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Your good friend Pat is taking a class that requires students to work in groups. Pat has recently learned that you are taking a small group communication course and is actively seeking your advice. It seems that while other students in the course have developed mutuality of concern and a relative high degree of cohesion, Pat's group is not able to function as a cohesive unit. Pat is worried and wants you to explain five strategies that could be used to make the group more cohesive and facilitate mutuality of concern. Based on your reading and experiences in the class, what five strategies could you offer Pat? (Provide sufficient detail to explain each of your proposed strategies).
Pat has taken your advice and has incorporated the strategies you recommended to increase cohesion and mutuality of concern in the team. The rest of the class is impressed with Pat's ability to affect change in the group. Several class members have approached Pat about ideas to increase motivation levels in their group. They have informed Pat that their team is cohesive and that they all share the same group goal. The problem is that the team has become "flat" and do not seem as energetic or motivated about participation in team projects.
What three strategies can you offer Pat to provide other members of the class to improve overall motivation. (HINT: These strategies should be different from those you gave Pat to improve cohesion. BE SPECIFIC).
For this journal assignment you are to address the function of conflict and its impact on small group communication. Specifically, you will discuss:
1. the impact and importance of conflict to small group formation and growth; and
2. the procedure and strategies that you (as an individual) employ to manage conflict when it occurs in your group. Cite specific examples to support your discussion.
HINT: In order to attain all 10 points for this entry you must use terminology from the class lecture and textbook regarding conflict resolution strategies.
Chapter Ten in our textbook discusses three primary approaches to the study of leadership (trait, functional, and situational), provides information regarding three leadership styles (authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire), and includes suggestions for improving group leadership (both for designated and undesignated leaders). This journal asks students to identify and discuss three sources of leadership which occurs in COM 281:
1. The leadership employed by the professor in teaching the course. Provide specific examples to support your position regarding the professor's leadership style. Is the leadership style effective? Why or why not?
How does this leadership style enhance (or interfere) with your ability to learn about communicating in small groups? Answer the following three questions to support your answer:
a. What are 1 or 2 specific things your professor does that help you learn in this course (not that you like or enjoy, but help you learn)?
b. What are 1 or 2 specific things your professor does that hinder or interfere with your learning?
c. Please give your professor 1 or 2 specific, practical suggestions on ways to help you improve your learning in this course.
2. The leadership employed in your group. Which one person seems to be the emergent leader? Does the leader emerge because of individual leadership qualities or by default (e.g., no one else is willing or able to lead)? Explain and support your answer with specific details and examples.
3. The leadership style that you would employ if you were a designated leader. What should members expect of a designated leader? When these expectations are not met, what should group members do?
Write a brief journal entry providing advice to next semester's students which provides valuable insights into how to optimize their group experience. Discuss three or four important things that would have helped you become a cohesive group or work in a group more efficiently.