Small Group Communication - Admission/Application Essay Example

Small Group Communication Lecturer: Journal Entry Achieving Communication Competence Communication competence was significant in the accomplishment of the soccer team’s goals. It helped team members to understand one another and combine efforts to accomplish a common goal. It was instrumental in ensuring that members acquired knowledge regarding strategies to maintain high performance. Team members were able to learn the procedures of the group through effective communication. The leader of the team was an effective communicator and ensured that every member of the group understood the rules of the game. Team members who did not understand the rules were assisted by colleagues, enabling the team to perform as a unit and not every individual in his own way. The team could not have tackled opponents without effective communication. Communication competence of group members influences how they consider each other’s value as colleagues. It also determines the manner in which every person’s identity and role are established within the group. In the soccer team, communication competence was demonstrated by the skill and preparedness of members to participate responsibly. It enhanced effectiveness that lead to the achievement of goals. It also promoted pertinence whereby each team member understood the expectations of others as well as the maintenance of self-esteem. Accomplishment of communication competence was enhanced by team members understanding of its state of affairs and dynamics. The team leader encouraged all of us to be thoughtful about the feelings of each other while promoting verbal and non-verbal communication to enhance the team’s performance. These communication strategies were necessary to ensure that opponents did not understand the team’s strategies (Rothwell, 2013). Reference Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. Journal Entry 2: Communication and Group Climate Group climate had a significant influence on the success of the team in accomplishing its goals. Negative criticisms were avoided in the team as it was understood they could trigger disillusionment and failure by some members to participate fully in its activities. According to Fisher (2011), a person who has been negatively criticized usually resorts to the application of defensive tactics thereby wasting significant energy in self-defence. It was therefore necessary to ensure that all team members devoted their energies to the attainment of the group objectives rather than self-preservation. In one instance, the team captain negatively criticised the goalkeeper who resorted to defensiveness. The goalkeeper argued that he was at a vantage position to guide players as he could observe their movements from a distance. The defensive behaviour escalated as the captain also began defending his leadership with regards to guiding the team in the game. The team failed in two consecutive competitions as some members were inclined to the goalkeeper’s side while others supported the captain. When the defensive behaviour ended, the team was able to act as one unit and they began scoring goals. This is an indication of how group climate can affect the accomplishment of shared goals (Rothwell, 2013). The team’s coach was instrumental in enhancing an enabling group climate. He discouraged individual control that could cause members to believe that solutions or changes were being imposed on them. Rather, he encouraged an interactive approach to solving the team’s problems through open communication. Individual superiority was also discouraged and no one was regarded as having a higher status than others in the team, which is a strategy that encouraged collaboration and effective teamwork. References Fisher, A. (2011). Critical Thinking: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press Natalie, G. (2005). Teamwork: An Interdisciplinary Perspective: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives, Palgrave Schol Journal Entry 3: Leadership Leadership is a mutual process that comprises the leader and follower. The leader is expected to persuade followers to accept his/her opinions. Every group needs a capable leader for goals to be accomplished (Rothwell, 2013). The team captain played a significant role in ensuring that members were focused on accomplishing a shared goal. He was an excellent communicator who used his skills to encourage members to combine efforts to achieve better results. He never yelled or used inappropriate language to team members and was supportive whenever a team member was faced with a challenge relation to the team objectives. The team leader was a role model with regards to emotional intelligence. We respected him and he did not quarrel the referees as he also expected us to respect them for fair play to be achieved. Self-control was a significant leadership quality that helped the leader to maintain competence in the team by avoiding constant wrangles with group members even though there are some who were disrespectful. Some members always came late causing inconveniences in the overall time management of the team. The captain emphasized on the importance of punctuality without pointing out the members who were dragging us behind. The constant latecomers improved over time and eventually became punctual. The captain did not forget to congratulate the notable improvement and encouraged everybody to keep improving. He knew all the team members well and understood the various attitudes, irritabilities and competences of team members, which was a significant strategy that helped him to approach issues in a distinctive way. His leadership style motivated all of us to remain focused on the objectives of the team. Reference Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. Journal Entry 4: Building Teamwork Building teamwork is an important aspect of successful groups. It allows people to accomplish tasks from a common foundation. It begins with the development of team goals that should be communicated to every member. We had a shared goal in our soccer team that helped to join us together as one unit. It made us strong and also gave us identity among other teams. Every team member understood our goal of maintaining soccer leadership in Greeley Colorado. We were assigned inter-dependent roles in the group and every person was focused on achieving his/her part while ensuring smooth flow of the game through collaboration. We assisted each other when tackling the opponents in a well-coordinated manner. My role as a striker was number 9 coordinating with number 10 who was also a striker. We all had a passion to succeed that made us participate effectively in practice ahead of the real competition (Rothwell, 2013). Every individual understood his competences and those of others. This was achieved through open communication and sharing of experiences. It was therefore possible for team members to be assigned appropriate roles that matched their competences. Members who shared competences were linked by similar roles and this made us form a strong team that was difficult to defeat. We did not compete among ourselves but assisted each other to deal with the inefficiencies that resulted from personal weaknesses in various areas. Decision making in the team was through consensus whereby each member participated in the process. This strategy helped to maintain satisfaction and commitment among members as every person felt represented in the group decisions. It also promoted ownership of group goals by every member. Reference Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. Journal Entry 5: Creative Problem Solving Problem solving is a significant aspect of successful teams. It allows a team to identify solutions to problems as they emerge rather than letting it affect the accomplishment of its goals (West, 2003). For creative problem solving to be accomplished in the soccer team, the captain ensured that the issue was understood by all members. All of us were involved in establishing the cause of the problem and its impact on the team’s effectiveness. This was useful in promoting ownership of the problem as team members whereby we would appreciate the existence of the problem and the need for a resolution. The captain also informed us regarding the extent that members can reach while establishing solutions. This knowledge helped us to approach the problem in an informed manner. For example, the group could not come up with a solution involving huge sums of money that could be beyond reach (Rothwell, 2013). We discussed problems in a quiet environment free from interruptions where team members would brainstorm and come up with many ideas depending on individual perception regarding the problem. People usually view problems from different perspectives and this facilitated the establishment of possible solutions that we would analyze and settle on the most appropriate. We were also encouraged to borrow ideas and develop strategies to internalize them creatively to help in solving local problems. The 3 by 3 strategy would also be used in some cases whereby members would be requested to write down three ways that they thought would help in solving problems in the team. This was a creative way of ensuring participation even among the shy team members. The team was successful in most of its problem solving pursuits. References Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. West, M. (2003). Effective Teamwork, Excel Books Journal Entry 6: Styles of Conflict Management In a normally functioning team, conflicts occur and need to be managed as they emerge. Failure to manage conflicts causes deterioration of relationships and eventual breakdown of the group. Our team was successful in conflict management. Most of the conflicts arose as a result of mishaps such as a team player knocking down a colleague accidentally during trainings. If not managed at the moment they occur, conflicts may degenerate in to violence and withdrawal of an aggrieved member from the group. This would weaken the team and hence the significant efforts to resolve conflicts (Rothwell, 2013). Avoiding conflict was one of the strategies that were applied often. Members were always reminded to engage in opponent tackling strategies that avoided hurting or causing them to loose balance. We also avoided responding to abusive language by opponents who felt dissatisfied by our movements. In case an opponent accidentally fell, the team player who might have contributed to the mishap would offer a hand and apologize. Compromising was also applied in some instances where parties felt aggrieved by each other in the game. This was a major temporary solution in minor accidents that occur unwillingly. Collaborating was also encouraged whereby the team coach would point out the mistake and asking the player involved to rectify his movement. The referee in most cases tried smoothing relationships when problems occurred between players. In some cases, he would grant the aggrieved player a penalty after which the problem would be considered settled whether the player scored or not. These conflict management strategies enhanced the team’s strength and performance. Reference Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. Journal Entry 7: Anger Management Anger is one of the involuntary human reactions to stimulus such as a deliberate offence from a colleague or people’s actions that may elicit strong negative emotions. It is common in a well-functioning group. It can be controlled and managed but may lead to disaster if allowed to escalate. There were many instances that caused anger among our team members such as penalties that regarded as unfair. Our team captain was a competent anger manager and encouraged us to control anger constructively when we felt offended. This involved avoidance of confrontation and sharing the situation with trusted friends. We were also encouraged to avoid blaming other people as a way of personal defense. By being calm and accepting the apology of a person who wronged us, anger would easily fade from the mind (Rothwell, 2013). Level headedness was one of the characteristics that our team coach demonstrated all the time when team members did not follow his instructions. We learnt that feelings of shame and guilt could not assist in solving any situation, especially after being defeated narrowly due to the carelessness of a colleague in the game. Some members would react angrily after the game pressurizing the coach to do away with the errant player. Nevertheless, the coach insisted on being ready to take a compromise and listening to other people’s opinions. He argued that any person could be faced by a similar circumstance and hence the importance of learning how to control anger, which is a strategy that helped us to maintain cohesion among the team members as well as between us and opponents (Fisher, 2011). References Fisher, A. (2011). Critical Thinking: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. Journal Entry 8: Power Resources Information is one of the important resources of power. People have the capacity to do better when they understand what is happening around them. The major source of information in our soccer team was the coach who researched about the new strategies that successful teams were applying to win games. We also spent time watching football matches and later we would discuss the information gathered from observation and integrate the best tactics in our game. There are some players who wielded power in the team by virtue of their expertise in soccer. For example, the team captain had participated in many soccer competitions and had gained significant experience than any other player. Other people mainly worked hard when they realized that there was a reward promised to the winner. Rewards are an important source of power (Rothwell, 2013). There are personal qualities that are associated with power. These were evident among members of the team. For example the goalkeeper had qualities that asserted his authority and other players would take his observations with seriousness. He was a soft-spoken person who went straight to the point whenever he needed to highlight a failure in any one of us in the field. In most cases it would turn out to be true and many of us envied his authority in analyzing how the game progressed. Power was also validated by legitimate authority. All of us obeyed the instructions of the coach as power had been bestowed on him by the team. He on the other hand appointed the team captain as his assistant and all of us respected that decision. Reference Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. Journal Entry 9: Critical Thinking and Effective Decision Making Critical thinking is significant in the decision making process. It influences the outcome of what people do or make and significantly depends on the excellence of thought. It helps to improve the quality of life and needs to be systematically cultured. In our team, critical thinking involved approaching issues from an informed point of view. The coach encouraged us to be critical thinkers whenever we decided what to do. He inspired us to question occurrences without fear and to evaluate different solutions to prevailing problems and to raise them to the team without reprisal (Fisher, 2011). We also read and sought information from many information sources including the internet and newspapers to identify how other people dealt with the problems that we face. Critical thinking was a significant intellectual asset for our team. We kept aside our beliefs and convictions that could affect our learning capabilities. We were able to acquire new techniques of the game without being influenced by our prior knowledge that was not practical. Our experience did not prevent us from thinking creatively and engage in finding better solutions to old problems. We tested the new solutions against the pertinent principles and standards of the game and always settled on well-reasoned conclusions. Open-mindedness was encouraged while evaluating different alternatives. Assumptions were always carefully identified and their consequences assessed. Communication was encouraged as one of the critical aspects of successful critical thinking groups. The coach fostered a culture of sophisticated thinking and constant improvements in all the activities we engaged in while putting in to consideration the needs and concerns of colleagues and society (Rothwell, 2013). References Fisher, A. (2011). Critical Thinking: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. Journal Entry 10: How Teams Differ From Groups A group is considered to be more than two people that cooperate to accomplish a shared goal, with every individual having an effect on the others. On the other hand, a team is formed by a group of people with a coordinated resolve to accomplish a shared goal. Without collective effort, a group of people cannot be referred to as a team. Our team comprised of a group of 15 people all with a common goal of combining effort, knowledge and talents to become the leading team in Greeley Colorado. Groups are characterized by informal arrangements with a membership that may vary from as low as 3 people with significant inter-dependence. Group meetings are usually casual with unstructured agenda and in most cases are spontaneous, such as a group of students congregating at the noticeboard to scrutinize the examination timetable. A team such as ours involves a formal structure whereby members are assigned special roles to play depending on their competences. For example, the goalkeeper could not leave the goal post area while the game continued. Every player was assigned a number associated with a particular role focused on scoring a goal. All team meetings were structured with a clear agenda that was understood by all members. Groups may not necessarily involve certain skills or talents linked to individual roles. Groups usually assemble to solve minor issues while teams are usually focused on finding solutions to complex problems. Groups may not be directed by rules and regulations as it is in teams that must observe a set of guidelines that apply to all members (Rothwell, 2013). References Rothwell, J. D. (2013). In Mixed Company, 8th ed, Fort Worth, TX: Wadsworth. Read More