Week 2 (August 27 - September 2)

Week 2

Question 3

3).  Pick one concept from the reading assignment this week (Ch.2) that you found interesting or useful and and discuss it. Please discuss a concept that has not already been discussed this week so far.

One concept that really stuck out to me was feedback. I used to hate receiving feedback on my work because I always felt that I was being criticized, and that used to make me really self-conscience about my work. Now, I love feedback. I think it provides a lot of insight that you might not be able to see when reading and editing your own work. I also like to read things out loud when editing papers and assignments, it really makes mistakes easier to find and correct. Feedback is a great tool when used correctly. When giving feedback on someone's paper you have to be careful that your words sounds helpful and not insulting. You can't just say what the person did wrong, you need to show them the mistake, and help them by making a suggestion to make it better. Personally, I think two brains and two pairs of eyes are more helpful than one!

Week 2 (August 27 - September 2)

Week 2

Question 2

Entropy is basically the hectic atmosphere and chaos that a small group might encounter during their time working together. Whenever you are working on a project, whether it is a group project or working by yourself, things can get crazy and stressful. I would imagine this happens much more often when working with small groups because you have to accommodate for your group members schedules. You also have to take into account your group members different strengths and weaknesses so that you can all utilize all of your talents effectively and efficiently. Entropy impacts small group simply by causing tasks and work you need to get done a little more difficult to accomplish because of all the chaos that surrounds it.

Equifinality is an interesting concept because it basically states that you get the same outcome, but go about a different way of achieving that outcome. This applies to small groups because not everyone in the group is going to think the same, or have the same work ethic. I know that I achieve certain tasks in a different way as compared to my friends or other classmates, and it's okay because we are still getting the same result. As long as you can get the job done, equifinality shouldn't have a negative impact on a small group.

Week 2 (August 27 - September 2)

Week 2

Question 1

Groups are living systems based on interdependence and interrelationships. What happens to a small group when parts of the system do not function well? Provide two examples from your own small group experiences that show the importance of understanding interdependence and interrelationships.

When parts of a system within a small group don't function well, things start to fall apart. The communication goes out the window and things can become pretty hectic. People start arguing and getting mad at each other, which compromises the effectiveness of the group's communication. Without proper communication, you can't really do much, especially when working with other people. 

One example I have is from when I attended West Valley College. It was ironically for a group project in my small group communications class. I was assigned to work with two other students. We had a big presentation due that should have been super easy, had we all understood the assignment. We split up the project into three parts, one for each of us, and met about four or five times to make sure everyone was on track. One of my group members didn't really seem to be doing too well on his part of the assignment, and I offered to help him but he told me that he had already spoken to our professor about it and that he knew what he was supposed to do. I felt kind of uncertain about this but decided to trust him anyway. The day of our presentation approached and I was ready to get it over with. As we were reviewing our notes, we realized that this one particular group member had done his portion of the assignment completely wrong, and we knew we would all suffer the consequences. So we tried our best to pull something together right before presenting, but it didn't work and unfortunately our grade for the project severely suffered. Our system of trusting each other failed because we didn't really follow up on each other to make sure we all knew what we were doing, and in the end we got screwed over. 

Another example I have is from when I used to work at an after school daycare. I was at work, and it was only myself and another coworker. She "didn't feel well" and ended up spending her shift in the office playing on her phone, leaving me to deal with 35+ kids and their parents. Plus it was a rainy day, so we had to stay inside, and everyone was going stir crazy. I continually asked for her help and she kept blowing me off and telling me she didn't feel well so she couldn't work, but was well enough to sit on her phone and eat potato chips (she was technically my supervisor so I didn't want to get upset with her). As you can imagine trying to keep things calm in a daycare with 35+ kids all hyper from being inside the classroom all day was really hectic. I was relying on my coworker to help me, but instead she failed to do so, leaving me with all the work. 

Interdependence is important, especially in situations involving school and work, because you are all working together to attain a goal. In the school situation, it's so that you can get a good grade and in the work situation, it's so that you can maintain order and the safety of others. Not being able to rely on people who are supposed to help you in those situations are extremely frustrating.

Discussion 1

Hey guys,

My name is Raya Ranjbar and I'm a second semester junior at SJSU. I'm majoring in communications and minoring in public relations. I really like to travel, play basketball, and hang out with my friends. I'm a huge Warriors fan and I cannot wait for basketball season to start. I'm 21, almost 22, and I'm happy that I can finally see graduating as attainable. 

My goals for this semester are to do really well in all of my classes and not stress out as much as I usually do. I'm also really interested in studying abroad so hopefully for Spring 2013 I will be in another country!

Test

Test Post by The Blogging Prof.