3). Pick one other concept in the book (any chapter) that you feel needs further discussion?
A topic in the book that stood out to me and I felt was an important aspect to book is the four components of listening. The book states "Listening involves four sequential components experienced in rapid succession. We must sense or hear the message, interpret or provide meaning to the message, evaluate the content of the message, and retain and respond to the message in the context of than ongoing communication event." (Harris, 130)
I feel that the four components of listening or essential to having a group work successfully. If you do not follow these four steps there will be failure in a group. I know there have been many situations of small groups that I have experienced a lack of one of these four components and my group had lead to failure. If we choose to avoid any of these concepts it is impossible to have success. Listening is a key component to communication with a small group or with anyone and without these concepts we would always be lead to failure and that is why it is so important to always have in mind these four components, so success can always be achieved.
An example of failure that I have experience was small group at school for an in class assignment. One of the classmates in my group was very narrow-minded and did not want to hear the message that we as a group were relaying to her. She wanted to have things her way and her way only. Now, as a group this made things difficult. In short, She ended up doing the assignment completely wrong because she would not listen to the instruction and ideas of the group. She was not accepting the messages we were giving her and not evaluating the messages correctly. This hurt the group and led us straight to failure because we could not work well together as a group.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Week 16: Discussion Question #2
2). NEW QUESTION: Review the Observation of an Outside Group project. What did you find useful/not useful? Did you like this project? Why/why not? Why did you choose the group you observed for this project? In short, briefly introduce your project to the members of the class, and discuss its usefulness, frustrations, etc.... (I expect for most, that the answer to this question will be quite long - go ahead and make it as long as you'd like).
The group that I chose to observe for this assignment was a group and elementary school teachers and staff. Every week this group gets together and meets to discuss up coming events, status of the students and curriculum, new ideas to improve learning, etc. I was able to observe two of their meetings. While observing this meeting I feel that I saw many things in a group setting that I would have not looked for if I was not given this assignment.
First, I found that having a structure guideline to what exactly we would be writing about in the paper was helpful. I categorized the things that I needed to look for in each meeting. I did not particularly have to use all of the concepts provided because they all did not apply to my specific group. Even though all the concepts did not apply I found that I was able to elaborate on a few concepts more than others. I also found it useful that we had to attend a minimum of two meetings. To be honest I was not looking forward to having to attend two meetings and then when it came to having to do the assignment, having attended two meetings was very helpful because I had more information to write about. As for the things that I did not find useful, I felt that having to apply two outside theories or sources to our group did not help. I actually found that part of the assignment difficult and hard to tie into the assignment. I understand the relevance of it being added to the assignment, but I felt that it was just thrown into my paper and had not use to my paper.
I must say though I did enjoy this assignment. It was fun to interact with others and be able to observe a group. Working in retail I always get to "people watch" and analysis people for short periods of time. But, being able to sit and watch a group for a longer period of time and consider concepts of small group is interesting. I felt that at times some of the situations were exactly like explained in the book. I would have never been looking for those things though if it would not had been assigned. I liked this assignment for one because it gave the opportunity to interact with a group of people and two because it gave me the opportunity to evaluate a group and learn new things about a small group. It is one thing to read out of a book about the interacts of a small group and another to see it. I am a visual learner so I loved this assignment because I was able to apply examples and concepts from the book to what was happening in front of me and this was helpful in remembering things out of the book.
When deciding on a group I struggled. I first thought that I could observe a classroom of children. Then I realized that this would not work because many of the concepts would not apply. Then I considering observing a group at my church, but the problem with this is it is a very large group and it was possible the concepts would also not apply. So then I considered a faculty meeting of teachers. I figured that a group of teachers was diverse enough and they would cover many of the topics that were needed for this assignment. I also wanted to see the thought process and work that goes into these meetings. As most of us know they say that all this money is going into our education system or at least they seem to say that the money given for education is. Anyway, I wanted to see how this money is put in place and what is that we are working on to make schools better. For the amount of money that we pay for school systems it is important to know how the money is being distributed and used.
The group that I chose to observe for this assignment was a group and elementary school teachers and staff. Every week this group gets together and meets to discuss up coming events, status of the students and curriculum, new ideas to improve learning, etc. I was able to observe two of their meetings. While observing this meeting I feel that I saw many things in a group setting that I would have not looked for if I was not given this assignment.
First, I found that having a structure guideline to what exactly we would be writing about in the paper was helpful. I categorized the things that I needed to look for in each meeting. I did not particularly have to use all of the concepts provided because they all did not apply to my specific group. Even though all the concepts did not apply I found that I was able to elaborate on a few concepts more than others. I also found it useful that we had to attend a minimum of two meetings. To be honest I was not looking forward to having to attend two meetings and then when it came to having to do the assignment, having attended two meetings was very helpful because I had more information to write about. As for the things that I did not find useful, I felt that having to apply two outside theories or sources to our group did not help. I actually found that part of the assignment difficult and hard to tie into the assignment. I understand the relevance of it being added to the assignment, but I felt that it was just thrown into my paper and had not use to my paper.
I must say though I did enjoy this assignment. It was fun to interact with others and be able to observe a group. Working in retail I always get to "people watch" and analysis people for short periods of time. But, being able to sit and watch a group for a longer period of time and consider concepts of small group is interesting. I felt that at times some of the situations were exactly like explained in the book. I would have never been looking for those things though if it would not had been assigned. I liked this assignment for one because it gave the opportunity to interact with a group of people and two because it gave me the opportunity to evaluate a group and learn new things about a small group. It is one thing to read out of a book about the interacts of a small group and another to see it. I am a visual learner so I loved this assignment because I was able to apply examples and concepts from the book to what was happening in front of me and this was helpful in remembering things out of the book.
When deciding on a group I struggled. I first thought that I could observe a classroom of children. Then I realized that this would not work because many of the concepts would not apply. Then I considering observing a group at my church, but the problem with this is it is a very large group and it was possible the concepts would also not apply. So then I considered a faculty meeting of teachers. I figured that a group of teachers was diverse enough and they would cover many of the topics that were needed for this assignment. I also wanted to see the thought process and work that goes into these meetings. As most of us know they say that all this money is going into our education system or at least they seem to say that the money given for education is. Anyway, I wanted to see how this money is put in place and what is that we are working on to make schools better. For the amount of money that we pay for school systems it is important to know how the money is being distributed and used.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Week 16: Discussion Question #1
1). How does CMC differ from f2f communication? (Think outside the box).
When reading the chapter this week it gave many strong ideas to what CMC and FTF are but I think that there is more depth to these ways of communicating. I have always felt that there is a lack of explanation for these two topics. I feel that it is easily defined but not enough examples are given for each. I am a visual learner so maybe this is way I want more explanation.
In my opinion FTF communication is a much more efficient way of communicating. Where as CMC is a text based relationship so there is a lack of emotion and a lot of misunderstanding. FTF communication you are able to express emotion through body position or posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, context of environment, etc. When communicating through text there is a lack of these things and I think at times it can lead to miscommunication or frustration because these are not understood. I feel that technology advances are wonderful and I a frequent user of most up to date technology. But, things like IM and text messaging are a great example of this. There are ways to show emotion over texting by using smiley faces, or exaggerating words but it does not compare to FTF communication. Another thing about texting or IM is that at times there is a delay in the conversation. Where as a FTF conversation would have a start and an end, a continuous conversation. All of these specific things can make it difficult to understand the message because it could be missing personality, voice tone, emotion and this can lead to misunderstanding. A message can be written one way and interpreted a completely different way. I feel that these two concepts are interesting because they are both ways of communicating similarly but are very different as well because they can enhance and lack communication at the same time.
When reading the chapter this week it gave many strong ideas to what CMC and FTF are but I think that there is more depth to these ways of communicating. I have always felt that there is a lack of explanation for these two topics. I feel that it is easily defined but not enough examples are given for each. I am a visual learner so maybe this is way I want more explanation.
In my opinion FTF communication is a much more efficient way of communicating. Where as CMC is a text based relationship so there is a lack of emotion and a lot of misunderstanding. FTF communication you are able to express emotion through body position or posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, context of environment, etc. When communicating through text there is a lack of these things and I think at times it can lead to miscommunication or frustration because these are not understood. I feel that technology advances are wonderful and I a frequent user of most up to date technology. But, things like IM and text messaging are a great example of this. There are ways to show emotion over texting by using smiley faces, or exaggerating words but it does not compare to FTF communication. Another thing about texting or IM is that at times there is a delay in the conversation. Where as a FTF conversation would have a start and an end, a continuous conversation. All of these specific things can make it difficult to understand the message because it could be missing personality, voice tone, emotion and this can lead to misunderstanding. A message can be written one way and interpreted a completely different way. I feel that these two concepts are interesting because they are both ways of communicating similarly but are very different as well because they can enhance and lack communication at the same time.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Week 14: Discussion Question #3
3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that we have not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.
The concept that stood out to me was avoidance. This is defined as a "strategy entails withdrawing from the conflict."(Harris, 237)
I thought this concept related to me the best. I think that in many situations of conflict I do not want to argue or even make the effort to come up with constructive reasoning, so I find myself jut giving up or withdrawing from the situation all together.
A great example of this was when I was talking to me parents about school and the raise in price of summer school. Now, my parents felt that it was too much money to take summer classes and I was thinking it wasn't the price of the classes. I just want to get the classes over with so I can graduate. In this situation when they started to yell about how much I was paying I just completely avoided the situations and walked away withdrawing myself from the conflict that was arising. I think that in many situations where I do not want to argue I withdraw from the conflict. The only problem with doing this is that the problem seems to arise again and again until it is solved.
The concept that stood out to me was avoidance. This is defined as a "strategy entails withdrawing from the conflict."(Harris, 237)
I thought this concept related to me the best. I think that in many situations of conflict I do not want to argue or even make the effort to come up with constructive reasoning, so I find myself jut giving up or withdrawing from the situation all together.
A great example of this was when I was talking to me parents about school and the raise in price of summer school. Now, my parents felt that it was too much money to take summer classes and I was thinking it wasn't the price of the classes. I just want to get the classes over with so I can graduate. In this situation when they started to yell about how much I was paying I just completely avoided the situations and walked away withdrawing myself from the conflict that was arising. I think that in many situations where I do not want to argue I withdraw from the conflict. The only problem with doing this is that the problem seems to arise again and again until it is solved.
Week 13: Discussion Question #2
2). Briefly outline an example of collaborative conflict resolution that you have engaged in. Contrast that with competitive conflict. Which was more satisfying to you? To the other party?
Collaborative conflict and/or consensus are a resolution strategy for any given group or persons, which is a win-win situation. In this particular situation everyone comes to an agreement, nobody is right or wrong. I feel that throughout my life I have encountered many different conflicts. The interesting thing to me is, I have felt that you should pick and chose your situations of conflict depending on the person and the relationship. This way there is less conflict and better communication in the relationship.
An example in my life when I have experienced collaborative conflict was the other day when I was doing my laundry at home. I had been doing laundry for a few hours and wanted to get it all done, considering it was my day off and it was the only time that I had to do it. Well a problem arose, my sister needed to do her laundry as well. She had to have her uniform washed for tomorrow's game. Since I had errands I needed to run I was worried that when I came home my laundry would not be finished because my sister would pull my clothes out of the wash. So I spoke with her and said that she could wait until I was done to my laundry to finish hers. In the meantime if she need her uniform washed she could put it in with my clothes, this way she could get the necessary things washed and I could continue washing mine. She was okay with this and I continued washing my clothes and she even helped to change loads for me when I was doing errands so the process would be faster and she could start her laundry later. We both were happy with the end results.
Competitive conflict is a resolution strategy for a given group or persons where it is a win-lose situation. Not everyone is always happy in this situation because it is more about self-interest, what makes you happy. Someone will always be satisfied and another will be dissatisfied. I feel that this type of strategy is more common that we expect it to be. Many people are most interest in their personal self-interested then having the satisfaction of others and themselves.
I have also experienced many situations like this. You can look at it as a selfless action or look at it in the sense that someone will have to win and the other may lose because you cannot always come to a perfect agreement. I went through this situation last night. My girlfriends and I went out to dinner and had drinks in Campbell. After dinner we tried to decide where we wanted to go. I did not really want to go out considering I had to up really early. My other friends did not really want to drive so they asked me to. I said no because one I did not want to be up late and two I did not want to go where they were going. We ending up just settling for an alternative that not everyone was satisfied with but it worked out in the end. In this situation I won because I got to go do what I wanted and my friends lost because they had to do something different then what they really wanted.
In some situations I agree that the win-lose situation can be the most satisfying if you are on the winning end. But, I do think that there are going to be many times in your life that you will not always be on the winning end. So you do have to make compromises and sacrifices. In a win-win situation everyone is happy and I think that this is the most satisfying for both parties. Everyone is happy and there are no worries about people being disappointed. This cannot always occur but if the win-lose situations can be avoided why not try to satisfy everyone when possible.
Collaborative conflict and/or consensus are a resolution strategy for any given group or persons, which is a win-win situation. In this particular situation everyone comes to an agreement, nobody is right or wrong. I feel that throughout my life I have encountered many different conflicts. The interesting thing to me is, I have felt that you should pick and chose your situations of conflict depending on the person and the relationship. This way there is less conflict and better communication in the relationship.
An example in my life when I have experienced collaborative conflict was the other day when I was doing my laundry at home. I had been doing laundry for a few hours and wanted to get it all done, considering it was my day off and it was the only time that I had to do it. Well a problem arose, my sister needed to do her laundry as well. She had to have her uniform washed for tomorrow's game. Since I had errands I needed to run I was worried that when I came home my laundry would not be finished because my sister would pull my clothes out of the wash. So I spoke with her and said that she could wait until I was done to my laundry to finish hers. In the meantime if she need her uniform washed she could put it in with my clothes, this way she could get the necessary things washed and I could continue washing mine. She was okay with this and I continued washing my clothes and she even helped to change loads for me when I was doing errands so the process would be faster and she could start her laundry later. We both were happy with the end results.
Competitive conflict is a resolution strategy for a given group or persons where it is a win-lose situation. Not everyone is always happy in this situation because it is more about self-interest, what makes you happy. Someone will always be satisfied and another will be dissatisfied. I feel that this type of strategy is more common that we expect it to be. Many people are most interest in their personal self-interested then having the satisfaction of others and themselves.
I have also experienced many situations like this. You can look at it as a selfless action or look at it in the sense that someone will have to win and the other may lose because you cannot always come to a perfect agreement. I went through this situation last night. My girlfriends and I went out to dinner and had drinks in Campbell. After dinner we tried to decide where we wanted to go. I did not really want to go out considering I had to up really early. My other friends did not really want to drive so they asked me to. I said no because one I did not want to be up late and two I did not want to go where they were going. We ending up just settling for an alternative that not everyone was satisfied with but it worked out in the end. In this situation I won because I got to go do what I wanted and my friends lost because they had to do something different then what they really wanted.
In some situations I agree that the win-lose situation can be the most satisfying if you are on the winning end. But, I do think that there are going to be many times in your life that you will not always be on the winning end. So you do have to make compromises and sacrifices. In a win-win situation everyone is happy and I think that this is the most satisfying for both parties. Everyone is happy and there are no worries about people being disappointed. This cannot always occur but if the win-lose situations can be avoided why not try to satisfy everyone when possible.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Week 14: Discussion Question #1
1). (Regarding chapter 11) Distinguish among a forum, panel, colloquium, and symposium as a mans for making a public presentation. Which one would you prefer? Why?
In chapter 11 the book defines forum, panel, colloquium, and symposium. First, panel is defined as "a public format in which a group of four to eight experts discusses a problem or decision in front of an audience."(Harris, 220) Second, colloquium is "a form of public discussion in which a group of three to six experts, usually chosen for their divergent views, discuss a problem, following the problem solving format, in front of an audience with a moderator facilitating their interaction." (Harris, 220) Third, is symposium, which "provides a format for a series of two to six brief speeches made on different aspects of a complex and different problem." (Harris, 221) Lastly, forum "provides a small group presentational format in which the group can speak and listen to a larger audience." (Harris, 219)
I think that Harris gave great explanation and detail to these concepts. I got a great sense to what these presentation formats were. Each of these concepts has it own particular way about making decisions, problems solving, facilitating, mentoring, group interaction, and ways of performing a speech. They all signify great qualities on how to present in front of audiences. If I had to choose one that I prefer, I would choose forum. I chose this particular one because I like to keep the audience involved in my speeches. Letting the audience to actually participate and speak on a behalf of what they are listening to keeps then not only involved but interacting as well. In a way it is almost like a mini debate because the audience speaks and then there can be commentary back. The other thing that stood out to me about forum is that is follows well with all of the other concepts discussed above. It sets up a proposal for the other concepts and provides a diverse ideas and perspectives for many to obtain more information and knowledge about the specific topic.
In chapter 11 the book defines forum, panel, colloquium, and symposium. First, panel is defined as "a public format in which a group of four to eight experts discusses a problem or decision in front of an audience."(Harris, 220) Second, colloquium is "a form of public discussion in which a group of three to six experts, usually chosen for their divergent views, discuss a problem, following the problem solving format, in front of an audience with a moderator facilitating their interaction." (Harris, 220) Third, is symposium, which "provides a format for a series of two to six brief speeches made on different aspects of a complex and different problem." (Harris, 221) Lastly, forum "provides a small group presentational format in which the group can speak and listen to a larger audience." (Harris, 219)
I think that Harris gave great explanation and detail to these concepts. I got a great sense to what these presentation formats were. Each of these concepts has it own particular way about making decisions, problems solving, facilitating, mentoring, group interaction, and ways of performing a speech. They all signify great qualities on how to present in front of audiences. If I had to choose one that I prefer, I would choose forum. I chose this particular one because I like to keep the audience involved in my speeches. Letting the audience to actually participate and speak on a behalf of what they are listening to keeps then not only involved but interacting as well. In a way it is almost like a mini debate because the audience speaks and then there can be commentary back. The other thing that stood out to me about forum is that is follows well with all of the other concepts discussed above. It sets up a proposal for the other concepts and provides a diverse ideas and perspectives for many to obtain more information and knowledge about the specific topic.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Week 13: Discussion Question #3
3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that has not already been discussed during this discussion week, that you found useful or interesting, and discuss it.
The concept that I found most interesting this week was manipulative verbs. The book defines this is “deciding to alter, multiply, eliminate, divide, or transpose, we are using manipulative verbs to change the way we view a particular process.” (Harris, 191)
This was interesting to me being a communication major because it explained to me exactly why and how speaking techniques can change the context of what your saying. Changing verb placement can completely change the context of a sentence or give it a completely different meaning. I think that when many people speak they do not think about the placement of their verbs and this is why so many people have misconceptions in communication.
I think that this is most common in situations like texting, instant messaging, facebook, etc. Since there is a lack of face-to-face communication you have to be particularly careful to the how you word things and the placement of verbs. Many people misunderstand the meaning because they do not have the nonverbal gestures to back up what is being said and how it was meant.
The concept that I found most interesting this week was manipulative verbs. The book defines this is “deciding to alter, multiply, eliminate, divide, or transpose, we are using manipulative verbs to change the way we view a particular process.” (Harris, 191)
This was interesting to me being a communication major because it explained to me exactly why and how speaking techniques can change the context of what your saying. Changing verb placement can completely change the context of a sentence or give it a completely different meaning. I think that when many people speak they do not think about the placement of their verbs and this is why so many people have misconceptions in communication.
I think that this is most common in situations like texting, instant messaging, facebook, etc. Since there is a lack of face-to-face communication you have to be particularly careful to the how you word things and the placement of verbs. Many people misunderstand the meaning because they do not have the nonverbal gestures to back up what is being said and how it was meant.
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