My Personal Experience With Working With A Group

Working in small groups is either welcomed with excitement by individuals or dreaded with apprehension. However, group work is a fact of life. Whether in a classroom setting or workforce collaborating within small groups are experiences many will interact at some point or regularly participate in. According to the 2010 third edition of the book A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking by Dan O’Hair, Hannah Rubenstein, and Rob Stewart, small groups can be defined as “a collection of between three and twenty people” (321). Small groups, though, are interesting in that while a small collection of people communication role is imperative to the success of the group, but also demonstrates individual’s behaviors when interacting. During small groups, they way in which the member communicates with each other illustrates how individuals perform by taking on specific roles as well as exposing their leadership style. During participation in group work, there is a set of expectations individuals hold for themselves as well as members of the group. Individuals will subconsciously take on a specific role as to how they will help the group achieve their goal, whether that be cohesively or disconnected. Subsequently, the recognition of these acquired roles provides an insight into the individual’s corresponding leadership style. Depending on roles and leaderships style group work can be a consistency of either individual challenging or complimenting one another.

Learning how to work effectively in a group situation is key to success in many professions as well as in social situations. Groups vary from each other based on the individuals that make up each group, all of us belong to various groups at one time or another. The roles that we fulfill vary from group to

Secondly, I want to mention our group climate. In my opinion, our group has a supportive climate. Each member is willing to help other members in the group to complete their tasks. Our group favors description compared to evaluation. Instead of criticizing others’ behaviors and ideas, we often tell our feelings about problems. All the group members always encourage each other to share their opinions and feelings with the group. Even though some opinions are too conflicting, the main purpose is trying to give all the members equal opportunities to talk about their ideas. Thus, the success of the group is the consequence from the equal contributions of all the members. Besides, in most of the discussions of our group, we are oriented toward problem solving; therefore, we look for the consensus of the ideas in order to solve the problems effectively and quickly. Because our group has many members who have senses of humor, we always maintain an interesting and comfortable atmosphere to gain assertiveness in the group. Sometimes, Ngoc and Phong share their experiences of how they solve their families’ problems. Through perceiving more deeply about each member’s own life, we have gradually gotten closer together; therefore, we are always honest and open to each other. Also, we do not criticize when a group member cannot finish his or her task as expected because there are always personal issues out of the class. In addition to

After working in this position for a while working in groups and introducing new group members is a key ingredient in building teams and relationships. In groups and teams, relationships are the feelings, roles, norms, statuses, and trust that both affect. They reflect the quality of communication between a person and others. The variables that have an important effect on relationships are made with others in small groups. These are the roles a person assumes, the norms or standards, the group develops, the status differences that affect the group's productivity, the power some members have, the trust that improves

Working in a group to achieve a high quality group project can be one of people’s most difficult school experiences. Working in a group is tough because there is often someone who does not pull their own weight. “There are five stages to group development, adjourning, forming, storming, performing, and norming” (John & Wiley pg 166). Christine’s group from the Case Study the Forgotten Group Member is in between the Storming and Norming Stages. The Storming Stage “is dealing with tensions and defining group tasks,” while the Norming Stage is dealing with high emotionality and tension among the group members” (John & Wiley pg. 166). Christine and her group could have had better

This paper is going to discuss relevant background factors, circumstances, and structures of small group interaction. First, I will explain how a person’s background can influence participation in a group and then we will look at how values can impact a group. I will also explain how I respond to situations where I am working with people who have different values. Next, I will explain the implications of falling into “team traps” and will use three of the ten for specific examples on why they should be avoided. Finally, I will summarize all that we have learned today on group interactions. Let’s start by looking at how peoples background can influence participation in a group.

An important part of our learning and growing experience must stem from our ability to analyze and reflect upon the groups that we have been members in. This reflection can define our understanding of the weaknesses both in ourselves and in the others within our group; and it can help to shape the way that we act in future groups. Adjusting ourselves to compensate for our weaknesses, based upon an honest and thorough examination of our actions within a group setting, is one of most important thing for any person to do. It is only through this evaluation that we can improve ourselves and our interactions with others. This paper will examine a group that was required to make an important decision about adding a new member

Group work has been a cornerstone of the social work profession and requires a variety of facilitator skills and awareness of group processes. The SSLDTM Group Program for People with Difficulties in Social Situations (Socialwork1914, 2017) provides an excellent example of a psycho-educational group co-facilitated by two female social workers, Jane and Karen. After viewing the 6th session of this 8-week program, I began to understand how the concepts of group formation/development, interpersonal dynamics, and leadership styles contribute to successful group work outcomes.

Tuckman proposes that groups develop via five stages; forming, storming, norming, performing and finally adjourning (Archee, Gurney, & Mohan, 2013a). The first stage, known as forming, involves clarifying the task and purpose of the group, and identifying boundaries of both the task and interpersonal behaviour (Archee et al., 2013a). For the presentation task we were randomly allocated into groups. This worried me greatly as I have struggled in the past with group members who do not contribute equally or see the task as important as other group members. To avoid this problem, the group collectively determined and agreed upon a number of ground rules. For example, we decided that all group members were expected to contribute equally to the presentation, all group members were expected to attend and contribute at all group meetings, and all group members would adhere to agreed upon deadlines. Having failed to do this in previous group assignments, this clarification stage

When doing so the other group members were active listener, by using their whole body verbally and nonverbal. Like facing the speaker and giving eye contact and try to avoided interruption. The group also acknowledges the thoughts of the speaker by giving constructive feed back. Due to the effectiveness of the group communication, we were able to build trust, respect and understand the issues and make decision for effective change. We illustrate this by coming together as a group one again to accomplish the goal we initially wanted to accomplish. Since the first organization that we had chosen was incorrect, so we had to make the necessary changes to accomplish our goals. The other effective feature is the purpose of the group. Kozier et al (2010) stated that the effective group purpose is when “goal, task, and outcomes are clarified. Understanding and modified so that members of the group can commit themselves to purposes through cooperation” (p.401). For instance, each individual was assign a task and knew what was to be accomplished. As group we all decided to meet at suitable day and time which was beneficial to all team members, because we could commit to the group and focus on what needed to be achieved.

Leadership is the process by which one person can influence an individual or a group into the completion of a goal or an objective. The ability to inspire and motivate others stems from his or her capacity to efficiently manage time and people. I was recently placed in a leadership position, where I facilitate a group of clients who are low-functioning schizophrenic adults at a mental institution. My role as a group facilitator, which I sometimes view as teaching, is to guide and teach members the different coping skills for their illnesses. It is also my responsibility to make sure that members participate and are able to achieve their desired goals. My greatest challenge as a leader is understanding the importance of group dynamics.

Working in a group can be very difficult at times. Different people with different views may not always agree which one another. Throughout the various task I played the communicator. I made sure everyone was on track on what we wanted to do. I also made sure people was okay and happy in the role they was playing in the group. My group worked together in collecting ideas from one another and making it into one.

This about how to work with groups and other team members, most of the time it is hard to do but with our jobs nowadays we have to do what we have to do. I like working with others for the most part, especially when they are motivated in getting the job done in a timely manner. Then we have some that just don’t want to help but want everybody else to do their work for them.

In conclusion, this class has changed my perspective about working in a group. Since my prior experience with groups was so unsettling, I believed that all groups were going to be the same. However, this class has made it possible to believe that there are groups that respect and take into consideration other members’

When this course started, I didn’t know what to expect. Quickly did I learn that it was more than just about a single individual and his or her ideas and behaviours. As the course progressed, I learned that it was very important to understand how small groups work. Reflecting upon my personal journey with my group, I have learnt that working in small groups requires commitment, synergy, communication, listening, conflict resolution and decision making and problem solving. This brings me upon my personal journey with my small group and how I have learned to work in such an environment.