are telling me something personal or happy with something I did, they want to get really close to me, especially my face. I think the idea of "one on one" is important in other cultures as indicated by this. On the graph of tables, I find this interesting because I work in a restaurant and you can tell a lot about people by how they sit at the table. When you have a couple, closer, happier couples like to sit kitty-corner, as in the "cooperative (conversation)" graphic. When couples sit across from each other they seem a little less talkative and less serious. A teacher once told me that when you go on a date you need to sit across from them to look them in the eye.. This seems a little contradictory to what we are learning, but it makes sense since on a date you probably want to challenge the person mentally.

As for time, the book made the best example of people in power being a little less adhering to a set schedule. My mom's boss seems like he is always on vacation, or coming in whenever he feels like it. My mom is high up too and I know she can take off whenever she needs to and go in late if she feels like it. She doesn't need to keep track of sick days and such like lower level employees. Must be nice!

Week 7 - Eight Principles...

#2 - The second principle states that your nonverbal actions must match those of your verbal actions. It's not enough to say that you are dedicated, but you must show it. Some was they might operate in a group or team is that if you say you will take care of something and then you slack and never deliver. If you are on a baseball team, and you tell the team that you are dedicated and want to be a part of the team, but then you show up to practice late, or hungover, or you bring scouts to look at you and focus on yourself instead of the team, you are not very dedicated to the team but instead you are just focused on yourself or your social life.

#7 - The seventh principle states that woman and men send and interpret nonverbal cues differently. This I believe is 100% true. I know a lot of times when I go out with a group of guys, they always think girls are "checking them out" just because they get a look or a smile. Yet, when they go over to the girl, they get rejected and the girl is confused at how the guy could possibly think she is interested! This is another reason why diversity is important, especially in a professional situation - you want to have both male & female interpretations and viewpoints of nonverbal cues, and you want to be able to have someone another person can discuss cues with, for instance, have at least 2 women and 2 men so that its not 2 on 1.

Week 6 - Discussion 2 - Observer Feedback Guidelines

The book details a 10-step guideline for observers to follow while giving feedback to a group. Generally speaking, these guidelines include:
Avoid generalizations and give specific, clear, and concise feedback. Compliment the group members publicly but criticize in private. This will eliminate anyone trying to defend their actions, or others jumping on the bandwagon and criticizing. That is not what feedback is for. Similarly, you always want to focus on the positives more than the negatives.

Next, you want to focus on behaviors that can be changed while not micromanaging every single thing. Don’t say that you don’t like a certain member, or you think a member has bias because of outside factors or something. Instead focus on matters that can change, such as how much time is spent on one task, or if everyone in the group is given equal chance to speak. Similarly, do not criticize every little thing – Remember that you want the group to become successful by itself; you are not the new group leader.

Finally, remember that you are an observer. You are not a member of the group, you are not the leader, you are not the taskmaster or the note taker. You are there to provide constructive criticism for the group to improve how they act as a group, not improve the subject of their work.

Week 6 - Discussion 1 - Consultants

It is important to use an observer or outside consultant in small groups in order to measure how well the group works together. As the book states, it is very hard to both observer and participate, and therefore it is important to use an outside source. This outside source can provide notes on how well the each participant performs his or her task, but also evaluate the levels on which the group excels or lacks as far as participating as a single entity and not just individual opinions or ideas. Similarly, feedback from an outside observer can offer valuable information on the group’s performance of specific tasks, whether its taking minutes, letting everyone speak, diversity within the group, key roles such as task-masters, leaders, and secretaries, and of course whether or not the group is staying focused on the end-goal or if they’re getting off-topic and not really getting much accomplished. Specific feedback from the observer or consultant is also important, so that the group can actually use the feedback in order to evolve how the group operates.

Week 4 - Discussion 3 - Nonverbal Comm

I found the section on nonverbal communication to be interesting. I think the notion of different movements, signals, and facial expressions can mean different things depending on the culture. Smiling and laughing at certain times may be interpreted differently depending on the person/culture. Eye contact is a big one too.

I found the last paragraph to be the most interesting though - the idea that despite all of our differences in verbal and nonverbal communications, there is an underlying idea of what a good leader is and how we should act socially. Laughing, smiling, listening intently - All of these have a powerful meaning across cultural divides and prove the many theories that we all communicate on a human level, despite our religious background, language we speak, geographic location, etc. Kind of like we have an "international language" that we are all programmed with, I would assume throughout years of social interaction (whether it's passive or interactive) as well as media and learned behaviors through books, movies, tv, school, church, etc.

Week 4 - Discussion 2 - White Men of Privelage

The “white men of power” concept suggests that white males are generally given powerful positions in groups and are often found at the top of power hierarchies. I agree that this concept applies to today’s world in many ways. Even though we live in a very diverse area, a lot of business leaders still fit the description that the concept suggests: white males!

I think the concept is a stereotype and certainly doesn’t apply to every business, but most groups follow the pattern. The book suggests that most minorities report different work experiences, notably in hiring and promotions. I think that attests to the reason why the stereotype persists: we stereotype based on looks, race, ethnicity, clothes…And make assumptions on that person based on our learned stereotypes. We are likely to be quick to write off the possible talents and opportunities that a person can bring.

Just as a side note, I was listening to a podcast from the guy who made the movie Supersize Me and he was talking about an experiment he did, or one of his documentary friends did, where they applied for various jobs using fictitious “ethnic” names and then fictitious “white” names. Even though they sent the exact same resumes, the people with the white names received more callbacks than the people with the ethnic names. Just shows that it’s not only physical first impressions that can lead to stereotypes – even a name can cause a person to jump to conclusions!

Week 4 - Discussion 1 - Diversity

In my opinion, valuing diversity in groups definitely does not come easily. As the book explains, we all have learned stereotypes that usually focus on certain negatives instead of positives. In fact, they can even manifest negatively even though they are positive. For instance, my friend once told me he was upset because he got in a group with a bunch of "nerdy Asian kids who were overachievers." At first I laughed but then I realized, wait, isn't it a good thing that they are hard working and study a lot and want to do good?? I guess to him it was a negative because they raised the bar and wanted perfection, whereas perhaps he just wanted an easy A or B.

I also liked that the book mentioned "token" representatives of groups, and perhaps that is why we do not value the diversity or look beyond the stereotypes (whether they fulfill them or not) and instead look at the positive contributions he or she has to make.

Some ways we can value diversity is to perhaps bond more with our group members. If they have different cultural values, ask them about them so you can understand and appreciate them more and connect more to the person. Also, look at the positive side of things. Have someone who is an overachiever? Know that you can count on them! Have someone who may drag their feet in one area but have certain interests in another area? Assign them to what interests them.

Week 3 - Discussion 3 - Groupthink

I found the topic of cohesiveness (and subsequently, groupthink) to be something we can all relate to. When reading this chapter I know I especially thought of my high school friends. There was a certain cohesiveness that brought us together – music we all liked, hobbies (video games, concerts, movies, music), the fact that we were all kind of “outsiders”. While it is our background and the things that we all enjoyed that brought and kept us together, it is that cohesiveness that also caused problems. Sometimes groupthink crept in and all of the group did – or did not – want to go along with what was happening. I found myself on the wrong end of this because a lot of times the entire group wanted to do something that I did not want to do. I can especially remember one occasion where everyone wanted to walk to the corner store in the dead of winter when it was snowing out. I ended up slipping on some ice and getting a really bad knee injury and had to go to the hospital the next day. I didn’t even want to go in the first place!

I think this concept can be applied to a lot of bad decisions you hear about college sports teams, too. I know the SJSU hockey team just got in trouble for alcohol consumption after a game. I remember the De Anza baseball team (some members) got in trouble for possible sexual assault at a house party. Sometimes, when some members of the group, or just one powerful member – eggs the other members on because they or he/she wants to do something, others follow and get in trouble because of it.

Week 3 - Discussion 2 - Functions of norms

Norms in groups have many functions. Simply put, norms help the group identify itself and get the job done. It also sets the standard as to whether or not people fit in the group, and it overall represents the group's purpose and values that make it a specific group.

When I took a comm class in jr college, we had a group project that was our final project. One essential norm in school group projects are that everyone does their part. Someone usually takes notes, someone collects email addresses & phone numbers, someone does a powerpoint or visual, etc. But everyone contributes.

Continuing with that story, the one member violated the norms we had established greatly when she decided she wanted to go to Las Vegas for the weekend before the project was due. She missed all her emails and the powerpoint slides that everyone needed to review, and on Sunday night she emailed everyone from her cellphone frantically asking for someone to call her and explain it over the phone. We were all upset that she violated the norm of doing roughly equal work in a school group project, and that she wanted people to work around her schedule instead of going by the agreed upon times that worked for everyone.

Week 3 - Discussion 1 - Group Norms at SJSU

I don't really have a big group of friends at SJSU but I do see norms all over campus, and they seem to repeat themselves as I look back at my recent school years (high school, junior college). Of course there is a lot of generalizations going on here, but I see girls hanging with girls, cheerleader types hanging with jock types, asian kids hanging with other asians, history nerds hanging with other history nerds, etc.

In my group of friends at home we certainly have norms too. We make fun of each other without getting offended, we use foul language, we make really bad jokes, we talk about work (a lot), etc.

These norms can all be identified by repetition and remembering what happened when someone gets out of line or doesn't fit in. For instance if you are shy you will not fit in the group. If you want to talk about school all the time or sound pompous and correct grammar or word usage, you won't fit in the group. It's kind of loose, and that is the norm.

At SJSU, if you dress a certain way you probably will or won't fit into certain groups.

Week 2 - Discussion 3 - Dimensions of Group Success / Systems

I thought I would use this opportunity to discuss an aspect I found interesting - the dimensions of group success (p 21). As you can see by the chart, there are different levels and zones of being successful and unsuccessful. As you can see in group 4, the "successful but doesn't understand" grouping, there are more important things than just simply success. The author describes the group as being unlikely to be successful next time, lucky to succeed, and unsure why they are successful. Certainly these are not good group dynamics for success - Anyone can win once, but to win often is the true meaning of being a successful group. As the author explains, understanding and using strategies for success help reduce chances of failure, again ensuring success.

The section continues to say that this is part of why groups are considers living systems - dynamic and changing and adapting creatures that learn and interact from situations. It is important to remember this when you're in a group, instead of stifling creativity and success by thinking, "oh I'm in a terrible group and we're going to do bad".

Week 2 - Discussion 2 - Entropy & Equifinality

Entropy and equifinality can definitely impact small groups in negative ways. Entropy generally means that the group stops moving forward and is stuck in one place. The example that the book gives is that there is too much focus on rules and regulations and so everyone is concerned with falling into order, or perhaps they are mad because they are stifled by the rules and regulations. I know this happens a lot at my work because we have to do certain things that sometimes become a huge burden. For instance at one point we lost shifts and had to attend special training classes on Sunday mornings at 8am if we didn't sell a certain number of a specific appetizer (an appetizer which, by the way, was completely nasty). The whole team was impacted negatively because there was too much focus on this one thing, and people quit or didnt want to work shifts because of it.

Equifinality can also hurt groups but sometimes help them as well. The book gives the example of weight loss via sports training or cardio or diet and exercise. Indeed there are more ways to succeed than just working together, but in group settings, often times working together insures success in the long term. I thought this was great when our classmate mentioned a group project where everyone inputted individually instead of working together. Going back to the weight loss example, you may lose weight with just diet or exercise, but long term results come from a combo of both.

Week 2 - Discussion 1 - Interdependence & Interrelationships

In small group functionality, there are vital roles that must be maintained and kept in order for the group to be successful. While often times these roles are interchangeable and not necessarily clearly defined, they must be fulfilled in order for the end goal to be achieved. Everyone plays off one another, and the group functions as a whole thanks to its different parts.

When parts of the system do not function well, simply put, the group does not function properly and often times is held back or does not achieve success, or at least streamlined success. Essentially, it has to work harder to achieve that success.

Two examples in my life are in work and school. At work, we have waiters, bussers, stewards (dish washers), prep and line cooks, and management. If the waiters do not take the orders properly, then the cooks get the wrong order and make the wrong food and the guests are unhappy. Similarly, if the cooks take too long or make a mistake, then the waiter has to wait longer and again the guests are unhappy. Management also has its tasks - if they do not tell us that a specific food or wine is out, or if they don't maintain a properly staffed floor or kitchen (commonly in the restaurant business they try to have as few people on the clock as possible), things can go wrong all over the place.

In school I have worked in groups a lot. With college groups often times people try to communicate via email or text and there is a lot of times when 1 or more members don't communicate promptly, or do their part that they are assigned. It usually leads to someone doing more work. Similarly, someone can take on too much of a leadership role and be too controlling, which, as the book states, can stifle creativity (p 27).

Week 1 - Intro Post

Hola fellow COMM students!

My name is Rob and this is my second online class with Dr Perez and my third online COMM class at SJSU. I started taking COMM classes at Ohlone a few years ago and it was a subject that really stuck with me. I did not think I'd enjoy it but I actually loved Public Speaking, and so I took some more COMM classes and really connected with a lot of the material and enjoyed learning about the field.

I am a history major at SJSU and I am actually a graduating senior this year. I'm really excited since it seems like I've been in school forever! Actually, I took a little break between high school and college, so when I finally jumped back in I did so with both feet and have been running on high ever since. I'm really excited to be graduating this spring even though it's a lot of pressure this semester more than ever! And of course now I am faced with the "Well, what next?" question. I am looking into the Single subject teaching credential program at SJSU - I want to teach history or maybe even comm/speech. But...I might take a year off.. because..

In my free time I am a busy working dad. I have 2 girls - one is 5, one just turned 1, and we found out over Christmas that we have a third on the way! My wife is due August 29th so it will be a fun summer for sure. I might take some time off school to do the stay at home dad thing in between working part time as a waiter (thus my alias).

I am excited to take this course because I have found that comm classes like these help me in so many various situations - at home, at work, at school. I imagine this will teach me more about communicating within a group - sharing leadership roles, compromises, reading others wants and needs, etc.

So far I have had great experiences online with the SJSU COMM department. I honestly feel like they deserve an award for being clear, concise, organized, and on time with assignments, expectations, and even grading! If you've ever taken an unorganized teacher or one who is slow at responding, you know how super frustrating it can be! It's 1000x worse online!! Luckily I have not experienced that yet here and my experience last semester with Dr Perez was good enough that I came back for more :)

Looking forward to a fun semester!

-The Happy Waiter / WhereIsMyWaiter / Rob