Favorite Concept

There were several concepts that captured my interest during this course, but I think my favorite one was the four components of listening. This includes sensing (hearing) the message, interpreting the message, evaluating the message, and retaining (remembering) the message. I particularly enjoyed learning about these concepts because they helped me develop a better understanding my listening habits and why I retain some information better than other information. Like I talked about earlier in the semester, I am generally a good, attentive listener, but there are some situations where the message goes over my head. I find that that usually happens in two situations: 1) When I don't fully understand or care about what I'm hearing (such as complex science lectures), or 2) when I am trying to make a good first impression on someone. The second one causes me to focus too much on being engaging, making eye contact, and being charming and stuff rather than actually processing what I'm hearing. Fortunately, since reading about these concepts, I've become more aware of it, which has helped me become a better listener. I chose to write about this concept because I think it is important to listen to people, understand what motivates us to listen, and understand how to process what we hear.

Happy holidays,
Nick Burger

What I Have Learned

Like all the other communications classes that I have taken at San Jose State, I enjoyed this one because the concepts are tangible and applicable to everyday life. This class taught me a lot about leadership, problem solving, and countless other group dynamics. From now on, whenever I am part of a small group, I will be able to reflect on what I learned in this class, particularly when it comes to conflict and problem solving. My favorite thing about the class was the topics that we wrote about for our blogs. I feel like I have a firm grasp on the concepts that we discussed because we all had to relate the concepts to personal experiences. Since each of us is an expert on our own lives, it was easy to apply the topics to real life and enhance my understanding and comprehension that way. I think my least favorite thing was commenting on other blogs. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to meet new people and get other perspectives on the course material, but since everyone has different work habits and posts at different times, I feel like only commented on a handful of different blogs. Since I am someone that likes to start and finish my assignments as soon as possible, I ended up commenting on certain people's blogs more than others. This didn't end up being an issue; it was just a very, very minor inconvenience. No improvements are necessary for this class as far as I am concerned!

Group Observation Reflection

The group that I observed for my project was a high school ice hockey team. I talked to the team's coach and watched them practice. During practice, I observed how the players communicate with each other and their coach, how they solve problems, how the coach leads the team, and how the male players act in regard to the lone female on the team. I think this was a useful assignment because it gave me the opportunity me to take communication concepts that we have learned and translate it into a tangible experience. One of the things I learned about was leadership. When things were not going well during practice, the coach was stay positive and help the players figure out what they could do to improve. He said that yelling at the players would only compound the situation by making them tense. If things still did not go well after a while, he would stop, gather everyone together, and hit the proverbial reset button, which seemed to help the team considerably. I also learned that when players have a conflict with one another, the onus is on the players to figure it out and get on the same page for the betterment of the team. Nothing leaps out at me in terms of ways that this assignment could be improved, but what I liked is the fact that it allowed us to take concepts from the book and apply it to real life. I attended two group meetings, which I felt like provided plenty material to write the paper, though I probably would have gone to more meetings if I had the time.

Avoidance

The avoidance strategy for conflict resolution is one that I use a lot since I don't like conflict. I'm pretty much willing to do anything to avoid conflict with other people. Some people don't mind it, and even enjoy it. Buy, for me, I conflict and confrontation are very unsettling to me. It basically boils down to me wanting everyone to be happy. The book says the avoidance strategy "entails withdrawing from the conflict." This is a little different from the way I avoid conflict. I try to prevent conflicts from happening before they occur and escalate, but the book talks about removing oneself from the conflict altogether. If there is a problem with group members, I won't run away from it, but I'll try to help resolve it peacefully without creating any ill-will within the group. I've seen firsthand the kind of resentment from group members towards a person that avoids conflict altogether. I was part of a hockey team where one of the players was having problems getting along with the rest of the team. As the divide between the team and the player grew bigger and bigger, the player ended up alienating himself from the rest of the team; he stopped attending social events for the team, and he would sit in a corner of the locker room by himself without talking to his teammates before games. This is an example of how the avoidance strategy of conflict resolution can be detrimental to the group.

Collaborative vs Competitive Conflict

Collaborative conflict and consensus is a win-win scenario where each member of the group is open, contributes, and listens as they work to combine their ideas and compromise in order to come to a solution that everyone agrees with. At the end, everyone feels more empowered and unified. I was part of a collaborative conflict resolution in a group project for class last year. For our project, we were assigned to create a video, but our group wasn't equipped with the necessary materials or skills. No one had a video camera, and none of us knew how to edit video or do any of the fancy stuff that makes these kinds of assignments look good. After putting our heads together, we found a way that we could make a video and still stay within ourselves as a group. We created a power point presentation with music, pictures, and YouTube video clips, along with a brief skit that we filmed with an iPhone.

In contrast, competitive conflict resolution has a win-lose nature, driven by self-interest rather than the interest of the group. However, the book says competitive conflict strategies can be constructive. This is especially true for groups when that are working with limited time. Using competition works well in this situation because the people involved treat it like a race, an attempt to accomplish the task as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to win. We did this in one of my classes last year too. Each group had to decide on a topic to debate about, and each person had to choose a different perspective to debate from. There were a couple people in my group that wanted to take the same stance, so they ended up doing research where they essentially raced to find the three best sources. The so called "loser" had to chose another topic. This was helpful for the group because the people involved found good material right away.

While both methods have their merits, I prefer collaborative conflict resolution because I think it is more unifying. I like the idea of everyone contributing their ideas and working towards a common goal.

Chapter 11, Discussion 1

A forum facilitates public discussion by allowing the entire audience to participate by discussing and give their individual input after a brief presentation by the group. This is different from a panel, which is where four to eight experts converse about a problem or decision in front of an audience. There is no direct discussion with the audience and the panel of experts, but there is usually a Q&A session with the audience. A colloquium takes place between three to six experts whose views are usually diverse. These experts have a discussion where they "identify, develop, and work through possible solutions to a problem for the benefit and with the participation of the audience" (Harris and Sherblom, 2011). A symposium has two to six short speeches made on "different aspects of a complex problem" (Harris and Sherblom, 2011). The speakers are usually experts, and their goal is to present complicated information to the audience. I like the panel presentation because planning is very thorough. As the book says, "there should be no big surprises for the speakers on the day of the presentation." I also like that the audience interaction occurs after the panel discussion.

Openness Fosters Creativity

Openness helps facilitate creativity, especially during conflict and problem solving. This is a concept that we use with my hockey team all the time. At the beginning of the season, the head coach told our players that he wanted the kids to be vocal and express any concerns or suggestions that they have. This includes when we do drills during practice. In one of our first practices of the season, the coach said he wanted the players to give their input about drills during practice if they thought the drill was not working well. From the point on, the players have continued to contribute in that regard. There have been a few instances in practice this season where the drills the the head coach and I created did not flow or work out the way we hoped. But since our team created an open environment, the players have felt comfortable approaching the coaches, telling us what is wrong, and suggesting what we can do to make the drill work better.

Five Barriers to Creativity

The five barriers to creativity are the following: "we lack self-confidence, fear taking risks, feel a need to conform, do not feel we are in an environment that encourages creativity, or find ourselves locked into our habitual ways of looking at the world--our paradigms." A lack of self-confidence and fear of taking risks can certainly inhibit creativity because you have to be willing to try something new in order to be creative. So if you don't have the confidence to try something or take a risk, nothing will happen; when nothing happens, nothing is created. And if someone feels like they need to conform, they probably won't be very creative because they don't want to risk that their idea won't be accepted and won't work. A combination of these things kind of happened to me in my COMM 101 class on Tuesday. We were learning about organizational communication, and our task was to get into groups of four or five and build something that we could use to drop an egg from the second floor of Hugh Gillis Hall without breaking the egg. One of the guys in my group had done this project before, and another one of the guys said he "loves creating shit," so they naturally took on leadership roles right away. Everyone in my group was nice and easy to work with, but I guess I lacked a little bit of confidence/felt the need to conform in terms of contributing an idea for how to build our egg carrier. Since the two guys had a pretty clear vision of how to approach the assignment, I was more willing to play a supporting role than I was to be creative. As it turns out, our group was the only one that successfully dropped the egg without breaking it. YEAH!

Creativity

The book characterizes creativity as doing something that is new, different, and helpful. Creativity also requires the ability to think outside the box and come up with an idea that is "novel, useful, and predictable." This is something that I have had to do during practice for the hockey team that I help coach. To provide some brief background, a close friend of mine is the head coach, and he has about eight years of coaching experience; I have three years of experience, but only about three months of experience coaching at a level this high. He told me at the beginning of the season that the goal is for me to figure out a coaching method where I am the most comfortable and effective. I'm in charge of coaching the defensemen, so we often split up the team during practice so that I can work with just the defensemen. Since the head coach wants me to take charge and make my own decisions about how best to coach the defensemen, I have to devise my own drills to help the players work on their skills. This is where the creativity comes into play. Since hockey players (especially teenage hockey players) get bored if you don't stimulate their interest or challenge them, I have to create new drills that will keep their interest and motivation levels up. Also, if a drill isn't working for some reason, I have to think on the fly in order to modify the drill in order to make it useful for the players.

Influence of CMC

The book talks about how CMC messages are beneficial because the participants have more time to think about what they want to say in their message. This is the exact reason why I prefer texting to talking on the phone. It seems like a lot of older people interpret texting as an anti-social behavior among people my age because we don’t talk as much in real time (meaning face-to-face or verbally over the phone). Maybe this is true for some people, but for me, I don’t have any problems with being social are talking to people, but I really like texting as a form of communication because it gives me more time to carefully choose my words so that I can convey the exact message that I want. I also like the fact that the conversation stays linear in CMC, so no one can interrupt you or change the topic while you’re talking, so everyone involved gets a chance to say what they want to say.

Effects of CMC on Groups

Anonymity, group size, and proximity all have an impact on group processes. In my experience, anonymity in computer-mediated communication allows a lot of people (myself included) to be more open and comfortable with sharing their opinions. When you read message boards online, people don’t seem to hesitate to confront others and be very blunt with their opinions of various topics and other message board contributors. In terms of size, the book says large CMC groups tend to have success with CMC because they are able to create more ideas than individuals in smaller groups. CMC is also more efficient in terms of proximity because members don’t have to commit the time to go out and meet up. Instead, each member can stay at home and contribute, which can help cut down complications with schedule a meeting that works for everyone in the group. The book also says that people that participate in CMC is beneficial for groups because everyone is so cognizant of their online presence and image that they are more willing to live up to the expectations that others have for them.

Computer/Face to Face/ Communication

CMC (computer-mediated communication) can take place in a group via video, audio, and text messages. The book accurately describes CMC as being more "content oriented and less social-emotional" compared to face-to-face communication. I think most if not all of us in this day and age of texting, social media, and email have had experiences where something we said through text was misinterpreted. In face-to-face communication, we have the ability to use haptics, kinesics, and vocalics to help convey our message. Through text, it is difficult to effectively convey certain tones such as sarcasm, though it can be done a little more easily thanks to emojis and emoticons. When I talk to someone face-to-face, the other person can hear my tone and see my facial expression, which removes all doubt about the message I'm trying to relay. But texts are more ambiguous because everyone has different writing styles and interpretations of meanings. For example, exclamation marks can be used to create either a friendly tone, an excited tone, or an angry tone. Or some people use periods at the end of short messages to indicate that they don't really want to talk. I'm kind of a basic grammar Nazi, so I never end a sentence without some kind of punctuation haha.

Motivation

The concept of motivation pertains to the extent to which I listen. To book essentially says that the motivation to listen makes people better listeners, and that people are more likely to listen when they have some sort of investment in what they are listening to. There are a couple scenarios from my everyday life where this applies. For example, when I am with a group of friends, I always listen carefully to what they say because they're my friends and I care about them. But when I'm in a conversation with someone I don't know very well, I still listen, but I don't make much of an effort to retain the information unless I think there's a chance that I will see that person again. If it seems like it's going to be my only encounter with the person, I don't feel very motivated to retain what they say. I would do the same thing in high school when the teacher went on a tangent. In one class in particular, the clever smart asses in class always found a way to get distract the teacher and get her to tell stories about herself so that we wouldn't have to do any work. So when the teacher was actually teaching, I paid careful attention; when she started go veer and talk about stuff that didn't matter, I would zone out until she got back on track. Obviously I was more motivated to listen to the actual material so that I could do well on the test.

Selective Attention

I hate to admit it, but I think many students can relate to me when I say that I've had selective attention during class. For the most part I make sure I pay very close attention when the professor is lecturing, but the one class/subject that I have trouble doing that in is biology/science. I think the reason this happens to me in science classes is because all of the scientific terminology makes it feel like learning a different language. So when the every other word has something to do with ions and neurotransmitters and hemoglobin, it's hard to pay attention to what the teacher is saying. Last week I had an easier time paying attention because the professor was talking about what happens to the body during exercise and the effect of various foods on the body. Since I workout a lot, I had a better understanding of what she was teaching us, and the information was more practical for my everyday life. This could possibly be overcome by reading a few of the basic definitions of key terms before class, but even when I do that, there's only so much time to try to absorb all these new and complex terms.

Difficulty Listening: Memory

I've been meeting a lot of new people recently, and just like everyone else, I try to make a good first impression when I meet people. But during several of these interactions, I've had difficulty remembering the names of the people I meet, even just a minute or two after being introduced. This very thing happened a couple weeks ago. I was at work when a guy notice my Bemidji State T-shirt and flagged me down. He said he went to school in Bemidji, and it turns out that my uncle was his high school science teacher. I asked the guy for his name at the end of the conversation, but I was so focused on making eye contact and giving a firm handshake that I didn't even concentrate when he told me his name. This means that the memory phase is giving me difficulty because I was so concerned with my outward appearance and first impression that I didn't really concentrate enough to retain the guy's name. I've heard that repeating something right after you hear it will help you remember it better, so, in future situations like that, I might try repeating the person's name to help myself commit it to memory. It might also help to just be more confident in my "external performance" (as the book calls it) and feel self-assured that I'm making a good impression. If I do that, I'll be able to focus completely on the conversation.

Semantics and Meaning

I found the first principle of semantics to be interesting. The first principle of semantics says that "meanings are found in people, not in words" (Harris and Sherblom, 2005). Over time, this becomes more apparent to me, especially with slang. For example, at some point in time, our culture decided that the word "bro" doesn't just refer to a male sibling; the new meaning of the word came from people continuously using the word in different contexts, usually with friends or people that we are close to. To avoid offending anyone, the "n word" falls into the same category. It still carries a stigma/negative connotation, and rightfully so, but it has also become acceptable for friends to call each other that, much in the same way that friends call each other "bro." To paraphrase one of my favorite comedians, Dwayne Perkins, it's okay to say that word, but don't enjoy it when you say it haha. I think it's fascinating that language is so versatile and that the meaning of words can change over time because people agree on a new meaning and continue to put that new meaning into practice.

Proxemics and Chronemics

Proxemics is "the study of how we use space to communicate." The book says that sitting or standing near another person could be a strategy for gaining access to a group or for making friends; but this can also be interpreted by the group as an invasion of personal space. There are unwritten rule for this concept though. For example, there are seating arrangements for people that are working in close proximity. The book illustrates two people working at the same desk in four different scenarios and four different positions. In a competitive setting, the two people are sitting across from each other; in a co-active environment, the two people sit at opposite corners of the table; in a cooperative setting, they sit adjacent to each other around the same corner of the table; and the modified cooperative setting shows two people sitting side by side. These positions on the table are meant to signify  a level of power, dominance, and cooperation. The books says that the head of the table is considered powerful, which has been consistent with our culture, or at least is was for a while. I've never seen this happen as a display of power, but I have seen this kind of seating arrangement used in the MLK library. People that are working together usually sit next to each other or near each other, whereas people that are not working together will sit at opposite ends or opposite sides of the table.
Chronemics is the study of the use of time. According to the book, "western cultures are particularly oriented toward clock-based time as an organizing principle in the work world. Our culture, whether it be school or work, is big on deadlines and making sure that things are submitted on time. We also use time to organize events, and it can be considered disrespectful to show up late to certain events, such as a job interview or a certain kind of ceremony. Yet, in more casual settings with friends, it is often perfectly acceptable to show up late. I've mentioned before that when I hang out with my friends, everyone always shows up about ten minutes later than when we agreed to meet. Even though that is acceptable with my friends, it would be unacceptable to show up to a job interview or to class that late. When I took German in high school, my teacher said in Germany it is considered rude to show up too early when you have been invited over to someone's house, and  people that arrive early will wait in their car to kill time before they go up to the door.

Principles of Nonverbal Communication

One of the eight principles of nonverbal communication that I was intrigued by was number four: "nonverbal behaviors are guided by the context and power of relationships." This means that certain nonverbal communication may be appropriate in one setting, but not in another, and might be interpreted differently in organizational backgrounds, occupational groups, big groups, and small groups; the role of the person doing the nonverbal communication is also a factor. For instance, if I flip off one of my friends when he makes a mistake during our game of pickup basketball, we would accept that and consider it funny. But if I did that same thing to my biology lab partner when he or she messes up our experiment, it would be offensive and inappropriate. 

The first principle of nonverbal communication is probably the most personal one. It says that "our nonverbal communication affects the quality of our relationships." This means that we show others how we feel about them based on our actions. The book gives the example of sitting next to someone as an indication of attraction, or getting up and moving away from someone as an indication that we don't like someone. Another example would be if I went out with a group of people and bought a drink for one of them. That nonverbal cue would be an indication that I like the person that I bought a drink for.

Success and Failure

In chapter 14, I found the topic of success and failure to be helpful and kind of inspirational in a way. This section of the chapter alluded to an unnamed sage observer who said that "the person who makes no mistakes usually makes nothing." I've definitely learned this lesson over the past few months. For a long time, I put off getting a job and trying a lot of other things outside my comfort zone because I was afraid of failing or making a mistake once I started. But, like the unnamed observer said, I remained stagnant and didn't achieve anything because I wasn't trying or putting myself in a position to learn from my mistakes. This section of the book goes on to mention another observer who "concluded that failure is a success if we learn from it. Recognizing failure is one of the surest route to success, if we examine why we failed." Now that I've been trying new things, like coaching, I find myself analyzing my own performance after every game and practice and trying to figure out what went well, what didn't go well, and what I can do to improve in the future. And when I do make a mistake, I listen to the more experienced coaches when they try to help me along or make suggestions. According to the book, this ability to receive feedback creates an opportunity for me to develop. If I weren't receptive to this advice or if I didn't recognize my own shortcomings, I probably wouldn't show any growth.

The book lays out 10 guidelines for observer feedback. The first one is to avoid generalizations. This means that when you compliment or critique someone, be specific about what they did well, or what they could have done better. Just saying "good job" is too vague and doesn't necessarily help the person understand what they did well.
The second guideline is to focus on behaviors that can be changed. For example, if a member of a group takes on a self-centered role and starts hurting the group, the observer and the group will want to address that and make sure that everyone is behaving in the best interest of the group.
The third guideline is do not debate or argue with the group you are evaluating. Since the observer is supposed to provide helpful feedback to allow the group to improve, it would be counterproductive to argue. Getting input from the observer can be helpful, but the group members are the ones that ultimately decide if they accept the observer's opinions. If the observer persists and clashes the group, it will probably lead to less productivity.
The fourth guideline is to not micromanage the group process. Observers are supposed to help a group improve in specific areas, not try to control every aspect of the process. As the book alludes to, it's better to  focus thoroughly on a couple things and do a really good job rather than trying to cover everything.
The fifth guideline is to remember your role. The observer's main purpose should mainly help a group evolve and facilitate a productive environment. That's why it's important to give positive feedback as well as constructive criticism. Negative feedback will only discourage the group participants and won't necessarily help them if the feedback is vague.
The sixth guideline is to accentuate the positive aspects. Whenever someone gives me feedback, it always helps to hear them say something positive first because it builds confidence and gives me a sense that I'm going in the right direction.
Seventh is to end with specific suggestions for improvement. It would be very unhelpful if an observer told a group all the things that they didn't do well, but didn't provide any suggestions to help the process; that would be just as good as wandering around in the dark without a flashlight. By giving specific suggestions, the group can try them out and continue to develop instead of remaining stagnant.
The eighth guideline is to be clear and concise if you present your ideas orally in writing. If the observer writes whole paragraphs at a time, that can be overwhelming for the group members and may discourage them if it's all about the stuff they need to improve. Orally, it's best to be concise because it's easier to remember what the observer said if he or she used less words. Also, long winded ideas can get boring and cause the group to tune you out.
The ninth guideline is to compliment in public and criticize in private. This is something that I've learned about since I started coaching my hockey team. As a coach, you'd rather have a one on one meeting with a player if you're going to criticize him/her rather than chewing that player out in front of the entire team.
The tenth guideline is develop positive relationships during the feedback process. Since the observer's job is to help the group, they want to maintain a good relationship with the group by not blaming people or giving negative criticism.

Small Group Observer

According to the book, small group consultants or observers can offer insight from a different perspective from the rest of the group. Corporations have realized that observers can help groups develop, and have started using observers to evaluate small groups. Using an observer or consultant is beneficial for groups because they don't have a stake in the outcome and can evaluate the group's process and skills from a more neutral standpoint. The book also talks about assigning one of the group members to be the observer when an outside observer is unavailable. This is a less desirable option in the sense that it is hard to participate and evaluate a group at the same time, but giving each member a chance to evaluate the group can provide an opportunity for self reflection as well as group assessment. When one person from a group is able to step back and evaluate a group, he or she can see which strategies and processes work, and which ones don't. These kinds of observations can help each member of the group improve down the line.

Discussion 3: Conflict Management

It was interesting to read about the various perspectives of conflict among different cultures because I didn't realize how many ways certain countries perceive group conflict. The book gave an example that compares the culture of sharing homework answers between kids from a Mexican background and kids from a North American background, saying that Mexican kids are more likely to share answers because they are taught the value of cooperation, generosity, and solidarity. On the flip side, North American students are taught to be more independent and value individual success; this discourages sharing answers because it is viewed as cheating. There are aspects of both perspectives that I like. For the North American perspective, I like the idea that individuality and self-sufficiency are valued because we won't always have someone else to help us or bail us out of a situation, so we need to be able to learn how to do certain things on our own. Conversely, I like how the Mexican culture stresses group cooperation and solidarity because that can help kids learn about working as a team and being more social. To me, a kid that tries to help a classmate figure out an answer rather than just taking the shortcut and giving away the answers for the homework shows a happy medium between cooperation and individuality.

White Men of Privilege

The book explains that we make assumptions about who has the social, economic, and political power, and that we take these positions of power for granted. When the book refers to "white men of privilege," it saying that the assumption for many years has been that wealthy and privileged white males from the upper-class or upper-middle-class have been the proprietors of the social, economic, and political power. This means that white men of privilege have more opportunities afforded to them than minorities. I obviously disagree with the   principle of this concepts, but I certainly agree that it has existed throughout our history. One of my closest friends is half black, and, coincidentally, we were talking about this concept last month. He has told me that the concept of white men of privilege is definitely a real thing and that he and his family have experienced it and had to deal with it their whole lives, and that he has been denied the same opportunities as other white males because of his race.

Valuing Diversity

I think it is difficult for a lot of people to value diversity. Everyone in this class is part of a country, a city, and a school that is rich with cultural diversity, but there are factors that can make it hard for people to appreciate the melting pot of people. One obstacle that the book highlights is assumptions/stereotypes. As the book alludes to, we often judge and categorize an entire group of unfamiliar people based on just a few people that we know from that group. I think groups can learn to value diversity more by getting to know the people in their group. When members of different groups come together and form one diverse group, getting to know each member of the group can make things feel more personal and, to paraphrase the book, see each person as an individual with unique skills and perspectives rather than a representative of an entire group or culture.

Assigned and Emergent Roles

I found the concepts of assigned roles and emergent roles interesting. The book says that "assigned roles exist in most groups," whereas "emergent roles are worked out [and] are result from the interaction of group members." This comes into play a lot in groups. Usually, in groups, we are assigned roles that suit our strengths. But in some situations, through experience with the group, certain people emerge and embrace a role that was assigned to another member of the group. This is what happened when I played for my high school hockey team. The coach originally made me a forward, but when one of the defensemen started struggling and the coach noticed that my strength was playing defense, he had the two of us switch positions. Since I emerged as a good defensive player, I was able to fill that role on the team even though it was not the role that I had been originally assigned.

External and Internal Constraints

The difference between external constraints and internal is that external constraints are factors that affect the decision-making process rather than the problem itself; internal constraints are rooted directly to the problem and could be the ultimate cause of it. The book says that internal constraints can also set "limitations on the implementation."

For example, when I would go out to eat with friends over the summer, I usually didn't buy anything because I didn't have a lot of money and I wasn't eager to spend what little I did have. The external constraint that kept me from buy food or drinks was money, but the internal constraint was that I was unemployed. My problem of not having enough money to buy things was caused by the fact that I didn't have a job, whereas my lack of money was a factor in my decision to not buy anything when I went out with friends.

Group Norms

Over the last few years, I've grown accustomed to a few norms at SJSU. One of those norms is the exchanging a phone numbers when a group forms for a class project. In high school, we used to meet during lunch or exchange emails, but at SJSU, the exchange of phone numbers between group members is an implicit norm. I identified this as a norm through experience; every group project that I was a part of always exchanged phone numbers immediately so that we could text each other and set up group meetings, no questions asked. Also, if you are on certain floors of the MLK Library, it is understood that you don't talk loudly or disrupt other people that are trying to work or study. 

In my group of friends, one of our peripheral norms is to meet within about 20 minutes of the time that we agreed to meet. When I first started hanging out with my group of friends, I used to show up at the exact time that we decided to meet; then I would end up waiting for about 20 minutes for the rest of the group to show up. After this happened a couple times, I realized that it was a pattern that was sort of understood and has continued to this day. But it's not a big deal if someone shows up a little earlier or a little later.

Giving and Receiving Feedback

One of the concepts that interested me the most was feedback. Feedback can be either negative or positive, and it can be given in different ways. Positive feedback is always good because it makes each person in the group feel validated for their effort and more determined to keep helping the group when they know they've done a good job. But negative feedback can have a negative impact on the group. However, this criticism or critiques can still be offered in a positive way. For example, someone in a group can give another group member criticism while being positive and constructive about it. When I was playing sports in high school, instead of screaming and criticizing me when I made a mistake, the coach would ask me "what were your other options," or "what do you think you could have done better?" This way, I didn't feel as bad about making a mistake, and it allowed me to be more thoughtful and creative. If I had been given negative feedback in a more discouraging manner, I would have probably been turned off and less effective or willing to contribute and be creative.

Impact of Equifinality and Entropy

Equifinality means that there is more than one way for multiple groups to achieve the same thing. This has a positive impact on small groups because it allows each system to play to the strengths of its members. For example, at the risk of using too many hockey analogies, two teams that are playing against each other can use different strategies to win. If one of the teams is very good at scoring goals, that doesn't mean that the other team can't win; if the other team plays defense really well, they can try to keep the score low and win by playing solid defense. Like the book says, "there's more than one way to skin a cat."

 Entropy can lead a group off track if the members of the group aren't careful. Failure of group members to communicate effectively could create ambiguity or conflict between members of the group. For example, a group that is trying to do a project for school will be disorganized and stall out if the people in the group don't meet up or at least keep in touch through email or text; in other words, no communication equals more confusion and less progress. But if everyone in a group contributes equally and works efficiently, the group will likely be more focused and able to accomplish what it set out to do.

Chapter 2 Discussion, Question #1

When parts of a system do not function well in a small group, the group becomes less efficient and less likely to achieve its goal. One example from my own experience is the hockey team I play on. When everyone passes the puck and plays as a team, we have a lot more success than we do when one person becomes independent and tries to put the team on their back. Interdependence is a critical thing to understand in a team sport like hockey because everyone has different strengths, weaknesses, and skill sets. For instance, the skilled goal scorers that are good at shooting the puck usually benefit from the players on the team that are good at passing the puck and finding open players. To take it a step further, the forwards rely on each other as well as the defensemen to get the puck out of the defensive zone and move it up and into the offensive zone to try and score a goal. Another example would be in the defensive zone where the five teammates depend on each other to cover someone on the other team to prevent a goal. Each player out there relies on each other to be in the right position and cover any open player. When one person doesn't do that, the whole system is affected.

Another experience where understanding interdependence and interrelationships was important was during a group project last semester. It was a video project that our group did well on because we divided up the work evenly and gave everyone responsibilities that suited each person's strengths. One of the people in our group had good computer skills and was good at editing, so he put the video together. The more outgoing people in the group conducted the interviews for the video, and the other group member gathered background research and other tidbits to add to the video.

Hi!

I'm a Communication Studies major and this is my fourth year at SJSU. I decided to major in communications because it is supposed to be an attractive major for employers and because the things we study in communications classes are relevant to everyday life.

I was born in Illinois, but have lived here in the Bay Area for most of my life and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm a huge hockey fan, which started with my parents taking me to Sharks games when I was about five years old. To this day, I'm still a die hard Sharks fan, and my love for the game led me to start playing in middle school. Now I coach a team at Sharks Ice and I recently got a job as a ref, so I'm involved in hockey from pretty much every angle!

When I'm not at school or the rink, I enjoy chilling and going out with friends, working out, and relaxing. I also love golfing, though I can't claim to be too good at it (but then again, most people can't make that claim haha).

I hope y'all enjoyed your summer and have an awesome semester!