Analysis of a group decision-making - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Groups are important to study because it is comprised of individuals with different personalities and coming from various backgrounds. It is interesting to learn how they will agree or disagree with ideas brought up in their discussions and how they finalize their decisions as a team. It is also important to observe how some people can dominate the group and influence group behavior and decisions. Studying groups with diverse membership, which is defined by Rothwell (2010) as the “proportional representation by culture, ethnicity, gender and age” (p. 75), is very beneficial because so much can be learned from each unique member. How each contributes to the group is important to study, as they may be responsible in the creation of group norms. Leadership style is another thing that can be learned from studying groups. There have been several leadership styles identified, and some styles may be suitable in some groups and not in others. Since the group being studied is concerned about the welfare of young children, it is also interesting which leadership style would work for such group because the members may adopt them with the young children, so it should be something positively influential. Description of the situation What kind of group was this? This was a group of professionals and staff working with very young children in my daughter’s early childhood center. ...
The teachers have been working professionally for 2 to 10 years, the teacher assistants from 3 to 5 years and the directress has been working in the center for 12 years. She is a seasoned early childhood professional with 20 years working experience. It is obvious that she is the leader of the group. I was a parent of a student in that early childhood center and continue to be a friend of the teachers and have joined some of their past events to assist them with the children. This is my first time to attend a staff meeting with them and am honored to witness how they planned for the children’s activities. What was the purpose of the particular meeting? The purpose of the meeting is to finalize the details for the upcoming environmental event of the children to be held at the end of the following week. This was their fourth meeting regarding this event and it seems things are falling into place. They need to delegate tasks to the teachers and staff so that the event will flow very smoothly. Was there an agenda for the meeting? did the group stay with the agenda? if not, what did you perceive caused the deviation? Yes, there was an agenda. Beforehand, the directress distributed a written agenda of the meeting to help them stay focused on the items to be discussed. Because of this, the meeting was very productive as they focused on each item before moving on to the next. Did most members seem prepared for the group session? Why or Why not? What effect did the level of preparation have on the group process. The teachers seemed to be prepared as they held notebooks filled with details to discuss. Since they were picking up from where they left off last week, they had knowledge of the flow of ...Download file to see next pagesRead More