During this period, there was not a leader in our group. April created the online discussion group, but there was no authority associated with it. We relied more on personal motivation, peer pressure and the pressure from our grades in this class. At this point, we were still a loose-organized group, or we are experiencing the forming stage,
In the class on last Monday, seeing the progress in other groups, Melissa began to panic. I also felt a little nervous, and realized the urgency of a fece-to-face meeting. Actually, I thought we should have the meeting in the beginning of the process, but I reserved the idea because I knew that both of my partners works full time, and an extra meetin might be too demanding. Since they believed that we could accomplish the task online, and we still had time to try it out, why not give it a shot. Even if it did wort out, we could fix it in the last week. However, when it came to the last week before the presentation and our online discussion was not fruitful enough, I made up my mind to propose and schedule a face-to-face meeting.
It turned out to be quite easy to settle the time and location for the meeting. There was no resistance or reluctance to it as I expected. I think the reasons might me the urgency of the task and the unsatisfactory result of the online meeting. I do not regret that I didn't propose the meeting in the beginning. If I did that, probably someone would feel resistant to it because there might be more efficient to do it online. It could be my problem with the technology, and the other group members might do perfectly well with it. If this was the case, I should try to catch up with the group, but not ask them to accommodate me. After we tried the online discussion and failed to accomplish the task, all of us were on board that we need a real meeting. The commitment to this decision wipe out any potential resistance to it. Also, maybe we were not ready to have the meeting in the beginning yet, and the online brainstorming provided some grounds for us to start with in the meeting.
When settling down the time and location of the meeting, April acted as a cheer leader. She brought into our group her personality and the experience of preparing for presentations, and assured us that we would nail it. Her enthusiasm contribute to our confidence, and prepared the group for a positive and productive meeting.
At this point, I think we had finished forming stage, and moving into storming and performing.
I really liked your candid and open observations on your group dynamics and how they played out as you were preparing for the group facilitation. I especially liked reading your observations and insights from your perspective. You may have had assumptions about how your teammates were feeling but you didn’t allow them to dissuade you from moving forward (an act of courage) and doing what you felt was best for the group. By that I mean, you wanted to bring everyone together and in a way that you felt would be more productive, so that the group project could be completed.
ReplyDeleteIn class, through our reading we touched on how the paradox of group dynamics can be viewed through the question: Is each individual serving themselves or the group? I wonder if one can agenda can be met in a group or if there must be both and individual and group agenda? Can one truly exist without the other? Your anxiety may have been the catalyst for causing you to act and take more a leadership role but your motivation or intentions seemed to be to serve the group as a whole. I see a connection between the individual and the group that is necessary and through that success was achieved.