Thursday, September 6, 2012
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 The coach originally made me a forward, but when one of the defensemen started struggling and the coach noticed that my strength was playing defense, he had the two of us switch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.
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Hi Burgs,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about the assigned and emergent roles. I liked the example that you used to explain the to roles. I also feel that it comes into play a lot in groups and that at times roles do get switched. When I was in high school I was my senior class treasure. I had wanted to be it since I thought that it would fit be best. As the year went by, I started to take on more responsibility and found myself picking up the slack of the vice president. Our teacher eventually “demoted” the vice president and had was switch positions. It ended up working out a lot better for each of us and we were both happy with the switch. Great post!
In my company we have a saying, "the bigger energy wins". We use this saying to remind us that the classroom belongs to us as teachers. When you discuss the emergence of roles I am reminded of many of the teachers I work with. Unfortunately, even though a role is assigned to you, not emerging into it can mean that it gets taken away or not respected. If a teacher does not prepare for lessons, set up rules for conduct, keep a distance in favoring students over others, know the material well, and follow through on promises, things will fall apart quickly. If these things are not present, the students will simply not participate. They will become the bigger energy. I remember a night when a teacher sent her students to break and they never came back. They all went home without saying anything. It was disrespectful of course, but it said a lot about how that educator runs, or doesn't run, her classroom..
ReplyDeleteI thought your post about emergent and assign roles was very interesting. I think emergent roles transpire in many group settings especially in sports. I played basketball and my assigned role was a power forward because of my height and size. My coach noticed that I was skilled at dribbling & shooting and decided to change my position to a shooting guard . At first I didn't like being a shooting guard but with practice & experience in games I became acclimated to my new role on the team. I see emergent roles happen a lot in sports because sports are always evolving and changing.
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