The articles this week provided a sampling of the research that Dr. Marshall Scott Poole is contributing to the field of communication studies at this time. Although there were four articles for this week, I found “Group Communication Methodology” particularly intriguing this week as I lectured on group communication about two weeks ago. My students understood the basics of forming a group and the purpose behind groups in places like work and school, but many questioned how to determine if a group is successful and if that involved looking at the group as a whole or as individuals. For example, they questioned if a group was successful because of the leadership or of the follower. All of these questions lead me to the practical application of Poole’s article in the classroom. I firmly believe that Dr. Marshall Scott Poole, Dr. Joann Keyton, and Dr. Lawrence R. Frey’s article, “Group Communication Methodology” would have enhanced the learning experience in my undergraduate class and believe that my students would have gained valuable insight into applicable reasons for learning about groups.
One could argue that any article as long as it pertains to the classroom would provide an enhanced learning experience, but I believe that this article in particular would give insight to group communication and some of the problems that many people are facing. For example, the article acknowledges the question of if “a group be treated as an entity, or should the focus be on the individual research?” (Poole, Keyton, & Frey, 1999). This ties back into some of the questions that my students posed to me. Poole, Keyton, and Frey further the idea by pointing out that very little research has been done to understand how these differences ...
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...will be successful. Like many other teaching assistants, I provide examples from my life to help explain points in class. However, not everyone is comfortable with self disclosure. This is where the article would play into the classroom. By incorporating material like the article, students would be able to gain a little perspective into the research of groups and why some work while others fail. I would also argue that it would have given the undergraduate students the opportunity to read some of the work from Poole prior to him speaking at the campus. Once more, this would other further enhance their learning experience and potentially encourage them to attend the conference.
Works Cited
Poole, M. S., Keyton, J., & Frey, L. R. (1999). Group communication methodology. In The handbook of group communication theory and research (pp. 92-111). SAGE Publications.
The essay is written to be very informal. It uses a lot of connotative language as well as a subjective point of view. The author tries to use facts to support her way of thinking, and also uses some examples and descriptions. The largest downfall to the article is her use of inductive arguments. The author uses true stories and a few case studies, at the beginning of the essay, to show how some people have acted when they are with a group of people. But, the rest of her argument is based on these few studies. She tries to argue that all groups behave as these few examples, in the essay, did. These few, rare occurrences cannot be the basis for an entire argument about how groups behave. They paint too broad of a picture.
Key to any group is the communication of its members. Realizing that we would be working together for a full quarter, the team members were quick to exchange cell phone numbers and email addresses. The cell phone numbers were key as texting proved to be the most efficient method to ask and answer quick questions from other group members while we were on the go and dealing with other aspects of our lives.
Bormann E. G. & Bormann & N. C. (1996). Effective Small Group Communication (6th Edition). Edina, MN: Burgess Publishing.
Team communication is vital in many aspects of our professions. It is human nature to coexist with others in various roles: be it in the military, emergency medicine, football, or even school. The American Heritage Dictionary (n.d.) defines communication as the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior.
According to social psychologists a group is composed of more than two individuals who depend and interact with each other in some manner (Lessing). Examples of groups include a class, a football team, a cult etc. Groups normally have various similar features including: norms that determine the right behavior, roles assigned to individuals, which determine what responsibilities and behaviors people should undertake, a communication structure and a power structure, which determines how much influence and authority group members have. For example, a class has norms, like the time people should arrive in class. The role of the professor includes teaching, administering exams and inviting discussions. The ro...
Topics explored with this group included; conversational skills, internet safety, bullying, conflict resolution, social media, and personal appearance. Accordingly, I was able to gain insight on how to plan activities tailored to the needs of the group as well as obtain tips on conducting groups effectively. Additionally, I was able to get a sense of the group dynamics, attain knowledge on the stages of a group through observing all the individuals belonging to the group, their uniqueness and how their personality impacted the group itself. Individuals were able to join the group at different stages hence; the forming stage was repeated each time a new member was recruited. This also provided me with the opportunity of gaining first-hand experience of the interaction on the basic dynamics on group stages of forming, norming, storming and
This paper will discuss the effective communication in a team. Looking more in depth on this subject, explain the reason communication is important, how barriers can effect communication. Explain several ways to improved team communication.
... Chapter 2: Small Group Communication Theory.Communicating in small groups: principles and practices (9th ed., pp. 42-44). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
Engleberg, Isa N. and Dianna R. Wynn. Working in Groups. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
There are many different benefits to having diverse dynamics within a team. Communication seems to be the key to making the dynamics of a team work. A team is very much an interpersonal relationship with many potential benefits as well as pitfalls. The dynamics can often cause conflict within that team which can negatively affect the team's performance. It is common for people on a team to try to ignore or bury problems due to a desire to not create a scene. This can be very destructive because the issues do not get resolved. There are some specific steps that can be taken to resolve that conflict. When it comes to resolving an issue, the methods of doing so can be as dynamic as the team itself.
From the beginning, where we were unfamiliar with each other and became a team, my team and I had started to learn each other name and getting to know each other. Throughout each meeting, we slowly start to feel more comfortable and open minded with each other. Not only are we getting familiar with each other, each meeting that was held we progress of becoming an effective team member, we learn our strengths and weaknesses of everyone. During the meetings, we learn many concepts from the textbook, “Communicating in Small Groups: Principles and Practices” by Steven A. Beebe and John T. Masterson. We were able to learn different types of concept in the textbook and utilized it as a team to complete certain tasks. The three concepts that impacted my team and I are human
...t Your Self Esteem. http://a-self-confidence.com/ “A Self Confidence. Com.” Boost Your Self Esteem in the Workplace. http://a-self-confidence.com/self-esteem-workplace.php Boost Employee Morale in a Down Market 28 April 2003 http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-1164249/boost-employee-morale-in-a.html Group Dynamics http://www.brianmac.co.uk/group.html “Informal Group Dynamics.” Communications Network 2008 http://www.accel-team.com/work_groups/informal_grps_03.html Tubbs, Stewart L. “A Systems Approach to Small Group Interaction” Nierenberg, Andrea. “Eight Essential Communication Skills.” Smallbusinessadvocate. 2008 http://smallbusinessadvocate.com/smal-business-help-article/eight-essential-commu>. “How to Communicate Powerfully by E-mail.” Mindtools. http://www.mindtools.com/commskll/emailcommunication.html {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end}
During the maturation of the group, lots of effective features were present; however communication and the purpose of the group stand out more. An effective communication is when the group members are open to each other ideas and feelings are encourage (Kozier et a...
Based on the small group that I joined in communication class, I will talk about what is working well and what is getting in the way in our group. Then I will discuss about what I can do to improve the group and the things about group project if there is a chance for a start over again. At last, I am also going to talk about what I think that I learned is an important lesson in this semester.
Working together with other people for an assignment can be a challenging task in some cases but luckily, I worked well with my group members. The decisions we made were anonymous although we paced ourselves individually when it came to completing our separate parts of the essay. As a group I believe that we connected well on an interpersonal level as all four of us were able to make alterations to any problem together . Furthermore, we did not give each other a chance to get angry at one another as we knew that this would only cause conflict that would disrupt our flow as a group. There was an equal divide in the amount of work that we all did; our contributions were fair and no one was lacking behind. In addition, my group members were great at keeping each other informed if one of us were not able to attend a group meeting; emails were sent out informing us what we missed and ideas that were formulated. Everyone in my group worked according to deadlines and in synchronization with each other; we did not have to nag anyone to complete work or wait on a member to complete their task.