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).
Happy waiter, after reading your post about interdepence I realize there are many more instances that not having enough interdependency can lead to a crumbling effect. We have all had that boss that we feel is unsympathetic and controling. When we work in environments like that we don't do our best work and create negative energy within the group of coworkers. I have also had situations when managers don't take on enough leadership and the group can fail to organize a thought and be innovative. This really is a great topic to analyze, and figure out how to be better leaders and groupmembers. I feel like trust games and team building workshops have always helped any work-experience Ive had. Although comical sometimes, they offer icebreakers, trust building within new groups and create bonds between individual dyads. I liked that you analyzed your work situation because it is so true that in a food service job, miscommunicating one thing, much like the telephone game, can be detrimental. Nice read! Thx
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